Metamatic Forums John Foxx John Foxx In Mysterious Ways 2008 re-master

I was planning to listen to the three re-masters in succession but curiosity got the better of me…

So, Spin Away then. I can hear the reason Foxx never included this on the original and subsequent edition of In Mysterious Ways. On the previous editions of In Mysterious Ways you could hear the subtle influence of Van Morrison’s Astral Weeks and you could sit and wonder if he’d heard Nick Drake as well. Spin Away dispels these myths in an instant – it’s just Van Morrison. Spin Away is In Mysterious Ways coming out of the closet, sitting both parents down and telling them that it is a Van Man, it has known for some time that it is a Van Man and now it feels liberated and after all, honesty is the best policy. So honest in its liberated pride for Van Morrison it shouts it in glorious splendour in letters so tall, so neon saying; ‘I LOVE VAN MORRISON! HE’S GREAT!’ it makes the Hollywood letters gouged into a hillside look like subtle camouflage.

But this works for In Mysterious Ways which always wanted to be a gloriously loud / pondering acoustic thing anyway, and now that the ‘Miami Vice’ track has rolled up its jacket sleeves, adjusted its mirror shades, got in its speedboat and darted off across the horizon to the bonus disc, In Mysterious Ways feels all the better for it. The album has a centre now, which it didn’t before - Spin Away is that centre it’s glorious splendour is now echoed later on with Morning Glory which you realise has taken some of the motifs of Spin Away for its more subtle, reflective closer. All the clunky DX7 madness is still present but In Mysterious Ways feels better adjusted now that Crockett and Tubbs aren’t there to break its Astral projection.

There’s a whole train of thought somewhere on the bonus disc, which luckily Foxx never saw through. There was a slew of bands in the 80s that wore chunky knitwear, stared hard into the rain from mountaintops and thought, really deep thoughts to epic guitars; Ultravox were guilty as charged of this as were Big Country, Simple Minds and, god help us, Then Jericho. Foxx could almost of been accused of this crime too if Enter The Angel (Alternate), And The Sky, City of Light, Hiding in Plain Sight and Shine On (Alternate is anything to go by.

Magic however, is a whole other world – where the expression ‘WTF!?’ was never more appropriate. Magic is that lite-funk thing that Level 42 peddled so well and Numan did so badly – it sounds like an out-take from Berserker. What possessed these men to do this? Why god why!? The version of To Be With You is totally at odds with everything on the bonus disc – it sounds like a mid 80s synth-pop song, just a lot darker.

After the ‘chunky knitwear, stared hard into the rain from mountaintops and thought, really deep thoughts to epic guitars’ mini-album you get the 60s pop of City of Light and the ambience of Lumen De Lumine.

Back to the main event though – I gave the out and proud In Mysterious Ways another spin and forgave the DX7s and just smiled - In Mysterious Ways feels stupidly, happily glorious now. It’s still In Mysterious Ways but it’s very happy being In Mysterious Ways and why shouldn’t it.

Wow - nicely written Garry!! Thanks for sharing.
I am so not familiar with Van Morrison and I've never really had an inclination to 'go there'...

If a record makes you smile, it can only be a good thing.
I'm looking forward to this experience more than ever now.

And maybe I might put something together meself in advance of Cargo. Haven't written a decent review for aaaages.

Just got four new albums to play a handful of times each this week - but this one will have the highest priority as its my favourite

But, Martin, as Garry's WONDERFUL review makes clear, if you love "IMW" (which you've said you do) you have already kind of "gone Van" -- with John Foxx as your tour guide!

I've previously said that a handful of tracks on "IMW" proper sound too much like John Foxx was attempting (not that subtly) to rewrite Van Morrison. It occurs to me now that maybe I dislike "IMW" more than John Foxx's rewrites of the psychedelic-era Beatles ("TGS") because, well, I really love some of Van Morrison's early solo works ("Astral Weeks," "Moondance"). Since I don't really care for the Beatles maybe I'm less annoyed by John Foxx's repeated attempts to tailor-make a new "Tomorrow Never Knows," which I don't particularly care for so don't feel protective of. Just a thought.

Still, Garry, your review was so delightful that I'm almost sorry I passed on the reissued "IMW." Now I want to listen to disc 2 with your words in mind -- and maybe track down those photos of John Foxx in chunky knitwear glowering in the studio (he must have been too busy to take a holiday at the cliffs)!

Arrgh, the agony!

no, it's not me commenting on listening to IMW


I am so desperate to read your thoughts on it, which look very interesting, and those of anyone else who post's their opinion, but I can't read it yet until I've listened to it myself, and that's gonna have to wait till the weekend probably.

And I realise that's a bit rich as I've already posted my own thoughts about TGS for anyone to read, who might also still be waiting to have their own listen about that one first.

I'm really curious about hearing IMW 'cold' and seeing what effect it has on me now after all these years

You almost make me wanna buy it!

That really does help to explain why so many Foxx fans don't "get" IMW; with this album John discarded his previous influences and went "acoustic", and in doing so alienated so many of the fans who'd been with him since Metamatic.

I didn't discover the likes of Van Morrison and Nick Drake until the late 1980s, and only heard the actual track "Astral Weeks" earlier this year. I remember back in 1985 being terribly disappointed with "Morning Glory" closing the album, as previously the best track on John's albums was always the closer. But here it was....what - just two chords repeated over and over with lyrics that sounded like John was making it up as he went along??????

In many ways, IMW is the sort of "mature" album you don't appreciate till you're in your thirties yourself and realise there's a whole load of genres of music that exist outside the charts and the radio stations. Obviously the DX7 digital synth sounds and electronic drums make much of it sound dated, but the quality of the songs is as good as anything John has done before or since.

thanks garry, amazing review!

Thats a bit of an epic review there Garry!!

Last one i remember was oddly enough, 'IMW' too.

Was it?

Now there's A Funny Thing.
I'm sure I've written others since but now I wonder if perhaps they weren't all for... *coughs apologetically*... albums and gigs by other artists

Mind you, following Garry's super effort might be quite a challenge

Aw shucks!

Cheers guys and girls!

I just thought it was worth saying/rambling/ranting because Spin Away really does make a fundamental difference to the album. It adds to the 'Splendour and wonder of Love' arc (or whatever you want to call it) that the album is built on, which This Side of Paradise interrupted.