I bought and heard this album for the first time in 1980 after listening to Metamatic and those singles & b sides, and it was quite unexpected to say the least. The tracks I liked then are the ones I still like (Sat'day Night; Rainbow's End; Machine; The WILD, The BEAUTIFUL And The Da Dam DAMN DAMNED & My Sex. I Want To Be A Machine is my highlight, with its violin crescendo and wind effect and close-to-the-mic scream shock to end side 1, and the bass guitar growling out of the speakers. Foxx's vocals are haunting. The whole album has a real late 70s distopian "Jubilee" atmosphere and that is enhanced beautifully on the back cover shot of Foxx in a burned suit. A gatefold copy is a necessary purchase. Did anyone buy a red vinyl reissue? What was it like?
Ultravox! A longtime resident on my wall. Keeps pretty good company if you ask me! I've said elsewhere that you have the Foxx fans who have a hard time with the Ure years but it was easier for me because I entered around Quartet and worked backwards, I have nearly equal love for both phases of the band with the Ure version becoming a soundtrack for my high school years. I always felt as if I had dug a little deeper than the usual 80's fare. My working backwards began with a vinyl copy of Three Into One which I still own to this day. I don't recall the order I got the first three albums proper but it was definitely in the CD age. A buddy of mine gave me this wall copy for which I have the vinyl in a plain sleeve accessible in my collection, an original 1977 USA copy. This is what I am listening to at this moment. A stunning pressing I must say. I have the colored vinyl reissues of the next two albums and while I covet the red vinyl reissue of Ultravox! to complete the set, I'm pretty sure I'm not missing anything sonically should I fail to do so. Oh yeah, we are on Satday Night In The City Of The Dead. What a shock to the 1977 system. I only wish I weren't merely a child when this came out because it'd have been really cool to have started with Ultravox on the ground floor. Great opener which sets a tone, but at the same time it doesn't. Who could have imagined the mysteries that followed to make this a truly remarkable debut that was ahead of its time by several years. Or is it ahead of its time still waiting for time to catch up? I think the latter is true.
Well, that might explain Foxx calling out that band specifically... lol. There's single edits that are longer than album versions, but I'm not sure I've heard it happen in the context of the album before the single (was it even a single?) Great artwork there - I thought about getting frames for some LPs for a couple years - my trajectory for this band I find incredibly odd, until last year I basically only knew everything up to Vienna and dismissed the rest of the albums. I was driving and put on Quartet - and other than Reap The Wild wind I hadn't heard anything else on it. Immediately grabbed me and while I already have an appreciation for that lineup, I have a much greater appreciation now. I also have to agree with the sentiment, the artwork, the music, I wasn't there, but it always struck me as being a record ahead of it's time - the next even moreso, but not to get ahead of myself.
I had a similar trajectory. I discovered Ultravox by walking into a record store in Aurora, Illinois with the intent of buying something from a band I had never heard of. I found The Collection on the wall (must have just come out) and grabbed it, based on nothing other than I liked the name. I fell in love. It literally changed my life, and certainly my musical life (my favorite artists to that point were Neil Diamond and Billy Joel). From there I started working backwards to all of the Ure-Ultravox albums, then to Visage, Midge solo, Gary Numan, etc. I put off the Foxx era (or "FoxxVox" as fans like to call it) because I simply didn't know who John Foxx was (grew up in the middle of a cornfield in Illinois pre-Internet, etc.) and heard it wasn't at all like the Ure stuff. At some point I gave in and bought Three Into One on CD. Loved it! Why had I waited?! Became a huge Foxx solo fan. Realized how so much of my favorite music and artists were all connected. Amazing. I still love the Ure albums more, simply because they were my first, and because I enjoy synths more than guitars, but all three FoxxVox albums are great, especially the tracks that hint at what's to come, musically, for both Ultravox and John Foxx (and the artists who were influenced by them).
Life at Rainbow's End (For all the Tax Exiles on Main Street) This track is about musicians past their prime and a slight to those who keep trying - while I don't believe Foxx was entirely wrong, there's plenty of artists that managed way beyond their 30s or whatever. I guess when this was cut though, there was a trend of this with a lot of 60s bands in the later part of the decade. As for the song itself, I always liked it. It's more reserved than the opener, and is more straight forward, but manages to be more punk than glam regardless. Great guitar track for sure. 4/5
I picked up on this band around Systems of Romance. I also bought 3 into 1 on vinyl then got the first 3 albums. I liked Vienna when it first came out but sort of lost interest after that. I much prefer the Foxx lead albums to Vienna though. I love the first album and reminds me I must play it again. Incidentally the latest John Foxx release Howl is a fantastic return to form. Well worth checking out.
This atmospheric track has a feel of Bowie's Five Years about it. "I saw the final vicar Make confession to a dancer We stood upon the bridge at dawn And the dancer kissed my cancer." I think Foxx's lyrics are superb on this album.
Playing a bit of catch up. The Tiger Lily single very rarely registers with me - asks me how it goes and I'd be flummoxed. Satday Night...is an amazing opener. Play that to someone who only knew the 1980s hits and ask them which band this is and they'd never guess. It was the song I took along to my first band to try and get them to cover it. I didn't realise how impossible it was to play for teenagers just getting to grips with their instruments. Life At Rainbow's End is another good track (for the record I don't think there are any duff tracks on this album).
A slight deviation, but I listened to the new John Foxx album, Howl, on Spotify yesterday, and it was very good. A couple of tracks hark back to early Ultravox!, especially Strange Beauty. Worth checking out.
Life At Rainbow's End Yeah, I dig it. Definite Roxy Music feel, can certainly imagine Ferry singing the verses. But Foxx is emerging as a great, distinctive singer. Nice clear mix and production too. Turns out I did put this one on my comp, as well. From very distant memory, I think I bought the live EP first, then HaHaHa, Young Savage (single), then the debut LP. I would have bought the 3rd LP round about the time it came out. We'll get to all that later. Nice thread!
Me too! Great set of songs featuring Robin Simon, who played guitar on Ultravox's Systems Of Romance.
Saturday Night in the City of the Dead A great opener. Foxx's vocal on the verse reminds me a little of Costello doing Pump It up. Great guitar from Stevie Shears. Life At Rainbow's End A great rocking track which is very much like the type of thing that Be Bop Deluxe would do. Love the line: "I suppose I chose here - Good introduction..."
So glad I blundered into this thread! Ultravox! are a favorite of mine. I first heard them when I saw the "Passing Strangers" video in late 80 on release. I bought "Vienna" in Dec. 80, with "Ultravox!" being my next purchase in January. I might have had the 1980 2x7" reissue of "Slow Motion" in the embossed sleeve prior, now that I think about it. The rest of January-Feb. 81 brought "Visage" and "Metamatic" so I was all in. This band was my new pathway of rock music forward. I was already a Gary Numan fan, and it was with Numan interviews that I'd first heard the Ultravox name he's always happy to drop. If I'd known then just how much better Ultravox was compared to Numan I should have never waited the two years until seeing the "Passing Strangers" clip to finally hear them! Once I was into Ultravox, interest in Numan's weaker copy quickly lost its luster. I agree that "Lonely Hunter" was the weak sauce here. Even "Monkey Jive" might have been a better pick. A re-recording might have been amazing. Several years back I threw down a long Ultravox "Rock G.P.A." thread on my blog where I went into detail on their entire recorded output, including the divisive "Billy Currie's Ultravox" albums. Knowing what I know now, the similarities of this band to Doctors Of Madness in terms of their striving to escape the present [and the resulting ties to the past] for the future just around the corner was rather pronounced. Of course, when talk goes to Doctors Of Madness, can Be-Bop Deluxe be far behind? So Purple Jim was right to call them out too. The breakneck pub rock of "Sat'day Night" was as bracing an opener just as the eerie stillness of "My Sex" was an unbeatable closer to the album, which was the widest stylistic palette the band would ever have on an album. This album clearly showed the seeds of Post-Punk being germinated right in front of our eyes. With "I Want To Be A Machine" he'd found one of the core themes that he'd develop further for years to some. All of the support from the band here was strong, with particular nods to Cann and Currie, who would anchor the sound as it developed. Don't consider any Ure/Foxx solo material. There's more Foxx material than anyone this side of Bill Nelson! I got my order for "Howl" in last week, so it's yet to land in my mailbox! And Midge Ure had only disappointed musically in that realm. My ears at least. I'm actually more interested in the various productions Midge made for other bands ca. 1979-1983 than his own solo career that followed.
Saturday Night in the City of the Dead Fabulous power pop. Love the harmonica and the urgency of the song. A real toe tapper if ever there was one. Superb opener for the album. 5/5 Life At Rainbow's End A nod to Roxy, could have used some moog noodling. Decent tune but a step down from the opening track. 3.5/5
Life At Rainbow's End Solid album track which rates a solid 3.5/5 in my book. Influences are planted firmly on their sleeves. This would have been such an adventurous cover had Roxy Music not played it safe with their choices on the Flesh and Blood album. How cool would that have been???
I'm mainly familiar with the Ure-fronted band, but I've been meaning to dig more deeply into the Foxx era. When I gave the three Foxx-Vox albums a listen on Spotify a year or two ago, I think I enjoyed this first one the most for its pretty clear nods to Roxy, and the more punky second album the least. From that same perspective, I was disappointed in the opening track here, which seems stick more closely to a punk idiom and doesn't do much for me. But beginning with "Life at Rainbow's End," the album becomes kind of fascinating for a fan of both Roxy and Ure-era Ultravox. By the way, I always assumed REM's "Crush With Eyeliner" was an obvious nod to Roxy Music, but listening to "Life at Rainbow's End," I'm wondering if it might not be the more direct inspiration for the REM tune.
Slip Away Great pop song. Foxx's delivery is fantastic and Chris has some neat bass work going on too. Currie gets to get in some proper keys work in. I also like how this one isn't conventional in terms of structure - verse/chorus/verse/chorus/bridge/chorus/post chorus/end, going on for a minute of instrumental that you may like or dislike. For me it's 5/5 Also - "Enter me gently I brake in the light"... I'm not surprised but, excuse me - I actually have no idea what this song is about specifically other than sex, but I'd like to hear some interpretations.
Slip Away - This one has a very Roxy feel to it, with a Foxx vocal very close to Brian Ferry's wavering style. Again, this reminds me of Be Bop Deluxe also in it's melody and shifting passages. The final part gets quite proggy or perhaps rather like Alice Cooper, Lou Reed, Todd Rundgren.
As it goes, this record and the Ha Ha Ha might be the only two albums I label punk prog More like punk prog glam art rock something or other - these guys are very good musicians, and it's even more evident that Currie could play in any prog band he wanted by the next record.
There's also Marquee Moon by Television which was quite indebted to Prog. I think there are a lot of similarities between this album and Japan's first album Adolescent Sex which I love, but that was recorded a year later. Both have several WTF moments, and for me Slip Away is one of them. For me this is much more like Ure-era Ultravox, and while I find it interesting as a prog/punk crossover I'd rather I'd never have heard it. I don't like Foxx's singing on this either to be honest.
That album was actually influenced by the early Ultravox records plus other things, but yeah, good call on Marquee Moon - a much more cohesive album, and more guitar but it has that sort of feel to it, in particular the title track with it's recurring motifs and the like.
Slip Away Nope, don't like this one at all. The first half reminds me of that Little Does She Know That I Know That She Knows That I Know That She Knows song, and that's not a good thing. The second half sounds like plodding pretentious pompous prog. Which I usually like, actually, but not here. So many different styles throughout this LP, I don't think they'd quite "found themselves" yet. At least the next 2 LP's had consistent feels to them, albeit not the same from one to the next.
