Customer Reviews
Met the man himself! - By: P. Winn, 26 Oct 2008 
What can you say a bout John Foxx you either love his music or hate it! Having met Johnin the "Corova Bar"in Liverpool where he Played a small gig there(got my Amazon cd's signed). His music has stood the test of time & is a true inovator of "electronic synth pop". His music on Metamatic is sripped bare almost, no frills if you like, yet very atmospheric & imaginative. I like John he's a modest guy with a good musical background (ultravox). Metamatic gave him the ability to progress. Burning Car, Tidal Wave, Underpass & many more classics shine from this album. Many tried to copy his style few suceeded with dignity.
Are you under 40? - By: King Pendrawr, 26 Jun 2008 
Tricky this. Everybody who writes a review of this album is going to be positive because, frankly, why bother taking the trouble to review a 28 year old album if you hate it? And because it's so damnably obscure pretty much everyone is going to have first bought it about 28 years ago too. Therefore, looking at these reviews is like looking into the John Foxx fanclub site. So I want to sound a note of caution, justin case anybody younger than 40 stumbles across these reviews.
Metamatic sounds dated. It couldn't really come from anywhere but 1979-1980. Anybody trying to sound like this now would be more funky, less po-faced. I loved this album once, but as the early 80s passed away I distanced myself from this album like a steaming mess I'd accidentally left on someone's kitchen floor.
For various reasons I came back to it a few months ago. I slapped it on the pod, played it shuffledin with a hundred other bands & classical riffs & gradually removed the songs that didn't stand up against the competition... & I was genuinely surprised by how much was left.
The opening, Plaza, is a marvellous thing, a bleak-funk tune, impossible to dance to unless you have one leg longer than the other, & lifted surprisingly by a confused bass-player's doodlings. A bit later the run of eerie gems from Blurred Girl to Tidal Wave is genuinely touching.
Finally, & most importantly, comes Touch & Go, the album's closer. When I first got the original record home this track came as a crashing disappointment. Where was the romantic closing number I'd come to expect? Instead all there was this wonky, clanking, speeding up, slowing down thing with a white-man rap over the top. I realise now how wrong I was. Why no-one has ever used Touch & Go on a film soundtrack I don't know? This stark bright thing is possibly the most moving song/soundscape that Mr Leigh (and his former bandmates, maybe) ever wrote.
You could probably jettison the rest, album tracks or filler material (I still enjoy Glimmer, Mr No & This City but they're hardly great, & I'm waiting for the dance remix of A New Kind of Man before I go clubbing again). If they'd taken the filler out I'd have given this six stars... although apparently that's not allowed... bummer.
Quiet persistance - By: Mr. David Halliday, 26 Jun 2008 The early pioneers of popular electronic music all had a common theme of rambling & evolving soundscapes. It was Kraftwerk who showed with 'Autobahn' that there was potential for short three & a half minute tunes that would be popular & marketable, although even that track was merely an edit of the much longer album track.
It was of course Numan who really launched the catchy & sellable electronic sound that was soon to take over the charts. Others like Ultravox & Human league joinedin but they nearly all compromised & became irrelevant.
John Foxx however trod a different path. Numan always returned to his serious side but there were some pretty daft detours along the way,('warriors' anyone?), but Foxx has just refused point blank to either compromise or deviate.
With 'Metamatic' he at first listen appears to have cloned Numans sound perfectly, the opening of both 'Underpass' & 'Burning car' could easily have been Numans work. But listen closer & it becomes apparent that there is a far more intelligent & intangible aura that surrounds the whole album.
The opening track 'plaza' is a great example of this as Foxx sets out his stall straight away with an insistant backing track that burbles awayin the background but is so insistant you find it stays with you long after the track has finished. This is aligned with Foxx's distinctive lyrical style that is as close to speaking as to singing but who places you there right with himin a dream like place that is slightly disturbing.
'He's a liquid' is a perfect example of how simplicity is best with a sparse & distinctly discordant theme being used as simply a hanger for the all important lyrics, again more spoken than sung.
'Underpass' is the Foxx track most remembered & here is an improvement upon the single with a longer running time & he keeps things pared to the bone but achieves a huge wall of sound that dominates the whole album... or at least it did until this special edition which contains the simply awesome 'burning car', a fierce & relentless tour de force of dark sweeping synths & a wall of white noise thatin little over 3 minutes storms the senses & paints a faultless picture of J.G.Ballards disturbing story, gripping stuff. that it wasn't on the original release was lunacy.
There is so much of interestin this new edition that there simply isn't time to mention it all. Take a look at the other reviews & you'll see how everyone seems to have a different favourite track. One other honourable mention for me is 'Glimmer' which is not only a great instrumental but a huge pointer to the direction Foxx would eventually be headed with the sublime ambient landscapes of 'Translucence' & 'cathedral oceans'.
Throughout his musical career John Foxx has managed to continually move forward, surprise & improve. If he has always somehow managed to produce an other worldly atmosphere to all his work & leave the listener feeling that his back is slightly turned then that is no bad thing & has lead this quietly persistent man to leave his fans cherishing his back catalogue & eagerly awaiting the next journey with him.
Remember this! - By: Me, 23 May 2008 I bought the albumin the early 80's cos' I liked the cover, it turned out to be one of my all time favourites. However, what seemed to be deep & meaningful lyrics at the time (although I didn't understand them) now sound like deep & meaningless!! That does not however detract from the wonderful electronic music & the obvious talent of John Foxx. I love the lyrics - "I remember you from some shattered windscreen", "Tidal wave goes by my window". Excellent stuff - enjoyable & well worth anyone's money. Great memories & still great sounds.
My Youth Revisited..... - By: bish, 26 Oct 2007 Forget Midge Ure & Gary Numan as talented as they were ... Mr Leigh (sorry Foxx) deserves all the plaudits for introducing the U.K.to electronic music, under the influence of Kraftwerk with this groundbreaking piece of work."Plaza","He's A Liquid","Underpass","No One Driving" & my personal favourite "030" form a completely astounding collection that deserves much greater credit."Miles Away" should have been included. Bought this on vinylin 1982 aged 15-Pure genius.Buy this,open your mind, be prepared for barren,dystopian landscapes (similar to those portrayedin "A Clockwork Orange") & enjoy.
