Ultravox

For other uses, see Ultravox (disambiguation).

Ultravox

Ultravox are a British New Wave rock band. They were one of the primary exponents of the British electronic pop music movement of the early 1980s. The band was particularly associated with the New Romantic and New Wave movements.

Until 1979, the frontman of Ultravox was John Foxx who decided to quit the band to embark on a solo career. Following Foxx's departure, Midge Ure took over as lead singer, guitarist and frontman, and he helped to steer the band to commercial success. Ure left the band in 1987 after establishing a solo career and the group essentially disbanded for a while. A new line-up, led by sole original bandmember Billy Currie, was formed in 1992, but without success.

History

Early years – Tiger Lily: 1973–75

Main article: Tiger Lily (UK band)

The band was formed in 1973 on the initiative of vocalist and songwriter Dennis Leigh, a then Royal College of Art student, and was originally known as Tiger Lily. An initial but incomplete lineup comprised Leigh plus Chris Cross (bass guitar) and Stevie Shears (guitar), with Warren Cann (drums) and Billy Currie (keyboards/violins) joining later in 1974. The group released one single in 1975, Ain't Misbehavin', which contained an eponymous cover of the Fats Waller song, as A-side. Later, the band went through a series of name changes including The Zips, Fire of London, London Soundtrack, and The Damned.

Experimental years: 1976–79

Ultravox!

In 1976, the singer changed his name to John Foxx and the band became "Ultravox!", ending the search for a name for a group. (The exclamation mark was a reference to krautrock band Neu!, produced by Conny Plank, who later produced some Ultravox albums.) On the strength of their live act, they signed to Island Records in 1976, releasing their eponymous debut album in February 1977.

Like many other bands which would go on to form Britain's punk and New Wave movements, Ultravox! drew inspiration from the art-school side of glam rock. Musically, Ultravox were heavily influenced by Roxy Music, The New York Dolls, David Bowie and Kraftwerk. Their debut was co-produced by Steve Lillywhite, and Brian Eno (who next co-wrote and performed with Bowie on Low). Ultravox! sales were disappointing, and neither the album nor the associated single "Dangerous Rhythm" managed to enter the UK charts. Relations within the band were on an occasionally tenuous footing during this time as Foxx declared that he intended to live without emotions, a sentiment he wrote into the début album track "I Want to Be a Machine".

Ultravox returned later in 1977 with the punkier Ha!-Ha!-Ha!. Sales of both the album and its lead single, "ROckWrok", were poor, both failing to register on the UK charts. "ROckWrok" had a punk-lyric chorus, with the words "Come on, let's tangle in the dark / fuck like a dog, bite like a shark". Despite this, it got airplay on BBC Radio 1). Although Ha!-Ha!-Ha! was dominated by guitars and electric violin, the final track, "Hiroshima Mon Amour", was a prototypical synthpop song. One of the first singles by a British band to feature a drum machine (a Roland TR-77 with preset patterns), the song signalled a new direction for Ultravox. The energy, anger, and popular appeal of punk was fading in 1978, and the more creative UK punk-genre talent sought new directions—calling themselves British New Wave instead of punk rock artists. "Hiroshima Mon Amour" remains a critic's and fan's favourite from the group's initial period. Ultravox! also performed it on the Old Grey Whistle Test later in 1978.

Becoming Ultravox

In early March 1978, Stevie Shears was sacked from the band after they toured England, for being considered a limiting factor, joining Cowboys International, in 1980; and was replaced by Robert Simon (ex-member of Ian North's Neo), who during his first days with the band he changed his performance-name to Robin Simon. Sometime in 1978, the group also quietly dropped the exclamation mark, becoming simply "Ultravox". The new line-up performed live at the Reading Festival along with Radio Stars, Penetration, Sham 69, The Pirates and The Jam, playing fledgling versions of Slow Motion and Quiet Men on August 25 1978.

Their third album, 1978's Systems of Romance, was recorded with producer Conny Plank (notably the same producer of German electronic outfit Kraftwerk) and engineer Dave Hutchins at Conny's Studio in rural Germany. Musically, the album was markedly different from Ultravox's earlier work, bringing synthesisers to the forefront of the group's sound. Despite praise from some critics, the album was a commercial failure. Since none of the albums to date had generated much income, tensions within the band — particularly between Currie and Foxx — threatened the band's viability.

Island dropped the band after an attempt to market the album in the United States failed to generate sales. That was the final nail in their coffin, but Ultravox undertook a self-financed US tour at the beginning of 1979. Splitting after their final gig, near San Francisco, Foxx declared his intention to go solo. Simon remained in the US and briefly joined The Futants, an American punk band from New York. He later returned to England and teamed up with Howard Devoto to replace guitarist John McGeoch in the band Magazine. The remaining members made their way back to a Britain in the midst of a "winter of discontent". Island dropped the three Ultravox albums from its catalogue, and released a compilation of highlights from the group's first three albums in 1980, called Three into One.

Foxx subsequently signed to Virgin Records and released his most successful (and influential) album Metamatic in 1980. Billy Currie, all but broke, was then recruited by the rising star Gary Numan to do a presentation at the Old Grey Whistle Test show with his band Tubeway Army and to play on his début solo album, The Pleasure Principle, and its subsequent Touring Principle tour; he was a hero to Numan who had inwardly digested Ultravox's albums and had seen them play live several times. Warren Cann went to work for Zaine Griff, while Chris Cross did some shows with James Honeyman-Scott (of The Pretenders) and Barrie Masters, (from Eddie and the Hot Rods).

The Midge Ure years: 1979–88

With the band seemingly over, Ultravox was then revitalized by Midge Ure, who joined the band as vocalist, guitarist and keyboardist. An accomplished musician, he had already achieved minor success with semi-glam outfit Slik and Glen Matlock's more punk-inspired The Rich Kids, although in 1979 he was temporarily playing with hard rock band Thin Lizzy. Ure and Billy Currie had met whilst collaborating on the Visage project, a studio-based band fronted by New Romantic icon and nightclub impresario Steve Strange. Ure filled both John Foxx's and Robin Simon's posts for Ultravox's next album, Vienna, which heralded a change of direction and would become their most successful to date, far surpassing any of the previous Ultravox (or Foxx's) albums. As with Systems of Romance, it was produced in Germany by Conny Plank. Ure knew of Ultravox's past, being a fan of Systems to the point where the new four-piece outfit (Ultravox mk. III, often called "the classic line-up") played songs from that album on tours with Ure singing Foxx's lyrics. Released on Chrysalis Records in mid 1980, the Vienna album produced the band's first UK Top 40 hit with "Sleepwalk", whilst the album itself peaked at #14. A second single, "Passing Strangers", failed to reach the Top 40, but the band achieved a substantial hit with the third single, the album's title track (inspired by Carol Reed's 1949 film The Third Man). Accompanied by a highly distinctive video, the single became Ultravox's biggest ever hit, peaking at #2 in early 1981 (famously kept off the top spot by Joe Dolce's novelty record "Shaddap You Face"). On the strength of the single, the album then re-entered the chart and reached #3 in early 1981. A fourth single from the album, "All Stood Still", peaked at #8.

This was soon followed by Rage in Eden (1981), with the band returning to Conny Plank's studio for what turned out to be a difficult recording session. Whereas the Vienna material had been performed live a great deal prior to a three-week recording process, Rage in Eden took over three months and confounded people once more. The album featured a long track in three parts on the second side, leading some critics to decry the band as "the new Genesis". The album was nevertheless another success for the band and peaked at #4 in the UK, while two singles from the album, "The Thin Wall" and "The Voice", both reached the UK Top 20.

Ultravox teamed up with producer George Martin for 1982's Quartet, which peaked at #6 in the UK and contained four Top 20 hit singles. It also became their most successful album in the U.S., peaking at #61. The band undertook a major world tour known as the Monument Tour, which was recorded and released as a live LP and video in 1983 and once again hit the UK top ten.

Since 1979, Ure and Currie had also been part of the Visage ensemble on a part-time basis whilst simultaneously being in Ultravox. During Ure and Currie's tenure, Visage had released two successful albums and had a string of hit singles (the most notable being "Fade to Grey"), but Ure decided to leave in 1982 in order to concentrate solely on Ultravox. Currie remained with Visage for a while longer, but he too had left them by 1984.

Ultravox vocalist Midge Ure in concert, April 1984

1984's Lament continued the band's run of top ten albums and produced three top 40 hit singles, including the international hit "Dancing with Tears in My Eyes" (UK #3). However, this album was the last to feature the "classic" line-up of the band. Towards the end of 1984, a "greatest hits" compilation spanning the band's 1980s output was released entitled The Collection. It was preceded by a new single, "Love's Great Adventure", which enjoyed massive radio airplay that autumn, which saw the single eventually peak at #12 in the UK, and was accompanied by a popular Indiana Jones-style spoof video. The Collection went triple Platinum and reached #2 in the UK album chart, the band's highest ever peak.

At this time, Ure also co-wrote and helped produce the 1984 Band Aid single "Do They Know It's Christmas?". The group also appeared at Live Aid the following year and played four of their hit singles ("Vienna", "Reap the Wild Wind", "Dancing with Tears in My Eyes" and "One Small Day"). Later in 1985, Ure scored a #1 solo hit with "If I Was" and his solo album The Gift reached #2 in the UK.

Ultravox reconvened in 1986, but Warren Cann was let go from the band at the beginning of sessions for their U-Vox album. Cann emigrated to the US and retired from music to become an actor. Big Country's Mark Brzezicki took his place. The U-Vox album is widely regarded as the band's creative low point with even Currie (and later Ure) describing it as "unfocused". Although it continued their string of top ten albums in the UK, the relatively mediocre and declining performance of its singles prompted both Ure and Cross to leave the band. In 1987 Ultravox decided to not continue, after the U-Vox tour early that year, but officially split up in 1988. Ure subsequently concentrated on his solo career with varying levels of success, and Cross retired from music altogether and returned to his former career as a psychotherapist. Billy Currie and Robin Simon reunited in 1989 as the short-lived Humania, performing live shows but never making a release until 2006, when Currie released a Humania-recorded album, Sinews of the Soul.

First re-formation: 1992–96

Without any other original members, Currie reformed Ultravox again in 1992 with vocalist Tony Fenelle to record Revelation, and later Sam Blue replaced Fenelle in a new five-piece Ultravox line-up, lending his voice to their final release, Ingenuity (1996). Those two albums, as is often the case, were completely disregarded by both hardcore fans and generic audiences, and went off the map rather swiftly.

Current re-formation: 2008–10

Warren Cann, Chris Cross, Billy Currie and Midge Ure reformed Ultravox again for a UK tour in April 2009, entitled "Return to Eden". This would be the first time the classic line up of the band have performed together since Live Aid in 1985. The tour played at venues across the UK. Since success from touring the UK they have extended the tour to Germany and Belgium.

In September 2008, both Vienna and Rage In Eden were released in digitally remastered 2-disc format with the second disc containing previously unreleased material. Quartet and Monument were released in February 2009, also in two-disc editions. The second disc in the Monument package is a DVD containing the concert video that was previously only available on VHS tape. The other Chrysalis-era releases are planned for similar future releases. A live CD and DVD of Ultravox sell-out Roundhouse show is realeased on April 5th 2010. The DVD features a documentary filmed on the build up to and during the reunion tour, much of it filmed by Midge Ure.

An anthology of unreleased Ultravox material was planned in mid 2008, but has not been scheduled for release. The track-listing is currently being compiled.

Speaking to The Sunday Mail, Midge Ure revealed that the reunion is only a one-off, and there will be no new material from the group. He said: ""We're not trying to recapture our youth and won't be writing new songs or recording another album. This is about celebrating our music and our anniversary"

On Jonathan Ross's show on BBC's Radio 2 on February 21, 2009, Ure discussed the tour, with all four members of the most successful incarnation of the band on board. He mentioned that this reunion was not planned in light of the previously mentioned events, but rather was spontaneous and happened very quickly with the band members talking and communicating online (using email and Skype). The interview did not reveal whether or not new material would be recorded as a result of the reunion tour.

Discography

Main article: Ultravox discography

In the summer of 2009 a campaign was launched by 80s music fan Martin Slade on social networking website Facebook to get their most famous single Vienna to number one in the UK singles charts, some thirty years after it famously failed to do just that in January 1981. The song remained at number two for several weeks - a combination of unfortunate timing (the death of John Lennon and Roxy Music's tribute 'Jealous Guy') and a catchy novelty song by artist Joe Dolce with 'Shaddap You Face' saw to it that Vienna never reached top spot. This still prods Ultravox fans' consciences to this day.

The campaign aims to take advantage of changes in official chart rules in 2008 permitting a song to enter the UK singles charts on downloads alone. The date for downloading is 4th - 10th April 2010.

Members

Tiger Lily (1973 - 1974) "Early incarnation"	Dennis Leigh - Vocals Chris Allen - Bass Stevie Shears - Guitar
Tiger Lily (early-to-mid 1974 - mid-to-late 1974) "First active line-up"	Dennis Leigh - Vocals Chris Allen - Bass Stevie Shears - Guitar Warren Cann - Drums
Tiger Lily (1974 - circa 1975) "Five-member band"	Dennis Leigh - Vocals Chris St. John (previously Chris Allen) - Bass Stevie Shears - Guitar Warren Cann - Drums Billy Currie - Piano, Violin (credited as 'Billy Curry' on Ain't Misbehavin' single)
Fire Of London, London Soundtrack, The Zips, The Damned, etc. (circa 1975 - 1976) "Name changings"	Dennis Leigh - Vocals Chris St. John - Bass, Vocals Stevie Shears - Guitar Warren Cann - Drums, Vocals Billy Currie - Violin, Keyboards
Ultravox! (1976 - 1978) "Ultravox!"	John Foxx (previously Dennis Leigh) - Vocals Chris Cross (previously Chris St. John) - Bass, Vocals Stevie Shears - Guitar Warren Cann - Drums, Vocals Billy Currie - Violins, Keyboards, Synthesizer
Ultravox (1978 - 1979) "Ultravox and experimentalism era"	John Foxx - Vocals Chris Cross - Bass, Synthesizer, Vocals Warren Cann - Drums, Rhythm Machine, Vocals Billy Currie - Keyboards, Violin Robin Simon - Guitar, Vocals
Ultravox (1979 - 1986) "The classic Ultravox line-up"	Midge Ure - Lead Vocals, Guitars, Synthesizers Chris Cross - Bass, Synthesizers, Vocals Billy Currie - Synthesizers, Piano, Violin, Viola Warren Cann - Drums, Electronic Percussion, Vocals
Ultravox (1986 - 1987) "U-Vox recording"	Midge Ure - Vocals, Guitars, Keyboards Chris Cross - Bass, Keyboards, Vocals Billy Currie - Keyboards, Violin Mark Brzezicki - Drums
Ultravox (2009 -) Reformation of the classic Ultravox line-up for the "Return To Eden" tour	Midge Ure - Lead Vocals, Guitar, Keyboards Chris Cross - Bass, Keyboards, Vocals Billy Currie - Keyboards, Violin Warren Cann - Drums, Electronic Percussion, Vocals

External links

• Ultravox at WorldMusicDatabase
• Listings of all Ultravox albums and music sampler
• Ultravox at Rolling Stone
• "The Story." Warren Cann interviewed by Jonas Wårstad. Gives a detailed history of the band. (text)