There was only the one compilation released in 2015, though it was announced by the Metamatic mailing list as being the first part of two. Specifically, ‘20th Century: The Noise’ was the first compilation to be released on the Metamatic label itself and noted as being “the first part of a double release to celebrate 35 years as a solo artist”. (The second part would be 2016’s ‘21st Century: A Man, A Woman And A City’, amongst other such releases that year, which we will of course come to in the next post in this series.)
‘20th Century: The Noise’ UK CD (Metamatic Records, META57CD, 2015)
An email from the Metamatic mailing list from 25 July 2015 noted that this compilation was released on Friday 24 July 2015 and that it featured 17 tracks, including the 2014 Metamatic re-masters (where relevant) and a new master of ‘No-One Driving’ (Single Version), as well as a previously unreleased track, ‘Musique Electron’, and rare variant (from a various artists compilation album) of a ‘Cathedral Oceans’ track, ‘Splendour’. With artwork by Barnbrook and images by John Foxx, it made for an attractive package, with the keen price point offer tempting for those exclusives.
An previous mailing list post from Metamatic, from 25 April 2015, had noted an earlier planned release date of 6th July 2015 for the compilation, as well as a special pre-order discount price of £7.99. The main text gave this synopsis of the album:
Metamatic Records’ first major compilation of John Foxx material is the first part of a double release to celebrate 35 years as a solo artist. ‘John Foxx – 20th Century: The Noise’ covers the years from his debut single ‘Underpass’ in January 1980 to the rest of the last century, up to his ‘comeback’ albums with Louis Gordon, ‘Shifting City’ and ‘Subterranean Omnedelic Exotour’ in 1997 and 1998. There’s also a precious ‘Cathedral Oceans’ gem, ‘Splendour’ which has only ever been available on an album by various artists entitled ‘Orphée’ and ’20th Century’ includes an unreleased instrumental track from the vaults, ‘Musique Electron’ – a melodic idea Foxx has had ‘for decades’. The Metamatic material is taken from the 2014 master which is based on a set of 1979 analogue tapes recently found in the archives. This special offer is available to pre-order through the Official Store: http://johnfoxx.tmstor.es/
Tracklist:
- 20th Century
- Underpass
- No-One Driving (Single Version)
- Burning Car
- He’s A Liquid (Alternative Version)
- A Long Time
- Miles Away
- Europe After The Rain
- This Jungle
- Dancing Like A Gun
- Endlessly (Original Single Version)
- The Hidden Man
- The Noise ‡
- Through My Sleeping ‡
- Hiroshima Mon Amour (The Omnidelic Exotour) ‡
- Musique Electron
- Splendour
All tracks by John Foxx except where noted, as follows:
‡ John Foxx and Louis Gordon
For ‘Underpass’, ‘Europe After The Rain’ and ‘Dancing Like A Gun’ it is worth confirming that these are the regular album versions of the song, not single edits, and that ‘Endlessly’ (Single Version) is the original 1982 single version, not the 1983 version. For the late ’90s Foxx/Gordon tracks, ‘The Noise’ and ‘Through My Sleeping’ are the album version from ‘The Shifting City’, while ‘Hiroshima Mon Amour’ is obviously from the ‘live’ album, ‘Subterranean Omnedelic Exotour’.
What is / was unique to this compilation?
The instrumental piece ‘Musique Electron’ is an exclusive to this release, and as it was described above in the noted Metamatic publicity info was “a melodic idea Foxx has had ‘for decades’”.
‘Additionally of interest…’
While previously available, though with some difficulty, ‘Splendour’ is a very different version of the ‘Cathedral Oceans 2’ piece ‘Quiet Splendour’ and which had previously only ever been available on the various artists compilation album, ‘Orphée’, released in 2000.
Where can the exclusives be sourced now?
‘Musique Electron’ remains exclusive to this CD and has not been re-released since.
Summary
Perhaps one for completists mainly, with only two tracks otherwise unavailable or difficult to find, the vast majority of the tracks were regular versions and relatively easy to come across, by and large. At the time of this compilation’s release though, the ‘Metamatic’ tracks were the first CD outing for the new mastering from the original 1979 tapes that had been re-discovered and debuted on the 2014 Record Store Day white vinyl release of the album.