New Stuff: John Foxx & the Maths

Songs in the key of my life: John Foxx - Burning Car

Ultravox was a pioneering New Wave band until its leader John Foxx left, and Midge Ure turned the band into a successful and schmaltzy neo-romantic combo. Foxx, however, went on to produce even more radical doom-laden electronic pop with the albums 'Metamatic' and 'The Garden'. 'Burning Car' is in my opinion the best song that didn't make it on either of those records, you had to get the single. To me 'Burning Car' was the ultimate New Wave song, love being declared with a car burning in the background, sung in an almost disinterested voice, the futuristic electronic sound evoking a future of dread. I readily prefered this kind of apocalyptic vision over the more cheerful Kraftwerk who seemed to be embracing the future. But clearly Foxx was heavily influenced by Kraftwerk and he certainly influenced others as well. When my pals and I arrived in New York in 1981 on our US trip, we took a taxi from La Guardia airport to Manhattan passing through a desolate part of the city, crumbling apartment housings and - burning cars! John Foxx' bleak vision was apparently not just an acquired attitude. And everytime I see burning cars on the news - this song comes back into my head. Today, John Foxx is as prolific as ever and is still creating interesting music.

New Stuff: John Foxx

A new album by John Foxx is always welcome.

New Stuff

A Song a Day

John Foxx - Burning Car

To me this has very much been the quintessential New Wave song, I still have the 7" single.



She was dressed in a white suit
She looked like a bride too
Chorus:
It's a burning car
It's a burning car
Then I looked at the sunset
And it felt like a stage set
(Chorus)
Alright
And I looked at my watch face
I remembered the time and place
(Chorus)
And I breathed in the night perfume
As we met in the dark room
(Chorus)
Alright


ph: Joachim Brohm