Metamatic Forums John Foxx John Foxx 30th Anniversary Foxx

From Burning Car, to Stars On Fire, that's surely some kind of an interesting five year journey musically

I definitely bought both of these at time of release, but if I wasn't reminded of the actual dates above then I think that distant memory would now be merged with sentiment, and would convince me that Burning Car was an earlier in the year song, and that Stars On Fire was more of a September outing.

And I was fortunate to be there!

Sunday August 10th, 1980 - highest UK chart position for Burning Car...

Burning Car, a truly classic moment.

I was working in a small store at the time, and had expressed my admiration of the Foxx to the only other 'sensitive' teenager working there, he came into work one day having recently heard Burning Car on the radio and thinking it was total pants (or whatever the insult of the day was!), he took great delight in teasing me about it all evening by continually repeating the line, "its a burning caa-ha-arrr, bee bee beeeep..."

ah, goalposts for jumpers

30 years ago I first got to hear 20th Century. I must of played that to death, obsessive or what

30 years later I haven't changed my mind about Burning Car or 20th Century, love them to bits. Two classic John Foxx tracks.

Peter

This weekend marks the 25th anniversary of the release of…

IN MYSTERIOUS WAYS

My apologies to those who would rather not be reminded of this.

But I'm having a few beers to celebrate
After all, as the man said

Pour me a drink and I'll remember you

Cheers, John

No need to apologise Martin,I play one or other discs from the 2 disc set quite a lot.

It's a mis-understood and under-rated classic but that's just my opinion

I think it's his best work but that's just my opinion.

25 years - can't believe it, I had no idea, and quite recently I was prompted by circumstance to think back on the time it came out, very clear in my memory, and so strange that it has been drifting into my thoughts for the last few weeks.

I think its a great shame John did not manage to move Spin Away on a few notches more away from it's obvious source, and make it more his own voice. I really think he was onto an interesting path here as an electronic artist while continuing onwards with his particular psychedelia after The Golden Section.

It's perhaps an even greater shame that it took us 23 years to hear Spin Away, which for me is clearly the heart of the IMW album, and should have informed the pattern of the other songs and the overall nature of the work. If only he had nailed what he was searching for from the influences he was looking to during the writing of the work, and took the decision to go deeper with it's template.

Even after all this time IMW remains as more a bitter rather than a sweet listening experience for me, and, just what could it have really turned out to be like?, that is something I occasionally ponder. But it has two or three songs on it that I rate as being amongst the most exquisitely beautiful in John's art, and 25 years later I still treasure these, and I have no hesitation in celebrating the fact that he wrote them.

In Mysterious Ways is certainly unique in the Foxx canon - I'm sure most people would agree with that. And then (more or less) the silence began. It is now longer since the silence ended than since the silence began so we can be grateful for that.

I'm always intrigued by the comment that he was "feeling happy but making terrible mistakes" (or something very similar) at the time of this record. Some of the best mistakes ever made, perhaps.