» Listings for 2024

1. 2023/4 Albums Thing 390 - Ultravox “Systems Of Romance”

   Posted on 8:55am Thursday 1st Aug 2024

   We’ve already ascertained that Ultravox (you may notice they have now dropped the !) were fans of Krautrock. Konrad “Conny” Plank had been an important sound engineer (he began his career as the sound engineer for Marlene Dietrich) and record producer in the early 70’s German music scene that came to be known as Krautrock. He had worked with Kraftwerk, Neu!,  Ash Ra Tempel, (K)Cluster, Harmonia and Guru Guru as well as being half of the duo Moebius & Plank (with Dieter Moebius of (K)Cluster and Harmonia). He set up his famed Conny’s Studio (the first album recorded there was Kraftwerk’s “Autobahn”) on the outskirts of Cologne in 1974 and in 1978 this is where Ultravox headed to record their new album.

   Plank’s grounding in electronic music is vital to Ultravox’s album number 3, the synths are now much more important to the sound. “Systems Of Romance” is utterly superb, one of those albums I can play over and over again and never tire of hearing. Also remember that for a such an overtly electronic album that relies much more on the synthesizers than their previous two records this was released in 1978. Probably only Kraftwerk, in the mainstream, were working like this at that early date (yes I know the Human League released their 1st single before this but they were not yet on our radar).

   The new electronic sound is immediately in your face with the long sustained notes that introduce “Slow Motion”. Analogue instruments have not been completely done away with, guitars and drums are still part of the mix, but the electronic keyboards definitely dominate “Slow Motion”. This is the sound that the band later tried to recreate with Midge Ure but this is so much better. “Slow Motion” is an absolute treasure, it sounds huge. 

   Songs based around the guitar are still here, “I Can’t Stay Long”, “Someone Else’s Clothes” in particular, continue their Punk connection and “Some Of Them” is a sophisticated punk roar. “Blue Light” pushes the synths to the forefront once more.

   On Side 2 things calm down but hearing “Quiet Men” (another song I’m sure the carried into the Midge years) felt like listening to music from the future. The guitar is still scratching away but the synths are bubbling and washing around and the electronic drums sounded like robots were playing them and clapping along at the end. “Dislocation” is full on electronic music. Outside “Slow Motion” my favourite song on this album is “Maximum Acceleration”, a massive song with so much movement in it when you hit the chorus. “When You Walk Through Me” winds up the guitars and eases back the electronics and finally “Just For A Moment” lead us out on a gentle bed of heartbeat bass drums and synth washes, it’s quite lovely.

   Those years of 1978, 1979 and into 1980 were incredible years for music and I was so lucky to have lived through them. “Handsworth Revolution”, London Calling”, “All Mod Cons”, “Inflammable Material” all cae out in that time period. In our little world in 1978 “Systems Of Romance” was as big a deal as any of those albums. We all loved the singles that were more Punk Rock bangers, “Young Savage” and “ROckwrok” but this was something much more advanced. It likely gave me a nudge toward diving into Bowie, and songs like “Slow Motion” and “Quiet Men” were so important on those Futurist dancefloors we were to be found on in the early 80’s.

   After the relative failure (sales wise) of “Systems Of Romance” Island Records dropped Ultravox on the last day of 1978. The band self financed a US tour in early 1979 and split after their final gig near San Francisco in March that year, with John Foxx declaring his plan to pursue a solo career. 

   It’s undeniable what an effect this album must have had on Gary Numan. He would have been formulating “Replicas” at the time “Systems Of Romance” was released and the sound of those two records is eerily similar. Numan (a self confessed uber Ultravox! fan) recruited violinist Billy Currie for his band for the recording of “The Pleasure Principle” and its subsequent tour. The rest of the band scattered to the four winds…or so we thought.

   Slow Motion - https://youtu.be/nIlD6XyX_uE?si=Yk_ikePGEheCHS7W

2. 2023/4 Albums Thing 389 - Ultravox! “Ha!-Ha!-Ha!”

   Posted on 9:20am Wednesday 31st Jul 2024

   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

3. 2023/4 Albums Thing 388 - Ultravox! “Ultravox!”

   Posted on 9:00am Saturday 27th Jul 2024

   For those of you settling in for a good read about the Midge Ure fronted, 80’s synth-pop chart botherers, yer in the wrong place (we will however go as far as the first Midge Ure Ultravox album, “Vienna”). The Ultravox! we will be concerning ourselves with for the next 3 records will be the real deal, the group originally fronted by John Foxx. 

   Ultravox! (the ! was a tip of the hat to Krautrockers Neu!) were formed as far back as 1974 under the name Tiger Lily. After releasing one single (a cover of Fats Waller’s “Ain’t Misbehavin’” which later turned up in a soft porn movie) for Gull Records they went through a number of name changes before being signed by Island Records on the strength of their live show. The band wasn’t the only thing that changed names, singer Dennis Leigh became John Foxx and bassist Chris Allen became Chris Cross. 

   Ultravox! were very much influenced by Roxy Music, Bowie, Kraftwerk and Krautrock, you can hear those influences plainly on this album, which was co-produced by Brian Eno, who would very shortly go off to work with Bowie on “Low”. I always think of Ultravox as part of the early Punk thing but also an electronic/synth band but this album is not really in that mould. Opening song “Satday Night In the City Of The Dead” owes as much to the 60’s British R&B/Freakbeat boom as it does to Mr Moog with its slashing guitars and wailing harmonica. The last song on side one “I Want To Be A Machine” promises electronica in its title but is in fact steered by guitars and violin. 

   One of my favourite songs on this album is the haunting slow burner “My Sex”, but not this version of it. In early 1978 Ultravox! released a live EP, “Retro Live”, made up of live takes of non-album single “Young Savage”, next album, “Ha!-Ha!-Ha!”, track “The Man Who Dies Every Day” and from this album “I Want To Be A Machine” and an absolutely stunning recording of “My Sex” from a gig at Huddersfield Polytechnic (oh the glamour !) which is well worth a listen (https://youtu.be/M8HwBCDMy6w?si=AArIm82-n0Fku9Ow). It’s not until we reach “My Sex”, the last track on the album, that the keyboards push themselves to the forefront, even then it’s mostly piano rather than synthesizer that takes the lead until the refrain between verses when the synth steps forward.

   Ultravox! came to be seen as primarily a synth band, mainly because of the Midge years, but this album is far more guitar driven than they would become, in fact Billy Currie’s violin plays as big a part on this album as any electronic keyboard. It’s Roxy/Bowie influences are worn proudly, with a nod to the New Wave that was happening at the time, look at the cover image, yes it’s a little bit Punk but it’s equally Glam in its makeup. We have here a collection of great songs delivered by a band that could see what was going on around them but were, in reality, far ahead of some of their contemporaries musically.

   The Wild, The Beautiful And The Damned - https://youtu.be/CFLDo5fT9WI?si=WGIxWOIsC7qdjTD8