I Want To Be A Machine The best track on the album, the first truly amazing song so far - the progression here is sombre then anxious, Foxx's delivery is vulnerable and the lyrics are beautiful. The musical backing to this is minimal for the majority of it's first half, with the choruses getting more aggressive until Billy and Warren go on an absolute instrumental panic that causes the listener to wait in anticipation - extremely ambitious song and it manages to work despite it's structure. Drop everything, listen to it. 5/5
I Want To Be A Machine First half of the track is middling but the second half is amazing, and Currie is just incredible. 4/5
I'm falling behind already. Slip Away: 4/5, pretty terrific song that as much as I love prog, I'm having a hard time hearing it. Art rock works though. The second half actually sounds like a conscientious musician showcase (as if intended for the stage), only to wind down into a vibe which blends nicely into... I Want To Be A Machine: Always a highlight on an album full of highlights. The bass is filthy on this one. Love everything about it, 5/5.
I only like the Foxx version of Ultravox, once Ure had joined I bailed out. I bought the debut on release, and to this day I play it regularly. It's a wonderful album. Hard to imagine these days, but in the rush and noise of punk, Ultravox managed to stand out. And hey, they even did the gatefold sleeve, which not many punk bands were doing at the time. Of course, someone will say - "Yeah, but they weren't punk", but that's a misnomer. Over the years punk rock has become defined as short, fast, ragged songs with lots of high energy. Punk at the time though was more nuanced. Ultravox were punk because they had the attitude, John Peel was pushing them, and hell, they look punk. It doesn't really matter what they really were - and anyway, they did go all out on the next record....... The debut album is professional (which you'd expect with Lillywhite and Eno working Production) and naive - which is the very reason The Talking Heads debut was also special. These were kids trying to make music, and they weren't perfect. There's nothing here I don't adore, but if I could only have one track it would be Slip Away, the B-Side to Dangerous Rhythm, I think. There have been several CD releases of this. The first was a bare bones disc, followed by a version with some really nice bonus tracks and a terrific booklet, and then a boxed set with cheap card sleeves and a full CD of extras (but nothing that hasn't been heard before) included. Given the bonus materials, you kind of need at least two discs to get everything covered. Without exception the original CD's sound the best, but then no bonus tracks, and nothing in the booklet to write home about. Sadly, those early discs are also prone to bronzing (although mine play just fine). Brilliant, brilliant band and debut.
Wide Boys Definitely a Roxy feel on this one, though I can't say it's great - the vocal tracking kind of doesn't work, but the riff is really good and it's got some great bass. 3/5
I kind of get the notion of Prog on the long coda to "Slipaway" but I really love the vocals of Foxx in the first part. There's nothing here bloodless enough to get the Prog tag from me. I'm also likely to label music this Be-Bop Deluxe, Doctors Of Madness,, and Ultravox! as Art Rock instead. There's a sense of artistic restraint to serve the themes and vision instead of just technique for its own sake. I always thought "Slipaway" was about the thin line between eros/thanatos. The lead in to "I Want To Be a Machine" was great sequencing, and listening to Currie and Cann tearing up the catgut and skins on that one is still breathtaking. With that harsh, cold ending echoing briefly; inhumanly.
"Wide Boys" - A fave for the defiant stance on it. I like the vocal FX and the lyrics had dazzling juxtapositions like "delightfully unpleasant" that stick with me like glue. This one had a bit of the old boot boy ultraviolent glam sound to it. In British vernacular, Wide Boys are street hoods who get by on their wits. If I were the type of person compiling a single disc collecting the Foxx/Vox years, it would definitely be included on it.
I Want To Be A Machine Although I've been able to sing the chorus line for 30 years, the first 4 minutes have reminded me why I didn't put it on my compilation. Blimey it's a struggle. I'm surprised Eno/Lillywhite didn't step in and have a word. Now, can I do a mash-up of the first half of Slip Away and the second half of ....Machine?
Slip Away and Wide Boys I both enjoy, I like the effect on John's voice on the latter. But I Want To Be A Machine is absolutely stunning. Nowadays you'd hear that title and think it would be all out electronic - but it starts with an acoustic guitar!
Wide Boys The closest Foxx came to sounding like Mark E Smith. I really dig this track, nice slab of British punk rock, grimy as hell. 5/5
I Want To Be A Machine Starts off rather like Space Oddity and especially Be Bop Deluxe's "Adventures in a Yorkshire Landscape". Then it become like a heavy Curved Air or String Driven Thing epic prog rocker (not in the least punk or new wave). Fabulous bass guitar on this and I love the frenzied violin climax - Ahhh!!! Wide Boys A terrific glam punk rocker.
Dangerous Rhythm One of the least exciting songs on here. It's not terrible though I admit I had to relisten given I forgot about it by now, though I do like the part before it goes back to the it's main melody... 3/5
I concur. "Dangerous Rhythm" was a outlier to nowhere on "Ultravox!" A modest stab at reggae that seemed perfunctory due to Island Records being involved. Hard to believe that this was the first single as Ultravox! Then again, the album wasn't exactly bristling with potential singles. That would happen later on as they developed dramatically. Maybe I would have slotted in "The Wild, The Beautiful + The Damned" as the lead single instead. Not surprisingly, there would only be one single from this album with the nextt single being a non-LP A-side of great merit.
Wide Boys: Might be a low point on the album for me (not the lowest though, that comes later) but it is a pretty high low. Goes to show what a remarkable and diverse record this is. Another glam/Roxy-esque tune, probably a burner live. 3/5 Dangerous Rhythm: I may like this one more than most. This is because the song appears on Three Into One and I remember gravitating towards it from day one. Acknowledging how this compares to other songs on this album, I still have to give it... 4/5
Dangerous Rhythm I don't like it. But I'll give it credit for being before its time. It sounds to me like a precursor of one of those pretentious 80's bands with flashy suits and silly hair, like ABC or Heaven 17 or someone like that.
The Lonely Hunter Probably the least memorable thing here, not the worst Foxx-Vox track, but thankfully it's short. 2/5
The Lonely Hunter Oh look, here comes that ABC / Heaven 17 feel again. This time with the added Pino Paladino bass sound that was everywhere for about 6 months. Really not good. I turned it off after 2 minutes. Does anything interesting happen at the end?
Dangerous Rhythm Sounds like The Police. Decent track, I really like the bass here, it's not the most memorable track though and it would have worked better if it was trimmed down to around 3 minutes. 3.5/5 The Lonely Hunter Filler. Sounds like a Blondie b-side. 3/5
Strange. I've always had positive feelings about this LP. But listening again, after all these years, so far I only like 2 out of 7 tracks. Fortunately, I like the 2 still to come..... .....and as for the next LP and stand-alone single, well.....
Dangerous Rhythm is ace. When thinking about singles, context is everything. Punk was popular at the time, so the roughness is part of the magic. Apart from that, the melody is beautiful. Not sure what to make of this. How did it seem perfunctory? Eno and Lilliywhite worked with the band, are you suggesting they made a reggae(ish) track to appease the label, simply because the label had put out some reggae titles? Seems like an odd assertion, imo.
Not sure where the repeated ABC/Heaven 17 reference comes from. I adore both of those bands and hear pretty much zero of either in anything on this Ultravox album. As for The Lonely Hunter, it really is an oddity that stylistically sounds like an outlier. Rather uninteresting lyrically and musically. Imagine Ultravox! with the non-album single Young Savage dropped into the line-up, bumping The Lonely Hunter to a b-side where it belongs?
Dangerous Rhythm A very Brain Ferry-like vocal on this but it's an excellent vocal performance none the less. It has a reggae feel but it's almost a tango. An OK song. Lonely Hunter My least favourite track on the album perhaps but I like the funky and bass and drum that drives it along. It's very future Duran Duran in feel.
