Metamatic Forums John Foxx John Foxx Metal Beat

What is the playlist of the songs?

In the inverviews John spoke about his equipment used in that sessions? (if yes what equipment?)


Someone could buy me one and send to me, i will pay

CD1 is split into 5 tracks. The first four start with a minute or so of music, then interview with Steve Malins. The last is just music.

The first starts off with a "drum machine experiment" (the CR78, flanging away, doing the "Mr No" rhythm)...

the second starts off with a lovely raspy synth drone with some flange sweeps (similar to the start of Underpass)

the 3rd begins with a demo version of TOUCH AND GO (very similar to the album version!),
the 4th with a demo of NO-ONE DRIVING (much more stripped down than the album version, with a more exposed and simpler 8ve-boinging synth pulser)

Track 5 is an eerie "synth experiment", kinda spookydroney.


In the interviews, John talks about his mood post Ultravox & when making Metamatic, about Pathway studio and Gareth Jones, about the cover of metamatic and his sartorial strategy ;-) and about the way he approached songwriting and the type of feel and attitude and themes he was trying to get across. I felt at this point like shouting "WHAT, YOU MEAN SINGING JG BALLARD AS LYRICS?" lol but to be fair, he does mention Ballard.


I haven't listened to CD2 yet!

CD2 has 6 tracks:

1. (instrumental gibbet) ... interview
2. "Jane's Theme" jingle ... interview
3. (instrumental gubbins) ... interview
4. Plaza (extended demo) ... interview
5. drum machine/synth experiments ... interview
6. Like a Miracle (demo)

interview stuff includes:
- Virgin Records, Richard Branson & Simon Draper
- brief nods to Jake Durant on bass guitar and
John Barker on boards of keyness (do I detect a faint whiff of parsimony...?)
- JG Ballard and protestations of "no I didn't copy all his stuff, honestly!" lol

Thanks Feline, martin and all for the reviews ... I just got my Metamatic double Cd deluxe thingummy yesterday altho perhaps a bit of an anti-climax compared with what is still to come (for me). Actually I was a bit disppointed by the lack of sleeve notes, but the Metal Beat issue would seem to be the answer!

I just put Metal Beat on.

Aaah, I wish Steve would speak a bit louder!!!!!

one thing that does slightly amuse me about John on these interview CDs (this is the 3rd one we've had now, innit?) is that he pretty much always answers every question with some initial sweeping statement which is basically designed to make him sound "really cool" (ah! still an art student at heart. I wonder what it would've been like if they had Apple Macs in 1974... ) - and then he almost always immediately has to backtrack and qualify what he's said.

I mean don't get me wrong, I still love John it just makes me smile to hear him still answering questions like that at his age.

Here's that exchange with John Wesley Barker on the ultravox.org forum where he talks about his constributions to Metamatic

http://www.ultravox.org.uk/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=2&t=000487#000024

The demo version of 'No-One Driving' is great! Why didn't they include the full version on the Metamatic bonus disc?

I think it was just a deliberate ploy just to annoy us all

On the other hand, you're assuming the rest of it sounds as good as the bit you do get to hear!
Maybe the tape is fecked up after that point,
or maybe the arrangement takes this really dodgy turn and there's an MOR saxophone solo comes in and John singing harmony falsetto doo-wop backing vocals.
We may never know :p

LMAO!!!

I'd pay to hear that!!

"There's no-one jiving..."