Metamatic Forums John Foxx John Foxx Glimmer: The Best Of

Excellent album artwork and title - 'Glimmer' (an all time favourite instrumental). Track listing, it does miss 'From Trash' and 'TCM', but otherwise covers a wide area starting with Ultravox!. I like the addition of slightly rare tracks too, even though its a B/O. It should keep new and old fans happy.

Excellent news re: DubTerror!!!

Must be about time this 12" vinyl was released then?

From John's blog:-

New John Foxx Best Of


Glimmer: The Best of John Foxx is due for release through Demon/Edsel on September 22, 2008.

The album features some of John's most famous singles ranging from Underpass and Burning Car through to Endlessly and Europe After The Rain, plus classic album tracks (The Garden, He's A Liquid) and his heavily electronic re-interpretations with Louis Gordon of early Ultravox classics such as My Sex and Hiroshima Mon Amour.

There's also a selection of material from two of Foxx/Gordon's most under-rated albums Shifting City (1997) and The Pleasures Of Electricity (2001), as well as a sample of his ambient material with Harold Budd and the ongoing Cathedral Oceans project, all of which is due for re-release through Edsel in 2009 and 2010. Cities of Light 5 is a new mix which will also be featured on the forthcoming edition of The Pleasures of Electricity.

In addition to Carcrash Flashback from 2006's Sideways and some recent collaborations with Jori Hulkkonen and Metamatics, the new Dub Terror/Karborn mix of Burning Car completes the album, along with the previously unreleased No One Driving (early version) and Plaza (extended).

The album will be widely available although John has signed 50 copies which will be available for pre-order soon on a first come first serve basis through his official shop at Townsend Records - www.townsend-records.co.uk


Glimmer: The Best of John Foxx


CD1:


Glimmer
Plaza
No-One Driving
Underpass
Quiet City *
Dislocation *
030
Twilight's Last Gleaming
Sunset Rising
Cities Of Light 5 *
Europe After The Rain
Hiroshima Mon Amour *
The Garden

CD2:
Through My Sleeping *
Endlessly
My Sex *
He's A Liquid
Carcrash Flashback V2*
Dancing Like A Gun
Just For A Moment *
Dislocated (with Jori Hulkkonen)
Burning Car
Miles Away
Stepping Sideways (with Harold Budd)
Free Robot (with Metamatics)
No-One Driving (early version)
Plaza (extended version)
Burning Car (Dub Terror/Karborn 2008 mix)

* Recorded with Louis Gordon

A couple is strange things for me.

1. Why was n't "No One Driving" (Early Version)not included on the 2 CD set of "Metamatic"

2. A best of without the following baffles me:

What Kind Of A Girl
Like A Miracle
Your Dress
Enter The Angel

I would have ditched last 3 tracks off CD 2 and included the above and if the remix of "Burning Car" the one that is on John's Myspace page I would most definitely get rid of it as it is awful.

Would have been better to stick with original tracks and not added fillers.

Thats only my view and i'm sure other people would have liked a few other tracks to have been included.

Gary

My thoughts exactly, its a nice rework and needs to be included.

These appear to be great choices for inclusion too, as the Ultravox! versions should stay in any Ultravox! back catologue IMO.

If this is not the 'single version', then i agree it should have been on the 'definitive' Metamatic.

Because then it wouldn't be available as a track to add to this and encourage sales among fans who already have everything else.

There's been some planning ahead here which is good to see.

I notice from the artwork that the words 'the best of' are not included?? (after all, such choices are entirely personal).
My initial reaction to this is positive, and its good to see an attempt to bring together a bit of everything John has done to showcase ALL his work. It was never going to be easy to get a definitive track listing, and I remember when we speculated over this everyone had a different opinion.

That said, I can completely understand why From Trash isn't represented. :p

Great to see Free Robot included as an example of what other people have done with John's music. Hopefully it will encourage other people to do the same. Ditto Burning Car of course.

It is maybe a little disappointing to see the same CO track here as on Modern Art but then I can understand why from a PR point of view. And I agree there could be too much Metamatic - I presume the recent 2xCD release is still available?

Just my initial thoughts.
Well done guys - a good effort and I look forward to it.
Thanks

I thought the same thing that its included to encourage sales, but gave more credit to thinking even further to the future. Example: When the remasters of 'TG', 'TGS' and 'IMW' is released, will there be tracks held back for another compilation.
I tiz indeedy hope not.

Some nice little surprises there! Slightly bizarre tracklisting, and "Stepping Sideways" I initially read as "Stepping Softly" (actually though, I do have some time for this song, in the right mood). It seems odd to me not to have anything from "From Trash" (his most high-profile release of recent years) but maybe "Glimmer" is for new fans who only have this one so far.

One more thing, which very slightly annoys me regarding best of's: the title, taken as it is from the title of a track, sucked out of its original context, followed by "the best of". I know everyone does it but it does annoy me - I must be some kind of purist. :p

Overall though, looking forward to it, especially the full version of "Plaza". Great to see "Dislocated" on there too.

Interesting point, but I really doubt it. For a start, I doubt if there is so much material, and second No One Driving is about as high profile as John Foxx ever got so lots of people outside his immediate current fan base will recognise it.

I'd have put this version on INSTEAD of the original for the same reason though, so I'm talking myself into a corner :rolleyes:

Hi Birdsong. there was a John Foxx snippet in Smash Hits just before the release of the Garden that stated he had recorded 30+ tracks. This was possibly the In The Glow rumoured album. So hopefully there will be some interesting stuff. We can but hope! I hope too that the No One Driving track on Glimmer is the full version that was previewed on Metal Beat. Anyway I am still as happy as larry (whoever he was) with all these releases and Leeds and London to look forward to.