Search - Ultravox :: Vienna

All that was good about the New Romantics distilled in this

Ray Ciscon | North Aurora, IL USA | 08/28/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"It's the beginning of a new decade, the 1980's. Margaret Thatcher & Ronald Reagan have been elected, the reign of Punk Rock has ended, so what's next? The New Romantics.The New Romantic movement was a short phase in British pop music, but for a short time it was possible to hear music that was truly different. Different at least if you grew up in America in the 70's. The music of the New Romantics, in particular Ultravox, sounded like nothing I had heard before. I dare anyone to find any link to old R&B or soul in this album. As stated by lead singer/guitar player Midge Ure, "Listening to Ultravox doesn't evoke images of cruising down the road in a convertible...". This isn't Led Zepplin or the Rolling Stones recycling blues licks from the 20's and 30's, this was, in the words of Monty Python, "Something Completely Different". My first exposure to Ultravox was seeing the video to the song "Vienna" from this very album on HBO. Back in the early 80's, when HBO had a few minutes to kill between movies, they would show music videos. Considering that this was well before the birth of MTV, seeing a music video was certainly something new. Especially when it featured a band I had never heard of. Ultravox's videos of that time featured excellent production values, many directed by future film director Russell Mulcahy, and were visually impressive. They did an excellent job in capturing the mood of the music, which brings me back to the subject of this review... mood. If you're a fan of Ultravox, you're not expecting to hear stirring ballads, or rousing political statements. You expect to be transported to a different place or time, and hey... if you can dance to it as well, that's a bonus. Ultravox excelled at setting a mood. They did this with a combination of classical violin, viola, and other strings, rock guitar, synthesizers, and what would become their 'trademark' sound: Billy Currie's lead synthesizer lines. These synth parts could be (poorly) described as sounding a bit like "smooth-sounding guitar feedback, that was piercing, yet melodic at the same time". Listen to the first track on this album, "Sleepwalk" for a good example of what I'm talking about. I've had many listeners think that the synth solo in the middle of this song was actually highly distorted guitar, but it's Ultravox's keyboard player Billy Currie doing his thing. I've talked about what didn't influence Ultravox, but now you may ask what did. The main influence that I see is a combination of German Krautrock/Synthrock of Kraftwerk and Neu!, with a bit of Roxy Music and David Bowie during his "Low" period. That said, Ultravox manages to sound very different from these influences. Perhaps the main source of the influence can be traced to the producer of this album, the late, lamented, Conny Plank. Conny also produced albums for Kraftwerk and other German bands. The songs on this album invoke a plethora of moods; the nightmarish fear of "Sleepwalk", the questionable, unknown future of "New Europeans", the soaring heights of "Astradyne", the alienation of "Mr. X", the old-world decadence of "Vienna", and finally the post-apocalyptic eulogy of "All Stood Still". Many other artists were part of the New Romantic movement, including Ultravox's step-brother band Visage, but none had the clarity of vision of Ultravox, especially on this release. If you are not moved by the intertwining violin and piano on the title track, you have no heart. This is the second incarnation of Ultravox, but that is a different story for a different review. If you grew up in America in the 70's & 80's listening to AOR rock stations, you probably have never heard of Ultravox. You don't know what you've missed. Buy this album and give it a listen... your ears and your mind will thank you."

Now this is what I call music!

NORDOX (http://www.mp3.com/nordox) | London | 01/26/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Ultravox are very influential. For starters look at their name and look at mine. In the middle of each song, it gets very harmonious with very good solos, esp. from Billy Currie's Viola. Listen to the song Vienna and you will see what I mean. And if you want to listen to a very similar version of Mr.X look at John Foxx's (once again notice the similarities), Metamatic CD and listen to the song touch and go. And to top it all up, Midge has a very good voice, thus the blend is amazing."

If you love the 80's music, you'll love this

John Paul Monaco | Eugene, OR USA | 03/01/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Ultravox is another classic band from the 80's with those fabulous rythms and synthesizers. It's great that CD technology caught on and the record companies decided to re-release classic compilations like this so the music could live on. This is a great one. Sit back, listen and relax."