Production and Style
Foxx's two previous solo albums, Metamatic (1980) and The Garden (1981), had included a number of compositions written for earlier projects but shelved for one reason or another, such as "He's a Liquid" and "Touch and Go", originally performed live with Ultravox, and "Systems of Romance" and "Walk Away", written during sessions for the album Systems of Romance. In contrast The Golden Section was almost wholly made up of material written especially for the album in 1983, the exceptions being "Like a Miracle" an earlier version of which was recorded during the Metamatic sessions and released on the deluxe edition of that album, and "Endlessly", an early version of which Foxx had released as a single in mid-1982. Another eight songs he recorded around the same time as "Endlessly", that were to have formed an album, were scrapped.
The album's psychedelic rock flavour was evident on tracks like "Someone" and "Endlessly". The latter was described by Trouser Press as "the album's clear standout, a magnificent multi-level pop creation". "Ghosts on Water" opened with vocal samples from the embers of "Endlessly", the preceding track on the album. It utilised sitar, backwards cymbals, a shehnai, and a reversed string arrangement at the end, set to an adaptation of The Beatles' "Tomorrow Never Knows" drum pattern.
"Sitting at the Edge of the World" evoked sounds from "Strawberry Fields Forever", whilst "Running Across Thin Ice With Tigers" utilised Beatlesque harmonies and the sound of a tiger's roar. The final track, "Twilight's Last Gleaming", shared its title with a 1977 World War III film, a William S. Burroughs short story, and a phrase from "The Star-Spangled Banner", though it did not overtly reference any of them.
Read more about this topic: The Golden Section
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