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Lost in the ’80s: Ultravox

John C. Hughes July 15, 2008 6

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I’d been a big fan of Midge Ure-era Ultravox since the first time I saw “Vienna” on MTV early one Sunday morning in 1982, so when I spotted the new video for the first single from their latest album, Lament, a few years later, it was a bit of a shock. What the heck was one of my favorite synthpop bands doing with — gasp! — guitars around their shoulders!?!

Of course at the time I was unfamiliar with the earlier, John Foxx-led glammier version of Ultravox, so seeing the band I adored making like U2 in the snow, surrounded by non-synthesized instruments, was enough to give me heart palpitations. It’s not that “One Small Day” (download) was a bad song, or even a very atypical Ultravox tune — it was the new, arena-ready presentation that put me off at first. Where was the New Romanticism of “Reap The Wild Wind” and “Sleepwalk?” Ultravox, I was sure, had sold out.

Ah, impetuous youth. Not only were there still synths on “One Small Day” (take a listen to that bottom bass), but the rest of Lament was still safely in my synthpop sweet spot, as the next single, “Dancing With Tears in My Eyes” proved. Yes, Lament was obviously a stab at breaking Ultravox as the next big rock thing, a la Simple Minds’ Sparkle in the Rain that same year, but there was still plenty of New Wave to go around, as my favorite track on the album, the opener “White China” (download), proved.

The catchiest dance song about smack since Laid Back’s “White Horse” (was 1984 a banner year for heroin or something?), “White China” was never released as a single proper, but dance clubs picked up on it and played it enough that the DJ-only service Razormaid! felt the need to release an extended remix (download).

Lament failed to break Ultravox in America, and after Ure scored a huge international hit with his solo single “If I Was,” the band released one more decidedly limp effort, U-Vox, before Ure split for good.

“One Small Day” and “White China” did not chart.

Get Ultravox music at Amazon or on Ultravox

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  • JonCummings

    I must have had my Ultravox greatest-hits album on vinyl, and I haven't gotten digital versions of the songs. So this is the first time I've heard “One Small Day” in about 20 years. I really like the song.

    “Dancing with Tears in My Eyes” was hot shit on MTV for awhile because of its images of nuclear holocaust. Its “plot” was borrowed/ripped off (and greatly expanded upon) for a cool Canadian movie from 1999 called “Last Night,” in which various Canucks prepare in their own ways for the end of the world, which they know is coming at midnight.

    Considering its anthemic nature, you'd have thought “One Small Day” would be a big hit at least in England, where Ultravox was already established with a couple Top-10s (“Vienna” and “All Stood Still”). But “OSD” peaked at 27–then “Dancing with Tears” went Top-5.

    I always thought Manic Street Preachers were trying to achieve a “Dancing with Tears” effect with “If You Tolerate This Your Children WIll Be Next.” I'm probably completely off base on that, but then I never really “got” the Manics anyway.

  • Gene Mate

    I always adored Ultravox. A greatly under appreciated band. I've introduced my kids to them and they love them, too.

    My favourite song, albeit a cover, is “No Regrets”, but mostly for sentimental reasons. Youth and a breakup due to immaturity made the song all the more poignant. Whenever I'm melancholy a dose of Ultravox and Midge Ure is always welcome. Along with a nice scotch to reminisce by, of course.

  • http://www.bullz-eye.com DavidMedsker

    I had no idea how lucky I was to buy the CD copy of Ultravox's The Collection when I did. Sucker was out of print soon after, and I still play the daylights out of that disc today. Hmmm, I think I'll pop it on while making dinner tonight.

    Yes, they sometimes bit off more than they could chew, but no one can deny that Ultravox went for something different than anyone else at the time. Never bought any of Midge's solo records, though. Didn't have the same allure. Plus that “Dear God” song was a dead ripoff of Tears for Fears' “The Working Hour.”

  • http://www.bullz-eye.com DavidMedsker

    I had no idea how lucky I was to buy the CD copy of Ultravox's The Collection when I did. Sucker was out of print soon after, and I still play the daylights out of that disc today. Hmmm, I think I'll pop it on while making dinner tonight.

    Yes, they sometimes bit off more than they could chew, but no one can deny that Ultravox went for something different than anyone else at the time. Never bought any of Midge's solo records, though. Didn't have the same allure. Plus that “Dear God” song was a dead ripoff of Tears for Fears' “The Working Hour.”

  • http://www.bullz-eye.com DavidMedsker

    I had no idea how lucky I was to buy the CD copy of Ultravox's The Collection when I did. Sucker was out of print soon after, and I still play the daylights out of that disc today. Hmmm, I think I'll pop it on while making dinner tonight.

    Yes, they sometimes bit off more than they could chew, but no one can deny that Ultravox went for something different than anyone else at the time. Never bought any of Midge's solo records, though. Didn't have the same allure. Plus that “Dear God” song was a dead ripoff of Tears for Fears' “The Working Hour.”

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