Metamatic Forums John Foxx John Foxx and Louis Gordon Obscurities detail requested please

With the forthcoming double CD set of Metamatic set to include a number of obscure mixes from promo releases, it has piqued my interest for further detail on these promo releases. I've had a look at the discography section, but there are some details I'm asking questions about which I list here in the hope that someone can sketch in the missing pieces;

'Young Love' / 'Metal Beat'
I have an old copy of NME from 1979 - one of the shops that used to advertise mail order lists 'Young Love' for sale. (At a mere 79p...) I know that there is an acetate listed in the discography. Did it ever make it beyond the acetate stage? As it was obviously intended as John's first solo single (to the extent that at least one retailer was listing it for sale) I'm curious as to why it got cancelled and was never to appear until a much later CD re-issue. I find it curious that a song which was considered strong enough to be a single A side was then relegated to the vaults for over a decade. Does anyone know what the story is with this release? Was there a picture sleeve design?

'A New Kind Of Man' (Alternative Mix) / 'Metal Beat' - 7", VS303
I presume this was the next intended single. I've read somewhere that it comes in a picture sleeve that resembles the one for 'Underpass'. Does anyone have any scans of this or know of any online anywhere? I'm curious as to how similar the sleeve front/back is to 'Underpass'.

'Underpass' / 'He's A Liquid' (Alternative Mix) Promo 12" - VDJ31
Again, I'm curious about whether this release comes in a picture cover and if so, what is the design - like the 7"? Any differences? The mix of 'He's A Liquid' is different, I presume the same as per the promo video. Also, when did it appear - at the same time as the 7" release? Before? Later?

'No One Driving' UK singles - 7" VS338
I'm curious about the variations in this release. I've only ever owned the double pack 7" so I never thought to buy any variations and I always assumed that the 'regular' edition would have just had one track on the B side ('Glimmer'). But I see from the discography that as well as this two track version there is also a three track version with both 'Glimmer' and 'Mr No' on the B side! Does anyone know why there are these variations? Were there gaps between when the versions were released? Are there any significant changes in the sleeve design to each?

'No One Driving' Australian 7" EP
This looks to be a single 7" with all four tracks on it, intead of a double pack. My question is, does it come in a picture sleeve and if so, what is it like? I know that a lot of Australian 7"s tend to just be in plain company sleeves.

Japanese six-track 12" EP
I'm intrigued about this release and why it has a different mix of 'Miles Away' - does anyone know why the mix is different? Is it from the video? And why is the video mix different? (Possibility: an earlier mix in order to be ready for a video shoot? And then used by mistake when mastering the Japanese 12"? Or was it a deliberate move to use this mix instead of the 7" version?)

'He's A Liquid' promo video
I've seen a query in another thread about why a promo video for this track exists and how it may have indicated that it was possibly considered as a single release at some point.

My guess is that it was possibly filmed at the same time as either 'Underpass' or 'No One Driving'. My reasoning behind this is that in the early 80s it seemed to be common practice when filming a promo video for a new single from a new album to shoot a second video at the same time of songs that may possibly have been considered as a follow-up single. I can think of a few examples;

The Cure: 'Other Voices' filmed at the same session as 'Primary'
XTC: 'All of A Sudden (It's Too Late')
Siouxsie and the Banshees: 'Red Light' filmed at the same session as 'Christine'.
Japan: 'Swing' filmed at the same session as 'Gentlemen Take Polaroids'

In none of the above cases were the extra tracks filmed released as singles. I'm sure there are lots of other examples. Anyhow, it's just a theory... any thoughts?

Well, I've asked a lot of questions and I hope there are some answers! Sorry if it's been a bit too trainspotterish for some...

Originally posted by glimmer fix:

'Young Love' / 'Metal Beat'
I have an old copy of NME from 1979 - one of the shops that used to advertise mail order lists 'Young Love' for sale. (At a mere 79p...) I know that there is an acetate listed in the discography. Did it ever make it beyond the acetate stage? As it was obviously intended as John's first solo single (to the extent that at least one retailer was listing it for sale) I'm curious as to why it got cancelled and was never to appear until a much later CD re-issue. I find it curious that a song which was considered strong enough to be a single A side was then relegated to the vaults for over a decade. Does anyone know what the story is with this release?

I can't begin to answer these in any detail, but I can suggest that Young Love may have been 'shelved' because it just didn't fit with what emerged from the design process that resulted in Metamatic. It is a good song and maybe led onto other things - possibly tracks such as Like A Miracle and maybe this new one To be With You? Some songs would have suited the stripping down to basics, 'click-click drone' approach, but others wouldn't and were felt to be warmer and more complete in their original form.
As I haven't heard these yet, this is only a theory, and one that I have based on the lyrics/titles more than anything else.

Maybe by the time Metamatic was emerging at Pathway, Virgin felt that Underpass and ANKOM were more representative of the album than Young Love?

Do we know whether it was actually written BEFORE the album, or after?? That would be interesting. We know, for example, that both Touch and Go and He's A Liquid were written first, while John was still with the band.

Dunno - pure speculation. Good luck with your quest - I'm sure someone with a bigger anorak even than mine can help you out with the trainspotting thing :p

'A New Kind Of Man' (Alternative Mix) / 'Metal Beat' - 7", VS303
I have seen an image of this sleeve somewhere ... it's the same as Underpass, except it has the A New Kind Of Man title in the coloured blocks in the bottom left and Metal Beat bottom right.

'No One Driving' Australian 7" EP
This looks to be a single 7" with all four tracks on it, intead of a double pack. My question is, does it come in a picture sleeve and if so, what is it like? I know that a lot of Australian 7"s tend to just be in plain company sleeves.
I have a copy of this ... Festival Records K-7893.
A-side:
No-One Driving Re-Recorded and Remixed Version (Adapted from the Virgin album "Metamatic") 3.44
Glimmer 4.34

B-side:
This City 3.01
Mr. No. 3.12

The front cover of the picture sleeve is identical to the UK release (except the paper quality is better ... a semi-gloss soft card as opposed to the paper of the UK packaging), except 'SPECIAL LIMITED EDITION' is printed in upper-case sans-serif text in the top-left corner above the 'JOHN FOXX' title. The back cover is, again, identical to the UK release, except the tracklisting text is in upper-case sans-serif text instead of the 'Modern No. 20' style used on the UK back cover for the track titles.

As for the details of your other questions, young Rob Harris is possibly the only person who could provide you with accurate answers, but he's a very busy man, so you're best to make an appointment first ...

Cheers ...

I can't remember which issue (off-hand) but it was featured in an Extreme Voice article about some of John's rarer releases. The back of the sleeve is identical to the reverse of the regular Underpass single, except for the titles in the coloured boxes.

Spot on...

All of the No-One Driving releases have the same cover images - except the German Version which has a slightly different front cover. It's still in black and white though.

Not that young I'm afraid...

Rob

This may help with the questions regarding sleeve designs;

http://sound.jp/rockwrok/single_jf.html

I'll do my best to answer as many points as I can here - I'll then move my comments over into the appropriate part of the Discography .

I honestly don't think that Young Love progressed past the acetate stage - although I seem to recall seeing two different acetates, one of which was from The Sound Clinic. I'd have to check to see where the second one was produced - possibly Strawberry. I'm fairly certain that a single sleeve wasn't produced.

As to why the track was shelved? I'll have to get back to you on that one - I'm sure I have an answer from John somewhere - I just need to dig it out. Either way I'm sure I wouldn't be alone in seeing the 'advert' / 'listing' for it in the NME... please drop me an email.

I've also heard about an advert in the music press (around the same time) for Metamatic when it was still being referred to as Fusion / Fission.

Yes, this was going to be John's first single - it certainly progressed past the acetate stage and was even assigned a catalogue number ( VS 303 ).

I assume that it was produced at the same time as the regular version. This special promo didn't have a picture cover - instead it came in a generic record company sleeve.

I don't think that there were gaps between the release dates for the three UK versions of No-One Driving . I can only assume that Virgin were keen to capitalise on the success of Underpass by making so many versions available.

I don't think that the different mix of Miles Away was used by mistake - rather, this release provided the opportunity to make another, perfectly good, version of this track available.

This release was similar (in it's rationale) to a version of The Human League's Holiday 80 insomuch as a special / unique package was put together especially for Japan. Both items have an unusually large picture label.

I'd have to check (and double-check) through my notes - but I can't recall seeing anything to suggest that He's a Liquid was intended to be a single. But, by the same token, going to the touble of producing a video for it does imply that it was certainly a contender.

Again, I can't shed any light on this at the moment - but I know that I've got a note from John (somewhere) where we discussed the chronology around the production of his videos.

I hope that this has answered a couple of questions. But, inevitably, it looks like it's posed a whole new set as well...

Rob

Hi again and thanks to everyone so far for taking the time to reply in such detail. Rodney... a fellow font fan, I dare say! RadioBeach, that's a good link for some of the sleeve scans. And Robin, lots of interesting info there. I'll look out the old music paper... don't get too excited as it is one tiny line in a long advert, but historically may be of interest. Might be sometime over the weekend before I can locate it though.
Thanks again...

Rob,I hope Glimmer Fix doesn't mind me butting in on their thread but while we are on the subject of this seemingly rare stuff can I ask a quick question regarding the "burning car" pic-disc,
Now I've only ever seen two of these,mine and one i saw at a record fair wich I didn't buy because I already had it,but!!!.. on my version the outer edge is a VERY smokey colour and the one I saw at the record fair was a MUCH lighter colour,what happened?,is one rarer than the other,were they both made in equel numbers or is my eysight and memory just playing tricks
(I can scan and send if need be)
Cheers
Will

I'm sure that Glimmer Fix won't mind...

No, your memory isn't playing tricks on you - copies of this item do have smokey and / or clear outer edges. Though I don't think that it's a result of different 'versions' being pressed. It's more likely to be as a result of the way they've been stored subsequently. I certainly wouldn't go as far as to say that one 'version' would be rarer than the other - seeing as how non of John's picture discs are particularly rare.

This bizarre discolouration is most noticeable on the head-shaped picture disc of Like a Miracle.

I hope that this has helped...

Rob

Hi, regarding rarities, I have held a copy of A new kind of man single in 1982. It had the same sleeve as underpass with the title changed. The label was creme coloured and you could see Metal Beat label underneath. I am sure the catalogue number was VS 308 and I wrote it down at the time. The guy who owned the copy sold me Ultravox Torque Point album. I think I offered £75 (lots of money in 1982) for ANKOM but he wouldnt sell it. He did copy me the track and it was a totally different mix to the metamatic version. Also in the music industries yearbook of 1980 under John Foxx it stated that Like A miracle was a single. This was obviously well before Golden Section so I imagine there is a different mix of this. The Jap EP has the Miles away remix which is the same mix as on Virgin Vault video.