2008 - a disappointing year for Foxx fans? - 12/31/08 12:17 PM
Well as we reach the last day of the year, it's time to take stock of what a year it's been and as no-one else appears to have kicked off a thread on such a theme, I'll start.
Call me the forum curmudgeon but I've found the past year to be a disappointing one for John Foxx fans like myself. I know this may go against the general consensus, but my overall feeling is that, while there've been some positives, they've been outweighted by the negatives.
In my opinion, here's the good and bad;
Good
1. The 2CD rereleases of John's 3 classic albums. For a fan since 1980 like myself, the bonus tracks have been fascinating; some new classics, intriguing alternative versions and a sense of finally "joining the dots" that determined the progression from one album to the next.
2. The "Quiet Man" project finally starting to bear fruit. Okay most of us are familiar with the extracts we've read, but it's fascinating to see and hear them with the new visuals and music. Call me a traditionalist however, but I'd still like to see the novel (if indeed it is a novel) released as a conventional book.
Bad
1. The unnecessary "new" releases.
Again I may be on my own with this one, but this is the first year I've viewed a new John Foxx release as a non-essential purchase.
“Neurovideo”, from the extracts I’ve heard, is very much a “you had to be there” memento of a one-off live gig, but comes across to me as a little lazy. Few of the new arrangements seem to have developed from the original versions; indeed many sound like they’ve just sampled the original backing track. And call me an heretic, but it also showed that John’s voice isn’t quite as powerful as once it was.
Likewise “Impossible”; reworked versions are fine if they’re radically different and bring something new, but again from what I’ve heard, few tracks on this album do. Furthermore, sticking two new tracks on the album, forcing fans to buy a whole album just to hear them, is a bit of a cynical marketing exercise. If ever an album could have been made available for download on a track by track basis, this was the one.
2. Needless compilations
Regarding “Glimmer” – I think I made my feelings known elsewhere on this one; too much overlap with “Modern Art”, a lack of cohesion and again throwing in “exclusive” versions of tracks to make fans buy an album they don’t really need.
As for “Cinemascope”, I really don’t get it. Yes, new artwork and a pretty box is all very nice, but why on earth would I want to buy again six albums I already own?
3. Terrible remixes
I’m not going to have a go at Juri Holkonnen again, but his remixes and the Karborn version of “Burning Car” failed, in my opinion, to bring anything new to John’s work. Okay, so I’m in my forties now but I still like some modern dance music. What I don’t like however is dance music that just takes one short section and loops it over and over again without developing an idea.
I really don’t see the point of this obsession with bringing John’s music to a teenage audience. For me John’s best work is timeless; by attempting to follow the latest dance trends you run the risk of being dated when fashions move on.
4. A lack of development
A final moan is that I’m starting to suspect that John and Louis are running out of ideas. You could guess exactly how “Walk This Way” and “Adult Concerns” would sound before hearing them and I can’t help feeling that the limitations of the sound palette used are starting to show. Yes, we all like analogue synths and drum machines, but with a modern computer based set up to just limit yourself to such sounds is such a waste! I’d like to hear guitars (acoustic and electric), big choirs (vocodered or otherwise), real (sampled) drums, even orchestral timbres!
Sorry to have to end the year on a downer; I’m fully aware that many newer fans may view 2008 as one of John’s best and most prolific. But if, as has been hinted at, John is nearing musical retirement, I’d like him to round off his career with music as challenging and innovative as that which attracted us to his music in the first place.
Happy new year all!
Call me the forum curmudgeon but I've found the past year to be a disappointing one for John Foxx fans like myself. I know this may go against the general consensus, but my overall feeling is that, while there've been some positives, they've been outweighted by the negatives.
In my opinion, here's the good and bad;
Good
1. The 2CD rereleases of John's 3 classic albums. For a fan since 1980 like myself, the bonus tracks have been fascinating; some new classics, intriguing alternative versions and a sense of finally "joining the dots" that determined the progression from one album to the next.
2. The "Quiet Man" project finally starting to bear fruit. Okay most of us are familiar with the extracts we've read, but it's fascinating to see and hear them with the new visuals and music. Call me a traditionalist however, but I'd still like to see the novel (if indeed it is a novel) released as a conventional book.
Bad
1. The unnecessary "new" releases.
Again I may be on my own with this one, but this is the first year I've viewed a new John Foxx release as a non-essential purchase.
“Neurovideo”, from the extracts I’ve heard, is very much a “you had to be there” memento of a one-off live gig, but comes across to me as a little lazy. Few of the new arrangements seem to have developed from the original versions; indeed many sound like they’ve just sampled the original backing track. And call me an heretic, but it also showed that John’s voice isn’t quite as powerful as once it was.
Likewise “Impossible”; reworked versions are fine if they’re radically different and bring something new, but again from what I’ve heard, few tracks on this album do. Furthermore, sticking two new tracks on the album, forcing fans to buy a whole album just to hear them, is a bit of a cynical marketing exercise. If ever an album could have been made available for download on a track by track basis, this was the one.
2. Needless compilations
Regarding “Glimmer” – I think I made my feelings known elsewhere on this one; too much overlap with “Modern Art”, a lack of cohesion and again throwing in “exclusive” versions of tracks to make fans buy an album they don’t really need.
As for “Cinemascope”, I really don’t get it. Yes, new artwork and a pretty box is all very nice, but why on earth would I want to buy again six albums I already own?
3. Terrible remixes
I’m not going to have a go at Juri Holkonnen again, but his remixes and the Karborn version of “Burning Car” failed, in my opinion, to bring anything new to John’s work. Okay, so I’m in my forties now but I still like some modern dance music. What I don’t like however is dance music that just takes one short section and loops it over and over again without developing an idea.
I really don’t see the point of this obsession with bringing John’s music to a teenage audience. For me John’s best work is timeless; by attempting to follow the latest dance trends you run the risk of being dated when fashions move on.
4. A lack of development
A final moan is that I’m starting to suspect that John and Louis are running out of ideas. You could guess exactly how “Walk This Way” and “Adult Concerns” would sound before hearing them and I can’t help feeling that the limitations of the sound palette used are starting to show. Yes, we all like analogue synths and drum machines, but with a modern computer based set up to just limit yourself to such sounds is such a waste! I’d like to hear guitars (acoustic and electric), big choirs (vocodered or otherwise), real (sampled) drums, even orchestral timbres!
Sorry to have to end the year on a downer; I’m fully aware that many newer fans may view 2008 as one of John’s best and most prolific. But if, as has been hinted at, John is nearing musical retirement, I’d like him to round off his career with music as challenging and innovative as that which attracted us to his music in the first place.
Happy new year all!