Basically, I LOVE THIS ALBUM!

Listening to it on the headphones on my journey to work recently, forming visions in my mind to accompany each song - every song on this album could easily inspire a short film... rising sun over a seemingly deserted city, travelling past rivers, restaurants, trees and streetlights watching the lights blur and the traffic go by. Technology, concrete, crowds, solitude, neon lights and signs fading in and out, staircases leading to interesting places, strange rooms, feelings of warmth, cold, metal and rain. There are so many elements in this album.

Okay I'm officially waffling!!

This album is just the perfect soundtrack to a dreamy science-fiction film yet to be made. (Just like Metamatic, really!)

...anybody else feel this way?!

Yeah it's my fave from the JF & LG albums.
It's a great travel companion. By the time we arrive at The Falling Room I just dissolve and leave the suit behind like in The Miles Away still.

Chris C

You know, reading this made me think, I wish I had my copy of this handy. And then I remembered I ripped all my JF CDs and burned a couple of mp3 data discs for convenient access at times like this. So I think I'll be listening to Pleasures of Electricity as soon as the current CD is over.

I think there's a little filler on TPOE, but when it's good, it's very good indeed.

Hi Alex
I feel the same way about P of E. There are some really nice tracks. The Falling Room is my favourite.
All of John's solo and John & Louis albums have their own distint atmosphere. I haven't played P of E for a little while, now I've got the inspiration to listen later. <img border="0" title="" alt="[Cool]" src="cool.gif" />
Regards
Mr Beat

I've been re-discovering it recently after a long while having not played it.

"The Falling Room" is my favourite track from the album, closely followed by "Automobile", "When It Rains", "Quiet City", "Travel" and "A Funny Thing".

I still wish John had used the original album cover design though!

Ever one to spoil the party, I have to say that I think this is JF's weakest album!
Weird innit, what grabs some and not others.
I LOVE the track "Camera" which is one of my best evers, but the rest of the album just doesn't work for me in the same way as some of the others.

I'll get me coat

Lol!

Funny how our tastes all vary - "Camera" is probably my least favourite track on here. I hated it at first, but it is a grower.

Actually I found the whole album to be a real grower - I wasn't too sure what to make of it on first inspection. But soon after I'd realised that it hadn't been out of my stereo for weeks, I think I'd got addicted to it!

Anyway each to their own - that's the great thing about John's music - the variation.

yeah ... what a fantastic album indeed !!!

btw : i've jus' listened to "camera" yesterday & i'm actually toyin' with the idea to play it in my next radio show called "alien disco" on this sunday @ 6 p.m. german time ( gmt + 1 hour ) !!!
see my hp link for more details ( only in german language , sorry , but i suppose that u know , how to get the livestream of the program to work , fellows ) !!!

anyway ... c u !

olaf a.k.a. ..::=|MeTaMaTRiX|=::..

This can't possibly be true !!!
Olaf, do you remember me? We met on the KW mailing list (and we had a bit of a flame war too )
What a pleasure to meet you again - no hard feelings (I hope). Welcome, m8. Very nice to meet you again.

And BTW while you're planning the playlist for "Alien Disco", have a listen to my JF remixes @ Transplant the Romance .

Ciao,
Luca
"Now it's a funny thing..."

We had an interesting discussion on this subject some time ago:
The Pleasures of Electricity All That Pleasurable?

I love most of the tracks - the weakest ones being IMHO "Travel" and "Uptown/Downtown".
I had mixed feelings about "Automobile" - I was put off by some similarities with Gary Numan "Cars", then it began to grow on me and I like it a lot now.

It's a very "urban" album - with some rare gems such as "The Falling Room" (very reminiscent of the "Systems..." era) and "Camera" (probably the most Kraftwerkian track John has ever made, although it might not seem so evident at first).

Inspired work, as usual.

I did the same thing last night. I had a thrill. The Falling Room is really wicked. Guess what I'm listening to tonight. Your Shadow... and the rest of The Drive ep!


Chris C

Yep! Couldn't agree more!

We've all agreed "The Falling Room" is great - but does anybody know what on earth it is about?!

As long as it is "falling", it is not technically "on earth".

My coat, please....

hi y' all !

hey luca , ol' mate !!!
yep ... i'm the one from the ol' kw mailin' list ... & i remember a luca d. !!!
nice to meet u again too !!!
what a small world this www actually is !!!

of course , i'll listen to your "foxxy" remixes , luca !!!
maybe i'll play one of them in a later show , as the program for this sunday is ready by now & i've decided to play "camera" then ... & send out some special greetinx to u & the others here !!!

i also agree with your opinion on that specific song & about "the falling room" i guess that it's maybe about ... elevators !?

however ... as i've already played that song in one of my shows before & have the habit not to play the same songs again - @ least not before some years have passed - i'll not play "the falling room" again soon , sorry !!!

anyway ... c u !

olaf a.k.a. ..::=|MeTaMaTRiX|=::..

Why not? A totally unexpected encounter with a very attractive person in an elevator... tons of possibilities here....
When you walk in... a million things begin to happen under my... erm... belly?

Personally I thought 'Pleasures Of Electricity' to be half a great album but some of the tracks went on too long and some didn't really deserve to be there at all.

The most frustrating thing was that there were excellent tracks like "A Funny Thing" and "The Falling Room" where it sounded like John had put a great deal of emotion into the songs, but this was counterbalanced by all too many tracks which simply consisted of John talking about wandering through the city and a chorus of him repeating the title through a vocoder ("Nightlife", "Automobile", "Camera").

I think I'm right in assuming that "TPOE" and "Crash and Burn" were recorded round about the same time; perhaps it would have been better to have combined the two into one great album rather than two 'good' ones?

I often asked myself : Why did'nt John and Louis played some tracks live from this album? It is great music and if I remember right they only played "Nightlife" at Mean Fiddler 2001, "Invisible Woman" at PC 69 in Bielefeld 2002, and a mixed version with Invisible Woman/ Sex Video on the Crash& Burn Tour 2003.

Would be great they include more tracks from this great album on the next gig!!!

Bye, Shadow Mandreas

I maintain that "Camera", "Uptown/Downtown" and "Quiet City" rank amoung the best tracks that John Foxx has ever recorded.

Anyone who thinks Camera and Uptown/Downtown are just silly over-minimal fillers where John repeats the title on a vocoder over and over obvious prefers A Flock of Seagulls to Kraftwerk, and there's little more needs to be said :-/

hi y' all !

fyi : all fans of john & louis' work & especially of the album "the pleasures of electricity" & the song "camera" , who would like to listen to that particular song on the radio should tune in to the "alien disco" show of the jvr network today @ 6 p.m. german time ( gmt + 1 hour ) via i-net livestream @ http://www.jointventureradio.info/de/livestream/ , as i'll play "camera" as the very 1st song in the show today !!!

simply enjoy the sound , fellows !!!

anyway ... c u !

olaf a.k.a. ..::=|MeTaMaTRiX|=::..

Well, I had a listen: you sound very cool... <img border="0" title="" alt="[Cool]" src="cool.gif" /> totally different from your flamboyant writing style!
Many thanks for the greetings you sent to the forum as a whole and to me and Shadow Man in particular.
Mit freundlichen Grüßen,
Luca

Though I had not heard it because I came back from a weekend trip too late , I will thank you for the greetings too.

Had anyone recorded it?

Bye, Andreas

well ... it was a real pleasure - & a very "electric" one too - to play "camera" in my latest radio show & also to sent out some greetinx to u , fellows !!!

flamboyant , eh luca !?

however ... the show will be uploaded in its entirety some time tomorrow to my radio show archive , in order that u can download it from there ... but only in lo-fi quality , due to copyright reasons , u know !?

more info as soon as it's done , fellows !!!

anyway ... c u !

olaf a.k.a. ..::=|MeTaMaTRiX|=::..

well ... here u ... erm ... we go : http://friends.schallreflektor.com/ohjay/alien_disco/AD_21-11-2004.mp3 ( download or stream of the complete radio show in lo-fi quality , with "camera" as the 1st song right after the intro )
http://friends.schallreflektor.com/ohjay/alien_disco/playlist_21-11-2004.txt
( playlist of that show in simple txt format )

btw : on wed. , the 24th of nov. @ 4 p.m. german time ( gmt + 1 hour ) i'll have my next radio show called "timemachine" , where i'll only play "ol' school @ its best" ... so to say !!!
this means : songs or trax that are older than 5 years & fit somehow in the very broad category of "electronic dance music" ... whatever your definition of it might be , fellows !!!

fyi : i'll maybe play "sleepwalk" or "passionate reply" then , which i should better announce in the midge ure part of this forum , eh ??? :rolleyes:

anyway ... c u !

olaf a.k.a. ..::=|MeTaMaTRiX|=::..

Does anybody have any interviews from John regarding this album?

Yes, and they'll be appearing in the Archive section of the Metamatic website at some point - see my previous postings regarding timescales...

Rob

Marvellous! Rob, your answers never disappoint!

Rob - will the interview with John from Future Music magazine (late last year I think) also be going online? I regret not buying it at the time so I never got to read it!

Of course - I've also got permission from Future Music magazine to reproduce some of the photos that accompanied that interview...

Rob

That sounds great! I remember some good photos in there...