Ultravox! 2nd album leaned more toward the Punk sound of the time. It opens with the pounding single “ROckwrok”, all thumping drums and scratchy guitars, very of the time. Second song “The Frozen Ones” begins in a much more sedate fashion but fairly soon is back to the sound of thumping drums and scratchy guitars, and on that style goes through third track “Fear In The Western World” while final track on side one, “Distant Smile”,  lulls you into feeling all has changed with a long dreamy/jazzy intro it finally goes crashing into that Punk rush again. It’s not at all what we’d expect of Ultravox! They were more sophisticated than this, Glam-ier, this (side) is full on Punk thrash.

All song writing credits are for “Ultravox!” so maybe Side 1 was one songwriting team and Side 2 another because Side 2 could well be a different band ! It begins with a song I’m sure I remember they continued playing when Midge Ure joined the band, “The Man Who Dies Every Day”. It’s much more laid back but in a robotic, Kraftwerk/Roxy style, scratchy, jerky guitars and a moaning synthesizer running throughout, much more like where they were headed on the evidence of their debut album. “Artificial Life” and “While I’m Still Alive” lean heavily on the Roxy influences.

The album comes to a close on “Hiroshima Mon Amor” and it’s utterly beautiful. It’s very much in the style of previous albums “My Sex”, a slow, broody torch song full of electronic percussion, sequenced burbling synths, long keyboard washes, a saxophone (so asthmatic it could be Bowie himself) and recorders. There’s more than a hint of Scott Walker about it and Japan we’re likely big fans of its style and sound.

The two sides of “Ha!-Ha!-Ha!” could be by different bands. Side 1 is a twitchy Punk rush, Side 2 points toward where they were heading with their next album. This lineup of Ultravox had one more album in them, and what an album it is.

Hiroshima Mon Amor - https://youtu.be/552OyLE-ies?si=DL5bvbqwQQlrH9XA