John Foxx

John Foxx is a mysterious and elegant figure in England's rock history. There are some details about him that have slipped through about his time as the lead singer of Ultravox! and as a solo artist. He appeared on three LPs in the 1970s and four in the 1980s, followed by a turn-of-the-century comeback which surprised his fans and followers of electronic music. He let it be known, in the liner notes the he wrote which accompany the Assembly compilation CD, released on Virgin Records, that The Shadows were an influence as well The Swimmer, Dada and Europop.

Ultravox

Like the German so-called Krautrock band Neu!, Ultravox!'s identity was partly linked to its exclaimation point. By the third album, Systems Of Romance, released on 9 December 1978, dropped was the exclaimation point, for whatever reason, along with most connections to the sounds, visuals and attitudes associated with punk. Also missing was their first guitarist, the loud and versatile Stevie Shears, replaced by Robin Simon, from a band called Neo (not to be confused with Neu!). On this release, the most streamlined of the three, the lyrics and music are at their most visual and emotional, exploring interesting psychological states with the synthesizer taking on an expanded role.

Related Topics:
Krautrock - 9 December - 1978

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John Foxx bought a suit at an Oxfam shop at some point and he moved about, as unrecognized as a pickpocket, living a secret life. The luxury of this anonymity brought about neo-romantic song and lyrical ideas that found their way onto Systems Of Romance and every solo Foxx release after that. He began writing a kind of dream diary, some of which was published in the fanzine in the early 80s.

Related Topics:
Oxfam - Pickpocket - Anonymity - Neo-romantic

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Slow Motion and I Can't Stay Long open the record and the first flows into the second, like one long track. Both float above the clouds and under the water yet pulse all through the organs of the body. In When You Walk Thru Me, the drum pattern is the same as The Beatles' Tomorrow Never Knows. Psychedelia was always one thread in the tapestry of Ultravox's music and it recurs often in solo Foxx music after this. Some Of Them is a burst of psyche punk that recalls some of the Ha!-Ha!-Ha! era and has a near prog break that includes lyrics mentioning evergreens. Dislocation is another example of how innovative this band was -- very minimal, strange and transcendent it is -- leaping into a future that never really manifested. The lyrics, continuing the Lonely Hunter theme, mention Eau de Cologne.

Related Topics:
Psychedelia - Evergreen - Eau de Cologne

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How could all of this end? The band were at their peak, the tensions and interactions of these people, in the form of the product they produced, was about to get big.

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A tour of the United States, in early 1979 was very successful in terms of crowd enthusiasm and ticket sales, but it had no financial help from a record label as the band had been dropped from Island's roster. Simon decided to stay on in New York and Foxx made plans to go solo upon returning to England.

Related Topics:
United States - 1979

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Possibly not on the best of terms with his band and possibly excited by the possibilities of leaving the gang and choosing to go D.I.Y., Foxx gave up the rock band construct, plotted a new career and an independent label. He'd thought of possibly forming another band, completely free of electric guitars in an unabashedly new direction or even changing his name again. In the end, Foxx and Ultravox decided to co-exist. This was around April, '79. In the Ultravox camp, Foxx was replaced as lead vocalist by James Midge Ure, of The Rich Kids, Slik and Thin Lizzy. Midge, who was often photographed sporting a mustache, represented a new direction for that band. This next incarnation of Ultravox built on some of the ideas explored on the final Foxx-era record Systems Of Romance to huge worldwide success with Vienna in 1980. With Currie at the helm, musically, more releases, radio hits, arenas and Live Aid followed. The Ure-fronted version of Ultravox lasted another six years, more or less.

Related Topics:
D.I.Y. - Electric guitars - Midge Ure - Thin Lizzy - Mustache - 1980 - Live Aid

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When he was having hits in Britain, the Electropop star Gary Numan made it no secret that it was the Foxx-era Ultravox that was his major influence.

Related Topics:
Electropop - Gary Numan

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