Originally posted by MintyTux:
Originally posted by core memory:
but I hope that he can also be afforded the luxury to take a risk with more experimentation... and maybe release something wilder
I think to a certain extent he does that... with Cathedral Oceans and the Tiny Colour Movies projects.
I feel that these are really very safe projects, certainly in terms of multimedia and installation work. But I really would like to see him step just a bit more out of his comfort zone of the type of music he and Louis have been doing for some time now. Call me crazy but I would like to see him entertain again some of, but certainly not all of, those risky notions he had a long time ago about being ‘influenced’ by other artistic styles.
I will be the first to hold up my hand and say, yes but it’s the Metamatic kind of music he makes so well now that’s brought me back to John, and has clearly been what many others want to hear from him also. Sure, I don’t want him to blow it, but I think with Louis by his side he has now got someone he trusts to remind him not to rock the boat too much, and that he shouldn’t lean over the edge too far while fishing for new ideas.
Originally posted by Birdsong: (RE: TCM, and CO) For my money, this material is John's very best and the kind of thing, I think, he is moving more towards
I think CO is a worthy project in it’s own right, and as an installation piece designed for a church environment it fits in beautifully as a part of the Foxxian musical landscape.
I love the fake collector persona that John has invented for the background to the TCM ‘found’ films, but save for a few tracks I remain to be convinced of it musically, and I agree also that a large part of John probably wants to move more in this video direction. I think he’s had to long ago give up any ambition of making a movie, which he used to state was reliant on having a couple of big hit’s, but he’s certainly not alone in that thwarted desire, and ever cheaper multimedia and video will continue to allow an accessible avenue for many people minus a budget or a studio to express themselves very creatively in sound and vision.
Is John Foxx bigger now than ever? Well, for me on a personal level yes, he must be, when I look at his presence in my choice of music, in my expectation of something exciting to look forward to on the horizon, on my ‘arty’ radar, in the fact that I’m typing this on a site that I only used to glance at a few times a year in some quiet hope, then yes something good has definitely happened.
I don’t know if it’s ‘big’ or not as far as the rest of the music buying public might care, or the press might want to write about, much as we wish, or maybe don’t completely trust, but he and the fantastic team he so clearly needed to have in order to stay this course have all pulled together so successfully in building and reawakening the loyalty of a somewhat commercially invisible but nonetheless tangible underground fanbase, and are assuring this far the continuing legend of our cult Hero.
I know that for me the real call came in ’06 with the From Trash album and tour. Compared to the reserved ’03 gig that was the first sighting of John for me in this millennium, the From Trash show had so many unexpectedly enthusiastic people present that I was completely taken aback, where had all these excitable fans come from! John’s return soon gathered dizzying speed for me after that with the approach of the ’07 tour when I found myself counting the days to seeing John play again, and by that point the arrival of new albums or announcement of tours seemed to be an almost everyday normal occurrence for this ‘quiet man’ whom I’d only seen once during his past peak, four albums and then nothing.
I can only respect the dedication of all the other fans who eagerly got back on board in ’97 with Shifting City, that they had been very patiently and closely viewing this longer picture of John and Louis gradually bringing out the CD’s, and the other facet’s of John’s work emerging with the continuing CO albums, and the final unveiling of the cathedral shows, together with the similar avenue of TCM.
Could, or should we bring record sales during this renaissance period into this question, and compare them to the past in terms of recognition, or financial reward, is this fair? And has John had a moment or two since, maybe with the Drive EP, the closest thing there’s been to a single’s release, when the memory of that past golden period that he enjoyed might vaguely have come into view again in his mind?
We all know now that he passed safely through the fall from his ‘80’s grace, and he must have reaped many benefits of that past. He has his teaching post now, and has found the creative space in the life he leads, and the devout audience is here once more for the sleek and angular electronic music he makes so well. Surely he now make’s his music more for passion than necessarily for income or sustenance, but has he seen that distant glow of the bright past surface in today’s work, and wished for it to shine so bright again for his future now? Or has he ignored that notion, and just put his head down again and back to work.
I think the real question we would like an answer to is just how big does Dennis Leigh actually want John Foxx to become again?