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

I'm not entirely sold on some of the new IMW bonus tracks; they sound a bit too much like they were meant to be used as background music on Miami Vice or something (the same could be said for City of Light). There's less John Foxxness to them than there is to IMW itself, which sounds more glorious every time I listen to it. I don't think I'll have a hard time getting used to having Spin Away instead of This Side of Paradise.

But damn, I still love Enter the Angel (Eddi Reader's backing vocals teeter on the brink of OTT but don't make it over, thankfully, instead just making the song that much more ecstatic), and Enter the Angel II, and In Mysterious Ways, and Morning Glory. This is the upside to not caring much for IMW when it first came out: I didn't listen to it nearly as often as I did the other albums, so there's a kind of freshness to IMW.

Reading some of the comments here, I was keen to hear the album again so I dug out my vinyl version (my only version) and sat and listened through. I dismissed the album when it came out as it wasn't challenging enough. After the mould breaking "Metamatic" and the incredibly fresh "The Garden", IMW sounded too "pop" to be the artist that I really admired.

And then I grew up!

So now, 20 odd years onwards, I could hear the songs in a very fresh light. It isn't ground breaking, but it is good solid music. Moreover, I was spellbound by the lyrics, and my mind started trying to understand his state of mind when he wrote them. I am convinced that he was in love at the time (entered or just entering a new relationship) or perhaps he had just become a father? I can't guess which, and I know nothing of his personal life to back that up. Anyway, the point being, that I have NOW had these experiences in my own past and can relate to the messages in the songs now. When the album first came out I was still in my first relationship (lovely girl - left me for a spikey haired goth though!) and still learning about life. As such, I had trouble relating to the maturity of the music.

So, now I know why I didn't like it then and why I will order the CD now!

I wonder if Gabriel is a fan of John!! :p

And you will 'get it' even more now that the almost train-of-thought romantic joy of 'Spin Away' has replaced the slightly lumpen 'This Side Of Paradise'.

I find theres three reasons why i like 'IMW' more than i did in '85. Firstly its the new tracklist, then theres the bonus of it being remastered and the extra tracks. But i think age also has something to do with it now. I dont feel like every album from John, Numan, or Ultravox (please ), has to have synths dominating always.

Still not sure I am going to get this one. Must admit it is my least favorite of Foxx's.

You will.

As with most people posting here this is my least favourite JF solo album.

Listening to the remaster though, I feel it has an overlooked charm that I couldn't hear before. It's dated and soppy, but it's still better than a lot of what was around at that time.

A huge quality drop after the truly magnificent The Golden Section, but I'm glad I bought it again.

On Saturday a friend dragged me to the cinema to see "W." There were some good performances and a handful of well-drawn scenes, and the film was never less than competently made, but I wasn’t impressed by it. Although he clearly had made an effort to rein in his tendency toward hysterical conspiracy theories, Oliver Stone seemed to want to present the material as if it were a family drama of Shakespearean dimensions. As a result, the film frequently teetered on the brink of caricature, and yet it left me actually a bit bored overall. My friend is even more left-wing than I am, but he felt that the film’s attempts to explain what drives President Bush served to make him more sympathetic and to humanize him. That’s all very well and good, but does humanizing him excuse the fundamental wrongness of his administration? I don’t think so.

What does this have to do with John Foxx, you may be asking. Well, the other thing I did this weekend was listen – a lot – to the remastered In Mysterious Ways. My perspective on many things has changed with time and maturity, and I'm not afraid to admit when I've made mistakes or demonstrated poor judgment. I have tried to be very objective in my assessment of IMW, and I would like to think I gave it more than a fair shot. I understand where it fits in the greater scheme of John Foxx's career. I think I understand what motivated him to record it and perhaps why he made some of the choices he made in the recording of it. I acknowledge the human aspect of it. But, well, even taking all that into consideration, I still think the end result is just wrong.

To suggest that a listener can’t fully appreciate IMW because he or she has never felt the emotions that drove John Foxx to write the songs on it is unfair. I have been in love and I have been happy – it’s not all whiskey and Tindersticks round my house, you know! The starry-eyed lovesick sentiments aren't what bother me. The limited vocabulary of the lyrics doesn't bother me. The arrangements, however, do! I love Van Morrison and I’m thrilled John Foxx does too, but karaoke versions are best left to teenagers down at the local. Eddi Reader has done some wonderful work in her career, but I do not count her contributions to IMW as being among it. The backing vocals in particular date this album badly.

When you put it in the context of the times IMW was easily John Foxx’s most consumer-friendly record (whether intentionally or by accident) and it’s still kind of amazing to me that it didn’t catch on bigger, because it wasn’t any worse than a lot of stuff that was popular. However, as I didn’t enjoy "Miami Vice" and John Hughes's teen films back then, I don’t look back on them with affectionate nostalgia now. Similarly, I didn’t like the sound of this particular brand of mainstream alterna-pop when it was huge (Flock of Seagulls, Duran Duran, Big Country, late-period Simple Minds), and I still don’t look on it fondly it now. It’s just never been my cup of tea and I don’t think it ever will be, and John Foxx’s approximation of it was not likely to change that opinion no matter how much good will I extend toward his efforts. Having relistened multiple times to IMW I find I am continually frustrated by the kernels I hear of promising material in several of the songs that then, for the most part, go all gloppy and bombastic and cringe-worthy.

However, on a positive note, I acknowledge that the sound on the remastered Disc 1 is vastly improved and the balance is much better than on the previous CD. The change in tracking does help tremendously, because the songs that sound so much alike have been separated. And it’s always nice to hear John Foxx throwing himself wholeheartedly into his vocals, because he really can sing (even though he seemingly prefers not to do so).

As for Disc 2, well . . . um . . . I don’t think I can add anything to what’s already been written about it! I expect I could go to my grave quite happily without having to listen to the likes of some of those bonus tracks again. Yikes!

I'm not sorry I caved in and bought it, but I suspect IMW will continue to be my least favourite among John Foxx's many recordings. I really liked the following comments originally posted by feline1:
And perhaps that may be the best explanation for why, although I am still not won over by this album, I am pleased to report that no discs have gone flying across my room . . .

Ah, but not unfair if the context is about oneself.

In writing that sentence (if that is your reference point), I was leading up to the fact that I was just too immature to hear the emotions in the song, and thus were wasted on me. If they hit the right chords (lyrically) with others (whatever age) then I accept that! I am also fascinated by what drives people to write specific lyrics, hence my focus on that point.