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41 of 43 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
STOP!, December 11, 2001
Clan of Xymox (COX) was formed in 1983 in Amsterdam (Holland) playing gloomy, gothic, fast-beat analog Euro-dance/synth-pop music. The original lineup included Ronny Moerings, Pieter Nooten, Frank Weyzig, and Anke Wolbert. This excellent 1985 debut on the 4AD label is very similar in style and delivery to Alphaville's 1984 debut, "Forever Young". I highly recommend their first three albums to all the 80's music fans. The following is an album discography for the Clan to date; note that from 1988 to 1996 the band had shortened their name to "Xymox". There is also one bootleg CD compilation, as far as it is known to me, which collects together their 1980's B-sides. [Discography updated in 2006.]
01. Clan of Xymox (self-titled) 1985
02. Medusa 1987
03. Twist of Shadows 1989
04. Phoenix 1991
05. Metamorphosis 1992
06. Headclouds 1993
07. Subsequent Pleasures (1984 EP reissue + bonus tracks) 1994
08. Remix (limited edition, very rare!) 1994
09. Hidden Faces 1997
10. Creatures 1999
11. Live (2xCD set) 2000
12. Notes from the Underground 2001
13. The John Peel Sessions (recorded in 1985) 2001
14. Remixes from the Underground (2xCD set) 2002
15. Farewell 2003
16. The Best Of (including the 80's re-recorded versions) 2004
17. Breaking Point 2006
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16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
how did this one get lost in the mix?, February 17, 2003
By A Customer
So it wasn't 'radio friendly', per se. Not due to lack of memorable melodies or catchy, gloomy dance tracks. Clan of Xymox always got ragged by critics because they didn't have an original sound. Maybe that was true--they wore their influences on their sleeve--Ronny Moorings used to tout New Order as the greatest band around and made no bones about wanting to be like them. He was just a bit darker than Sumner and Co. But as the years have passed and all the other bands that made music like this have faded away, people still want these early Clan of Xymox records like crazy. They want them because they're so damn good. Sure, it's a bit o' Cure, a bit o' New Order, with a 4AD glaze, but it goes down so easy. No music evokes wintry atmospheres and that special brand of romanticism that the 80's synth pop bands had quite like Clan of Xymox. Sure, tons of people made music like this in the early and mid '80's, but nobody put these elements together with such grace as Ronny Moorings. Ronny's a bit like Trent Reznor or Billy Corgan--the music is almost always written and performed by him 100%(save for the few Pieter Nooten tracks scattered about). His indulgences are his strength and his voice is, in my opinion, THE definitive goth voice. Oh, I know Pete Murphy, Andrew Eldritch, etc., etc. I love them, too and they're great vocalists. But Ronny has a way with those lower registers and with those impassioned high notes like nobody else plus, a pretty cool way of doubling the low register with the high register to maintain the dark croon and the desperate howl all at the same time. The Clan's instrumentation made them great too. Electronic dance beats, synths, acoustic guitar, and synth strings were almost always the formula, not to mention some cool use of early sampling (further explored on 'Medusa'). With the ever masterful John Fryer at the production helm, this record is a sure bet to please anyone with a taste for the melancholy mirrorball from the time when Joy Division and Kraftwerk were THE patron saints of European music. Eat this one up!
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
the crown jewel of 4ad , September 24, 2004
Wow, I cannot believe that it has been nearly 20 years since I first heard "A Day" on the dancefloor at the new wave/goth club Blitz in Phoenix. The DJ used to play the remix of A Day, and I can remember thinking "this is the coolest song ever". I asked the DJ who it was and I understood him as saying "Zylocks" so I looked for Zylocks records for a year (I was only 13). Needless to say, I finally saw the light, got the album and it has been in semi regular rotation ever since. Recently I met a new friend that is just as crazy about the whole post-punk/goth/synthpop thing, and he has felt the same way about this album since he was a kid. It is one of the few albums that when I put it on, I let it play in it's entirity. It would seem a sacrilige to take it off half way through. So light some candles and insense and read some Poe, Dickinson, Or The Grey Garden, something dark and lovely and enjoy this album swirling in the background.
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