Ultravox - Brilliant album

[johnpidgeon]

Thanks for all the feedback.
If Brilliant gets released in Canada and I can buy it for $15, I will get it. I won't pay the $30 (plus) to amazon uk/hmv uk to get it as an import.
And with the money I save, I can buy a new copy of "Do they know it's christmas" and cringe everytime Simon LeBon whines his lines.

[dan-electro]

Thanks for all the feedback.
If Brilliant gets released in Canada and I can buy it for $15, I will get it. I won't pay the $30 (plus) to amazon uk/hmv uk to get it as an import.
And with the money I save, I can buy a new copy of "Do they know it's christmas" and cringe everytime Simon LeBon whines his lines.

The new album is also on 'spotify'.

[Jake]

Jake, Band Aid is what I was on about, the record - and that's what the Midge Ure reference here is all about too, it's not being technical at all mate, Live Aid happened after and I don't really have an opinion on it other than I enjoyed watching it all, in the pub. And I wasn't even inferring you thought doing nothing was the best option (I should have made that bit clearer, I realise now ) .

Cool mate. Live Aid wouldn't have happened without band aid, I was too young to be down the pub at that time, I did watch it, and seen it since on DVD, Bowie was the standout performance for me. Midge Ure's live vocal on 'Vienna' was seriously crap as I remember

[theraven1979]

Midges Live Aid performance is pretty ballsy imo. He admitted he was bricking it and its a strong performance. Great vocals and tasty guitar.

Jim

[StanInBlack]

I have a lot of time for Ultravox - I love the three albums with John Foxx (of which 'Systems Of Romance' is undoubtedly my favourite), and the first two albums with Midge ('Vienna' and 'Rage In Eden', although I could live without hearing the title track of the former ever again). After that they became much more accessible, more pop and much much less interesting IMO.

'Quartet' is an abysmal album, I think. George Martin's slick, digital production sounds incredibly thin to these ears, and the songwriting is nowhere near up to the standards of what came before. There's a poppy charm to 'Reap The Wild Wind' and 'Hymn', but those two tracks are about as much as I can tolerate on the record. Both the synths and drums are really thin, tiny and lack power compared to the fat synth sounds and powerful drumming on the Conny Plank-produced records, and 'We Came To Dance', 'Serenade' and 'Visions In Blue' are just awful.

'Lament' is a little better; I have a soft spot for Side One, but Side Two I out-and-out dislike, it also 'sounds' better than 'Quartet' to me. The Warren Cann-less 'U-Vox' manages to be even worse than 'Quartet', and doesn't even sound like Ultravox; which in this case is a bad thing. It's as far away from what made this band great as humanly possible and may as well be a Midge Ure solo album for it has none of the character of an Ultravox album. Billy Currie and Chris Cross may as well have not bothered turning up to the studio, such is their lack of musical stamp on this release.

As for the new one, 'Brilliant', it HAD the potential to be a better album than 'Quartet'. Unfortunately, the band sound as though they lack energy, some of the songs are way too long, Midge Ure can't sing as well as he used to, the sound of the album is over-compressed, there's a lot of dud material on there in amongst songs that could have been potentially great. I can't help but get the feeling they've left it a little too late to reunite as a powerful musical unit, and the album feels like a bit of a missed opportunity.

Edit: Also regarding Midge's lyrics - yes, I don't rate them as highly as John Foxx's and don't even think they're in the same league, but they don't spoil my enjoyment of the first two Ultravox albums he was involved with. I'm of the understanding that Warren Cann actually wrote the majority of the lyrics on the 'Vienna' album anyway!

[parasiteinblack]

I have a lot of time for Ultravox - I love the three albums with John Foxx (of which 'Systems Of Romance' is undoubtedly my favourite), and the first two albums with Midge ('Vienna' and 'Rage In Eden', although I could live without hearing the title track of the former ever again). After that they became much more accessible, more pop and much much less interesting IMO.

'Quartet' is an abysmal album, I think. George Martin's slick, digital production sounds incredibly thin to these ears, and the songwriting is nowhere near up to the standards of what came before. There's a poppy charm to 'Reap The Wild Wind' and 'Hymn', but those two tracks are about as much as I can tolerate on the record. Both the synths and drums are really thin, tiny and lack power compared to the fat synth sounds and powerful drumming on the Conny Plank-produced records, and 'We Came To Dance', 'Serenade' and 'Visions In Blue' are just awful.

'Lament' is a little better; I have a soft spot for Side One, but Side Two I out-and-out dislike, it also 'sounds' better than 'Quartet' to me. The Warren Cann-less 'U-Vox' manages to be even worse than 'Quartet', and doesn't even sound like Ultravox; which in this case is a bad thing. It's as far away from what made this band great as humanly possible and may as well be a Midge Ure solo album for it has none of the character of an Ultravox album. Billy Currie and Chris Cross may as well have not bothered turning up to the studio, such is their lack of musical stamp on this release.

As for the new one, 'Brilliant', it HAD the potential to be a better album than 'Quartet'. Unfortunately, the band sound as though they lack energy, some of the songs are way too long, Midge Ure can't sing as well as he used to, the sound of the album is over-compressed, there's a lot of dud material on there in amongst songs that could have been potentially great. I can't help but get the feeling they've left it a little too late to reunite as a powerful musical unit, and the album feels like a bit of a missed opportunity.

Edit: Also regarding Midge's lyrics - yes, I don't rate them as highly as John Foxx's and don't even think they're in the same league, but they don't spoil my enjoyment of the first two Ultravox albums he was involved with. I'm of the understanding that Warren Cann actually wrote the majority of the lyrics on the 'Vienna' album anyway!

Great post, good points well made

[Derbyducks in Black]

I have a lot of time for Ultravox - I love the three albums with John Foxx (of which 'Systems Of Romance' is undoubtedly my favourite), and the first two albums with Midge ('Vienna' and 'Rage In Eden', although I could live without hearing the title track of the former ever again). After that they became much more accessible, more pop and much much less interesting IMO.

Edit: Also regarding Midge's lyrics - yes, I don't rate them as highly as John Foxx's and don't even think they're in the same league, but they don't spoil my enjoyment of the first two Ultravox albums he was involved with. I'm of the understanding that Warren Cann actually wrote the majority of the lyrics on the 'Vienna' album anyway!

Spot on... Stan

Cheers
David