With Ultravox appearing to be all done with, Billy Currie met Midge Ure while both were working on the album “Visage” (which we’ll get to soon) for New Romantic “face” Steve Strange. Ure had previously bounced around various bands including Slik, allegedly been auditioned for the Sex Pistols, thence the Rich Kids with Glen Matlock and played live for Thin Lizzy. He was an Ultravox fan and was asked by Currie to join a new lineup. This line up (Ure, Currie, Cross, and drummer Warren Cann) toured the US again in late 1979 and when they were picked up by Chrysalis Records most of this album had been written and road tested. I’d always thought this record sounded like it may have been written with John Foxx (in mind) but it turns out it wasn’t.

It was to Conny Plank they returned to make this new album, although it was this time recorded in London and Plank mixed it back in Germany at Conny’s Studio. Just to get us in the mood and to remind us this is still, in fact, Ultravox we kick off with an instrumental, the new singer can wait just one track. “Astradyne” is a belter too, 7 minutes long and with 3 of the four musicians credited with playing synths alongside their regular instruments (Billy Currie’s violin is still featured), while drummer Warren Cann handles drums and electronic percussion. There’s another (almost) instrumental later on, the VERY Kraftwerk sounding “Mr. X”.

And then in comes Midge and his singing. I’m not particularly a fan, his vocal style is a little histrionic for my liking, but hey, this album begat 3 hit singles, “Passing Strangers”, “All Stood Still” and of course the title track. Yes I’ve been ignoring thus far the fact that this album is home to what may be the UK’s most famous #2 single (you wanna know how bad the great British record buying publics taste is ? They thought Joe Dolce’s “Shaddap You Face” was more worthy of the #1 spot than “Vienna”). Having said that about Joe Dolce, “Vienna” isn’t a particular favourite of mine either. Compared to similar Ultravox(!) songs of the past, things like “My Sex”, “Hiroshima Mon Amour”, “Slow Motion” etc., it really pales in their shadow. Yes it launched this Ultravox on a chart bothering, extremely successful 80’s career but it’s not one I pay much mind.

“Vienna” is a record I own more as a tidy up to a period I liked, rather than because I really like it as an album. It’s not a bad album, it’s not great either and it really doesn’t get anywhere near the John Foxx fronted Ultravox(!) to my ears but hey, this version was waaaaay more successful so (again !) what do I know ?

Astradyne - https://youtu.be/_QfISgmIZSg?si=av_3w6Xd20kMUeQP

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

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