Metamatic Forums John Foxx John Foxx In Mysterious Ways

It's a very emotional album - I'll certainly give it that. I got the impression John didn't feel comfortable writing so openly and down to earth.

I'd say it's probably one of those albums that has great songs, but that were let down by the arrangements, as lyrically it's very poetic, but musically dry and uninspired.

The 80s were fab. Just think of some of the bands on par with the sixties. Spandau ballet, phil collins, wham and solo george micheal, jason donovan and the whole pete waterman empire and not to mention how slick the eighties were with elton john at his peak followed by lashings of hall and oates. Not to forget paul youngs month at number one in the album charts with no parlez. Things got even better when bowie realeased TONIGHT, NEVER LET ME DOWN and of course the ever lovable TIN MACHINE. To compliment it nicely the ultimate hairdo whent with the music THE MULLET. John made too classic albums the metamatic and the garden and from then on that was his lot. The rest of johns time saw him swaggering around highgate drinking posh coffes before returning to the fray to made good albums again.

funny... but i have to admit i even like some of the artists you mentioned, for example 'diamond' by spandau ballet is excellent album, and in the early eighties (especially '80 - '81) it's hard to find any bad records... so many timeless classics were made, just think albums like computer world, metamatic, rage in eden, dare!, non-stop erotic cabaret, grotesque, fresh fruit for rotten vegetables, kings of the wild frontier, scary monsters, prayers on fire, red mecca, penthouse & pavement, doc at the radar station, my life in the bush of ghosts, closer, architecture & morality, tin drum, from the tea-rooms of mars etc. just to mention few of my faves.

and then from the mid-eighties all the indiepop, bands like the smiths, jesus & mary chain, pastels, pooh sticks, wedding present, my bloody valentine... and in the USA all these noisy bands like sonic youth, butthole surfers, big black, killdozer, pixies, pussy galore... and all the hiphop like public enemy, eric b & rakim etc. and then acid house... and i haven't even mentioned some constantly good bands like new order or the cure yet. and i probably forgot to mention most of my faves anyway since i write this in hurry.

there's so much good stuff made in the eighties but of course you can find good stuff from every decade. i just personally think 80s were the best.

this is a bit offtopic so i'll finish this by saying that 12" single was one of the best things in 80s and i really love stars on fire 12", i hope that whenever there will be a reissue of IMW that the extended version will be included.

Hi Martin
It's nice to agree about not agreeing. That's the good thing about open discussions.

Peter

I totally agree!

This a great place for that.

Let the spirit of our disagreement be forever jovial!
It's like chattin over a pint - and that's a fine idea...

I have to say I was surprised when I first heard material from In Mysterious Ways. I actually saw the videos for Stars on Fire and Lose All Sense of Time before I heard the album. It was virtually my first CD purchase, a good couple of months before I even had the means to play it. And it took a while to adapt to it - was The Golden Section released just two years previously? It sounds at least ten. And was it really just eight years before that John was singing about a certain habit and magazine covers?

I find Stepping Softly very hard to listen to, unless I am feeling particularly glad to be alive and freshly in love. This Side of Paradise is pretty ropey. And yet Stars on Fire, Enter the Angel, Morning Glory and all three B sides rescue that period of time, along with Hanging in the Air from the radio. That would have made a great 7 track mini-album actually.

i got 'in mysterious ways' on cd yesterday, haven't listened to it yet, but the tracklisting says 'enter the angel II' comes after 'morning glory'. is there a mistake or what? but i guess i'll find out today... also noticed that 'stairway' is mentioned as a b-side of 'enter the angel' single on the booklet, but there's no mention that it should be the same track as 'hiding in plain sight' which is included on the cd, or are they different versions or something? and why was it retitled?

I've given the album several chances - which includes buying it, taking it back and exchanging it, then buying it again for the collection!

What made Metamatic and The Garden so special was that John stamped his mark of individuality and creativity over them - they were not really like anything else. But then with TGS and IMW something changed and something was lost. However TGS is a fantastic album in its own right, but not one you can really compare to the first two.

I maintain little interest in IMW. "Lumine de Lumine" is probably my favourite tack on the CD, and of course it's in a completely different style to the rest!

Because I discovered John's work in recent years, perhaps the differences in style or what you might regard as 'bad bits' are more obvious to me.

Originally posted by psychocandy:

are they different versions or something? and why was it retitled?

NOt sure I understand WHY Stairway was retitled, but rest assured it is exactly the same song. One of my favourites, too