John Foxx played CO3 live in Leeds tonight, and a Big Part of me regrets not being able to go to the event. First time he has ever performed the material live, with the one exception of Shrewsbury in 1988 when the work was in its conceptual infancy.
Sinc ethen it has grown into three of the most beautiful and ground-breaking albums of its type.
There is, in fact, very little to compare it with.
If it was up to me, Foxx would be up there with Budd and Eno for a place in the Most Influential Artists Ever. For this work, translucence and the awesome Tiny Colour MOvies.
Not forgetting that his eighth 'metal beat' album "From trash" is released on Monday.
Who is is releasing stuff at such aproloific rate, and of such different styles.
I seriously can't wait for TCM in brighton now. The first reaction to the event tonight are so enviable!!!!
Here's what i wrote of the first album:-
Cathedral Oceans, by John Foxx.
Opens with bird song and light floating synths. Builds up reverberating notes that seem to hang high in the vaults of a huge cathedral. Soft strings slowly descend from the cloud, falling like feathers to the leaf-covered floor below.
City As Memory is immediately bigger and darker, reflected in deep water with echoing bass notes swimming in the pool like massive fish. Vocals appear over the surface like mist; Ghosts on water chanting heavily-treated Latin verse - more and more figures appear throughout the piece which becomes quite ominous and threatening before they descend into the water.
Through Summer Rooms I can hear a distant organ, played by a lonely figure in a crumbling, ivy-clad church. Long echoes. Unaware of my presence, the man lifts his voice to join the higher notes in the air about him, floating gently among the rafters. Beautiful quiet passage in the middle of this piece.
Geometry and Coincidence takes us back to the lake. A mournful oboe sends out deep cries, and a voice unseen answers, reciting indistinct Latin prayer from the reeds on the other side. This is a scene of unrequited love from some unknown opera - very powerful and full of sadness.
If Only…
Lighter. Strings and organs. Indistinct. A figure we can't quite see dancing among statues in the overgrown garden.
Shifting Perspective picks up this theme as the figure disappears again. His voice then calls out from some hidden place and we follow down cloisters looking into many rooms.
Standing so close, never quite touching. Like someone almost there, but not quite. Perhaps we are chasing a memory?
Floating Islands is the most visual piece so far. Heralded by angels dressed in white robes and blowing trumpets, a huge island appears to float into view on the lake. There are statues and luxuriant vegetation, rich with flowers and small fluttering birds. High strings drift and float across the scene like wisps of scented smoke. As the island comes closer and passes us it becomes clear that it is actually in a state of decay rather than splendour. The voice becomes more pleading and desolate as it passes, hanging in the air as the falling pillars disappear on the tide.
Infinite in all directions combines the voice with the deepest bass notes, like the wrecks of massive ships. This has a resonant underwater quality, as if the souls of those lost in the shipwrecks are singing to us. They have become the whales that majestically glide through the depths, chanting ancient stories to one another.
Avenham Colonnade describes the voice whispering through the splendid trees lining a magnificent parkland avenue.
Sunset Rising. The beginning of the end. The voice held high and strong, carried on an uplift of reverberating organs, as the silhouette of the singer glows in the sunset's blaze.
Invisible Architecture brings the album full circle. A new day is breaking over the water. Maidens dance on the water to the sound of birdsong on a cool spring morning.
Standouts
City as memory
Through Summer Rooms
Floating Islands
Avenham Collonade
Go on, try something new