{"id":30468,"date":"2025-12-10T05:30:02","date_gmt":"2025-12-10T10:30:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=30468"},"modified":"2025-12-11T07:08:26","modified_gmt":"2025-12-11T12:08:26","slug":"album-review-ultravox-the-collection","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/10\/album-review-ultravox-the-collection\/","title":{"rendered":"Album Review: Ultravox \u2013 The Collection"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Ultravox was an exemplar of the new wave movement of the 1980s. The band\u2019s distinctive sound brought together the insistent motorik<\/i> of krautrock (the band\u2019s name initially included an exclamation mark, a nod to Neu!) with a melodramatic and lush, synth-led sound that recalled the more romantic end of Roxy Music\u2019s body of work. While Ultravox launched in the mid 1970s, the group\u2019s music didn\u2019t trouble the charts until the dawn of the new decade. By 1979, founding member and lead singer John Foxx departed, with new member Midge Ure taking over as frontman.<\/p>\n

After a pair of modestly successful UK singles (\u201cSlow Motion\u201d and \u201cQuiet Men\u201d) the group struck gold with 1981\u2019s \u201cVienna.\u201d That tune simmered and unfolded with operatic intensity, claiming the number one spot in three countries, top-tenning in eight, and barely missing the top ten in two more. \u201cVienna\u201d didn\u2019t make a ripple on U.S. singles charts, but a music video for the tune was a regular fixture on MTV after the channel debuted later that year in August 1981.<\/p>\n

\u201cVienna\u201d lit the fuse, and for the next several years, Ultravox became a regular fixture on the UK charts, with hit singles and Gold-selling albums. The band\u2019s winning streak concluded with 1986\u2019s U-Vox<\/em>, after which the band members went their separate ways. Save for a non-Ure lineup in the \u201890s and a 21st<\/sup> century reunion of the classic lineup, that would be the end of the story.<\/p>\n

But the band is fondly remembered, not only for its durable music but for the influence it exerted upon other artists. Gary Numan has cited Ultravox as an influence. First-time, modern-day listeners might well hear Ultravox, Duran Duran and Simple Minds, and wonder which came first; it was Ultravox.<\/p>\n

While the band\u2019s three early LPs with Foxx are worthwhile, newcomers interested in the band\u2019s peak material are directed to a collection (titled The Collection<\/i>, as it happens) that focuses on the Chrysalis Records era of the Midge Ure-fronted lineup, specifically on the albums released between 1980 and \u201884. The Collection<\/i> was released in 1984, and went triple Platinum in the UK. (The single-disc LP even appeared on U.S. album charts, albeit peaking at no. 203.)<\/p>\n

Now in 2025, The Collection<\/em> is being reissued for a new generation of vinyl consumers. Here, the album\u2019s 14 tracks are spread across two LPs for improved fidelity. The thrill of those peak-era sides comes through on brilliantly catchy tracks like \u201cDancing With Tears in My Eyes\u201d and \u201cReap the Wild Wind.\u201d Hearing those songs today, it\u2019s perplexing why the band never caught on in a big way here in the States. These songs \u2013 especially in their tightly-edited, concise single versions \u2013 have all of the panache and power of the best new wave (or what-have-you alternative music) of the era.<\/p>\n

There are other best-of sets of Ultravox\u2019s music. Lots of them, in fact. But for the uninitiated, The Collection<\/i> is the place to begin. And this new 2LP version \u2013 with a die-cut cover and lovely if austere booklet \u2013 is the one to have if you\u2019re only having one (to start with).<\/p>\n

(There\u2019s also a greatly expanded new 5CD[!] configuration of The Collection<\/i> as well, featuring alternative, unreleased and extended versions of the songs plus b-sides, Steven Wilson remixes and \u2013 on Blu-Ray \u2013 music videos, TV appearances and more. That version was unavailable for review, but can be recommended to serious fans.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ultravox was an exemplar of the new wave movement of the 1980s. The band\u2019s distinctive sound brought together the insistent motorik of krautrock (the band\u2019s name initially included an exclamation […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":30469,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,50,64,65,73],"tags":[2292],"class_list":["post-30468","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-compilation","category-new-wave","category-reissue","category-review","category-vinyl","tag-ultravox","cat-19-id","cat-50-id","cat-64-id","cat-65-id","cat-73-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30468","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30468"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30468\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30534,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30468\/revisions\/30534"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30469"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30468"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30468"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30468"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}