Alles klar: Interesting b-side . The production is so good, that you forget that it´s not much of a song. 3/5
Keep Talking/Torque Assuming it's from the early period - as the title references the apparent original title for the album, and yeah, this is the roughest piece (and last) to cover from it. The track has a bunch of good ideas but doesn't go anywhere, that and the poor quality of the recording makes it one of those tracks that's more of a look inside the recording process than an a proper song. 2/5 (If I missed any Vienna material, I'll compile a post before doing a write up on Rage in Eden)
Keep Talking/Keep Torqe-ing Added to the 12" only single of "All Stood Still" as a bonus track, this rehearsal cassette showed the band developing by jamming live. A peek "under the hood" as it were. One distinctive thing here was the repetitive bass sequencer line pointing the way to what was just around the corner for the band; the sound of their next single, "The Thin Wall." In fact, one can sing the lyrics to "The Thin Wall" over this backing track quite easily. The other distinctive thing was the weird synth sound that they could not find the patch for again that sounded like strangulated articulation, or the "talking" of the title. Their reference to "Torque-ing" on one of the 12" single sleeves in the UK [the other had "Keep Talking" as the title] was another veiled reference to the original title of the "Vienna Album" in the planning stages as "Torque Point." Beyond that, there's not a whole lot to see here folks. A perfunctory 12" bonus B-side that may have been better left unheard. 1/5
The Best of Ultravox EMI UK released. This cassette sounds just like a newly pressed album. INCREDIBLE
Wow, this one is robbing Quartet and Lament - no Visions in Blue or One Small Day I really have to play the album from 86... I'm just very worried is all.
I know man. In the other recordings they have, I have to add the missing songs and if the sound and the rest of the recording ingredients are not leveled, it feels incomplete... But so far it sound great. Cant even compare it to lets say tidal or spotify. I'm not sure if you watched the 1997 movie "contact". there is a part in the movie they were tracking the pulsing sound (like a single-stroked jackhammer sound) from a far distant star, Well there is a lot of that sound on different songs in this album listening through a 300b amp.
Alles Klar, another in the long line of experimental and instrumentals that were to come. since synths were new technology back then, i'm sure they have a lot more experiments they worked on. luckily, this is one of the better ones. mixing in guitars, and a steady drum beat, with moody shifting synths back and forth, was pretty evocative. yes, its not as epic as astradyne, but it forms its own place during this time. is repetitive, but is all ultravox when the icy synths kick in, and for me, that's good enough. found on the 7 and 12 inch: Ultravox – All Stood Still Label: Chrysalis – CHS 2522 Format: Vinyl, 7", 45 RPM, Single, Clear Country: UK Released: 25 May 1981 Genre: Electronic Style: Synth-pop Tracklist B Alles Klar 4:55 Ultravox – All Stood Still Label: Chrysalis – CHS 12 2522 Format: Vinyl, 12", 45 RPM Country: UK Released: 25 May 1981 Genre: Electronic Style: New Wave, Synth-pop Tracklist B1 Alles Klar 4:55 vienna remasters: Ultravox – Vienna Label: EMI Gold – 7243 5 25523 0 6, EMI Gold – 525 5230 Format: CD, Album, Enhanced, Reissue, Remastered Country: UK & Europe Released: 2000 Genre: Electronic, Rock Style: New Wave, Synth-pop Tracklist Bonus Tracks: 13 Alles Klar 4:54 Ultravox – Vienna Label: Chrysalis – 5099923436527, Chrysalis – CHRX 1296 Format: CD, Album, Reissue CD, Compilation All Media, Remastered, Special Edition, Definitive Edition Country: UK & Europe Released: 19 Sep 2008 Genre: Electronic, Rock Style: New Wave, Synth-pop TracklistShow Credits Further Listening 2-8 Alles Klar 4:56 rare 1: Ultravox – Rare 1 Genre: Electronic Style: Synth-pop Year: 1993 Tracklist Alles Klar 4:55 new europeans: Ultravox – New Europeans Genre: Electronic Style: New Wave, Synth-pop Year: 1981 Tracklist Alles Klar 4:55 the new stereo version: Ultravox – Herr X / Alles Klar Label: Electronic Sound – ES768 Format: Vinyl, 7", 45 RPM, Single, Limited Edition, Stereo, Clear Country: UK Released: 11 Sep 2020 Genre: Electronic Style: Synth-pop Tracklist A Herr X (Steven Wilson Stereo Mix) 5:57 AA Alles Klar (Steven Wilson Stereo Mix) 4:59 rating : 3/5 later -1
keep talking, another early, evolving, experimental track, but without any talking, which is an odd name for an instrumental. it's very hectic, and has punctuations of keyboards throughout, but to me, it's not very 'ultravox' sounding. its rather generic, and simple. i do like how it picks up in intensity near the end. obviously, it's almost like a demo, not that great, but still providing insight into their early attempts of music development. one thing i liked about the 12 inch singles, was there was always something else interesting on the releases besides the normal b-side. so that in itself made it worth collecting all of them. == found on most 12 inch versions: Ultravox – All Stood Still Label: Chrysalis – CHS 12 2522 Format: Vinyl, 12", 45 RPM Country: UK Released: 25 May 1981 Genre: Electronic Style: New Wave, Synth-pop Tracklist B2 Keep Talking 6:21 Ultravox – Rare 1 Label: Chrysalis – cdchr6053, Chrysalis – 7243 8 27692 2 4, Chrysalis – cdchr 6053 Format: CD, Compilation Country: UK Released: 1993 Genre: Electronic Style: Synth-pop Tracklist 7 Keep Talking 6:24 vienna remasters: Ultravox – Vienna Label: Chrysalis – 5099923436527, Chrysalis – CHRX 1296 Format: CD, Album, Reissue CD, Compilation All Media, Remastered, Special Edition, Definitive Edition Country: UK & Europe Released: 19 Sep 2008 Genre: Electronic, Rock Style: New Wave, Synth-pop Tracklist Further Listening 2-9 Keep Talking (Cassette Recording During Rehearsals) 6:23 rating 2.5/5 later -1
songs not covered yet, i think: ------------------- 2-1 Sleepwalk (Early Version) 3:23 2-7 All Stood Still (12 Inch Version) 5:07 2-10 Sleepwalk (Recorded Live In Rehearsals At The Lyceum, 17 Aug 1980) 3:43 2-11 All Stood Still (Recorded Live In Rehearsals At The Lyceum, 17 Aug 1980) 4:35 later -1
No problem talking about these, but it's best to discuss different versions of a song being covered then - I can't possibly cover all the official releases for a day each.
Rage in Eden All pressings after 1981 September 11 1981 Produced by Conny Plank Track listing 1. "The Voice" – 6:00 2. "We Stand Alone" – 5:40 3. "Rage in Eden" – 4:13 4. "I Remember (Death in the Afternoon)" – 4:59 5. "The Thin Wall" – 5:41 6. "Stranger Within" – 7:26 7. "Accent on Youth" – 4:45 8. "The Ascent" – 2:20 9. "Your Name (Has Slipped My Mind Again)" – 4:30 Personnel Ultravox Warren Cann – drums, electronic percussion, vocals Chris Cross – bass, synthesizers, vocals Billy Currie – synthesizers, piano, violin, viola Midge Ure – lead vocals, guitars, synthesizers Additional personnel Conny Plank – co-production, engineering Peter Saville Associates – original sleeve design Likely their hardest album to get into from this period, this album has a rather dire tone for the majority of it's duration. A lot of lengthy pieces, extended instrumental parts, more focused than Vienna lyrically - nothing jumps out as a single save for The Voice, and it's telling there's only two on here as it is. The actual songwriting isn't horribly changed, these are still pop songs - just a lot less of the easily digestible for the most part Vienna. Maybe I'm off with saying such but where the previous albums kind of pieced together as albums from song listening separately and album listening, this one was only until I played it beginning to end before most of this worked. Side two pulls the same trick Vienna did with 3 fades, but this time with 4, and ending the album with that way. Somehow manages to not feel grandiose despite all of that. Another way to see things, less guitar, less melody, more room to breath.
The track-by-track will be interesting as, looking at the track list, I can only remember three of those songs, and of course two of those are the great singles. I might need to play it through to reacquaint myself with it.
That's fine, i'm sure there will be a lot more discussion when the Deluxe boxset comes up. For the 'rage in eden' singles, will discuss the singles and mixes when the songs come up. later -1
I have collated the votes for each track, and will be posting a chart of that. Since people didn't vote for the album overall. I will just take an average of all the main songs from the album, and leave off the b-sides. The b-sides are rated separately. Going forward, if you want to vote for the album as a whole, please do so if you feel like it, and I will incorporate that into the votes. later -1
Ultravox Vienna: Song Votes -------------- Song Averages: ----------------- Average vote for album : 4.3 (Calculated as average of song averages): Most votes : Private Lives 12 Least votes : Sleepwalk 7 Highest Average : Vienna 5.0 Lowest : Mr X 4.17 Top 3 : 1 Vienna 2 New Europeans 3 (tie) Passing Strangers 3 (tie) All Stood Still Up next : B-sides. later -1
Ultravox Vienna B-sides: Votes: Averages: Most Votes : Waiting 7 Least Votes : Keep Talking 3 Highest Average : Kings Lead Hat (Live) 4.20 Lowest Average : Keep Talking 1.83 Overall B-Side Average : 3.52 ----------------------------------------- As another note, some other groups and songs from 1980 era, which I also like: And 1981 later -1 -----------
And I will respectfully disagree with your assessment of RIE. For me, it's a natural extension of Vienna, and in some ways, those two albums represent their artistic peak. After Vienna and Rage, what follows is a bit too slick, too commercial, slightly over-produced and a bit watered down overall. I look forward to the discussion of the individual songs, as I didn't find it neither hard to get into, nor any less digestible than Vienna.
I might have wrote that slightly stilted - I suppose I meant to say, it is a step from Vienna, but it's very obviously more confident in comparison as a whole The part where I said it was "difficult" is in comparison to Vienna, Quartet and Lament - that kind of makes sense if the progression from Systems - Vienna was also arguably a leap in ambition.
I agree with you, it's one of my least favorite albums from them, and although it has a coherent sound and theme across it. I don't listen to it very often. I do like the singles and a few songs on it. I did have the disadvantage of listening it much later than it was released. Since I started with lament, and went backwards. I though Vienna was a much stronger album. later -1