Metamatic Forums John Foxx John Foxx Mirrorball

My initial thought on hearing Mirrorball was to be released on vinyl, was 'Yes! - some new JF vinyl to play for the first time in 'X' number of years'. But thinking about it now, I think I'll take the same path as Martin... I'll keep it just to look at!...And buy the CD to play. After all, it's cheaper than buying a new turntable.... :rolleyes:

Guthrie's solo stuff is all instrumental, but if you like the music on Mirrorball, you'll almost certainly like his solo albums. And, for that matter, his collaborations with Harold Budd. You don't really need to track down drifting a.f.u., his ambient/isolationist DJ mix CD, though.

I really like this album - I thought I was going to have to find the right moment to listen to it (I have a hectic lifestyle!), but it is very listenable anywhere.

I'm thinking of ways to "repurpose" some of the tracks for family videos!!!

My wife didn't switch it off either - I lent her my i-pod to let her hear the new material and she listened to 3 tracks straight through!! New record!

I confirm it's wife-friendly!

Blimey! The CD turned up today...the packaging looks like it's been around the houses a bit!

Looking forward to getting home and sticking it on!

At this rate, the vinyl might reach me by 2012

Good for you, but that must be a world first. Mrs Birdsong is about as anti "tuneless drivel" Foxx as one can be...

"It's just so, well - boring. How can you listen to such cr*p.." :rolleyes:

Still manages to be 'artist of the week' at Townsend though..

I am on my fourth listen now. My only criticism would be to say that I don't understand the choice of sleeve design (good as it is) - this seems to me very much a summer evening record, best heard on a train, preferably in Devon, even more preferably on the Tarka line between Exeter and Barnstaple. But it doesn't really matter, we can only ever make our own interpretation of what is presented to us, and we should feel privileged to have it to filter through our lives. Instead of darkness, I personally see sunlight bouncing off windscreens, windows and water. I also hear the bells near the end of Sunshower and see me hearing Just For A Moment for the first time twenty years ago and realising that this was going to be a key moment in my musical development. The piano that summer evening (at about 1 minute 10, at about 8pm) reminded me of earlier summer evenings, of distant lazy Sunday church bells playing strange beguiling tunes as I played in the garden. This record will join my Durutti Column records as being essential (you guessed it) summer evening material. It is wonderful to hear John singing over guitars once more, and when he breaks into English at the end of Estrellita it is some kind of epiphany. Finally, although I have no idea why Empire Skyline is called that (I don't hear it or see it), it is absolutely gorgeous. "Mirrorball" therefore joins "My Lost City" at the top of the heap for album of the year so far, in my (ever so slightly misted) eyes.

Personally I find this runs a close second behind A Secret Life at the moment, that being my current candidate for Album of the Year

This is only a guess, but John is very taken with New York City. New York is called the "Empire State". (Thus the famous Empire State Building) So my guess is john is paying homage to New York City in "Empire Skyline".

Another review of 'Mirrorball' on today's ITV Teletext, (Page 823, page 7/8) It's another good 'un!


John Foxx & Robin Guthrie/Mirrorball
Meeting at a Harold Budd gig in 2005, Foxx and Guthrie's love of experimental soundscapes made an album inevitable.

Foxx provides the improvised vocals, just the right side of the divide between enigmatic and pretentious, as Guthrie's playing remains as hypnotic and utterly foreign as it ever did.

Played in the wrong mood, it'll drift past. Concentrate hard enough, and you may not return to the real world. 7/10