In Mysterious Ways
| In Mysterious Ways | ||||
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| Studio album by John Foxx | ||||
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Publication |
1985 |
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| Label (s) | Virgin | |||
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Format (s) |
LP, CD |
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Title (number) |
10 |
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running time |
43:25 |
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| occupation |
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John Foxx |
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Studio (s) |
The Garden, London |
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In Mysterious Ways is the fourth solo album by former Ultravox singer John Foxx . It was released on Virgin Records in 1985 .
Track list
- Stars On Fire (5:32)
- Lose All Sense Of Time (4:16)
- Shine On (3:58)
- Enter The Angel (3:04)
- In Mysterious Ways (5:00)
- What Kind Of Girl (4:40)
- This Side Of Paradise (4:38)
- Stepping Softly (3:56)
- Enter The Angel II (2:14)
- Morning Glory (5:52)
2001 appeared on Edsel Records, a sub-label of the Demon Music Group, a re-release of the album. There were also some previously unreleased bonus tracks:
- Lumen de Lumine (2:36)
- Hiding in Plain Sight (5:52)
- City of Light (3:38)
In 2008 Edsel released another re-release, this time as a 2CD version. Additional pieces:
- Spin Away (6:43)
- This Side of Paradise (4:38)
- Enter the Angel (alternative version) (3:38)
- To Be With You (alternative version) (4:41)
- And the Sky (4:34)
- Magic (3:35)
- Hiding in Plain Sight (5:51)
- Shine On (alternative version) (5:03)
- City of Light (3:37)
- Lumen de Lumine (2:36)
History of origin
With his first solo album Metamatic , Foxx cut ties to the Ultravox past and avoided any echoes of punk and krautrock . With the two follow-up albums The Garden and The Golden Section , Foxx moved away from the supercooled, purely electronic metamatic new wave and integrated instruments and new romantic elements into his music. Foxx continued to pursue this development and delivered with In Mysterious Ways a pop album with acoustic guitars, analog drums and female backing vocals , which he expanded in some places with ambient elements, which he followed up with the Cathedral Oceans album twelve years later should. Van Morrison's music had an audible influence on the compositions . After working with Zeus B. Held for The Golden Section, he produced In Mysterious Ways again himself and also designed the album cover.
As early as 1984 Foxx announced work on the new album in an interview with In The City magazine and noted that he would use a working method for In Mysterious Ways that was partially used in The Golden Section: The album would come about spontaneously, "less structured and become less song-oriented than its predecessor. The concrete work on the album did not begin until the end of 1984. For the first test recordings with Robin and Paul Simon on guitar and drums, Foxx let his fellow musicians view the material in the studio and record it directly.
The album was a commercial flop and received mostly negative reviews. No further album appeared under the stage name John Foxx for twelve years. Retrospectively, Foxx commented that in 1985 he no longer felt any connection to contemporary music. In retrospect, he describes the album as a mistake: "Everyone has to drive across the sidewalk before they find their way back onto the street."
reception
Allmusic recognized Foxx as having "talent" and "a sense of style" that would not be superimposed by conventional songwriting and clichéd lyrics, and gave it 3.5 out of 5 stars. Trouser Press criticizes an accumulation of "romantic clichés" and some elements that have been overused to the point of bombast, such as female background vocals, but also sees positive sides: But Foxx's earnest, electro-rock casanova charm somehow makes it work.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Daryl Easlea, Liner Notes for the 2001 rerelease
- ↑ Interview with Paul Simon
- ↑ Interview on The Quietus
- ↑ Review on Allmusic
- ^ John Foxx retrospective on Trouser Press