Metamatic
Posted By: Birdsong Nighthawks - 06/26/11 06:03 PM
Just to remind everyone of the exciting news that John's latest album Nighthawks with Harold Budd and Rueben Garcia is released officially tomorrow, June 27th.

The CD package includes remastered versions of the very wonderful Translucence and Drift Music albums, and is packaged as a 3-disc set with new photography by john Foxx

It will be great to hear what you all think of it laugh
Posted By: Birdsong Re: Nighthawks - 06/27/11 01:19 PM
I received Torn Sunset today after ordering on Saturday - good service!

However, this album is due to be "despatched separately"??
Posted By: Birdsong Re: Nighthawks - 06/28/11 12:13 PM
Arrived today. Confused about why they couldn't be sent together and thus save P & P costs?

Any road up - great set of photos in the booklet. Very filmic
Posted By: Gwilym Re: Nighthawks - 06/28/11 04:16 PM
I haven't bought this yet but I'm interested to know what the new tracks are like? Are they comparable to Budd & Foxx's previous collaboration, or maybe similar to any of Budd's solo works?
Posted By: Birdsong Re: Nighthawks - 06/28/11 07:03 PM
I'd say this fits quite nicely between Translucence and Drift Music so in that case its pretty much the kind of thing you'd expect to enjoy if you like either of those albums.

Probably closer to Translucence in terms of its lightness and texture on the whole. Think Underwater Flowers and Adult, with a hint of Budd's Lovely Thunder into which Ruben Garcia has brought some exquisite touches and evocative 'weathering'

Hope that helps
Posted By: Gwilym Re: Nighthawks - 06/28/11 09:16 PM
Sounds good, thanks for the review. smile
Posted By: Gwilym Re: Nighthawks - 06/30/11 08:33 AM
Originally Posted By: Birdsong
I'd say this fits quite nicely between Translucence and Drift Music so in that case its pretty much the kind of thing you'd expect to enjoy if you like either of those albums.

Probably closer to Translucence in terms of its lightness and texture on the whole. Think Underwater Flowers and Adult, with a hint of Budd's Lovely Thunder into which Ruben Garcia has brought some exquisite touches and evocative 'weathering'

Hope that helps


By the way, how does the remastering of the first two albums sound? Is there much of an improvement in quality over the original 2003 release?
Posted By: Birdsong Re: Nighthawks - 07/04/11 05:23 PM
I haven't played them side by side so I wouldn't know.

But I'm the wrong person to ask about this. I suspect they are infinitely superior, but I care little for such things and don't have the right kind of ears for the technical details

Stand out track so far is the distinctly threatening Fugitive Desire. Somehow invokes John's fondness for The Shadows - or is that just the title?
Posted By: Gary Hunter Re: Nighthawks - 08/16/11 07:14 PM
This is a stunning album, so beautiful.
Posted By: Alex S Re: Nighthawks - 08/23/11 11:27 AM
It is very close in style to Translucence, but various sonic effects like gusts of wind or metallic creaks and clangs add some much-needed variety to it.

It would make an excellent film noir soundtrack. It's much darker than Translucence; quite creepy and unsettling.

Overall it's a nice enough album, but as with Torn Sunset, it just feels a bit like more of the same, and once you've heard the first couple of tracks, you've pretty much heard it all.

I've made an iTunes playlist of all John's instrumental works. I find it works particularly well on shuffle mode when reading.
Posted By: the church puddle Re: Nighthawks - 08/24/11 05:29 PM
I've heard this one a couple of times but don't feel that summer is the right season for it somehow - I'm going to try to save becoming too familiar with it until, say, late night shopping begins. I agree that it's definitely a little unsettling in places - I suppose city streets at night have that effect.
Posted By: feline1 Re: Nighthawks - 09/02/11 12:42 PM
i just wanted to say that I think the Nighthawks album is excellent - somewhat more sparse and refined that the other foxx/budd ones, which got a bit 'gloopy' at times (from everything just merging into one big reverb shimmer).

There's one track in particular, dunno the name but it's basically just a really-slowly-played piano melody, it's beautiful.... am I getting confused or was it previously used as incidental music on the 'Quiet Man' audiobook CD?
Posted By: feline1 Re: Nighthawks - 09/02/11 12:47 PM
(PS - it's called "The Invisible Man"...)
Posted By: Chris C Re: Nighthawks - 05/01/12 08:16 PM
An amazing album. Special as Cathedral Oceans. Deservedly released as part of a three disc set. Two great works of art.
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