The beauty of the way Foxx sings it, combined with the fuzziness of the tune, is that you can simultaneously hear either the F-word or the word "bark". I think any grief they might have come up against could have been waved away with, "It's 'bark like a dog' sir, why, what do you hear?"
Rockwrok - the title is surely a nod to the 1975 track Rongwrong by Roxy Music guitarist Phil Manzanera? Totally different sound but the titles are so close that it can’t be a coincidence.
Catching up! I only read this at work. "My Sex" was improvised in the studio at the end of the sessions. Eno brought his Moog down and Foxx had a lyric/poem already extant. The band worked out a Satie-esque backing track of some delicacy and nailed a memorable finish to their debut album. And SteveRes is correct. The 2000-era live version of "My Sex" on the album below is orgasmic.
I always thought that the backing track for My Sex was an unfinished Eno track that was manipulated and adjusted in the studio for Foxx to narrate over. Not 100% sure where I read that now but it does sound remarkably like some of the miniatures Eno was creating in 75 and 76 that ended up on the various versions of Music For Films.
The Frozen Ones I actually had forgotten had good this one was, Foxx is talking like a newsreel in these verses and Cann absolutely kills it here. 4/5
The Frozen Ones Yeah, I liked that more than I remembered. I've always had it down as the 2nd weakest track on the album (it probably still is). But that was a nice, lively burst of energy. I suspect, though, that if we analysed too deeply we'd find it's just a similar, but inferior, feel to Rockwrok laid over another fast motorik beat. So let's not analyse too much. If it's one of the weakest tracks here, and I still like it, then we've got a pretty good album on our hands.
Frozen Ones It's punk by numbers and something I feel they could knock off in their sleep but it's not unpleasant. 3.5/5
Lots of energy straight after 'ROckWrok', but with a quiet starter to set you up for the head-on lurch into the main song. The last all-out punkier thrash?
Fear In The Western World Someone told me Jesus was the Devils lover While we masturbated on the magazine cover Now that's punk rock. Probably the roughest song they did in terms of composition on this album, the musicianship here is great, it feels like it's intentionally played poorly in spots - but that's fine, Cann and Chris are wonderful on this track along with that nasty guitar riff, and as alluded to above this is more of Foxx's daring lyrics and not sounding like... a punk.
"Young Savage" was a hellaciously great single. Warren Cann likened to song to hopping onto a powerful motorbike and once it got going, you simply hung on for dear life. Should have been one to trouble the charts. For their second album of 1977, the band continued with producer Steve Lillywhite at the helm, but this album was a far cry from the one that preceded it. It can be argued that this was their response to the erupting punk rock movement that had flowered in the year of ’76-77 during the time of their recording their debut album. But "Ha! Ha! Ha!" was much more extreme than the garden variety of punk rock that was represented by The Damned, The Sex Pistols, or The Stranglers. Of the three, The Damned come closest in terms of intensity, but the cripplingly aggressive sound, reliant on the heaviest use of feedback I’ve ever heard, stood alone. The album opened with, unbelievably, its only UK single, “ROckwrok.” The lyrics were singular in Ultravox! canon for being unbelievably sexual in the most graphic yet detached way possible. The track hads a retro-50s bounce reminiscent of early Roxy Music and Steve Shear’s guitar manages the neat trick of sounding like sax riffs, that further cement the King Curtis/Andy MacKay comparisons. But there was no saxophone on the song. That was saved for later in the album. Continuing the Roxy Music metaphors, if “Ultravox!” was “Roxy Music” then this album was “For Your Pleasure.” The 7" was an edit of the LP track, but I've never actually played my copy; wondering now about the stereo spread on the mix as mentioned earlier.
“The Frozen Ones” was released as a single only in Germany and although it opened up with fingerclicks, by the time the intro was over, Chris Cross was pummeling his instrument to provide the galloping bass line that propels the tune at a breakneck pace. Good middle eight on that one! And the B-side was an alternate recording of "The Man Who Dies Every Day" that I paid good money to buy in the 90s, once I found out about it.
Fear In the Western World Without pausing for breath at all, the album reached its frenzied peak on the third cut, the apocalyptic “Fear In The Western World.” It started with a shard of sustained metallic feedback on what sounded like both guitars and bass over which drummer Warren Cann laid down a frantic 4/4 beat. John Foxx joined in with his gleefully catastrophic lyrics and was ultimately joined with Billy Currie’s queasy violin which ultimately careened out of control as the song all but collided into a stone wall of feedback for its final 40 seconds. The resultant flesh-stripping feedback managed to make the achievements of The Cramps and Jesus + Mary Chain sound positively urbane in comparison. It really did sound like society collapsing under the weight of its neuroses. Which, of course, it was. This and the next song are now towering achievements to me 40+ years later. Part of what made "Ha! Ha! Ha!" such an indelible album. One that took its time to ensnare me, given that I was drawn to Ultravox initially for their use of synthesizers in a Rock context. It was the last of the Ultravox! albums I bought after "Vienna," owing to its status as a costly import in The States. In early 1981 I felt it was only a fraction of the album I find it to be now. Time has been very kind to this album even as it has been a cruel mistress to us all.
Love Ultravox! Mr. X sounds incredible on my 300b amp. earthshaking basslines and sounds like he's whispering right next to you.
Fear In The Western World Really nice propulsive track, makes me want to pogo every time I play it. Shame about the arthritis. 4/5
My favorite from Ha! Ha! Ha! is While I'm Still Alive. It offers everything that's good about the album in a neat package - insane amounts of energy, lots of bite, and a wailing melody on a fractured guitar. Just incredible. Mind you the entire thing is like a fever dream of teen angst and Ballardian nightmares.
Distant Smile This would be the evidence that, in fact, Currie indeed could play the piano quite well - something that he had over a lot of their contemporaries as far as composition went later on, but we all know it's a mirage and ANOTHER rocker, the main issue being the slight diversions in a lot of these songs before you realize, hey, where's the genre variety do indeed work - at least, we're doing a lot better compared to the first record in terms of being consistent while not getting comfy 4/5
The Frozen Ones A great dramatic opening. You could imagine it as part of a rock opera. Then into Ultravox! rock frenzy. Great song. 5/5 Fear In The Western World Maintaining the stress and excitement of the previous song, another gem with some great guitar again from Shears (as usual). A terrific vocal from Foxx. A Hendrix feedback climax too! 5/5 Distant Smile After the storm comes this beautiful piano/vocal intro. A pity it turns into yet another speed rocker, sounding too much like the previous two numbers. The album is getting a little tedious now. On it's own, it's a good song though. 4/5
I remember singing along very loudly to Fear In The Western World once at home, with no idea my sister and mother were hiding in an attempt to surprise me. I think we surprised each other. Distant Smile - I agree with @Purple Jim - the reason I didn't like this album as much as its predecessor is its sameness (last track aside of course).
Joining in a bit late, but better late than ever. I had never heard of Ultravox before I heard the single Vienna while still at school. Absolutely loved it and the album and I played it to death. I saw that Ultravox had 3 previous albums but with a different lead singer called John Foxx. Being still at school I bought the 3 into 1 compilation as i could not afford all 3 albums. First track on the compilation is Young Savage - I almost fell off my chair - WTF is this!!. Nothing like Vienna and really did not like it the first few times I played it. However side 2 got me going with Just for a moment, Quiet Man and My Sex but honestly at that time I liked Vienna a whole lot more. Then Rage in Eden came out which I loved and also John Foxx album The Garden came out. Dancing Like a Gun was similar to the Midge Ure Ultravox superficially so bought the album. WOW - watershed moment and after playing The Garden a few times I " Got" John Foxx. Since then I have bought everything John has released, gone back and bought the first 3 FoxxVox albums and find John Foxx one of my musical hero's. I like the Ure Ultravox albums up to Lament, but for me Foxx is the man and he gets so much more play time. One thing I have noticed on all 3 Foxx Ultravox albums is that side two is better than side one, on every album to my ears. anyway, on with the songs
Fear In The Western World It's loud, it's fast, it's nasty. It's got rude lyrics (wahey, I was 13), and it does that breakdown thing for the final verse that they used a few times (e.g.Young Savage, The Man Who Dies Every Day). Apart from that.... ....everything that he said.
Distant Smile The start really gives me that Bowie/Eno Berlin period feel. And then, boom! It's loud, it's fast, it's nasty. Here's that fast motorik beat again. And it's got another of those memorable guitar parts that are really striking but probably quite easy to play. I'll agree with Post-Punk Monk, even though he hasn't said anything about it yet. Ratings for side 1 Rockwrok 5/5 The Frozen Ones 4/5 Fear In The Western World 5/5 Distant Smile 5/5
Distant Smile Just at the point where any normal listener would be begging for mercy after the WALL OF FEEDBACK that "Fear In the Western World" climaxed with, it arrived in the form of side one’s final track, “Distant Smile.” The track began as a jarring blunt edit from the squealing hell that was the finale of the preceding song as soothing piano took over the soundfield with an all-time champion whiplash-inducing juxtaposition. The expression vocals adding a soothing femininity to the testosterone-laden album side. The piano here, was perhaps the first Post-Punk evocation of the sound of Erik Satie that would become more widespread over the next 35 years, and I’m not aware of anyone else plowing this particular sonic furrow at this point in time. [other than on "My Sex"] Even Harold Budd had only an experimental 1971 album that no one heard under his belt at this time. David Sylvian and Gary Numan were still a couple of years away from exploring this sound themselves. This long intro would reverberate throughout fringe popular music like a snowball rolling downhill and could be almost as influential as Ultravox’s use of synthesizers and drum machines were, albeit less heralded. Then the track revved back up into amphetamine rush at midpoint until it ran as fast as it could until it smacked into the wall of its ending. Several times. Leaving only two blasts of organ tritone as an afterthought as it collapsed, dazed, in a heap. 5/5 - for the Satie hard cut from 90 sec. of flesh-peeling feedback Phew! It's a good thing that I wrote about every Ultravox album in detail nearly a decade ago on my website. I can just cut and paste to keep up with this thread! …Though I am adding new bits along the way. I'm not a machine.
