It’s tempting to say that Ultravox got a raw deal, but the truth of the matter is that they hit the wall a year too soon. If the classic lineup of guitarist and singer Midge Ure, keyboardist Billy Currie, bassist Chris Cross, and drummer Warren Cann could have held on for just one more year, maybe 18 months, fortune would have favored them. Will Harris will be the first to tell you that the soundtrack to Pretty in Pink was the rising tide that raised all modern rock ships, and he’s not wrong. Featured artists New Order, OMD, the Smiths, Echo & the Bunnymen, Suzanne Vega, and the Psychedelic Furs all jumped up at least one level in terms of commercial success after the album’s release, while INXS jumped about six. Even the bands that weren’t featured in the film (specifically, Depeche Mode and the Cure) benefited by association with the other bands. A functional Ultravox could have ridden that wave to greener pastures.
But they didn’t. Instead, they imploded at the worst possible time. First, they sacked longtime drummer Cann for “musical differences” (more on this later), replacing him – in the studio, anyway – with the grossly overqualified Mark Brzezicki of Big Country. Ure himself told Popdose that the resulting album, 1986’s U-Vox, was “the Voldemort of the Ultravox catalog. The [band’s fans] won’t even say its name. They just call it ‘the pink thing.’”
Then 1987 came, and the alt-rock scene removed Ultravox from the group chat. Their influence, however, can still be heard today (ahem, Muse), and there are few (any?) bands who, again quoting Ure, made a noise quite like Ultravox did.
Odds are, the four-disc remaster of Ultravox’s near-flawless 1984 singles comp The Collection will be no one’s maiden voyage into the band’s catalog. This one is clearly for the fanboys, armed with a slew of new mixes of both the 7” and 12” variety. There is much to like, even love, about this set, but a heavier hand during song selection would have done wonders.
Disc 1: The Collection
Exactly the same as the version you had on CD or cassette, with one exception: the intro to “Reap the Wild Wind” has six extra seconds of the opening hi-hat. The credits make no mention of an updated mix job, but the songs sound a little cleaner, and more balanced, this time around.
Disc 2: The Collection II
The title implies that this disc is a companion piece to Disc 1, and it is, sort of. Five songs from The Collection also appear here, with four of them sporting new, alternative single mixes. If the words ‘new mix’ sound ominous, fear not; the mixes, several of which were handled by the ubiquitous Steven Wilson, are faithful to the original recordings, with modified arrangements and tweaks to instrumentation and effects. Wilson’s single mix of “The Thin Wall,” for example, pushes Ure’s guitar work almost to the front, while his mix of “White China” (a welcome inclusion) puts extra emphasis on the “Jack & Diane” hand clap. Quartet track “Serenade” also receives a new mix, a crunchy live version from 2010 of Vienna deep cut “New Europeans” makes an appearance, and the band’s superb 2010 album Brilliant contributes three songs, including a nifty live version of “Rise” from 2012. Worthy inclusions, all of them.
What to do, then, with the three U-Vox tracks that also made the cut? There isn’t an ounce of Ultravox DNA in any of these songs; rather, they sound like tracks from a Midge Ure solo record with the Ultravox name slapped on it. “Same Old Story,” in particular, is shockingly pedestrian, with the timely horn stabs and the female backing singers. Pair it with “All Fall Down,” which features the Chieftans (who are as close to the other end of the telescope a a band can be to Ultravox), and “All in One Day,” and you have a more comprehensive Collection, but not necessarily the best possible Collection. It would have been perfectly fine to leave these songs behind, and given what Ure has said about the album, their inclusion is baffling.
Which makes us wonder: were the ‘musical differences’ the band pinned on Cann simply him telling the band that the new songs were lacking? If so, he was right. Even Ure has since, um, lamented the decision to let Cann go at the time.
And yet, one of those songs shows up again. What?
Disc 3: The Remixes
Welcome to Steven Wilson’s playground. This is the disc that will get the diehards who have already ponied up for the expanded reissues of the band’s Imperial phase albums to pony up for this as well. There are 10 new mixes, the first four of which are mixed by Wilson, and he lets his mixes breathe. He really, really lets his mixes breathe. Opening track “Hymn” clocks in just short of 11 minutes. “The Thin Wall” is almost 10 minutes, but it kills, hitting like Trevor Horn’s mixes of Frankie Goes to Hollywood’s biggest singles. The first verse doesn’t drop until just before the five-minute mark, but it doesn’t feel overly long, nor does the nearly nine-minute mix of “Visions in Blue.” Yes, they remixed the ballad, while the following songs do not appear again after Disc 1:
“Dancing with Tears in My Eyes”
“The Voice”
“Passing Strangers”
“We Came to Dance”
“One Small Day”
That is…a choice. Meanwhile, “Same Old Story” gets a new remix on Disc 3. Literally no one wants this. Master ‘80s curators Blank & Jones contribute a note-perfect new mix of “Love’s Great Adventure,” but strangely, that is their sole contribution. What would they have done with “The Voice,” “Passing Strangers” or “One Small Day”? Something amazing, most likely.
Ure takes the wheel on a new mix of “All Stood Still,” and he unexpectedly opens with the reggae beat in the third verse, which is a cool move, but he strips out the cool keyboard parts that serve as the song’s second vocal hook until the song is almost at the finish line. He does the same to the backing vocals. What few backing vocals remain are lowered in the mix. Both of these moves are puzzling. It feels like he made the song more about him than it already was, which is odd, because Midge is not that kind of guy.
Still, overall, Disc 3 is imperfect, but a fun experiment.
Disc 4: The B-Sides
For those who haven’t splurged on the reissues, this disc is a treat, collecting 19 songs the band released on 7” and 12” singles from Vienna through U-Vox, in chronological order. “Herr X,” a German version of Vienna track “Mr. X,” is a standout (the album was co-produced by Kraftwerk engineer Conny Plank, so one wonders if it was his idea to record the song in German), as is the “All Stood Still” B-side instrumental “Alles Klar.” “Keep Talking (Cassette Recording During Rehearsal)” sounds like the primordial ooze from which “The Thin Wall” evolved, while “Hosanna (In Excelsis Deo)” proves that not even Ultravox was able to resist the fretless bass. “Break Your Back,” however, is the standout track of the disc, a delightful melding of the Art of Noise’s first album and Herbie Hancock’s “Rockit.” Funnily enough, it was the B-side to the aforementioned ballad “Visions in Blue.” Even the U-Vox B-sides, incredibly, hold their own against the others.
Ultravox has always been an enigma in that, for a band with such a niche sound, they were surprisingly popular, at least in the UK (16 Top 40 hits, with one going Top 10 and two reaching the Top 3). Most bands that opt for the melodrama that comprised Ultravox’s best work do not find the charts as often as they did. It’s not surprising that they don’t have a massive following, but it’s tragic that they don’t have a larger following. With any luck, this will unlock some minds. Muse fans, seriously, it’s time to kick this door down. This is your next favorite band.
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