Ultravox - The Collection

Ultravox - The Collection

Album Notes
The Collection is a compilation album by the British band Ultravox. It was released on 2 November 1984 on the Chrysalis Records label, and was the band’s first “greatest hits” collection (though a compilation of their earlier material had been released in 1980). It includes all fourteen of the band’s hit singles on Chrysalis from 1980 to 1984, including “Love’s Great Adventure”, released ahead of the album as a stand-alone single. 

 

The album peaked at number 2 on the UK Album Chart, becoming their highest charting album. It also became their highest selling album, being certified triple platinum by the BPI for sales of over 900,000 copies.

While Ultravox’s commercial success was virtually nonexistent in the U.S., their singles were strewn across the British charts throughout the early half of the ’80s.
Led by Midge Ure’s haunting but forceful vocal presence, sometimes reminiscent of U2’s Bono, Ultravox used the keyboards to guide their sophisticated and intelligent pop style, resulting in some extremely intricate and provocative material.

The Collection gathers the heartiest of Ultravox’s repertoire, wisely ignoring any of their late-’70s albums in which John Foxx, the group’s founder, inundated his darkened keyboard approach. Effectively desolate but rich in lyrical poetry and clever melodies, songs like “Vienna,” “Reap the Wild Wind,” and “The Voice” cast Ure’s talents as a singer to the forefront, while livelier efforts, like the frantic forward thrust of “Love’s Great Adventure,” showcase the group’s spirited synthesizer work. “Dancing With Tears in My Eyes” is a moody radio-dance track, and the hovering broodiness of “The Hymn” harbors its own brand of gothic charm.

“Dancing with Tears in My Eyes” is the second single from “Lament”, Ultravox’s seventh studio album, released in 1984. The single effectively put Ultravox back on the map, peaking at no. 3 in the UK Singles Chart, and reaching the top 10 in several European countries. The song also entered the Australian and Canadian Top 75 but failed to chart in the US.

“Hymn” is a 1982 song from Ultravox’s sixth studio album “Quartet”. Released as the album’s second single, it reached #11 on the British Top 40 singles chart and the Top 10 in Germany and Switzerland.

“The Thin Wall” is Ultravox’s first single from the “Rage in Eden album”, recorded in Conny Plank’s Studio in Cologne, Germany and released on Chrysalis Records on 14 August 1981. The song is a fast and stark synth melody with obscure lyrics like many Ultravox songs and New Romantic music in general. It peaked at #14 in the UK Single Charts.

“The Voice” is Ultravox’s second single from the album “Rage in Eden”. It peaked at #16 in the UK singles chart, #27 in the Irish Singles Chart[2] and #29 in the New Zealand Singles Chart.

“Vienna” was released as the third single from the band’s fourth album “Vienna” on 9 January 1981 through Chrysalis Records. It spent four consecutive weeks at number two in the UK Singles Chart without ever getting to number-one; it was kept off the number-one spot by John Lennon’s “Woman” for a week, and then by Joe Dolce’s novelty hit, “Shaddap You Face”, for a further three weeks. “Vienna” ultimately sold more copies than both of these records, however, and ranked as the fifth best-selling UK single for 1981. The single was certified Gold by the British Phonographic Industry in February 1981, for UK sales exceeding 500,000 copies. Nevertheless, the single peaked at number one on the Top 40 charts in many European areas including the Netherlands, Belgium and Ireland.
It also won “Single of the Year” at the 1981 Brit Awards. The song is regarded as a staple of the synthpop genre that was popularised in the early 1980s. The song was also performed at the 1985 Live Aid concert in Wembley Stadium. To date, it remains Ultravox’s signature song, being their most commercially successful release and is often played live by Midge Ure in solo performances.
It was voted Britain’s favourite single to ever peak at number two in the charts in a 2012 poll run by BBC Radio 2 and the Official Charts Company. It was awarded an honorary number one by the OCC.

“Passing Strangers” is Ultravox’s second single from the band’s first album with Midge Ure, released on Chrysalis Records on 15 October 1980. A fast-paced guitar track recalling early John Foxx-era Ultravox, Passing Strangers ultimately failed to live up to the top 30 success of its predecessor Sleepwalk. It stalled at #57 in the UK charts despite having a music video (directed by Russell Mulcahy and featuring Barbie Wilde and Tok from Tik & Tok) and release on 12″ format alongside the regular 7″, both of which Sleepwalk lacked.
The single contains two live b-sides; “Face To Face”, an original Ultravox track that was never recorded in studio, and a live cover of the Brian Eno song “King’s Lead Hat”.

“Sleepwalk” is Ultravox’s first single from their fourth album, Vienna, and their first with Midge Ure as frontman. It was Ultravox’s first UK Top 30 chart hit, hitting number 29 in August 1980.

“Reap the Wild Wind” is Ultravox’s first single from the “Quartet” album, recorded in Air Studios, London and released on Chrysalis Records on 16 September 1982. It is the only single of its album that charted on the US Billboard Hot 100.

“All Stood Still” is Ultravox’s fourth and final single from the album “Vienna”. The single, on the back of “Vienna”‘s success, hit #8 on the UK Singles Chart, giving Ultravox their second top-ten hit. There is currently no known music video available for the song, although the song was used to infectious effect in the first skateboarding video, Powell Peralta’s promotional Skateboarding in the ’80’s, featuring Tony Hawk and Rodney Mullen.
The b-sides are two original instrumentals. “Keep Torque-ing” is listed on the Rare, Vol. 1 compilation as “Keep Talking”; it is generally accepted that the latter is the correct name for the track.

“Visions in Blue” is Ultravox’s third single from the album “Quartet”. The single peaked at #15 in the UK charts on 26 March. A video was produced, but was banned by the BBC and MTV due to brief nudity; an edited version was later provided for broadcast on Top of the Pops.
The track also appears in live form on the CD version of Ultravox’s 1983 in-concert album, Monument. The 12″ version of “Visions in Blue” also contains an edited version of the same Monument performance of “Reap the Wild Wind”.

“We Came to Dance” is the final single from Ultravox’s sixth studio album “Quartet” (the third studio album recorded with singer Midge Ure). The single reached #18 on the UK charts on 18 June. This was the last of seven consecutive top-20 singles for the band.

“One Small Day” is the first single from Ultravox’s seventh studio album “Lament”, released on 3 February 1984. It peaked at #27 in the UK Singles Chart. The song is unusual for Ultravox in that it is mainly guitar rather than synth driven.
The ‘performance’ part of the promotional video was shot in very cold conditions over the weekend of Saturday, 14th – Sunday, 15 January 1984, primarily at the Callanish III standing stones site at Callanish on the Isle of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides (Western Isles) of Scotland. Other non-performance parts were filmed at the main Callanish I standing stones site and edited into the video and featured individual band members reflected in vertically placed triangular-shaped mirrors.

“Love’s Great Adventure” is a single released by Ultravox on 12 October 1984. Having enjoyed massive radio airplay that autumn, the single became Ultravox’s thirteenth Top 30 single in Britain, and was their last major hit in the UK, peaking at #12 in the UK Singles Chart. The style of this single is different from any of their preceding Lament singles, aiming for a more lightweight, pop-oriented approach.
The music video features the band members in a humorous parody of Indiana Jones, with Midge Ure being chased across deserts and forests by a ruthless treasure hunter. Midge Ure stated in his autobiography, If I Was, that the aim of the single and its video was to promote Ultravox as having a sense of humour, away from the seriousness of their previous releases. Also in the video is Ure’s future wife Annabel Giles. The music in the video stops halfway through where a seemingly exhausted Midge Ure, tired from minutes of endless running around has to sit down for a moment and take a breather. He rests for a moment then takes a breath before standing up recovered and continuing with the song at which point the music starts up once again.
The song, based on a riff for a Levi’s jeans commercial which was not taken up by the company, was not released on a studio album, instead appearing on their 1984 compilation album The Collection.

“Lament” is the third single and title track from Ultravox’s seventh studio album, released on 21 June 1984. The music video depicting the band members visiting their lovers on a remote Scottish island. The single didn’t live up to its smash-hit predecessor, peaking at #22 in the UK music charts and #47 in the New Zealand charts.

The Collection completes the task of covering the most crucial of Ultravox’s material and is close to brilliant. Include melodies which are love songs in a techno beat “wrapping”.
If you want to have some 80’s songs to remember – this album should be one of them.

EC0962	Ultravox – The Collection
Label:	Chrysalis records
Catalog#:	CDP 32 1490 2
Format:	CD [Compilation]
Made in:	U.K.
Released:	1984
Barcode:	0 94632 14902 2
Style:	Synth-pop, New Wave

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Ultravox - The Collection
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01. Dancing With Tears In My Eyes
02. Hymn
03. The Thin Wall
04. The Voice
05. Vienna
06. Passing Strangers
07. Sleepwalk
08. Reap The Wild Wind
09. All Stood Still
10. Visions In Blue
11. We Came To Dance
12. One Small Day
13. Love’s Great Adventure
14. Lament
Total Time: 00:56:56

Companies, etc.▼
Phonographic Copyright (p) – Chrysalis Records Ltd.
Copyright (c) – Chrysalis Records Ltd.
Distributed By – EMI
Glass Mastered At – EMI Swindon

Credits▼
Producer – Ultravox (tracks: 1, 3 to 7, 9, 12 to 14)
Written By – W. Cann/B. Currie/M. Ure/Cc.

Notes▼
© 1984 Chrysalis Records Ltd
(P)1984 Chrysalis Records Ltd
Manufactured in the U.K.
Printed on cd:
Made in U.K.

Barcode and Other Identifiers▼
Barcode: 0 94632 14902 2
Rights Society: BIEM/MCPS
SPARS Code: ADD
Matrix / Runout: 321490 1:3:5 EMI SWINDON
Mould SID Code: ifpi 1422