"Europe After The Rain" is a song 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 band Ultravox, before leaving to embark on a ...

, released as a

single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

in August 1981, and included on '' The Garden'' album released later the same year. The song signalled a departure from Foxx's previous solo work which had focused on a sparse

electronic Electronic may refer to: *Electronics, the science of how to control electric energy in semiconductor * ''Electronics'' (magazine), a defunct American trade journal *Electronic storage, the storage of data using an electronic device *Electronic co ...

sound whereas ''Europe After The Rain'' features a warmer sound, using acoustic and

electric guitars An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar (however combinations of the two - a semi-acoustic guitar and an electric acoustic gui ...

acoustic piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

and live

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to produce the music. The bass and string sounds were however produced by a

synthesiser A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and f ...

. Foxx has several times stated that this change in musical direction was caused by a visit to

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

after the Metamatic period, where he worked with director

Michaelangelo Antonioni Michelangelo Antonioni (, ; 29 September 1912 – 30 July 2007) was an Italian filmmaker. He is best known for directing his "trilogy on modernity and its discontents"—''L'Avventura'' (1960), ''La Notte'' (1961), and ''L'Eclisse'' (1962 ...

for the soundtrack of his film ''

Identification of a Woman ''Identification of a Woman'' ( it, Identificazione di una donna) is a 1982 Italian drama film written, directed, and edited by Michelangelo Antonioni and starring Tomás Milián, Daniela Silverio, and Christine Boisson. The film is about an Ital ...

''. Although the single only reached no. 40 in the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

, Foxx performed the song on UK music show ''

Top of the Pops ''Top of the Pops'' (''TOTP'') is a British Record chart, music chart television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly between 1January 1964 and 30 July 2006. The programme was the world's longest-running weekly music show ...

'' where Foxx's new more romantic style was presented in the clothes and setting to accompany the performance in stark contrast to that of "

Underpass A tunnel is an underground passageway, dug through surrounding soil, earth or rock, and enclosed except for the entrance and exit, commonly at each end. A pipeline is not a tunnel, though some recent tunnels have used immersed tube constr ...

" on the same show some eighteen months previously. For this performance Foxx was seen playing acoustic guitar, flanked by three other musicians on piano and keyboards. These musicians were Eddie and Sunshine and Duncan Bridgeman of the band Shake Shake, who had collaborated with Foxx in writing B-side "A Long Time" in 1980. The ''

'' footage was issued officially for the first time in 2013, on the DVD of the artist's ''Metadelic'' collection. No

video Video is an electronic medium for the recording, copying, playback, broadcasting, and display of moving visual media. Video was first developed for mechanical television systems, which were quickly replaced by cathode-ray tube (CRT) syste ...

was made for the single.

Track listing

7" * "Europe After The Rain" (3:37) * "This Jungle" (4:40) 12" * "Europe After The Rain" (3:59) * "This Jungle" (4:19) * "You Were There" (4:18) Produced by John Foxx, and engineered by Gareth Jones

"This Jungle"

The

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record compan ...

, "This Jungle", remained unique to this release until its inclusion in the ''

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compilation album A compilation album comprises Album#Tracks, tracks, which may be previously released or unreleased, usually from several separate recordings by either one or several Performing arts#Performers, performers. If by one artist, then generally the tr ...

(1992). The title is evocative of a 1980 John Foxx B-side "This City". The track appeared later on the 2001 and 2008 re-issues of '' The Garden'' (but not on the 1993 edition). "You Were There" would later appear in the same version on ''The Garden'' LP the same year, and appears on all subsequent re-releases.. Artwork for the 12" version is identical to the 7" except for the wording of the additional track. "Europe After The Rain" is also the title of a painting by

Max Ernst Max Ernst (2 April 1891 – 1 April 1976) was a German (naturalised American in 1948 and French in 1958) painter, sculptor, printmaker, graphic artist, and poet. A prolific artist, Ernst was a primary pioneer of the Dada movement and Surrealism ...

, who would have been known to Foxx as a former art-student and graphic artist. There is however no reference to the painting or to the artist in the song's lyrics or in the single cover art, designed by Foxx.

Appeared on

"Europe After The Rain" also appears on the following John Foxx issues: * '' The Garden'' (original LP, 1981; subsequent CD re-issues 1993, 2001, 2008) * ''

'' (compilation album, 1992) * ''

Modern Art Modern art includes artistic work produced during the period extending roughly from the 1860s to the 1970s, and denotes the styles and philosophies of the art produced during that era. The term is usually associated with art in which the tradi ...

'' (compilation album, 2001) * ''

Glimmer In bioinformatics, GLIMMER (Gene Locator and Interpolated Markov ModelER) is used to find genes in prokaryotic DNA. "It is effective at finding genes in bacteria, archea, viruses, typically finding 98-99% of all relatively long protein coding g ...

'' (compilation album, 2008) * ''Metadelic'' (compilation album, 2008) * ''Neuro Video'' (live album, 2008; live recording of performance by John Foxx and

Louis Gordon Louis Gordon (born 1965) is an English musician notable for his collaboration with John Foxx. He has worked with Foxx on a number of albums since 1995. His solo work has also been released on the Toffeetones record label. Biography John Foxx had ...

The Luminaire The Luminaire was a live music venue on Kilburn, London, Kilburn High Road in north west London, United Kingdom, UK. It opened on 1 March 2005 in what was a nightclub called Late, above McGovern's Pub and The Kilburn Bar. Its last public show was ...

in London, on the 24 November 2007. It also featured on: * ''Modern Dance'' - (a new-wave compilation album, 1981)

Cover versions

In 1994 Italian band State released a

dance Dance is a performing art form consisting of sequences of movement, either improvised or purposefully selected. This movement has aesthetic and often symbolic value. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoir ...

version. The song was

covered Cover or covers may refer to: Packaging * Another name for a lid * Cover (philately), generic term for envelope or package * Album cover, the front of the packaging * Book cover or magazine cover ** Book design ** Back cover copy, part of co ...

in 2012 by Spanish singer and recording artist Miqui Puig, who considered the song as having special significance at this time of the "cyclical decline of Europe". A video recording was published of the singer performing the song with a backing band in a disused button factory, which has been located in the Poble Nou district of Barcelona since 1928. The performance of "Europe After The Rain" therefore "''becomes a tribute to the last holdouts of the labor sector of the city''".

References

External links

Metamatic, the official John Foxx web site

Official John Foxx Myspace page

Official John Foxx YouTube channel

{{authority control John Foxx songs Songs written by John Foxx 1980 songs 1981 singles Virgin Records singles