Metamatic Forums John Foxx John Foxx and Louis Gordon Shifting City 2009

The all singing, all dancing, gi-gantic, trans-at-lantic BOOM! of Shifting City 2009. Blimey! What a clean-up operation – I’ve not seen something this bright, shiny and bombastic since the Gherkin went up. I have to confess The Pleasures of Electricity and In The Glow have been unfairly neglected since.

Here We Go is one of my all-time favourite Foxx tracks. I remember where I was the first time I heard it and even though the thrill of hearing The Noise and Crash had yet to pass, it wasn’t until I heard Here We Go that I truly though “He’s back! He’s back!”. The chilled-out Kraftwerk motorik rhythm, the swirling sequencer patterns, gorgeous pads and a massive question delivered warmly and thoughtfully -

Ever wonder just which way to go?
Slow horizons turning round below

I never, ever found the way back home
Goes to show I didn't want to know

So here we go
Here we go

After this and as controversial as this next comment will be – I always found Shadowman a bit of a let-down. Don’t get me wrong – live, it absolutely rocks, but for me, it was just a foggy mess that hummed along – I knew what it wanted to be, and now it finally is what it wanted to be; an all pumped up, door kicking, bass bin destroying energy. Now it works – it’s utterly mesmerising and when it goes all Metroplex after the break, it just destroys anything in its path. Love it. So now I don’t skip Shadowman anymore to get to another Foxx classic Through My Sleeping.

When the original PR for Shifting City came out we were told it was;

“….pure Urban Electronica. Analog synths, 909, 808, Stripped down, minimal and relentless - and interbred with psychedelic gene code.”

It’s on Through My Sleeping that such a manifesto really applies the “psychedelic gene code” (codename: Revolver) – not being a fan of John, Paul, George and Ringo, I’d not noticed their influence on his work before, but after hearing Through My Sleeping and later flicking back through the catalogue (Sitting At The Edge of the World, When You Walk Through Me etc) you’re left thinking – “How come I never noticed that before?”. A beautiful song, massive, massive drums, Foxx’s backing vocal ‘aaaaaaaaaah’ phased, sounding almost mellotron-ic.

Forgotten Years and Everyone I sadly admit, I used to skip through also – for similar reasons for skipping past Shadowman. They sounded muddy and lacklustre – again I knew what he was doing, I just wasn’t sure it worked. Maybe it’s the re-masters, maybe it’s the years and they’ve grown on me, but I can’t imagine skipping them now – not with the depth and clarity they’ve been given here. They really shine. Those really tense, ‘Hitchcock’-strings on Everyone, and as Martin points out above - “what IS that dialogue on Forgotten Years???”

Well, if the influence of the ‘Four lads who shook the world’ was understated previously, on Shifting City it’s “like having your brain smashed out by a slice of lemon wrapped round a large gold brick" (© Douglas Adams). Mellotron-ic, metallic, psychedelic, fluid, moving - f*** me – what a track. If these two lads who shook my world ever play again I demand a European referendum that ensures this is always the closer at every gig – in fact; if they want to walk off stage, leave the equipment running so we can all sing along while they totter off to bed, I’ll still be by the stage singing until the cleaners arrive and kick me out in the morning. Ridiculously beautiful – shouldn’t be allowed.

I once said of the live versions of Shadowman and Concrete, Bulletproof, Invisible – “they do the job they were brought in to do; kicking in the doors of subtlety with big drums, thunderous bass and vocoders – and how we love vocoders, big drums and thunderous bass”. And even on my old, now slightly dusty original copy of Shifting City (I refuse to sell/trade my original copy on eBay/Amazon for crack/original Mattel's Bee Gees Rhythm Machine…oh, alright – will swap for Mattel's Bee Gees Rhythm Machine…), Concrete, Bulletproof, Invisible was always able to do that, despite the mud, the fog, the bandwidth; Concrete, Bulletproof, Invisible will kill anything in its wake. And Concrete, Bulletproof, Invisible V2.0 – well…it’s all ED-209 now – I wouldn’t mess with it if I was you – Run! Run for cover! Save the women and children This 303 squeals and this rhythm kills!

I know nothing about music, at all. I openly despise and deride most musicians for their scholarly approach and, by and large - their complete lack of creativity. So when The Stranglers very own fanzine in the mid-70s said “Here’s Three Chords, Now Form a band (Sniffin’ Glue ripped it history buffs) – it was heart-warming to read Throbbing Gristle’s riposte of “Three Chords? Why so many?”. So, I couldn’t swear to it but – for the most part - An Ocean We Can Breathe sounds like one long Moog tone. And in my world that’s a ‘Wow’-factor the size of a small, industrialised South-American nation. It’s Foxx, vocally almost riffing a melody over a tone – until it all breaks loose later – he’s never, ever been as sparse, as minimal, as up-tight (as in the ‘everything’s alright’ sense of ‘up –tight’) as this before – and I don’t think he has since. What a way to end an album - it’s many years on since and every time I hear this album, I always think Shifting City should have been the closer – but every time I hear An Ocean We Can Breathe I can’t imagine the album ending any other way.

At the end of this re-master, I feel like a five year old shouting “Again! Again” on a swing, and I can’t give it any higher praise than that.

Ahhhhhh – so, I’m sat there basking in the glory of the Shifting City, so that’s it – the end…but hang about – there’s a tap on the shoulder, well it’s more of a thump – like the surprise of an ex-KGB henchman trying to bundle you into a bulletproof, blacked-out car when only seconds ago you were sashaying along a busy street without a care in the world.

We’ll call this situation: Shadowman (Mono Mix) …sneaks up on you – you won’t see it coming. I think he’s angry with me for skipping him all these years – and he’s not short in replying either. F*** me – this is a mono mix? If all his tracks were this good in Mono, I want all the albums re-mastered, by Phil Spector from his prison cell NOW!

Gazza

That is such a brilliant review. A real pleasure to read.

Hear! Hear!

Absolutely superb.

So good in fact, that I've ripped mine up... :p

Thats it.

I will have to buy it now!

Ha!Ha!Ha!

Great review Gazza!

But what about he actual close of the CD: 'Just For A Moment'?

I knew this song so well (I thought so anyway), but this version really send shivers down my spine.

And what about this statement: SHIFTING CITY BRINGS EVERYTHING JF TOGETHER

Amen.

That is one Thunderchunk!!! of a great review there Radiobeach.

There’s suddenly been lots of great stuff to read on the forum since the end of last week, from links to Mirrorball conspiracy theories via an MP3 discussion group, to a critical analysis of Kraftwerks Catalogue, and big shout outs for favourite albums of 2009, its been just like all of those albums from John, you wait 20 years for one or two to appear and then a dozen all turn up at once, where do you start, I need a holiday to read it all, but its all a good read.

Shifting City 09 is most definitely on my mind now, and I’m quite willing to believe that the old ‘re-mastering’ thingy that’s been going on may just have polished up what I’ve always considered to be quite a lame album, no, please nobody shout out at me, did you say “lame!”. I can be very lukewarm about things, but when I realise that I actually do like something then I get right behind it with heart and soul, so here’s to seeing how big a U-turn I may be doing about John & Louis debut album. It’s gone on my Christmas wish list, and I’m gonna order it up today.

NO, don’t do that, a big part of the fun here on Metamatic is reading (and writing) the Honest reviews/comments written by the fans on here, rather than just having to read only those written by music critics elsewhere.

Thanks all! glad my ranting scribblogics (It's too soon to call it Writing) are appreciated - I'm currently on a 12-step programme of like-minded souls trying to rehabilitate after seeing Duran Duran do Showroom Dummies and my Dr. says this is good therapy.

And Breathe

And Martin - never, ever stop writing - EVER! there's room for all!

Garry, can you write all the sleeve notes for John's albums in future, please? That's exactly the kind of passion, humour and all-round brilliance we need to sum up Foxxian genius.

Thanks to everyone who's posted comments in the reissues threads, by the way...great stuff, keep 'em coming. I'm now saving up more assiduously than ever!

I've finally heard this - a lot of previously quiet background sounds have been significantly brought out, making it a much fuller sounding album.

Any "new" elements on this album, unlike with TPOE, are much more subtle. Barely noticeable on first inspection. All adds to the overall improvement though. This album is finally living up to its potential.

What I will say is that the mono version of Shadow Man is absolutely fantastic! In fact I think it's miles better than the final version!!

Cheers Gem!

Talking of sleevennotes, I miss all the humourous sleeve notes that appeared on things like Sideways - 'Recorded by passing traffic via remote shout method' etc etc - I liked that subtle, humourous surrealism that crept in at that time (and sadly disappeared)