''In Mysterious Ways'' is a 1985 album by

John Foxx John Foxx (born Dennis Leigh; 26 September 1948) is an English singer, musician, artist, photographer, graphic designer, writer, teacher and lecturer. He was the original lead singer of the New wave music, new wave band Ultravox, before leaving ...

, the follow-up to his album ''

The Golden Section ''The Golden Section'' is a 1983 album by English musician John Foxx. A progression from the sound of '' The Garden'' (1981), Foxx called ''The Golden Section'' "a roots check: Beatles, Church music, Psychedelia, The Shadows, The Floyd, The V ...

'', released two years previously. It features some of the highly romantic style similar to 1981's ''The Garden'' album. Largely missing from this recording are many of the styles Foxx was known for (such as glam inspired art rock, punk and minimal synthpop) in favor of a more soulful, contemporary pop sound. The lyrics are of discovery and rediscovery and there is much

vibrato Vibrato (Italian language, Italian, from past participle of "wikt:vibrare, vibrare", to vibrate) is a musical effect consisting of a regular, pulsating change of pitch (music), pitch. It is used to add expression to vocal and instrumental music. ...

-laden organ-playing on this record. There are

acoustic guitars An acoustic guitar is a musical instrument in the string family. When a string is plucked, its vibration is transmitted from the bridge, resonating throughout the top of the guitar. It is also transmitted to the side and back of the instrument, ...

, mid-1980s home studio-sounding rhythm machines, live drums and glimpses of ''

Cathedral Oceans ''Cathedral Oceans'' (after 2003 also referred to as ''Cathedral Oceans I'') is an album of ambient music by John Foxx, released in 1997. Alongside ''Shifting City'' released on the same day, it marked Foxx's return to the music scene after an ab ...

'' -style

ambient music Ambient music is a genre of music that emphasizes Musical tone, tone and atmosphere over traditional Musical form, musical structure or rhythm. Often "peaceful" sounding and lacking Musical composition, composition, beat, and/or structured melod ...

in places—particularly in the "Enter the Angel" reprise. Although ''Cathedral Oceans'' was not released until 12 years later, Foxx has stated he started working on the material as early as 1983. The cover art is in the

collage Collage (, from the , "to glue" or "to stick together") is a technique of art creation, primarily used in the visual arts, but in music too, by which art results from an assembly of different forms, thus creating a new whole. (Compare with pasti ...

style he had been presenting to his public since the early Ultravox! days. An expanded edition was released in 2001 and a 2CD 'deluxe edition' in 2008. Both of these CD reissues have different track running-orders from the original releases.

Original track listing

# "Stars on Fire" – 5:35 # "Lose All Sense of Time" – 4:18 # "Shine On" – 4:41 # "Enter the Angel" – 3:58 # "In Mysterious Ways" – 3:06 # "What Kind of Girl" – 5:03 # "This Side of Paradise" – 4:38 # "Stepping Softly" – 3:59 # "Enter the Angel II" – 2:16 # "Morning Glory" – 5:54

2001 reissue track listing

# "Stars on Fire" – 5:34 # "Lose All Sense of Time" – 4:18 # "What Kind of a Girl" – 5:03 # "Shine On" – 4:41 # "Enter the Angel" – 3:58 # "In Mysterious Ways" – 3:06 # "This Side of Paradise" – 4:38 # "Stepping Softly" – 3:58 # "Morning Glory" – 5:54 # "Enter the Angel II" – 2:16

Bonus tracks

"Lumen de Lumine" – 2:31
"Hiding in Plain Sight" – 5:52
"City of Light" – 3:38

2008 'deluxe edition' track listing

Disc 1

# "Stars on Fire" – 5:37 # "Lose All Sense of Time" – 4:21 # "Spin Away" – 6:43 # "Shine On" – 4:44 # "Enter the Angel" – 3:59 # "In Mysterious Ways" – 3:06 # "What Kind of a Girl" – 5:06 # "Stepping Softly" – 3:59 # "Enter the Angel II" – 2:16 # "Morning Glory" – 5:54

Disc 2

# "This Side of Paradise" – 4:39 # "Enter the Angel" (alternative version) – 3:38 # "To Be with You" (alternative version) – 4:41 # "And the Sky" – 4:34 # "Magic" – 3:35 # "Hiding in Plain Sight" – 5:51 # "Shine On" (alternative version) – 5:03 # "City of Light" – 3:37 # "Lumen de Lumine" – 2:36

Notes

*"This Side of Paradise" was removed from the album proper for this reissue but included on the bonus disc. No explanation for this is given in the sleeve notes. *"Spin Away" did not feature on earlier releases of the album. *An earlier version of "To Be With You" can be found on the deluxe edition of ''

Metamatic ''Metamatic'' is the debut solo album by John Foxx, released in 1980. It was his first solo project following his split with Ultravox the previous year. A departure from the mix of synthesizers and conventional rock music, rock instrumentation ...

''. *"Hiding in Plain Sight" was originally titled "Stairway".

Personnel

Robin Simon Robert "Robin" Simon (born 12 July 1956) is a British guitarist who was a member of Ultravox, Magazine and Visage. Biography Early career Simon began playing guitar in a Halifax-based band, Kandahar, in the early to mid-1970s. He also met an ...

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

Paul "Wix" Wickens Paul "Wix" Wickens is an English musician best known as keyboardist and musical director of Paul McCartney's touring band since 1989. In a career that started in 1973, Wickens has also worked with artists including Nik Kershaw, Bob Dylan, Joni ...

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

* Randy Hope-Taylor -

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Wood * Bass or basswood, the wood of the tilia americana tree Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in th ...

vocals Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define sing ...

, keyboards,

(listed on several tracks as "all other instruments") * Sadenia Reader -

backing vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are us ...

Peter Oxendale Peter Oxendale (born ) is an English forensic musicologist and an expert witness on copyright infringement in music. He was involved as an expert in the notable Blurred Lines lawsuit. He was a keyboardist in the glam rock bands Sparks and Jet an ...

- keyboards * David Levy - bass * Barry Watts - drums

References

{{Authority control 1985 albums John Foxx albums Virgin Records albums