CD A Week Project: #9

REVO | CD-R | 2011 | PM009

Various: REVO Premaster 9 CD-R [2011]

1. John Foxx: Endlessly II [12]
2. John Foxx: A Kind Of Wave [12]
3. John Foxx: Like A Miracle [12]
4. John Foxx: Wings + A Wind [12]
5. John Foxx: Stars On Fire [12]
6. John Foxx: Enter The Angel [12]
7. Anne Clark: Heaven [12]
8. Nation 12: Remember [12]
9. Nation 12: Remember [club mix edit]
10. Nation 12: Electrofear [shamsijo mix]
11. The Bears: Aches + Pains [myopic mix]
12. Emilio Perez Machado + Stephen Powys: D’Ampton Worm
13. Emilio Perez Machado + Stephen Powys: D’Ampton Worm [hoedown foley mix]
14. Slow Children: Unplugging The Vacuum [12]
15. Slow Children: Vanessa Vacillating [12]

After last month’s Foxx Feeding Frenzy® I turned my attention to the small bits and pieces of his back catalogue that have conspicuously been swept under the carpet in a possibly revisionist attempt by Foxx to have these 12″ mixes dumped into the memory hole. I’m guessing he’s not enamored of them, but they are canon, in my view, and the Zeus B. Held remixes are certainly nothing to sneeze at!

Virgin | Uk | 12" | 1983 | VS 543-12

John Foxx: Endlessly II UK 12″ [1983]

1. Endlessly [12]
2. A Kind Of Wave [12]

John Foxx released only one record in 1982, and he must not have liked it very much, because his next single, in 1983, was a vastly different version of it. “Endlessly” is produced here in an expansive 12″ extended version by the master of analog/digital, Zeus B. Held, himself. The track still retains the psychedelic feel of the 1982 version, but the streamlined production is very much 1983 as opposed to the 1967 timeslips of the earlier version. Gone are the backwards tapes and sitar of version one. The B-side has appeared on other RMs of the “Golden Section” album [and even RMs of “The Garden!”] but the 12″ single has a longer 5:00 version that is still missing from the digital domain.

Virgin | UK | 12" | 1983 | VS 645-12

John Foxx: Like A Miracle UK 12″ [1983]

1. Like A Miracle [12]
2. Wings + A Wind [12]

Of all of John Foxx’s 12″ mixes, this A-side is his finest. The buildup by Zeus B. Held is absolutely gorgeous and deeply sumptuous. This is perhaps surpassed by the breakdown/fadeout which isolates Foxx’s backing vocals for a spine tingling effect. One side effect of the extended mix is that it draws attention to the fact that “Like A Miracle” features virtually the same chord progression as in King Crimson’s “In The Court Of The Crimson King!” The B-side is an extended version of what is, in effect, an alternate version of the gripping “Running Across Thin Ice With Tigers” with new lyrics and arrangement. When Foxx whispers “Oh look at the wonderful view” it certainly sounds like he’s seeing something unforgettable. Epic!

Virgin | UK | 12" | 1985 | VS 771-12

John Foxx: Stars On Fire UK 12″ [1985]

1. Stars On Fire [12]
2. City Of Light
3. What Kind Of Girl

John Foxx’s 1985 album, “In Mysterious Ways,” was very much the anomaly in his career. It was his attempt to make a Van Morrison influenced album, and to be sure, the lyrics reflect his preoccupation with what sounds like a powerful love affair. Foxx is dismissive of this period and many fans can’t give it the time of day. However, I find it intriguing because just five years earlier, this is the man who gave the world “Metamatic,” the ultimate “cold wave” album, and I find that distinction fascinating. “Stars On Fire” has a “campfire singalong” melody that would surely confound any fans who hadn’t heard anything he’d done since “Burning Car!”

Virgin | UK | 12" | 1985 | VS 814-12

John Foxx: Enter The Angel UK 12″ [1985]

1. Enter The Angel [12]
2. Stairway

This second single from “In Mysterious Ways” actually featured backing vocals by Eddie Reader, post-Academy Of Fine Popular Music, but pre-Fairground Attraction. She’s wailing away on what is the least typical John Foxx single, ever. Actually, I can see why Foxx has relegated this one to the orphan pile. It sounds like it goes on for just too long, especially with Reader’s backing-vocals-from-hell. Far better is the great B-side, “Stairway,” which features Robin Simon on guitar and it sounds like the great lost Simple Minds/Armoury Show teamup single from 1984 that never was. But this track has made it to CD, albeit with a new name, “Hiding In Plain Sight.”

10 Records | UK | 12" | 1985 | TEN 79-12

Anne Clark: Heaven UK 12″ [1985]

1. Heaven [12]
2. Heaven
3. Bursting

John Foxx was very active in 1985. He also found time to write and produce and album for poet Anne Clark. He produced the “Pressure Points” album as well as writing all of the music on side one, of which “Heaven” is the lead off track. If you’re familiar with Clark’s work, you may be aware that she does not sing, as such. Her sprechgesang vocals are abetted hugely by the production Foxx builds around her here. “Heaven” is a glorious, widescreen production, given here in an early Joseph Watt remix. Actually, the remix tends to err on the side of tedium as compared to the more stimulating album cut, also included. Foxx’s production of “Bursting,” for which he did not write the music, is nonetheless fantastic! The later two tracks are available on the fabbo “Pressure Points” album, which is highly recommended to any Foxx fans who’ve not taken the plunge.

Rhythm King Records | UK | 12" | 1990 | EBU 1

Nation 12: Remember UK 12″ [1990]

1. Remember [12]
2. Remember [sub dub mix]
3. Listen To The Drummer
4. Remember [club edit]

Following 1985, John Foxx went missing and didn’t resurface until 1997… with the exception of the two Nation 12 singles. The first is the keeper. Nation 12 arose when Foxx met Tim “Bomb The Bass” Simenon at the dawn of acid house and they decided to collaborate. “Remember” is a fantastic club tune that marries Foxx’s minimal style to the nascent club sound as practiced by a fellow master. The A-side is slightly longer than the version on the posthumous Nation 12 CD/album released in 2005 from a salvaged cassette a fan had “obtained.” Tracks two and three figure on that release, but not the short remix of “Remember [club edit].” That’s a fairly radical small dub of the A-side.

Rhythm King Records | UK | 12" | 1991 | EBU 2T

Nation 12: Electrofear UK 12″ [1991]

1. Electrofear [beastmix]
2. Electrofear [shemsijo mix]
3. Electrofear [dogmix]

Then there’s the second and final Nation 12 single. By 1991, when I read about this single, there was a place in Orlando, Florida that I knew where I could go to to buy it; The Drop Shop. It was the first “DJ” store in Orlando, which would have a burgeoning DJ community very shortly. I walked in, asked for it, and they had it in stock – instant gratification, except for the music. At this point I didn’t have “Remember” and would not get it until the advent of ebay, many years later. This record did not have Tim Simenon participating. It was John Foxx with some other guys*, who were hardly Tim Simenon.

“Electrofear” is a real drag of a track, in any of its mixes. The listener would be forgiven for not knowing that John Foxx was in any way, shape or form, involved with this record just from listening to it’s dishwater dull DJ mix. I’m glad I wasn’t dissuaded to buy “Remember” when I found it on e-bay 9 years later, since it’s a fabbo dance record. Unlike this one. Every mix on this disc is a “dog” mix. Still, this record is significant to me. It is the one instance of John Foxx releasing a record I absolutely hated! Proof of his human fallibility.

* Kurt & Simon Rogers, plus a guy named Shem.

PMRC | USP | 12" | 1988 | L33-17523

The Bears: Aches + Pains US Promo 12″ [1988]

1. Aches + Pains [myopic mix]
2. Talking About Music Is Like Whistling About Chickens

This promo 12″ was from the second Bears album from 1988. For those who don’t know, The Bears was a band that was originally known as The Raising, and when Adrian Belew was to produce them, he got along well enough that he became a member, albeit with a name change. The Bears traffic in slightly Beatle-esque power pop, and are sure to delight on that score. It’s ironic that I don’t much care for The Beatles, but am fine with groups influenced by them. I think it all boils down to my attitude regarding The Beatles. They were a fine pop rock band; nothing more. They were kind of mediocre to me. Better than awful, certainly, but I found them far from brilliant. It seems that my views are in the cultural minority. As such, I have time for The Bears but The Beatles just weigh too much for me to try to lift! The A-side is a remix of the album cut. The B-side is technically non-LP, but since it is a 12 minute track where the band were interviewed with LP excerpts in between, I wasn’t motivated to digitize it, even with my penchant for “curation.”

Not a record, but a film this time.

Emilio Perez Machado + Stephen Powys: D’Ampton Worm from “The Lair Of The White Worm” [1988]

1. D’Ampton Worm [end credits]
2. D’ampton Worm [hoedown foley mix]

What in blue blazes…!!? That’s right. These two tracks are from no record but instead are plucked from the Ken Russell film “The Lair Of The White Worm.” As far as I know, the movie had no OST, but a friend requested a copy of the rocking folk tune that appeared in the movie and is in fact, based [virtually 99%] on the actual English folk song known as “Lambton Worm.” I grabbed these from my ancient, severely oxidized laserdisc. The end credits have the song play unmolested, but the “hoedown foley mix” is the song as it appears in the film with full foley effects and, inexplicably, a running time that it 0:30 longer. It sounds like they wanted The Pogues, but couldn’t afford them, so some ringers [Machado + Powys] had to suffice. Who acquit themselves rather well at it, actually.

RCA | USP | 12" | 1982 | JD-13367

Slow Children: Vanessa Vacillating USP 12″ [1982]

1. Vanessa Vacillating [12]
2. Unplugging The Vacuum [12]

Slow Children were a great L.A. New Wave band who made two albums I really enjoyed at the dawn of the eighties. These two songs are remixed from their last album, “Mad About Town.” The mixes are pretty neat, with tracks almost taking on a kind of Police pseudo-dub space thanks to the flanged guitar. Strangely enough, these were promo only mixes that I only recently found. I still need to get the first UK Slow Children single; after that it’s remastering time. I’m guessing that the mixes are by the production team of Stephen Hague and Jules Shear, since most remixes were usually by the straight album production team at this time. As far as I know, no Slow Children ever made it to legit CD, unless they’re on a retro New Wave comp I don’t know about.

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