Metamatic Forums John Foxx John Foxx Glimmer: The Best Of

And your countryman as well

http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?videoId=185196&title=President-Bush\'s-Legacy

Makes my proud to be scottish'ish.

In terms of the reissues and Glimmer, I'm delighted that they're happening - everything I've seen and heard about them has been very exciting. I don't think for a second that John would expect us to buy anything just for the sake of completion, and I do, in fact, think that these releases offer a great deal for both new and old fans - many thanks to all involved. Remember, we've already been promised new material for 2009!

It's the attitudes expressed by a few people on the forum that I took exception to, as I don't think anybody has the right to challenge another's level of 'commitment' to John's music, particularly when the definition of that commitment varies so widely between individuals. But hey, we're all here for the same reasons ultimately - to support John's work however we see fit . Thanks to everyone who posted about this, anyway - good debate.

The word "Need" keeps popping up in here, does anyone truly "need" a cd (any cd)??
If you don't want to buy it... don't, just stop whining about how you can't justify buying it.

Re: Glimmer, to buy, or not to buy…



I think unless you are a completist, which I’m not, not about anything in fact, then you will not feel the need to own every piece of an artists jigsaw.
Sure there’s been times in the past, when I’ve thought to myself hey maybe I really should have held onto all those music paper and magazine articles that I used to cut-out and keep about John, or gone out of my way to find more ‘Stuff’, and pursued that 80’s ‘Burning Car picture disc’ that someone told me about at the time.
Today, I don’t even have Cathedral Oceans 2, and 3, or the DVD, or the Foxx/Budd album, (maybe this may change ), or most of the ‘live’ Foxx/Louis albums, and in these more recent years I’ve also never felt the need to go chase around other parts of the country to see him again and again while on tour in the UK.

I just take what I need from art, to pick and choose bits here and there, but I’m really very sincere about the value I place on these bits. I accepted a long time ago that I don’t necessarily need, or indeed can afford every single part of a picture to fully understand what its message is, as long as one can ‘feel’ for the nature of the beast, then its not always necessary to capture it.
Popularist art is our most accessible art form, and I think that ‘channel hopping’ is not just the modern way, but a contemporary expression of our hunter gatherer nature, and in doing that, we do all prioritise, all the time, emotionally, financially, or opportunistically.


Well, for my £6 what did I personally get:
2 remixes, 2 collaboration’s, 1 early version which I really like, 3 Ultravox re-workings, and all of these are tracks I don’t already own on CD, and I also got the neat booklet and packaging, so its 8 songs in total, and a tasteful presentation.
Shame of course that the old/remastered tracks are going to be purchased all over again very soon , but I’m glad I didn’t have to pay any more than I did, and undoubtedly it’s cheaper than every other new CD, regardless of the artist, that I have to buy.

For me the main issue here is the undoubted redundancy of all those other tracks that I’m never ever likely to play this particular CD for, but for now I guess I’m happy enough with my ‘bits’

You UK fans are spoiled for choice. Try being a Foxx fan over here.

sorry maryann, pointless I know saying hope you get a copy soon, I mean its only NY for goodness sake, not going to the moon...

"get it sorted!"

Got my copy yesterday, just in time for the drive up to my sister's last night. Great stuff, even the oft-heard oldies. One particular stand-out for me is "Dislocated". The sinister melody and minimalist lyric are what I consider JF mainstays, and well produced too. The extended "Plaza" is a collector's dream, and while I wouldn't really consider myself such, I do have a soft-spot for experimental early mixes of anyone's work. You often find little musical gems hidden away in the bits that never made the final cut. All in all, a great compilation.

One minor niggle, and it's a purely personal one; any time I see a "best of" album/CD, I'm always transported back to those tacky 70's variants, where you just new that a "best of" compilation heralded the end of the artist in question's creative years. I'm willing to concede that it's not the case here.

People are going to shout at me now...

I've mostly avoided listening to the remixes online until I could have them on a CD, and for the last few days I've been totally hooked on hearing only the Metamatics, Free Robot, and Dubterror/Karborn, Burning Car tracks.

If the Ministry Of Foxx are listening in then more like this please, I'd buy a CD of tracks in this Foxx dissected vein

I'm not going to shout - instead pat you on the back.

I absolutely love these tracks, and most of the other remixes by other folk (the Jori Hulkonnen singles etc)

This is really how John Foxx music can reach the widest possible audience and opens up both a legacy and completely new directions for his work.
Sadly however you package it, there are still only a minority of 'ordinary people' who have ever heard of John Foxx so the audience choosing his work for its own sake will always be limited - until its 'discovered'.
Its these collaborations with and remixes feat. JF that give him the best possible chance of achieving that. I'd say that makes these (Dislocated, Free Robot and perhaps Burning Car especially) the most significant tracks on Glimmer