John Foxx: Church – UK – LP [2021]

1. This Jungle
2. Miles Away
3. A Long Time
4. Fog
5. Swimmer I
6. Swimmer II
7. Swimmer III
8. Swimmer IV

Forty years ago, John Foxx released his album “The Garden” and it was one of my top birthday presents to myself back then. I’ll never forget buying it [as an import] along with Ultravox’s “Rage In Eden” and Gary Numan’s “Dance” [each domestic] at the same store [Record City Warehouse]. I went there specifically to see of they had the import of “The Garden” and I came across the other two albums which I might not have even know were released at that time! Heady times indeed! All three artists can be said to have hit high water marks simultaneously in that magical musical year of 1981.

Foxx had reissued “The Garden” earlier for it’s 40th anniversary on colored vinyl, and given that I already owned five pressings of the LP, I passed on that one. Four of those LPs in the Record Cell were editions from the UK and Spain with with the booklet of photos/writing called “Church” that this new compilation took its name from. But this album is technically, something new in the world, and I’ve been keeping my Metamatic catalog numbers as tight a collection as I can, so this one will be coming overseas to its new home.

The new artwork looks adapted form the photos that appeared in the “Church” booklet and the cover will be a gatefold pressing. As the colored vinyl copies of “The Garden” are available in two colors of 600 copies each, so will it be with “Church.” The colors this time are transparent red or neon violet. Price is $30.99/£21.99/€25.99 and there is a 10% discount for a bundled order of both.

The first track was “This Jungle,” the B-side to “Europe, After The Rain.” the first single from “The Garden.” It wasn’t until the recent John Foxx + The Maths track “Tarzan + Jane Regained” that I realized that his wordless yell on the song’s chorus was a reference to Tarzan lore. The tribal drum programming was as close a Foxx came to being musically trendy in the year of 1981 as the rise of Adam Ant had made the Glitteresque tribal drum sound hot once more the previous year.

Both sides of the “Miles Away” transitional single where Foxx had transitioned away from the ice cold wave of “Metamatic” into something closer to Rock with the band Shake/Shake were here since they pointed the way dramatically to not only “The Garden,” but also the Synth-Psychedelia which was to follow that album.

Then the full “Swimmer” suite figured on side two of the new LP. “Swimmer I + II” were the B-side to the other single from 1981, “Dancing Like A Gun.” The previously unreleased “Swimmer III+ IV” [as well as the closing “Fog” from side one] were unreleased tracks that only manifested for the first time in 2014 on Foxx’s “The Virgin years” CD boxed set. These are making their vinyl debut for the first time.

It looks like Foxx aims to get all of that loose archival material out there on PVC. With the “Burning Car” and “Concrete And Organized Noise” albums, “Church” will join them on the now increasingly colorful PVC disc that has gotten so popular. If you are also a Foxx compulsive like I am, then hit that button below. The 1200 LPs are on sale from September, 10th, 2021, but can be pre-ordered at the Official Foxx webstore. There are a scant few copies of “Howl” left on wax and the other two LPs I referenced are long gone and already a solid two figures.

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