Midge Ure has announced that Chris Cross has passed. Looks like he actually died a week ago but the news has just now been made public.

Ultravox have been weirdly underrated in post-punk histories and I'm not sure why. I remember when the BBC did the Synth Brittania series, Ultravox were barely mentioned and when they were, it was briefly and dismissively, with "Vienna" being placed chronologically in 1983. It was frankly pretty insulting.

Ultravox wasn't close to my core interests but I have the 'greatest hits' LP, The Collection, and it's got some strong material in addition to "Vienna." I am not even sure which era of the band that represented; I am aware that they had a lot of personnel transitions.

There have been many RIPs over the last few years as many of our favorite artists reach a certain age (and others that pass much younger), but it's been rare for me personally when someone from an absolute favorite band of mine has passed. I can only count a few...Bowie, Bones Hillman, maybe Dave Greenfield. That's it. This one definitely hits close. Ultravox, to me, were incredible, and Cross's playing was a big part of it. RIP.

He was a surprisingly good drummer for what most people probably think of (if they think of Ultravox at all) as a synthpop band. Of course, Uktravox was much more than that, but both he and the dude from OMD made real contributions to what can seem like a lightweight genre. RIP, Chris.

"He was a surprisingly good drummer"

Especially for a bassist.

Sorry, couldn't resist. But I think you're maybe confusing Chris Cross with Warren Cann.

A very saddening loss, indeed. I became a big fan of Ultravox and John Foxx around the same time, thanks to a fanzine out of Denver that reviewed the latest offerings of both of them. I picked up Metamatic and Rage in Eden the next time I visited Wax Trax.

Throughout Ultravox's work -- both with Foxx and with Ure -- Cross' bass work is exceptional. Agree with Rhett that the band had a remarkably strong rhythm section, especially for a band so strongly associated with synthesizers. Rest in peace, Chris, and thank you.

Ha - yes, confused the members of Ultravox's rhythm section! Cross was indeed a great bass player too, though that seems like less an exception in the synth world. Still sad we've lost him!

I am happy to see that Warren Cann is still with us and surprised to find out from Wiki that he's actually Canadian!

I had no idea til today that, according to Wikipedia anyway, Cross was briefly in a band with James Honeyman-Scott and Barrie Masters from Eddie and the Hot Rods during Ultravox's downtime between the departure of Foxx and arrival of Ure.

> I am happy to see that Warren Cann is still with us
> and surprised to find out from Wiki that he's actually
> Canadian!

Perhaps if Ultravox had stayed intact for longer, they might eventually have signed to this label.

This was hitting where it hurts for me. Losing Bowie and Prince were shocks. Mick Karn was sad but inevitable. But Ultravox were my favorite band when that meant everything. Total core collection, with hundreds of Ultravox-related releases in the Record Cell. Worse, I've been too busy to finish my obit posting on the blog. So I'm off to try to get that done while I have a spare hour. Suffice to say it's the end of an era, or worse; the beginning of a new one formed around the bitter core of inevitable loss.

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Breno said:

"Ultravox have been weirdly underrated in post-punk histories and I'm not sure why. I remember when the BBC did the Synth Brittania series, Ultravox were barely mentioned and when they were, it was briefly and dismissively, with "Vienna" being placed chronologically in 1983. It was frankly pretty insulting."

I figure that's down to the commercial success of the Midge Ure era that followed on the critically unimpeachable Foxx era. I still love at least the first four from the Ure era, but I'll be the first to admit there's an artistic gulf there that's substantial. No matter how hot the playing and arranging was.

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/06/2024 04:40PM by Post-Punk Monk.