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Author: breno
Date: 05-08-12 13:55
Amazon UK has preview samples of the new Ultravox album up, for anyone inclined to have a sneak peek:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Brilliant-Ultravox/dp/B007R9MFPU
Hard to judge based on snippets, but it does sound like it wouldn't have been a bad follow-up to Lament. Any given 30 second clip sounds superior to the entirety of U-Vox, anyway.
Well, that's not really fair. I think I've only listened to U-Vox a grand total of twice in the last 26 years. Once when it came out, when I decided, eh, that's enough of that, then again a few years ago when I dragged it out to listen to as part of updating the Ultravox entry here, when I decided once again that eh, that was enough of that.
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Author: zoo
Date: 05-09-12 08:42
I've heard the entire title track (posted on YouTube), and it sounds like what you'd expect from Ultravox (in 1985 or 2012).
Some of the Amazon clips sound very interesting. This really is the only release thus far from 2012 that I'm looking forward to.
Post Edited (05-09-12 08:42)
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Author: breno
Date: 05-09-12 11:16
In the interest of fairness, I've just now begun listening to U-Vox on Spotify. 30 seconds into "Same Old Story," I'm reminded once again why this is only the third time I've attempted this exercise since 1986.
The whole thing sounds like a desperate attempt to land on a John Hughes soundtrack, which it probably was. Soul horns, female backing vocals, simplistic lovey-dovey lyrics...I'm sure Ultravox had a framed photo of Molly Ringwald on the studio wall when they recorded that album.
UPDATE: "The Prize" is just sheer torture. If the band hadn't broken up after this album I think I would've had to fly to England and beat each one of them over the head with a wet trout. That wasn't Ultravox anymore. That was Midge Ure wanting to front Go West.
FINAL VERDICT: I have now listened to U-Vox three times in 26 years. In 2038 - 26 more years into the future - I think it's safe to predict that the number of times I'll have listened to the album will remain at 3. As a piece of generic mid-80s product, it's reasonably inoffensive. As an Ultravox album, it's an outright horror.
Post Edited (05-09-12 11:49)
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Author: Michael Toland
Date: 05-09-12 12:00
I'm listening to Vienna now for the first time in, god, 20 years, I bet, and marveling at how much it reminds me of pop/prog bands like It Bites and FM.
I bought this, lo these many moons ago, because it seemed to be the record to start with after reading the TP entry. I couldn't get into it then and sold the record off. I bought a John Foxx-era collection a few years ago that I enjoyed a lot more.
I'm listening to Vienna now shaking my head in amazement at what I missed the first time around. Really digging it. It sounds very...fresh. Makes me really curious about the new record and the other Ure-era albums.
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Author: zoo
Date: 05-09-12 12:03
"Follow Your Heart" and "All in One Day" are tolerable, at least as far my memory serves. I dare not go back and listen in fear that I may be tempted to check out other tracks from that album.
BTW, breno, have you heard either of the two Currie-Vox albums? Ingenuity wasn't an atrocity, but it should never have been called an Ultravox album. I don't think I ever heard the other.
Also, have you heard Humania? Billy Currie, Robin Simon, and others. Once again, not a total disgrace. That one at least had TWO former Uvoxers, and thus more right to the name than Ingenuity, but they didn't use it.
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Author: zoo
Date: 05-09-12 12:08
My ranking of the Ure-vox albums, because I'm a sucker for such things:
From best to worse:
1. Rage in Eden
2. Vienna
3. Lament
4. Quartet
5. U-vox (a distant fifth place)
Vienna is definitely the most guitar heavy of the bunch, though the others definitely have their "rock" moments. Rage in Eden, for my money, balances all of the things they do best, and includes some of their moodiest songs. Lament, I believe, is vastly underrated. Their music had really become sophisticated and complex by that point.
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Author: Michael Toland
Date: 05-09-12 12:13
I think my original impression of them was that they were a synth-pop band with bombastic tendencies, and that's not a genre for which I have much affinity. Now I'm hearing them more as an art rock band with period production and from that perspective am enjoying this much more.
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Author: zoo
Date: 05-09-12 13:55
The "artsiest" stuff they did was primarily reserved for B-sides and mostly instrumental. They've released these tracks as Rare Vol. 1 and Vol. 2. Not essential listening, but it does give a flavor for their more experimental side.
I'm a bit of an Ultravox geek if you haven't noticed. I feel like they're sorely underrated, and wish that the guys in Muse would just come out and state what huge influence they are on their sound...well, at least the "poppier" tunes. (If this has actually happened already and I missed it, I apologize.)
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Author: Michael Toland
Date: 05-09-12 14:00
I hadn't thought about them being an influence on Muse, but after listening to Vienna, I think you're absolutely right.
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Author: breno
Date: 05-09-12 14:21
Ingeniuty is surprisingly non-terrible. I agree it should never have been called Ultravox, but for what it was it wasn't bad at all. The other Ultra-faux album, title of which I can't recall, isn't too memorable.
I haven't heard the Humania album - I hadn't even been aware it was belatedly released. I'll have to check it out. I'd heard their live version of "Can't Stay Long" on one of Currie's solo albums, but that had been the only thing released by them at the time.
I concur with your ranking of the Ure era albums, with the provision that Vienna and Rage in Eden pretty much swap the top spot depending on which one I'm listening to at the time.
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Author: Delvin
Date: 05-10-12 13:12
I've loved Ultravox and John Foxx for a long time. Still regret missing their performance at the Rainbow Music Hall in Denver. Concur with Reno about Vienna and Rage in Eden regularly vying for the top spot in the catalog.
I haven't read or heard anything from Muse, regarding acknowledgement of Ultravox's influence, but Zoo hit the nail on the head with that one.
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Author: zoo
Date: 05-10-12 13:52
Replace the vocals w/ Midge and take a bit of distortion off the guitars, and "Starlight" wouldn't sound out of place on the Lament album.
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Author: Aitch
Date: 05-10-12 21:09
"tolerable"
"wasn't an atrocity"
"not a total disgrace"
"surprisingly non-terrible"
Hey, guys.
Life's too short.
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Author: Michael Toland
Date: 05-10-12 23:36
Checking out some Ultravox videos from back in the day. Most of 'em are the typical music video silliness (deals with the devil - original!), but then there's "Dancing With Tears in My Eyes" and its nuclear holocaust theme. (Hint: everybody dies.) Yikes.
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