John Foxx is one of the founding fathers of electronica and Modern Art is a good example of his talents. Here you get singles and b-sides covering his entire solo career. Of all the electronic music that came out of England in the early 80s, John Foxx, along with his former bandmates Ultravox, made some of the most musical of all in my opinion. He started off with the cold, robotic sounding album, Metamatic, which most people compare to Gary Numan's The Pleasure Principle.
His masterpiece The Garden followed, leaving the robotics behind and using guitars and an actual drummer. Taken from The Garden is the haunting Europe After The Rain and Dancing Like A Gun.
Foxx also displays his ability to play Indian influenced psychedelia with the song 'Endlessly'. On this cd you get the amazing original single version which is far superior to the version that is on the Golden Section album. Your Dress, taken from the same album, is a great song until Foxx starts with some high pitch wailing that quickly becomes annoying.
A European church influence is noticable to me on just about every song. I'm referring to the heavy use of reverb which gives the feel of being in a huge cathedral. Actually this influence can be heard throughout John Foxx' entire career from his Ultravox days to the present. The ambient Sunset Rising is taken from the Cathedral Oceans cd and is a good example of his love for European church music.
Foxx seems seems to have lost direction with the album In Mysterious Ways. Stars On Fire I don't like at all and Enter The Angel would be a great song if it weren't for the annoying female vocals at the end.
The song The Noise features cyber psychedelics over an irresistable beat...sort of like Kraftwerk on acid. Nightlife also reminds me of Kraftwerk...with it's relentless beat over spoken lyrics and vocoded chorus. Both songs deserve to be club hits.
Shifting City is somewhat Beatlesque sounding and features some of the most soulful singing I've heard by Foxx.
The inner sleeve of the cd features some photos and the history of John Foxx career. Pretty impressive packaging.
For those who are interested in John Foxx' solo material, Modern Art is a good place to start.
