Advantages: Some great tracks, sounds and oblique lyrics Disadvantages: A few also rans
Ultravox - ah, heady days. No, not when Midge Ure took over, none of that mark 2 rubbish, this is the real deal.
Formed in the early/mid seventies, Ultravox were fronted by the magnificent John Foxx and produced 3 albums (the others being Ultravox! and Ha! Ha! Ha!) which pushed the musical envelope further than the majority of their peers before imploding after their record company decided to drop them in a somewhat shortsighted move. It was fair to say they were ahead of their time.
Unlike the Ultravox that most people are familiar with, all pointy sideburns and Vienna, the original version was more a product of Krautrock and in the early days, Punk sensibilities, fusing harsh synths with guitars and a mix of synth drums and real drum work. They were also one of the few bands using violins (or was it a viola?) in a way that was ...
Advantages: Fantastically realised world, focused plot Disadvantages: Minimalist detail, not a cohesive collection
The Earthsea Quartet compiles Ursula Le Guin's first four novels set in the Iron Age styled world of Earthsea. The first three books of the original trilogy were published over four years, from 1968 to 1972. A fourth book was released in 1990, erroneously subtitled the last tale of Earthsea but it ended up being the springboard for further tales.
The four books are set in the known lands of Earthsea; made up of a central archipelago encircled by four polar reaches and the Kargad Lands. Areas outside the provided map are unknown; however a land of the dragons is speculated to exist in the far west.
Earthsea is mostly populated by a dark-browned skinned people. The white Kargs are given a slightly more barbaric presentation than other races, shown to be less literate and superstitious of the practise of magic. Different characters from ...
Advantages: Good songwriting, well-produced Disadvantages: Pretentious- very, very pretentious
Ultravox are generally considered as a band of two eras- before Midge Ure joined, and after he joined. The odd, often minimalistic musing of their New Wave era of the late 70s had long been brushed away by the time "Rage in Eden" appeared in 1981, the follow-up to their breakthrough album "Vienna".
People generally either love or hate Ultravox, and it's easy to see the reasoning of both sides on this album. Midge Ure's vocals and lyrics are utterly pretentious, the echo of a band that has begun to disappear up itself in no uncertain manner. Scattered throughout the album, such as on songs like "The Stranger Within" are moments of over-theatrical warbling.
That said, some of the songs here are quite beautiful, with the synths on "The Ascent" sounding especially gorgeous. The production is top-notch and the album has a pristine ...
In the early-'80s, the new wave movement was disintegrating into a million fragments, as those who embraced guitars and those who embraced synthesizers drew lines in the sand and began to vehemently territorialize. An adjunct arm of the synth-pop scene (see Gary Numan, OMD, The Human League) grew from out of the new wave, and, armed to the teeth with the Germanic sequencers of the '70s and state-of-the-art synthesizers, these groups became part of what was known as the New Romantics. Some grew large (Duran Duran, ABC), others receded into the cut-out bins--Ultravox grabbed the brass ring for a short while, courtesy of their brilliant VIENNA album. QUARTET followed two releases later, produced by former Beatles director George Martin, featuring a fairly stripped-down, but still illustrious Ultravox. The opening "Reap the Wild Wind," with its gigantic drumbeats, soaring strings, and windswept synths remains a high point for the band, and remains the album's finest moment. Ultravox were in something of a disarray at the time of QUARTET's release, but their glorious sound--the sort of stuff the Romans might have danced to had they installed sub-woofers in the Coliseum--remained fresh and invigorating.
Album Reviews
CMJ (1/5/04, p.12) - Ranked #9 in CMJ's "Top 20 Most-Played Albums of 1983".
Titles on disc 1
1.
Reap The Wild Wind
2.
Serenade
3.
Mine For Life
4.
Hymn
5.
Visions In Blue
6.
When The Scream Subsides
7.
We Came To Dance
8.
Cut And Run
9.
Song (We Go)
10.
Hosanna (In Excelsis Deo)
11.
Monument
12.
Break Your Back
13.
Overlook
Ciao
Listed on Ciao since
19/06/2005
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