Metamatic is an album by
John FoxxJohn Foxx John Foxx John Foxx (born in Chorley, Lancashire, is the stage name of English musician Dennis Leigh. He was the original lead singer of the band Ultravox!, before embarking on a solo career in 1979...
, released in 1980. It was his first solo album following his split with
UltravoxUltravox are a British New Wave rock band that rose to prominence in the late 1970s/early 1980s. They were one of the primary exponents of the British electronic pop music movement of the early 1980s. The band was particularly associated with the New Romantic and New Wave movements...
the previous year. A departure from the richly-textured mix of
synthesizerA synthesizer is an electronic instrument that is capable of producing a variety of sounds by generating and combining signals of different frequencies...
s and conventional instruments on
Systems of RomanceSystems of Romance, released on 8 September 1978, is the third album by British band Ultravox...
, his last album with the band,
Metamatics hard-edged electronicaElectronica includes a wide range of contemporary electronic music designed for a wide range of uses, including foreground listening, some forms of dancing, and background music for other activities; however, unlike electronic dance music, it is not specifically made for dancing...
was more akin to KraftwerkKraftwerk is an influential electronic band from Düsseldorf, Germany. The signature Kraftwerk sound combines driving, repetitive rhythms with catchy melodies, mainly following a Western classical style of harmony, with a minimalistic and strictly electronic instrumentation.The group's simplified...
's The Man-MachineThe Man-Machine is the seventh studio album by Kraftwerk, released in 1978. It was released in German as Die Mensch-Maschine. It contains the song "The Model" which was a #1 single in the UK in 1982....
(1978), Gary NumanGary Numan is an English singer, composer, and musician. He is considered to be one of the pioneers of commercial electronic music and has been described as the "King of synthpop." Numan is widely known for his chart-topping 1979 hits "Are 'Friends' Electric?" and "Cars"...
's The Pleasure PrincipleThe Pleasure Principle is the third studio album, and debut album under his own name, by electronic music pioneer Gary Numan, released in 1979...
(1979), and early Human LeagueThe Human League are a British synthpop band. Formed in Sheffield in 1977, they achieved popularity after a key change in line-up in the early 1980s...
. The name 'Metamatic' comes from a painting machine by kinetic artKinetic art is art that contains moving parts or depends on motion for its effect. The moving parts are generally powered by wind, a motor or the observer. The term kinetic sculpture refers to a class of art made primarily from the late 1950s through 1960s...
ist Jean TinguelyJean Tinguely was a Swiss painter and sculptor. He is best known for his sculptural machines or kinetic art, in the Dada tradition; known officially as metamechanics...
, first exhibited at the ParisParis is the capital of France and the country's most populous city. It is situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
Biennial in 1959.
Recorded in what the composer described as "an eight-track cupboard in IslingtonIslington is the central district of the London Borough of Islington. It is an inner-city district in London, spanning from Islington High Street to Highbury Fields, encompassing the area around the busy Upper Street...
", Metamatic was engineered by then-unknown
Gareth JonesGareth Jones is a music producer and engineer notable for working with Depeche Mode, Einstürzende Neubauten, Wire and Erasure.-Background:Gareth Jones is married and currently living in North London....
.
Metamatic is an album by
John FoxxJohn Foxx John Foxx John Foxx (born in Chorley, Lancashire, is the stage name of English musician Dennis Leigh. He was the original lead singer of the band Ultravox!, before embarking on a solo career in 1979...
, released in 1980. It was his first solo album following his split with
UltravoxUltravox are a British New Wave rock band that rose to prominence in the late 1970s/early 1980s. They were one of the primary exponents of the British electronic pop music movement of the early 1980s. The band was particularly associated with the New Romantic and New Wave movements...
the previous year. A departure from the richly-textured mix of
synthesizerA synthesizer is an electronic instrument that is capable of producing a variety of sounds by generating and combining signals of different frequencies...
s and conventional instruments on
Systems of RomanceSystems of Romance, released on 8 September 1978, is the third album by British band Ultravox...
, his last album with the band,
Metamatics hard-edged electronicaElectronica includes a wide range of contemporary electronic music designed for a wide range of uses, including foreground listening, some forms of dancing, and background music for other activities; however, unlike electronic dance music, it is not specifically made for dancing...
was more akin to KraftwerkKraftwerk is an influential electronic band from Düsseldorf, Germany. The signature Kraftwerk sound combines driving, repetitive rhythms with catchy melodies, mainly following a Western classical style of harmony, with a minimalistic and strictly electronic instrumentation.The group's simplified...
's The Man-MachineThe Man-Machine is the seventh studio album by Kraftwerk, released in 1978. It was released in German as Die Mensch-Maschine. It contains the song "The Model" which was a #1 single in the UK in 1982....
(1978), Gary NumanGary Numan is an English singer, composer, and musician. He is considered to be one of the pioneers of commercial electronic music and has been described as the "King of synthpop." Numan is widely known for his chart-topping 1979 hits "Are 'Friends' Electric?" and "Cars"...
's The Pleasure PrincipleThe Pleasure Principle is the third studio album, and debut album under his own name, by electronic music pioneer Gary Numan, released in 1979...
(1979), and early Human LeagueThe Human League are a British synthpop band. Formed in Sheffield in 1977, they achieved popularity after a key change in line-up in the early 1980s...
. The name 'Metamatic' comes from a painting machine by kinetic artKinetic art is art that contains moving parts or depends on motion for its effect. The moving parts are generally powered by wind, a motor or the observer. The term kinetic sculpture refers to a class of art made primarily from the late 1950s through 1960s...
ist Jean TinguelyJean Tinguely was a Swiss painter and sculptor. He is best known for his sculptural machines or kinetic art, in the Dada tradition; known officially as metamechanics...
, first exhibited at the ParisParis is the capital of France and the country's most populous city. It is situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
Biennial in 1959.
Production and style
Recorded in what the composer described as "an eight-track cupboard in IslingtonIslington is the central district of the London Borough of Islington. It is an inner-city district in London, spanning from Islington High Street to Highbury Fields, encompassing the area around the busy Upper Street...
", Metamatic was engineered by then-unknown
Gareth JonesGareth Jones is a music producer and engineer notable for working with Depeche Mode, Einstürzende Neubauten, Wire and Erasure.-Background:Gareth Jones is married and currently living in North London....
. Foxx's electronic equipment included
ARP OdysseyThe ARP Odyssey was an analog synthesizer introduced in 1972. Responding to pressure from Moog Music to create a portable, affordable "performance" synthesizer, ARP scaled down its popular 2600 synthesizer and created the Odyssey, which became the best-selling synthesizer they made.The Odyssey is...
, an
ElkaELKA or Elka may refer to one of the following:*An Italian Synthesizer manufacturer, now defunct. Notable units include; ELKA Rhapsody, ELKA X-55, and the ELKA MKxx series of MIDI controllers . Notable customers include Jean Michel Jarre, Tangerine Dream, Klaus Schulze and, Supertramp...
'String Machine' and a
Roland CR-78The Roland CompuRhythm CR-78 is a drum machine launched in 1978. Although primitive by today's standards, the CR-78 represented an important advance in drum machine technology at the time...
drum machineA drum machine is an electronic musical instrument designed to imitate the sound of drums and/or other percussion instruments. Drum machines are very useful instruments for a wide variety of musical genres, not just purely electronic music...
. His keyboard skills were rudimentary at the time, and the majority of the synth parts were played for him by John Wesley-Barker.
Regarding the album's air of clinical artiness, Foxx later confessed to "reading too much J.G. Ballard" and "imagining I was the
Marcel DuchampMarcel Duchamp was a French artist whose work is most often associated with the Dadaist and Surrealist movements. Duchamp's output influenced the development of post-World War I Western art...
of
electropopElectropop is a form of electronic music that is made with synthesizers, and which first flourished from 1978 to 1983. Electropop laid the groundwork for a mass market in chart-oriented pop and dance music...
". Half a dozen 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 (reissued in 2002 as the second of a 2-disc set, The Golden Section Tour + The Omnidelic Exotour
); he also re-used its distinctive riff for the track "Invisible Women" on 2001's Pleasures of Electricity with Louis Gordon. The song "He's a Liquid" was inspired 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", exhibited
psychedelic Psychedelic music covers a range of popular music styles, genres and scenes, that may include psychedelic rock, psychedelic folk, psychedelic pop, psychedelic soul, psychedelic ambient, psychedelic trance, and others. Psychedelic rock is also commonly called acid rock...
touches that would increasingly recur in his 1980s work.
Foxx had performed "He's a Liquid" and "Touch and Go" live with Ultravox before leaving the band in 1979. Drummer
Warren CannWarren Reginald Cann is a drummer and drum machine programmer, best known as a member of the British New Wave band Ultravox.-Early life:...
, for one, appeared to consider them to be Ultravox, rather than John Foxx, numbers and noted that the band did not receive any credit for them on Metamatic
. Notwithstanding, 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.
Release and aftermath
Metamatic spent seven weeks in the UK charts, peaking at #18. Though Foxx was accused in some quarters at the time of imitating Gary Numan – ironically in light of the inspiration Numan publicly admitted to taking from the Foxx-led Ultravox – the album was generally well-received by critics and is still cited as his most influential solo release.
"Underpass" was released as an edited single a week before the album (length: 3:18), making #35 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 with three other non-album tracks, "Glimmer", "This City" and "Mr No", reaching #32.
In June 1980, Foxx released a single with new songs on both sides, "
Burning Car"Burning Car" is a song by John Foxx, released as a single in 1980. It was his third solo single, following "Underpass" and "No-One Driving" earlier in the year. The track was not included on Foxx's debut solo album Metamatic, post-dating its January 1980 release, but has been included as a bonus...
" b/w "20th Century", making #35. He issued one more single-only release in October 1980, the transitional "
Miles Away"Miles Away" is a song by John Foxx, released as a single in October 1980. It was his fourth solo single, following "Burning Car" in July that year...
" b/w "A Long Time", which provided a foretaste of the more fully-produced sound of his next album,
The GardenThe Garden is a 1981 album by John Foxx, the follow-up to his debut solo album Metamatic, released the previous year. However its instrumentation and highly romantic style is more comparable to Systems of Romance, his last album with former band Ultravox, released in 1978.-Production and style:The...
(1981). All these non-album tracks have appeared on various John Foxx compilations and reissues of Metamatic
; the 1993 CD version of the album also included "Young Love", a previously-unreleased track recorded in 1979. A two-CD reissue of the album was released in September 2007 that collected most Metamatic
-era music, plus previously unavailable tracks, onto one bonus CD.
For many years Metamatics stark electronic sound made it something of an aberration in the John Foxx catalogue. However Foxx's recent material with Louis Gordon,
Shifting City,
Pleasures of Electricity and
Crash and Burn, bear more resemblance to the album than to his subsequent 1980s releases. Foxx's record label and his official website are also named Metamatic.
Track listing
All songs written by
John FoxxJohn Foxx John Foxx John Foxx (born in Chorley, Lancashire, is the stage name of English musician Dennis Leigh. He was the original lead singer of the band Ultravox!, before embarking on a solo career in 1979...
.
- "Plaza" – 3:52
- "He's a Liquid" – 2:59
- "Underpass" – 3:53
- "Metal Beat" – 2:59
- "No-One Driving" – 3:45
- "A New Kind of Man" – 3:38
- "Blurred Girl" – 4:16
- "030" – 3:15
- "Tidal Wave" – 4:14
- "Touch and Go" – 5:33
1993 reissue bonus tracks
- "Young Love" – 3:10
- "Film One" – 3:58
- "20th Century" – 3:06
- "Miles Away
"Miles Away" is a song by John Foxx, released as a single in October 1980. It was his fourth solo single, following "Burning Car" in July that year...
" – 3:17
- "A Long Time" – 3:49
- "Swimmer 1" – 4:06
2001 reissue bonus tracks
- "Film One" – 3:58
- "Glimmer" – 3:33
- "Mr. No" – 3:14
- "This City" – 3:03
- "20th Century" – 3:06
- "Burning Car
"Burning Car" is a song by John Foxx, released as a single in 1980. It was his third solo single, following "Underpass" and "No-One Driving" earlier in the year. The track was not included on Foxx's debut solo album Metamatic, post-dating its January 1980 release, but has been included as a bonus...
" – 3:12
- "Miles Away" – 3:17
2007 reissue bonus disc
- "Film One"
- "This City"
- "To Be With You"
- "Cinemascope"
- "Burning Car"
- "Glimmer"
- "Mr No"
- "Young Love"
- "20th Century"
- "My Face"
- "Like a Miracle" (alternative version)
- "A New Kind of Man" (alternative version)
- "He's a Liquid" (alternative version)
- "To Be With You" and "Cinemascope" are "sampled and re-assembled from ideas and fragments found on cassette using only analogue gear"
Personnel
- John Foxx
John Foxx John Foxx John Foxx (born in Chorley, Lancashire, is the stage name of English musician Dennis Leigh. He was the original lead singer of the band Ultravox!, before embarking on a solo career in 1979...
– vocals, rhythm machinesA drum machine is an electronic musical instrument designed to imitate the sound of drums and/or other percussion instruments. Drum machines are very useful instruments for a wide variety of musical genres, not just purely electronic music...
(mainly Roland CR-78The Roland CompuRhythm CR-78 is a drum machine launched in 1978. Although primitive by today's standards, the CR-78 represented an important advance in drum machine technology at the time...
), synthesizerA synthesizer is an electronic instrument that is capable of producing a variety of sounds by generating and combining signals of different frequencies...
s
- John Wesley Barker – additional synthesizers
- Jake Durant – additional bass
The electric bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a plectrum....
- Gareth Jones
Gareth Jones is a music producer and engineer notable for working with Depeche Mode, Einstürzende Neubauten, Wire and Erasure.-Background:Gareth Jones is married and currently living in North London....
– engineer
Keyboards used on the album include the
MinimoogThe Minimoog is a monophonic analog synthesizer, invented by Bill Hemsath and Robert Moog. Released in 1971 by the original Moog Music, it was among the first widely available, portable and relatively affordable synthesizers.- Design :...
,
ARP OdysseyThe ARP Odyssey was an analog synthesizer introduced in 1972. Responding to pressure from Moog Music to create a portable, affordable "performance" synthesizer, ARP scaled down its popular 2600 synthesizer and created the Odyssey, which became the best-selling synthesizer they made.The Odyssey is...
,
clavinetA Clavinet is an electrophonic keyboard instrument manufactured by the Hohner company. It is essentially an electronically amplified clavichord, analogous to an electric guitar. Its distinctive bright staccato sound has appeared particularly in funk, disco, rock, and reggae songs.Various models...
,
pianoThe piano is a musical instrument which is played by means of a keyboard. Widely used in Western music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music, and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
,
FarfisaFarfisa is a manufacturer of electronics based in Italy. The Farfisa brand name is commonly associated with a series of compact electronic organ, and later, a series of multi-timbral synthesizer. At the height of their production, Farfisa operated 3 factories to produce instruments, in Ancona in...
string synth, and
Hammond organThe Hammond organ is an electric organ which was invented by Laurens Hammond in 1934 and manufactured by the Hammond Organ Company. While the Hammond organ was originally sold to churches as a lower-cost alternative to the wind-driven pipe organ, in the 1960s and 1970s, it became a standard...
.