Metamatic Forums News and Announcements John Foxx news John Foxx : "London Overgrown"...

Scheduled to be released on the 30th of March 2015, London Overgrown is the new instrumental album from John Foxx.



Further details - including a full track-listing - will follow.

Rob

Thanks for that Rob. Another release to look forward to. We are spoilt.

great cover can,t wait.

Pre order link is up:-

http://johnfoxx.tmstor.es/cart/product.php?id=24458

John Foxx

London Overgrown (Exclusive)

CD £10.99

Release Date: 23/03/2015

Discs: 1

pre order
London Overgrown by John Foxx

For over thirty years I’ve been writing about, filming, photographing and exploring a city. Assembling a travelogue of an invisible place that may be found across any street.

Even though we may live in the same physical space, we all carry our own vastly different maps of it – from personal routes, shortcuts to the connections with accumulated memories, associations and experiences. Our own maps of our own city.

1 Oceanic II
2 The Beautiful Ghost
3 A Man, A Woman And A City
4 London Overgrown
5 A Small Revolving World
6 Everything Is Illuminated
7 Often Now, I Wake
8 Persistence Of Vision
9 City Of Mirage
10 Imaginary Music

Brian

First question.

Is City of Mirage the exact same track that was on DNA?

Brian

Yes, City Of Mirage is the same track which originally appeared on the D.N.A. album.

Rob

Cheers Rob,

And maybe a sequel to Oceanic from Cathedral Oceans 3?

Brian

No problem... :-)



No, it's an extended version... :-)

Rob

Brian

That's tremendous, because Oceanic is one of my all-time favourite instrumentals of John's, although it never seemed quite long enough ...

A link to a background piece just posted on John's Twitter:-

I'm not sure if there is a way to navigate directly.

http://www.metamatic.com/mdiscdocs03/meta58cd0002.shtml

Brian

You can navigate directly to it from the London Overgrown page, or from the Site Last Updated page - a link to which is on the right-hand of every page outside of The Forum…

Rob

A wonderful piece - it reads like a sister essay to the Electricity And Ghosts one: http://blog.thequietman.co.uk/?p=13

Absolutely - that's one of my favourite pieces of writing.

Expanded from the sleevenotes which accompanied My Lost City…

Rob

Cheers Rob,

I found the other way to it now.

Yes a great piece.

I like the reference to Debussy's Engulfed Cathedral which I'd long suspected was an influence which I'd first encountered on an old Tomita album.

Brian

Received my copy this morning.An album of atmospheric,melodic instrumentals.Many of the tracks would not sound out of place on the Cathedral Oceans albums.Lovely.

Maybe because two of them are on the Cathedral Oceans albums!

Oceanic II is a longer reworking of Oceanic from COIII.

At the moment, I can't place The Beautiful Ghost - pretty sure it features on another album under a different title.

Very much a dejavu kind of release... although it's nice to have this kind of ambient album without the Gregorian-style vocal pieces, which is what sets it aside from the Cathedral Oceans albums, though style wise, it sits perfectly alongside them (as well as My Lost City).

For me this album's merit lies in the artwork. Vivid, colourful imagery fills the booklet, and it's just sublime; as the cover art promises. Possibly John's best artwork package, for me personally - I think I prefer it to the music!

Excellent. It does look fantastic, doesn't it!

Makes me wonder why a hardback book was not considered for packaging, just to show these images off.

I reckon this is quiet possibly one of Foxx's most quintessentially 'complete' thematic albums for a LONG time

Indeed - this as a hardback book package with more imagery in would have been special.

I think they're the best images John has produced for some time - it makes such a difference in technicolour, too.

Can't comment on that yet as I haven't heard the track, but have you also noticed track 10 is called IMAGINARY MUSIC...?

This title first came to my attention as far back as 2005 when John referred to it as one of two albums he was working on, the second of which we now know as Tiny Colour Movies.

For many years Foxx has dipped in and out of a body of work that has gone under various working titles, including Imaginary Music, Urban Motets, Grey Suit Music and Overgrown London. Some of this we also know as My Lost City.

I wonder if this new album is a realisation of some of those ideas and pieces?

I noticed that too about Imaginary Music - but the internet remembered it better than I did.

I'll come to the good parts (so far) in a minute but first I would say it is slightly disappointing to hear several tracks that have already been released returning with alternative titles. Tracks 2, 3 and 7 if I am not mistaken. Is it possible John forgot he had already released them? Or are they very slightly different versions? Once you add City of Mirage from earlier, well it becomes a 6 track playlist for me, an extended EP. Happy of course for John to compile in this way if it supports a revised vision of his but it would have been nice in a ideal world to signpost this to prospective buyers. Hopefully this release will become yet another favourite recording but I am sorry to say that the old tracks will almost certainly be excluded from the playlist I create.

Ok, the good stuff. Oceanic II is quite different from Oceanic to my ears, not just in length but in mood - more subdued, as if even the Quiet Man becomes too familiar with his surroundings after 10 years and feels the loneliness or even a futility? "Another time is another place" or however he put it. It sets us off on a familiar journey but the old path has disappeared. The weather has changed. The vegetation is becoming threatening. The remaining (new) tracks are also quite subdued and sparse and have less of a widescreen quality - much more focussed on individual buildings perhaps, or the melancholy of other times. Perhaps this is why The Beautiful Ghost has been included (it is on the original Cathedral Oceans, now 18 years dispersed as seed)?

Imaginary Music is the highlight of the new pieces - it seems to veer and shift and escape a firm hold.


The artwork is gorgeous, can't fault that at all. I actually prefer the front cover of the booklet - maybe I will transfer the whole package to a jewel case instead? It is also a slight shame the wonderful text of London Overgrown could not be included in the booklet - but at least we have it, at least we have it.

It would have felt more complete if the booklet had been much more expansive and included the text. As mentioned earlier, with artwork of this amazing quality, a bog-standard digipack simply doesn’t do it justice.

While it is disappointing to find several recycled tracks, it does feel like the fruition of this kind of project which when you look back at My Lost City and Cathedral Oceans, has been in the works for a long time. I guess this can be seen finally as the definitive version.

But this should have been the hardback book packaging, with enough pages to do make the most of the artwork and text. It’s still a fantastic package – but its so good, it makes you want more!

It would also look fabulous in big, like the Church booklet that came with original vinyl release of The Garden...

http://ashleyelsdon.me/2015/03/30/london-overgrown/

Oops - bigmouth strikes again. Some apologies required after a bit of research ...

"The Beautiful Ghost" is "Floating Islands" from Cathedral Oceans I, however it is minus the vocals.

"Often Now, I Wake" is "Through Summer Rooms" from Cathedral Oceans I, however it too omits the vocals.

"A Man, A Woman and A City" seems to be "If Only ..." (which didn't have discernible vocals), also from Cathedral Oceans I. Possibly very slightly different version, who knows? I don't.

All three tracks are beautiful of course.

Thanks mark - I was just about to reach the same conclusions...

However, I would hesitate to say that one track IS another, minus certain elements.
Without the vocals, these become quite different pieces altogether. Ghosts, in fact, an echo or shadowy spirit of their original form, with some delicate treatments and subtle effects applied that give them another form of life.

I like it very much when Foxx does this, and especially here, because I think it gives a sense of perspective and completeness to the project which is, for my money, one of his finest albums.

Listening to London Overgrown as a whole, one is taken gently back through his entire timeline. It feels like our host walking us down a huge corridor in his vast ancestral home, patiently and affectionately talking about the people and places whose dusty photographs line the walls.

First I was a bit dissappointed as i listened to the CD 'cause of the 3 mentioned tracks here. But after a second or third listen I realised they are reworked for this album ( except A Man, A Woman and a City / If Only...)and sounding wonderful.

I like London Overgrown and have to admit a CD like this one was on my wish list for a long time. I like the CO. CD'S a lot and often I thought it would be nice John would do this kind of music again.

I saw CO. live in LEEDS a couple of years ago and the concert was great. Would'nt it be nice John would do it again with London Overgrown?

I think this would be a great item for the next Record Store Day - London Overgrown on Vinyl incl. a big book Plus text.

I order the first one!

I'm still waiting for mine to actually turn up! This is the second item from Townsend that has never arrived. And will they send a replacement? Will they f**k!

Can't believe I trusted them again - I should just stick to Sister Ray *sigh*

Sad to read about your trouble, Gary.
I had a similar experience in the past with A new Kind Of Man CD. But thanks to Alex it worked out well for me. I hope you get your copy soon.

Cheers Andreas!

I'll let you know how I get on

After a few emails, a copy arrived this morning! WO-HOO! I'm guessing it's a second copy from the date on the invoice, so I've written to thank Townsend.

I think I will wait and see if Sister Ray get Codex in before going to Townsend though, especially if it's such a limited run.

Great to see it worked out well for you. I'm sure you will enjoy listening to this nice music.

My copy's arrived here in Ottawa. Listening to it now and it sounds great so far.

I didn't even notice I already owned "City of Mirage" Oh well. It fits better on this album than on that rather bitty "DNA" thing.

Listening here at Feline HQ with my posh Sennheisers on, it's pretty clear that A Man, A Woman and A City (allegedly new for 2015) is most definately is the exact same recording and mix as If Only… from 1997's Cathedral Oceans - the only difference is a smidgeon of different mastering EQ tweak from Dallas Simpson.

I do think John should be made to sit on the naughty step for this :p

They blimmin' well are! It would be more honest (though less elegant) to title them "Through Summer Rooms [instrumental mix]" and "Floating Islands [instrumental mix]", cos that's exactly what they are.
I marginally prefer the instrument versions, though, so I guess I must temper any disgruntlement with this After all, I've only bought Cathedral Oceans three times already (or is it four? Original 1997 CD, again in a double pack CD with COII, a 5.1 DVD version...) so what's a fourth time now?

I've come rather late to this thread, and am grateful for everyone's diligence in spotting the 1 duplicate, one slightly remastered and 2 instrumentally-mix existing tracks

I do think this is a beautiful album though - really would be great with a 5.1 surround sound mix (although then I'd have to buy it 6 times or summat).

What I meant was, that in true Foxxian style, they are mixed to fit into a different context, and thus part of something else. And even the slightest variance in mixing etc means to me at least that therefore they are different pieces...

Nah sorry, nice try but I don't buy that

Don't be fooled by the ethereal nature of the pieces (as opposed to them being songs with lyrics): they are still simply instrumental versions, where the engineer has simply done the multitrack mix again but with the vocal channels muted. It's no different from one of those cheapo 80s 12" mixes where they removed the vocal and left the bass/drums/synths/guitars there.
And I feel it's stretching things to say this is a "different context" - it just Cathedral Oceans IV! The exact same music style as the last 3 Cathedral Oceans albums (in fact, it's an even narrower selection of musical ideas, as there's less treated vocals and less FM sounds - it's nearly all just the lush analogue strings variety, just the same as we heard on Cathedral Oceans I in 1997, 18 years ago! - literally the same recordings in 3 cases!)

Just how I feel, that is all
As far it being narrower than CO, well yes it is. More focussed.

Perhaps I just "like" it. That's probably all.
I am deducing that you do as well, so hey, I guess all is good.

Either way, having now played it half a dozen times in my big old Victorian church space, it sounds amazing and takes me on a journey which leads to different places than CO does

Yeah, I like it