A good article on the creation of the classic Ultravox track ‘Vienna’ from Musicradar.com
Right. Ha! Ha! Ha!.
This, apparently, is an album. Not a cry for help. Not the sound of a synthesiser being thrown down a staircase. No an album. By Ultravox! Not Ultravox.
And I'll be honest... it sounds like they recorded it in a collapsing laboratory while someone in the corner was being mildly electrocuted.
You see, by 1977 most bands were doing one of two things:
pretending to be angry about the system
or pretending to be Roxy Music
Ultravox, however, decided to do something far more ambitious...
They tried to be both. At the same time. While setting fire to the rulebook.
Frontman John Foxx doesn't so much sing as deliver messages from a dystopian future where emotion has been outlawed and everyone communicates via fax machine. It's cold. It's detached. It's like being told off by a robot.
And the band behind him?
Absolute chaos.
Guitars slash about like they've got a personal vendetta, the rhythm section lurches forward like a shopping trolley with a broken wheel, and the whole thing feels permanently on the brink of collapse.
Which, to be fair.... might be the point.
But then and this is where it gets interesting, right at the end, they drop Hiroshima Mon Amour.
And suddenly...
Everything clicks.
The noise becomes atmosphere.
The chaos becomes intent.
The madness becomes... vision.
It's as if someone briefly switched the lights on and you realised:
"Oh. This isn't incompetence. This is the blueprint."
The problem is, to get there, you've had to wade through a barrage of tracks that sound like a band arguing with itself in real time.
It's jagged. It's awkward. It's frequently irritating.
But it is never not for a single second boring.
So what you've got here is not a great album.
It's something much stranger than that.
It's a band halfway between being a car crash... and inventing the future.
And frankly, in a world full of safe, beige nonsense, l'a take this glorious, dysfunctional mess every single time.
Even if it does occasionally sound like it's laughing at you.
Ha! Ha! Ha! indeed.
(Credit: Steve Austin via Facebook)
A single page poster from West German magazine Bravo 7th December 1978.
Credit: Leonardo Gibo (via Facebook)
As Midge Ure has just released an instrumental album (well half an album!) I thought I’d delve back into his Ultravox career and make a playlist of instrumentals the band did-mainly as B sides & on the expanded rereleases Give this a listen: Ultravox-NoVox https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0EfOBO7m91Kpthf7lnFJzr?si=KGOaXr5lQiS-xhMTvakAmw&pi=hdw2P\_S-T4SY-
A Man of Two Worlds, is widely praised as a refined and meditative return to form, marking Midge Ure’s first album of new material in 12 years. The double album is structured into two distinct halves:
World One: Music, featuring eight ambient instrumentals, and
World Two: Songs, containing eight vocal tracks.
Critical Reception & Key Highlights
Reviewers highlight the album's dual nature, noting that while the two halves are stylistically different, they share a cohesive, melancholic atmosphere born from Ure's isolation during lockdown.
Overall Quality: Critics from Louder Than War and The Scotsman generally rate the album highly, with Scottish Music Network calling it some of his finest work since his 1985 classic The Gift.
The Instrumental Side: This half is described as "cinematic" and "piano-led," inspired by Ure's lockdown listening and his work on Scala Radio. Notable tracks include "A Different View" and "The Dimming Light".
The Vocal Side: These tracks carry a "lyrical bite," often addressing social discord and personal reflection.
The lead single, "Just Words," is cited as a standout for its exploration of public deceit.
Album Structure
World One: Music
Content Style:
Ambient, meditative instrumentals
Key Tracks:
"The Space in Between,"
"Blues and Greys"
World Two: Songs
Content Style:
Sparse, ethereal synth-pop with vocals
Key Tracks:
"The Man Who Stole Your Soul,"
"Fan the Flame"
It’s definitely ‘a grower’; the tracks are sparse -melancholic and atmospheric.
I’ve listened to it twice now and I’m beginning to appreciate the mood he was in when he recorded it during lock-down & shortly after, as the world recovered back to normality: Hence being a man of two worlds, the first one of solitude & quiet introspection, the second, the world reawakening-but is everything the same??
What are your thoughts?
By Richard Evans with foreword by Moby and released on 8th October 2026.
Looking Backwards Towards the Future: The Story of Ultravox is the first authorised biography of post-punk mavericks turned commercial superstars, Ultravox. Written with the knowledge, permission and cooperation of the band's surviving core members, it offers the definitive account of one of Britain's most eccentric, unusual and uncompromising groups.
Drawing from a vast archive of research materials, and incorporating exclusive input from the band, as well as from their peers, their label and management teams, and those closest to them, Looking Backwards Towards the Future promises to tell the many and varied stories of the band: from fractures and fallouts to ambition and ego.
From their experimental, art-school beginnings as post-punk outsiders, to their rebirth as chart-conquering heroes, Ultravox always remained unique, idiosyncratic and intractable. Consistently derided by the media throughout their career, they were unwavering in their pursuit of an eccentric trajectory of their own design, achieving enviable success, and millions of records sold, but always on their own terms.
Formed by John Foxx as an art school project in 1974, and forever a step outside contemporary trends and expectations, Ultravox made three albums, including the highly influential Systems Of Romance, before Foxx departed in 1979. Ultravox then recruited a new singer, Midge Ure, with whom they enjoyed 16 UK hit singles - including ‘Vienna’, ‘Dancing With Tears In My Eyes’ and ‘Love’s Great Adventure’ - and seven hit albums between 1980 and 1986.
Ultravox unexpectedly reunited in 2008 for a triumphant reunion tour and one final album.
Midge Ure was interviewed on BBC Breakfast ahead of his up coming new album ‘A Man Of Two Worlds’ and tour starting May 2026!
The second instalment of the Electronic Cafe interview with Ultravox legend Billy Currie!
The Bloc Interview with Gary Numan about the influence of Ultravox!
With contributions by John Foxx.
What should I buy next?
I’m thinking the Sleepwalk 12” released for RSD 2020. It was never available on 12” when it was released as the debut single of the Midge Ure era of the band back in 1980.
Following a post requesting information about Stevie Shears the original Ultravox guitarist & founding member.
There is a brief Wikipedia entry on him but it has no information post 2000.
Sounding great on vinyl-the Record Store Day limited edition 2LP white vinyl edition of Ultravox The Re-Mixes!
Originally on the 3rd CD of the 2025 Deluxe Edition of ‘The Collection’ this release features remixes by Midge Ure, Steven Wilson and Blank & Jones.
Further to the success of last year's deluxe edition of The Collection compilation, Chrysalis Records have released 'The ReMixes' from disc 3 of the CD box set on vinyl for the first time.
Available as a special limited edition of 3000 copies worldwide on double white vinyl for this year's Record Store Day on
18th April.
These remixes were mixed by Midge Ure, Steven Wilson (Porcupine Tree), Ty Unwin (Orchestrated), Richard Whittaker, and Blank & Jones, whose remix of Love's Great Adventure reached No.1 in the UK vinyl charts last September as a limited edition 10" and CD single.
Got my copy! Anyone else successful yesterday?