Modern Art: Best of John Foxx [Import]

John Foxx | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (June 11, 2001)
• Original Release Date: 2001
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import
• Label: Music Club Records
• ASIN: B00005K51K
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #413,745 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Underpass

2. No-One Driving

3. Burning Car

4. 20th Century

5. Miles Away

6. Europe After the Rain

7. Dancing Like a Gun

8. Endlessly

9. Your Dress

10. Like a Miracle

11. Stars on Fire

12. Enter the Angel

13. Sunset Rising

14. The Noise

15. Nightlife

16. Shifting City

17. My Face

18. He's a Liquid

Editorial Reviews

18 classic, rare & unreleased tracks from the founding member of Ultravox. 2001 release.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Modern Art, July 16, 2001

By 

yipyipcoyote - See all my reviews

This review is from: Modern Art: Best of John Foxx (Audio CD)

An excellent collection of Foxx's most well-known songs, from the early Numanesque days of "Underpass" and "Burning Car" right through to "Nightlife" - an invigorating slice of minimal but effective, kraftwerkish techno that signals the forthcoming release "The Pleasures of Electricity". a very promising preview indeed. In between you'll find lots of single edits and rare b-sides including the original version of "Endlessly". Essential for fans and a great starting point for the casual listener.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Echoes in rows..., May 4, 2003

By 

TM77 "TM77" (nj, usa) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Modern Art: Best of John Foxx (Audio CD)

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.

4.0 out of 5 stars A good entrance to/overview of John Foxx's work (that is, his 'song' output, not the vast ambient stuff), May 14, 2011

By 

RoHLand "65!" (Germany) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Modern Art: Best of John Foxx (Audio CD)

I must admit that this was the first CD I purchased by John Foxx, and I was immediately enthralled by good a half of the tracks (concretely the Metamatic-era tracks). "Underpass", "No-One Driving" and "Burning Car" are classic Metamatic-era Foxx singles, cold, harsh, uptempo, robotic, with nonetheless some glimpse of emotion (especially on "No One Driving"). "20th" is a nice b-side, albeit a bit monotonous. "Miles Away" is a good transitional song (to the warmer and more upbeat period after Metamatic). "The Noise", "Shifting City" and "Nightlife" give a glance of Foxx's then-current work with Louis Gordon. "My Face" is a precious gem of an addition, hardly to find elsewhere. And the promo-only version of "He's a Liquid" is a satisfying closer; it has a lusher, more refined sound than the album version on Metamatic, which is due to the fine remastering done on this CD/collection (supervised by Foxx himself).
Unfortunately, the rest of the tracks don't do that much to me. In my opinion, Metamatic is by far the most superior of Foxx's 80s albums and I don't care much for the three albums succeeding Metamatic (1981-1985). If it were not for the Metamatic-era tracks, I'd given this CD/collection just three stars (if not less).
It's a good starting point to Foxx's music nonetheless, as the Metamatic-tracks will immediately grow on you and prompt you to buy said classic debut album by John Foxx (this collection also persuaded me to try the Foxx-era Ultravox, which by now I find somewhat superior to the Midge Ure-era).
Recommended.