92-411: Metamatic is the debut solo album by John Foxx , released in 1980. It was his first solo project following his split with Ultravox the previous year. A departure from the mix of synthesizers and conventional rock instrumentation on that band's work, Metamatic was purely electronic in sound. The name 'Metamatic' comes from a painting machine by kinetic artist Jean Tinguely , first exhibited at
184-503: A Record Collector review of the 2007 reissue Ian Shirley concluded: "To be frank, however, Metamatic has not worn well. Although the analogue synth textures work well on the singles and tracks such as Plaza, Metal Beat and Touch & Go, the rhythms of the drum machines and overall sound of A New Kind Of Man and Tidal Wave are very dated. Considering how adventurous and warm the Human League’s Reproduction and Travelogue from
276-590: A hippy , while he formed his first band Woolly Fish in 1967 in Preston. He experimented with tape recorders and synthesisers whilst at the Royal College of Art. Prior to 1973, he was singing and playing a 12-string guitar and occasionally supported Stack Waddy in Manchester, from which he later moved to London in order to escape what he saw as a lack of musical stimulus. In April 1974, Foxx formed
368-576: A "Bubbling Under List" right under the main chart (at the time, the Singles Top 50, the Albums Top 30 and the EP Top 10). "The Breakers", as it was called later in the year, were 10 to 15 records (for the singles chart) which had not made the top 50 that week, but were poised to reach the main chart the next week, ranked in sales order, i.e. as if they occupied positions 51 to 64. "The Breakers" list
460-468: A Miracle (Early Version) 21 No-one Driving Keyboards used on the album include the Minimoog , ARP Odyssey , clavinet , Elka Rhapsody 610 , piano , Farfisa string synth, and Hammond organ . John Foxx John Foxx (born Dennis Leigh ; 26 September 1948) is an English singer, musician, artist, photographer, graphic designer, writer, teacher and lecturer. He was the original lead singer of
552-606: A Miracle 14 A New Kind of Man 15 He's a Liquid 16 Plaza (Extended Version) 17 Underpass (Extended Version) 18 Blurred Girl (Lounge Fade Version) Disc: 3 1 A Frozen Moment 2 He's a Liquid (Instrumental Dub) 3 Mr. No 4 The Uranium Committee 5 A Man Alone 6 Over Tokyo 7 Terminal Zone 8 Urban Code 9 A Version of You 10 Glimmer 11 Fragmentary City 12 Metamorphosis 13 Approaching the Monument 14 Critical Mass 15 Alamogordo Logic 16 Touch and Go (Early Version) 17 Miss Machinery 18 No-one Driving (Early Version) 19 Burning Car (Early Version) 20 Like
644-680: A band that would eventually be called Tiger Lily , composed of bassist Chris Allen and guitarist Stevie Shears , with Canadian drummer Warren Cann joining shortly afterwards in May 1974. The band played their first gig at the Marquee Club in August 1974, after which Billy Currie was recruited as violinist in October 1974. Tiger Lily released a single in 1975 on Gull Records, the A-side of which
736-551: A big screen for the first time with Foxx playing a mix of live and recorded accompaniment from the album. This 'film' was shown again at Fulham Palace in July 2007, and in a slightly revised format at the ICA and as part of the 21st International Film Festival, in Leeds during November that year. In September 2007, a remastered edition of Metamatic was released as a two-CD pack containing
828-512: A colour picture of the Beatles on the cover, the first music paper in full colour. Although the first run of 120,000 sold out, the following issue fell to 60,000. Junor replaced Jimmy Watson by Peter Jones. Circulation recovered and the paper successfully continued with the same format throughout the 1960s. Following acquisition in 1962 of NME by Odhams , Record Mirror was the only independent popular music newspaper. During 1969, Record Mirror
920-403: A continental circulation and a Dutch supplement was frequently included. Terry Chappell resumed as production editor and Bob Houston supervised the change in format. Group editorial manager Mike Hennessey contributed the first interview with John Lennon . The Record Mirror photographic studio became independent, under Dezo Hoffmann . In a studio outtake of a recording of "Sally Simpson" on
1012-496: A former Decca press officer. Watson changed the title to New Record Mirror and eliminated show business. Circulation rose, aided by an editorial team of Peter Jones , Ian Dove and Norman Jopling. He brought in freelance columnists James Asman, Benny Green and DJ David Gell to implement a chart coverage including jazz, country and pop music . This eventually included the official UK Top 50 singles, Top 30 LPs and Top 10 EPs , as compiled by Record Retailer . The paper also listed
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#17327929798101104-475: A further collaborative EP in 2008 entitled Never Been Here Before . A remix of Dislocated was issued on Foxx's 2010 compilation Metatronic , while Never Been Here Before appears on the 2013 compilation Metadelic . Hulkkonen played as supporting act to the first John Foxx And The Maths concert at The Roundhouse in 2010 and also joined Foxx and the band onstage to perform " Underpass ". A new EP entitled European Splendour issued as John Foxx + Jori Hulkkonen
1196-634: A list of best sellers by post. The paper would finance the costs of this survey and by 1957 over 60 shops would be regularly contributing from a rotating pool of over 80. The chart was a top 10 until 8 October 1955. It then became a top 20; which it stayed at until being replaced by the Record Retailer top 50. It also inaugurated the country's first Long Player chart, which commenced as a top five on 28 July 1956. By March 1962, Record Mirror adopted publication of Record Retailer' s top 50 from 24 March 1962. After 21 April 1966, Record Mirror published
1288-486: A new piano work entitled Electricity and Ghosts with accompanying films made by himself and Karborn . In 2015, Foxx contributed to the soundtrack of the feature-length film Blue Velvet Revisited , with Cult With No Name and Tuxedomoon , which consists of footage shot during the making of David Lynch 's film Blue Velvet . In December 2009, the Metamatic website announced the new musical project John Foxx and
1380-636: A period of around thirty years by Foxx in his travels across Britain and Europe. In November 2020 Foxx published The Quiet Man , a collection of short stories. In the run up to the John Foxx and the Maths Interplay tour in October 2011, Artrocker ran a series of articles on Foxx, including a filmed interview taken at The Garden studios in London. Special features during the "John Foxx Week" also contained quotes and comments about his work from
1472-566: A private screening. His official website described these as having the "filmic, atmospheric approach" of the Metamatic -era instrumental B-sides "Glimmer", "Film One" and "Mr No". On 18 November 2006, Foxx gave a performance of the work at the Duke of York's cinema in Brighton , where Tiny Colour Movies was premiered as part of the city's Film Festival. Edited versions of the movies were shown on
1564-498: A second album The Pleasures of Electricity , in September 2001. Two years later they toured again, to promote the album Crash and Burn , released in September 2003 on Foxx's own Metamatic Records. Three collaborative albums with Louis Gordon were released in late 2006: Live From a Room (As Big as a City) , a 'live' studio album from the 2003 tour (released in association with an interview CD entitled "The Hidden Man") in October;
1656-594: A selection of tracks from the new album and Foxx's past works were played. A cover version of the Pink Floyd track " Have a Cigar " was recorded for a tribute CD issued by Mojo magazine with their October 2011 issue. It was announced shortly afterwards that the version on the CD was not the completed version, and a free download of the finished version was offered via the Mojo website. A nine-date UK tour by John Foxx and
1748-399: A single with new songs on both sides, " Burning Car " b/w "20th Century", making #35. He issued one more single-only release in October 1980, the transitional " Miles Away " b/w "A Long Time", which provided a foretaste of the more fully produced sound of his next album, The Garden (1981). All these non-album tracks have appeared on various John Foxx compilations and reissues of Metamatic ;
1840-517: A special edition 12-inch vinyl. The disc features two new remixes. The sleeve features new artwork created by Jonathan Barnbrook who has designed the covers of all the John Foxx and the Maths releases. In 2000, a Porcupine Tree release called Lightbulb Sun was issued with cover art by Foxx. In December 2007, Foxx exhibited some of his photographic works in an exhibition called Cinemascope at
1932-615: A substantial share of Decca's interest to John Junor , editor of the Sunday Express . Junor was looking for a paper to print by four-colour printing developed by Woodrow Wyatt in Banbury , before printing the Sunday Express in colour. Junor moved Sunday Express production to Shaftesbury Avenue and New Record Mirror became more mainstream. In November 1963, the paper returned to the name Record Mirror , and featured
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#17327929798102024-582: A variety of different musicians and film-makers, including The Orb , Vincent Gallo , members of Ladytron and Duran Duran , director Alex Proyas, and Awaydays creator Kevin Sampson. The corresponding printed version Artrocker (Issue 115) also featured Foxx and Gary Numan together in an in-depth interview. The magazine contains further tributes by Philip Oakey of the Human League and Jim Kerr of Simple Minds . Record Mirror Record Mirror
2116-517: A walk undertaken by the artists along the Suffolk coastline in 2005, from Felixstowe container port to the Anglo-Saxon burial ground at Sutton Hoo . The work integrates new compositions by John Foxx and other digital musicians Baron Mordant, Dolly Dolly, Ekoplekz, Farmers of Vega, Gazelle Twin , Pete Wiseman, Raime and Skjolbrot. As part of the event presentation, on 7 March, Foxx premièred
2208-416: Is also included. Upon its release in 1980 the album received positive reviews. Record Mirror gave the album a 5 out of 5 rating. Smash Hits wrote that "this restrained and melodic album of synthesised music and (surprise, surprise) futuristic visions comes as an impressive step forward" (from the "chronically pretentious Ultravox"). Trouser Press wrote: "Metamatic is Foxx’s first venture alone into
2300-694: The Arden Shakespeare series. Foxx began to find inspiration in the underground house and acid music scenes in Detroit and London. With Nation 12 in the early 1990s, Foxx released two 12-inch singles , "Remember" and "Electrofear". The first was a collaboration with Tim Simenon , best known for his Bomb the Bass project. The group also wrote the music for the Bitmap Brothers computer games Speedball 2 (1990) and Gods (1991, " Into
2392-575: The DJ Directory , including the Beats and Pieces news section and four charts: "Club Chart", "Cool Cuts", "Pop Dance", and Hi-NRG Chart. Hamilton had started DJing in London in the early 1960s, and had been writing about US soul and R&B for Record Mirror since 1964, originally as Dr Soul. After a visit to the Paradise Garage in the 1970s to see Larry Levan play, he came back to
2484-695: The Metamatic performances in 2007, was released on Metamatic Records on 28 April 2008. Foxx presented three different pieces of his solo work in the space of one week in June 2008. This began with a showing of Tiny Colour Movies at the Caixaforum in Barcelona on 14 June 2008, followed by a performance of Cathedral Oceans III inside the Great Hall at Durham Castle, England on 18 June. He then travelled to Italy and presented an extract from The Quiet Man at
2576-582: The Paris Biennial in 1959. The album peaked at #18 on the UK Albums Chart . Metamatic was recorded at Pathway Studios , a small eight-track studio in Islington , and was engineered by Gareth Jones . Foxx's electronic equipment included an ARP Odyssey , an Elka 'String Machine' and a Roland CR-78 drum machine . Several of the synth parts were played by John Wesley-Barker. Dub music
2668-628: The Record Mirror Dance Update until two weeks before his death on 17 June 1996, with the supplement running an obituary in the 29 June issue with tributes from Pete Tong, Graham Gold and Les 'L.A. Mix' Adams. By the 21st century, the Record Mirror Dance Update had been abandoned with the dance charts incorporated into Music Week (with the Music Week Upfront Club and Cool Cuts still being published in 2020 by Future plc , though this may change in 2021 when
2760-574: The SoundCloud site. The competition was won by Dave Poeme Electronique. The release of the album was preceded by a remix of "Shatterproof" on YouTube. Another live event featuring John Foxx and the Maths was held in April 2011. Back to the Phuture was billed as a special electronic music event, featuring live sets from Foxx, Gary Numan , Mirrors and Motor, plus a DJ set by Daniel Miller . Again,
2852-403: The new wave band Ultravox , before leaving to embark on a solo career in 1980 with the album Metamatic . Primarily associated with electronic synthesizer music , he has also pursued a parallel career in graphic design and education. Andy Kellman of AllMusic described Foxx as an influential cult figure whose "detached, jolting vocal style inspired mainstream and underground artists across
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2944-690: The 14th Festival Internazionale di Poesia in Genoa . In December 2010, Foxx participated in the recording of John Cage 's 4'33" as part of the Cage Against the Machine collective. In March 2013, Foxx took part in the On Vanishing Land project, a work by British sound artists and theorists Mark Fisher and Justin Barton. Described as a magisterial audio-essay On Vanishing Land evokes
3036-436: The 1993 CD version of the album also included "Young Love", a previously unreleased track recorded in 1979. A 'definitive' two-CD reissue of the album was released in September 2007 which was intended to bring together all the Metamatic -era material, plus previously unavailable tracks, onto one bonus CD. Another re-mastered edition was released as a 3CD Deluxe Edition in 2018. This included fifteen instrumentals on disc three, as
3128-544: The 2003 release of the deluxe edition of the Who's 1969 album Tommy , Pete Townshend said, "I've read the Record Mirror ". When Keith Moon presses him to tell what he read in the Record Mirror , Pete says, to the rest of the band's laughter, that the paper said that he was known by the other members of the Who as "Bone". In 1975 Disc was incorporated into Record Mirror – among the items brought to Record Mirror
3220-716: The BBC for Radio 1 and Top of the Pops , as well as the USA's Billboard charts. The title ceased to be a stand-alone publication in April 1991 when United Newspapers closed or sold most of their consumer magazines, including Record Mirror and its sister music magazine Sounds , to concentrate on trade papers like Music Week . In 2010, Giovanni di Stefano bought the name Record Mirror and relaunched it as an online music gossip website in 2011. The website became inactive in 2013 following di Stefano's jailing for fraud. Record Mirror
3312-727: The Beatles , and the first to feature the Rolling Stones , the Searchers , the Who , and the Kinks . Bill Harry , founder and editor of the Liverpool publication Mersey Beat , wrote a column on Liverpool music. Other columnists reported on Birmingham , Manchester, Sheffield and Newcastle . New Record Mirror took an interest in black American R&B artists. The paper maintained articles on old-style rock and roll . During 1963 Decca Records' chairman Edward Lewis sold
3404-663: The Coningsby Gallery in west London. The images were part of three collections, "Grey Suit Music", "Tiny Colour Movies" and "Cathedral Oceans". His design work was the subject of an article in the UK monthly Creative review in September 2010. Between July and August 2016 an exhibition entitled "Europe After the Rain" was held at the University of South Australia featuring images made from photographs and found objects gathered over
3496-460: The Gallup charts (the future Official Charts Company Top 100), Record Mirror was the only magazine during the 1980s to print the weekly US singles and album charts, with analysis by chart statistician Alan Jones. In June 1975, DJ James Hamilton (1942–1996) started writing a weekly "disco" column, which in 1980s expanded into a general dance music section known as BPM . Later, Hamilton introduced
3588-582: The Maths was announced in July 2011, plus live performances in Poland and Belgium. A second album, The Shape of Things , was also announced prior to the tour and was initially only available for purchase at tour venues. In January 2013, it was announced that John Foxx and the Maths would be the support act for Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark 's English Electric spring tour. The 13-date tour ran from 30 March to 14 April 2013. The only headline live show for 2013
3680-592: The Maths, the name given to the work written and produced by John Foxx and Benge . Benge had already broken the news on his own blog in November calling The Maths "a new album project". An initial download-only single, "Destination" / "September Town", was released in December 2009 by Townsend Records and later via iTunes . The duo continued to work in Benge's studio throughout 2010 and some new tracks were previewed at
3772-868: The RetroFuture exhibition hosted by ArtHertz. On the opening night, Foxx performed a piano piece accompanying a reading from his unpublished novel The Quiet Man in front of an audience for the first time. In 2005, Foxx appeared on stage at the Brighton Pavilion with Harold Budd and Bill Nelson as part of a concert to celebrate the work of the retiring pianist, which led to the announcement in October that year that Foxx would be involved in collaborations with Jah Wobble , Robin Guthrie , Steve Jansen and Nelson. In June 2006, Foxx released an instrumental solo album, Tiny Colour Movies , consisting of 15 instrumental tracks inspired by short art films he saw at
Metamatic - Misplaced Pages Continue
3864-596: The Short Circuit electronic music festival at The Roundhouse in London on 5 June 2010. A new album entitled Interplay was announced in January 2011 and released on 21 March. The album gained critical acclaim; The Quietus called it "one of the finest electronic records you'll hear in 2011", and launched a remix competition to coincide with the release of the album. Stems of the album track "Shatterproof" were made available for download, remixing and re-uploading via
3956-423: The UK were published in Record Mirror on 28 July 1956. For two months in 1959, Record Mirror failed to appear due to a national printing strike. On its return, Green renamed it Record and Show Mirror , the majority of space devoted to show business. By the end of 1960 circulation had fallen to 18,000 and Decca Records , the main shareholder, became uneasy. In March 1961, Decca replaced Green with Jimmy Watson,
4048-550: The USA Top 50 singles, compiled by Cash Box , and charts such as the Top 20 singles of five years ago and R&B releases. Features such as Ian Dove's "Rhythm & Blues Round Up", Peter Jones's "New Faces" and Norman Jopling's "Fallen Idols and Great Unknowns", combined with New Record Mirror' s music coverage, helped circulation rise to nearly 70,000. New Record Mirror was the first national publication to publish an article on
4140-521: The Wonderful "). He also worked with LFO and made the music video for their eponymous debut single. Around this time, Foxx also taught on the Graphic Arts and Design degree course at Leeds Metropolitan University . On 24 March 1997, Foxx made a return to the music scene with the simultaneous release of two albums, Shifting City and Cathedral Oceans on Metamatic Records . Shifting City
4232-585: The album did gain the band exposure to a wider audience, including the United States. During the recording of Systems of Romance , a song of the same name was written, but the band had no time to record it. It was later included on Foxx's second solo album The Garden . At Systems of Romance gigs, Foxx began to perform with the band three future solo songs, "He's a Liquid" and "Touch and Go" (later included on Metamatic , Foxx's first solo album) and "Walk Away" (included on The Garden ). The latter song
4324-415: The band in 1979, the band was not credited for them on Metamatic . When Ultravox adapted the tune from "Touch and Go" for the song "Mr. X" on Vienna (1980), their first album following Foxx's departure, Foxx was not credited. Metamatic spent seven weeks in the UK charts, peaking at #18. The album was generally well received by critics and is still cited as his most influential solo release. "Underpass"
4416-451: The band signed to Island Records , they released three albums during 1977–1978. The debut Ultravox! single, "Dangerous Rhythm", backed with "My Sex", was released on 4 February 1977. Their first album (the self-titled Ultravox! ) was released three weeks later on 25 February 1977, produced by Steve Lillywhite and the band, with assistance from Brian Eno . It was followed by their second album Ha! Ha! Ha! in October 1977, which included
4508-416: The combination of Foxx’s chops as a songwriter and the use of pre-digital synths which had to be configured manually. The sounds and arrangements Foxx came up with were his own. The only track which has dated is “Metal Beat” due to its borrowings from elements of Kraftwerk's “Showroom Dummies” and “The Robots”. Overall, Metamatic is poppy, romantic, and refracts the aura of concrete-filled urban environments and
4600-437: The cover art of the album. The song "He's a Liquid" was influenced by a still from a Japanese horror film depicting a suit draped across a chair in such a way as to suggest that the wearer had liquified; Foxx's lyrics also alluded to the 'fluidity' of human relationships. The final track, "Touch and Go", included psychedelic aspects. Although Foxx had performed "He's a Liquid" and "Touch and Go" live with Ultravox before leaving
4692-579: The decades". Leigh was born in Chorley , Lancashire , England. His father was a coal miner and pugilist , his mother a millworker. He was raised Catholic and educated at St Mary's Primary and St Augustine Secondary schools. Next he attended Harris College of Art in Preston and then the Royal College of Art in London. During his youth in the 1960s he embraced the lifestyles of a mod and
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#17327929798104784-421: The development of the electropop genre. In March 2010, Berlin producer Mark Reeder remixed the track "Underpass" (Reeder Sinister Subway Mix) for John Foxx's CD/DVD retrospective compilation Metatronic . Reeder not only remixed his versions from the original master tapes in stereo for the CD, but he also made 5.1 mixes of his own remixes and Foxx's original 1980s version. The track was re-issued in May 2013 as
4876-528: The entire Metamatic album, during which Foxx and Louis Gordon were accompanied on stage by Steve D'Agostino. Later in the evening, the DVD of Cathedral Oceans was shown in one of the ICA cinema studios. In October, Foxx and Gordon toured the UK with Metamatic , culminating in a show at Cargo in London. The year ended with two shows at the Luminaire in London. A live album titled A New Kind of Man , culled from
4968-475: The hits, though the full Top 200 singles chart and Top 150 albums chart could be accessed by subscribing to Music Week' s spin-off newsletter Charts Plus and also to Hit Music which superseded it. (Note: As of December 2020 the Official Charts Company website is still missing a lot of the data on regards to records in positions 76 to 100 from 1991 to 12 February 1994) In addition to
5060-467: The management team that our strength was dance music, he thought I meant Jive Bunny ." As United Newspapers decided to focus on trade papers, Record Mirror was incorporated into Music Week as a pull-out supplement with the title concentrating on dance music and with the Cool Cuts, Club Chart and James Hamilton's BPM column continuing to be published. Hamilton continued to review records for
5152-638: The new reissue project grew to forty-nine tracks across three CDs. Foxx's record label and his official website are also named Metamatic. An in-depth interview with Foxx by Steve Malins about the making of Metamatic is the subject of a double-CD album "Metal Beat" released in 2007. The interview includes extracts from demos of No-One Driving , Touch and Go and Like A Miracle and an extended version of Plaza , together with some early experiments by Foxx with drum machines and analogue synthesisers and tracks retrieved from two 1980 tapes marked "music for film" and "instrumentals". A 30-second piece entitled Jane
5244-483: The original album, plus most of the associated B-sides and extra tracks from the period, including two 'new' songs re-assembled from original music recorded at the time. In the same month, a showcase of Foxx's work was held at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London, where he performed another version of Tiny Colour Movies and hosted a question-and-answer session. This was followed by the first live performance of
5336-529: The paper changed from tabloid to glossy magazine. During the next nine years it had a more pop-orientated slant and containing features and a tone of voice that was one part Smash Hits, one part the NME. Part of Record Mirror was devoted over to comic articles as a rival to the NME's Thrills section (infamous for Stuart Maconie's Believe It Or Not column which claimed that Bob Holness was the saxophonist on Gerry Rafferty's Baker Street). Features in this section of Record Mirror included: In 1987, Morgan-Grampian
5428-558: The power they exert." All tracks written by John Foxx . Track listing as per the original 1980 vinyl issue but in new gatefold sleeve with artwork featuring rare images and reconstructions. Track Listings Disc: 1 1 Plaza 2 He's a Liquid 3 Underpass 4 Metal Beat 5 No-one Driving 6 A New Kind of Man 7 Blurred Girl 8 030 9 Tidal Wave 10 Touch and Go Disc: 2 1 Film One 2 This City 3 To Be With You 4 Cinemascope 5 Burning Car 6 Glimmer 7 Mr. No 8 Young Love 9 20th Century 10 My Face 11 Underpass (Radio Edit) 12 Non-one Driving (Single Version) 13 Like
5520-469: The publication goes monthly). However, in 2011 Record Mirror was re-launched as an online music gossip website but became inactive two years later following trademark owner Giovanni di Stefano's jailing for fraud. Record Mirror became the second magazine to compile and publish a record chart on 22 January 1955. Unlike the New Musical Express who conducted a phone poll of retailers for a chart, Record Mirror arranged for its pool of retailers to send in
5612-401: The release of the second volume of Cathedral Oceans as well as another ambient record, the double CD Translucence and Drift Music with Harold Budd. In 2004, from September through October, a collection of Cathedral Oceans images was exhibited at BCB Art, Hudson, New York , and in the following year Cathedral Oceans III was released. A second surround sound DVD of Cathedral Oceans
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#17327929798105704-420: The same period are, Metamatic is the sound of musical austerity." The 2018 reissue received a positive review by Kieron Tyler: " Metamatic feels as much about melody as the then-current musical tools. “He’s a Liquid” and “Touch and Go” had been played live by Ultravox so, clearly, Foxx was honing some of the album’s songs before they were recorded; there was pre-planning. There’s also a timelessness, born from to
5796-443: The same time, Leigh adopted his stage name of John Foxx: Foxx is much more intelligent than I am, better looking, better lit. A kind of naively perfected entity. He's just like a recording, where you can make several performances until you get it right – or make a composite of several successful sections, then discard the rest. Chris Allen, who had briefly gone by the name Chris St. John, changed his name again, to Chris Cross. Once
5888-433: The same year. After In Mysterious Ways , Foxx temporarily left his career in pop music. He sold his recording studio and returned to his earlier career as a graphic artist, working under his real name of Dennis Leigh. Examples of this work include the book covers of Salman Rushdie 's The Moor's Last Sigh , Jeanette Winterson 's Sexing the Cherry , Anthony Burgess 's A Dead Man in Deptford , and several books in
5980-450: The second music paper after NME to publish a singles chart. The chart was a Top 10, from postal returns from 24 shops. On 8 October, the chart expanded to a Top 20, and by 1956, more than 60 stores were being sampled. In April 1961, increased postage costs affected funding of the returns, and on 24 March 1962 the paper abandoned its charts and began using those of Record Retailer , which had begun in March 1960. The first album charts in
6072-415: The single " ROckWrok ", although both were commercial failures. For their third album, Systems of Romance , Ultravox abandoned the exclamation mark in their name. Also missing was their first guitarist, Stevie Shears, who was replaced by Robin Simon , from Neo . The album was co-produced by Conny Plank . Two singles were released from the album, " Slow Motion " and " Quiet Men ". Sales were modest, but
6164-448: The singles chart extended to a Top 100, with positions 76–100 as 'The Next 25' – excluding singles dropping out of the Top 75 or with significantly reduced sales. 'The Next 25' was discontinued by Music Week in November 1990 who decided to only include records that were hits (that is, inside the Top 75). Record Mirror continued printing the Top 100 until it became part of the trade paper in April 1991, with Music Week continuing to print
6256-510: The sleeve. One of the album's songs, "Metal Beat", takes its name from a CR-78 drum machine sound used on the record. Virgin released the album under the imprint name Metal Beat Records, which was used for Foxx releases throughout his contract with them. The non-album single " Burning Car " followed in July 1980. Spending seven weeks on the UK charts, it reached its peak position at no. 35 in August. Foxx then worked on dozens of tracks for two projected albums, and one of these tracks, "My Face",
6348-481: The soundtrack to Michelangelo Antonioni 's film Identification of a Woman ( Identificazione di una donna ). In September that year, his third solo LP The Golden Section was released ( UK No. 27). A development of The Garden , Foxx described the album as a "roots check" of his earliest musical influences, including The Beatles and English psychedelic music . It was followed by a tour, his first live performances since Ultravox. The album In Mysterious Ways
6440-428: The studio album From Trash in November and a further album from the same sessions a few weeks later during the accompanying mini-tour. This two-CD package, entitled Sideways , included ten original tracks plus two extended versions of songs on From Trash . The second disc contained an extensive interview with Foxx describing the making of From Trash which was available only at concerts on the 2006 tour. The "live in
6532-415: The studio" recordings originally distributed in limited edition during the 1998 Subterranean Omnidelic Exotour were later made available through the double-CD issue "The Golden Section Tour + The Omnidelic Exotour" (2002) and the double CD re-issue of "Shifting City" in 2009. The album Retro Future (2007) is a live-on-stage performance recorded on the Exotour, on 10 January 1998 at Shrewsbury Music Hall. It
6624-747: The time. The lead single " Europe After the Rain " became Foxx's fourth and last top 40 hit on the UK Singles Chart during a five-week chart run in August/September 1981. In 1982, Foxx set up his own recording studio, designed by Andy Munro, also called The Garden, housed in an artists' collective in Shoreditch, East London, in a former warehouse also occupied by sculptors, painters and film makers. He produced some demo recordings for Virginia Astley's first album From Gardens Where We Feel Secure . In 1983, Foxx provided some music for
6716-439: The world of synthesizers (...) In emulation of his own work and Conny Plank’s production on Ultravox’s Systems of Romance, Foxx (aided by another synthesist and a bassist) finds the perfect counterpart for his themes of alienation and dislocation in sterile, minimalist electronic sounds. His vocals are oddly distant, like echoes, but the record has an honesty and directness that are quite affecting." From retrospective reviews, in
6808-530: Was J Edward Oliver 's cartoon, which had been running in Disc for five years, and which continued for a two years in Record Mirror . By 1977 Record Retailer had become Music Week and Record Mirror was included in a sale by Billboard magazine to the Morgan-Grampian Group. Both offices moved to Covent Garden . Morgan-Grampian moved to Greater London House , north London in 1981. In 1982,
6900-528: Was Foxx's first collaboration with Manchester musician Louis Gordon . On 11 October 1997, Foxx played his first public gig since 1983 at The Astoria, London. A limited-edition twelve-track CD (1,000 numbered copies only) entitled Subterranean Omnidelic Exotour was available for purchase by ticketholders. Foxx and Gordon continued to work together, performing live on the Subterranean Omnnidelic Exotour in 1997 and 1998 and releasing
6992-399: Was a British weekly music newspaper published between 1954 and 1991, aimed at pop fans and record collectors. Launched two years after New Musical Express , it never attained the circulation of its rival. The first UK album chart was published in Record Mirror in 1956, and during the 1980s it was the only consumer music paper to carry the official UK singles and UK albums charts used by
7084-536: Was a cover of the Fats Waller track " Ain't Misbehavin' ". It was commissioned for (but not subsequently used in) a movie of the same name. The B-side was the group's own song "Monkey Jive". Tiger Lily played a few gigs in London pubs between 1974 and 1975. After several changes of name, including Fire of London, The Zips and The Damned, the band became Ultravox! in October 1976. The group's style fused punk , glam, electronic , reggae and new wave music . At
7176-597: Was acquired by Record Retailer and incorporated into Record Retailer offices in Carnaby Street . The acquisition saw the magazine change printers, drop full colour pin-ups and increase its size to a larger tabloid format . Jones continued as editor, supported by Valerie Mabbs, Lon Goddard, Rob Partridge, Bill McAllister (the first music journalist to herald Elton John and Rod Stewart ), and broadcast-specialist Rodney Collins, who had moved from Record Retailer . Collins's links with pirate radio gave Record Mirror
7268-441: Was acquired by United Newspapers (now UBM ). On 2 April 1991, Record Mirror closed as a stand-alone title on the same day as its United Newspapers sister publication Sounds closed, with the last issue dated 6 April 1991. The final cover featured Transvision Vamp . Eleanor Levy, the final editor, believed the decision to close the magazine was "taken by accountants rather than people who understand music. When I explained to one of
7360-402: Was an influence on the production. The lyrics were heavily influenced by the writings of J. G. Ballard . Six of the tracks referenced automobiles or motorways, most obviously "Underpass" and "No-One Driving". (Foxx re-worked the former track as "Overpass" on the live Subterranean Omnidelic Exotour in 1998). The song "A New Kind of Man" is about a man stepping into a film screen, which inspired
7452-523: Was ceased when BMRB took over chart compilation in February 1969, but by September 1970, it was re-instated (for singles only) appearing off and on under the main chart, up until May 1978 (when the top 75 was introduced). In the years 1974 and 1975, the list even expanded to 30 titles, of which the first 10 were called "Star Breakers" and given in order of sales, with the other 20 listed alphabetically. In January 1983, when Gallup took over chart compilation,
7544-412: Was founded by former Weekly Sporting Review editor Isidore Green, who encouraged the same combative journalism as NME . Staff writers included Dick Tatham, Peter Jones and Ian Dove. Green's background was in show business and he emphasised music hall , a dying tradition. He published articles and interviews connected with theatre and musical personalities. On 22 January 1955, Record Mirror became
7636-582: Was held on 7 June at the Brighton Concorde. The live-in-the-studio album, Rhapsody , was issued to coincide with these live performances. An announcement of Foxx's official Facebook account in May 2019 stated that John Foxx and the Maths were back in the studio working on a new album, this time with Robin Simon on guitar. A short video clip of Foxx and Simon in Benge's studio was also posted on Benge's official account. The resulting album, Howl ,
7728-465: Was issued in October 1985, which spent one week at No. 85 in the UK chart. Musically it was not considered a significant advance on the sound of his three previous releases, nor was it a commercial success although the album's lyrics are far more romantic than any of his previous albums. Foxx later said that at the time he felt divorced from any contemporary musical influences. However, he did produce, co-write and play on Pressure Points , by Anne Clark ,
7820-406: Was not performed again by Foxx until 1983. Ultravox were dropped by their record label at the very end of 1978. The band undertook a self-financed tour of the United States in February, during which they performed three new songs, "Touch and Go" and "He's a Liquid", which Foxx later recorded for Metamatic , and "Radio Beach". Foxx left the band at the end of the tour, and returned to solo work. He
7912-408: Was released as an edited single a week before the album (length: 3:18), making #31 in the UK charts and appearing on a number of electropop compilations of the time. Its B-side was a non-album instrumental, "Film One". In March 1980 a remix of "No-One Driving" was released as a double single with three other non-album tracks: "Glimmer", "Mr No" and "This City", reaching #32. In June 1980, Foxx released
8004-569: Was released for Foxx's 2007 Metamatic tour, and was originally limited to 1000 pressings. Foxx has performed and recorded with a variety of artists and musicians since returning to the music scene in the mid-nineties, most notably with Louis Gordon but also with Harold Budd , Jori Hulkkonen , Robin Guthrie (formerly of Cocteau Twins ), Ruben Garcia and The Belbury Circle . In April 2005, Foxx guested on Finnish DJ Jori Hulkkonen 's album Dualizm , where he provided vocals for "Dislocated" which Hulkkonen had written for him. Foxx and Hulkkonen issued
8096-548: Was released in August 2013 on the Sugarcane Recordings label. The first volume of Cathedral Oceans was released at the same time as Foxx's comeback collaboration with Louis Gordon and the Shifting City album. In stark contrast to the latter, Cathedral Oceans is a more ethereal, ambient work combined with Foxx's own artwork of overgrown natural settings superimposed onto faces of statues. 2003 also saw
8188-494: Was released in July 2020, and reached No. 80 in the UK Albums Chart in early August 2020, becoming the first John Foxx and the Maths album to chart in the UK, and Foxx's first charting album in the UK since 1985. Over the years John Foxx's first solo single "Underpass", originally released in 1980, has come to be considered a milestone in the development of popular electronic music, and has gained recognition as iconic in
8280-581: Was released in March 2007. This contained his artwork made into a film intended as a "slowly moving, hallucinogenic, digital stained glass window, intended to be projected as big as possible onto architecture and in public places." The work was premiered in November 2006 at the Leeds International Film Festival . In July 2007, Foxx exhibited some of his Cathedral Oceans artwork as large format digital prints at Fulham Palace as part of
8372-435: Was released on a flexi-disc given away with Smash Hits in October 1980. Foxx's next album was The Garden , released in September 1981. It reached No. 24 in the UK Albums Chart. Musically it was a departure from the stark electropop of Metamatic to a sound resembling Ultravox Systems of Romance . The Garden ' s starting point was "Systems of Romance", written by Foxx for the earlier album but not released at
8464-526: Was replaced by Midge Ure . After signing to Virgin Records , Foxx achieved two top 40 entries on the UK Singles Chart with his first solo singles, " Underpass " (No. 31) and " No-One Driving " (No. 32). Its parent album Metamatic was released on 17 January 1980, and peaked at No. 18 in the UK Albums Chart . Foxx played most of the synthesisers and "rhythm machines", as they were listed on
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