Metamatic Forums John Foxx John Foxx John in the shops

No, I'm not talking about John's weekly trip to Waitrose or whatever, but the availability of CDs in the shops, like HMV or Virgin (or Zavvie aas I believe it's now called).

At least up here in sunny Sheffield, at this very moment, only 1 copy of Modern Art and 1 copy of Sideways are on the shelves - both in HMV.

Not that I want to buy either as I already have them, and buy 90% of my music online nowadays anyway. But even so, it's always nice to see your favourite artists on the shelves. It's also publicity I guess - for those people who still regularly buy music in the real shops.

Modern Art has been the only CD consistently available since its release. Of course back in 2001, all the Edsel reissues were everywhere, followed sporadically by TPOE. But today I don't see any of them - not even the new Metamatic, or Crash & Burn (which used to be everywhere too!).

In Virgin yesterday, the closest thing I came to finding a John Foxx section was John Fogerty!!

Anyway I just wondered why this is - is it down to popularity/demand in the area? Or actual availabilty of the CDs?

I know what you mean but CD sales (in shops such as HMV) have dropped dramatically over the past few years and let's be honest there's not much demand for some of John's solo material.

In days gone by high street stores would stock copies of almost all of an artists back catalogue but those days have gone. It does not just apply to John but to other artists like Numan and gigger names than that too.

Imagine for example HMV ordered in The Garden or In Mysterious Ways on CD. We both have our opinions on those albums and know how good they are but I would put a bet on that they would sit on the shelf for years!

The only band (who I personally really like) who always get most or all of their albums into most stores are Depeche Mode as Mute never delete anything they issue. In saying that even the smaller HMV stores these days only stock their greatest hits.

John doesn't even have a flag with his name on in Hemel Hempstead.

I assume that most major music retailers rely heavily on on-line sales.

I biggest choice I've found with John's music in the stores, is the Virgin Megastore in London and even then they haven't all titles.

Peter

My local HMV is pretty good I have to say. I buy all my John Foxx stuff from there and order in just about anything else I want.

Yesterday on the shelf they had:

Metamatic 2CD re-issue 8 copies
Sideways 2 copies
Live From A Room 2 copies
Cathedral Oceans III 4 copies
From Trash 1 copy
Modern Art 2 copies

They previously had the Edsel Metamatic a couple of weeks ago too, and a copy of The Golden Section from that issue as well.

Even more pleasing was to see the two new Harold Budd/Robin Guthrie albums on the shelf

It is certainly sad to not see any copies of "From Trash", being his most recent studio album on general release (not ltd edition or anything).

I remember my attempt at pre-ordering it from the shop... blimey, what posessed me?!

The bitter disappointment of going there on my day of release to find that they hadn't even bothered to follow up my order!

I'm lucky that I live in London and a 15 minute train ride from Sister Ray, HMV and Virgin (or whatever it's called now), so his CDs, including some of the tour ones (Hidden Man) are readily available to me.

I know what Alex means though - I'm in Sheffield every few months and even the local Fopp (RIP *sniff!*) didn't stock much.

The HMV on Oxford Street has all the Edsel ones, Modern Art, CO 3 and the new Metamatic. It's still selling the 2001 Metamatic for £15 (!)and the new one for £10! They stock From Trash too, but I've not seen Crash and Burn anywhere for quite a while.

Maybe next time you're in Sheffield, you can give me a shout...

Fopp closing has completely scuppered my plans for Christmas shopping this year!!

A friend of mine said the new Metamatic was being sold on Play.com for £4.99...

Yup:
http://www.play.com/Music/CD/4-/3438254/Metamatic/Product.html

Would love to Alex - dunno when though! Sheffield is a nightmare for me - my missus is from Sheffield (Woodseats) and my entire family re-located to Rivelin and Crookes a few years ago. So everytime we visit we have to do the rounds!

Sometimes I manage to sneak a Saturday afternoon up Division Street (or the Devonshire Quarter or whatever it's called this week ) so we could sort something out in the near future.

My record shop has a select few of John's work but still no Metamatic.