RhoDeo 1149 Aetix

Hello, Aetix is once again featuring an old favourite of mine, underrated as so many really great artists are, John Foxx ( Dennis Leigh). an English singer, artist, photographer and teacher. He was the original lead singer of the band Ultravox before being replaced by Midge Ure, when he left to embark on a solo career in 1979. Primarily associated with electronic synthesiser music, he has also pursued a parallel career in graphic design and education currently as senior lecturer at The London College of Music and Media TVU in London, working with art, media and music students across a range of courses.

December will be something of a John Foxx month here, splitting into his Aetix work and his Sundaze ambient work. We start off with the band he founded Ultravox, underrated at the time he was there, overrated after he left thanks to a fluke hit, Vienna. John Foxx, a one man Kraftwerk....

xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx

Ultravox was formed in 1973 on the initiative of vocalist, songwriter and keyboardist John Foxx ( Dennis Leigh). Originally known as Tiger Lily, the first lineup included Foxx plus Chris Cross (bass guitar), Billy Currie (keyboards/violins), Stevie Shears (guitar) and Warren Cann (percussion). The group released one single in 1974, before changing their name to Ultravox!,On the strength of their live act, they signed to Island Records in 1976, releasing their eponymous debut album in February 1977 produced by Brian Eno and Steve Lillywhite. Sales were disappointing, and neither the album nor the associated single "Dangerous Rhythm" managed to enter the UK charts. Ultravox returned later in 1977 with the punkier Ha!-Ha!-Ha!, sales of both the album and its lead single "ROckwrok" -failed to impress. Whilst the group's first album had been a product of the Brian Eno/David Bowie/Roxy Music-esque side of glam rock, their second was considerably more informed by the burgeoning punk movement, although it also marked the group's first widespread adoption of synthesisers and electronic production techniques. Money from the first album was used to improve the band's equipment, and funded the purchase of an ARP Odyssey and, most notably, a Roland TR-77 drum machine, which appeared on the album's final track, "Hiroshima Mon Amour". This song was the most indicative of the group's later synth-pop direction, and remains both a fan and critical favourite. Their third album, 1978's Systems of Romance, was recorded under the supervision of Conny Plank at his studio and featured new guitarist Robin Simon. It also failed commercially and Island dropped the band. John Foxx left to pursue a solo career whilst Robin Simon left to join the band Magazine.

Midge Ure and Billy Currie had met in the Visage project, a band fronted by Steve Strange. Midge therefore replaced John Foxx for their next album, which would become their most successful to date, produced in Germany by Conny Plank it was called Vienna and the title track turned out to become a mega hit allover Europe. It was soon followed by Rage in Eden (1981), Ultravox teamed up with legendary producer George Martin for 1982's Quartet, which became their most successful album in the U.S..
1984's successful Lament ("Dancing with Tears in My Eyes") was the last to feature the "classic" line-up. Warren Cann left Ultravox at the beginning of sessions for their U-Vox LP in 1986, after that album's mediocre performance in the charts Ure decided to leave, prompting Cross to do the same, Ultravox was no more.

Without any other original members, Currie reformed Ultravox again in 1992 with vocalist Tony Fenelle to record Revelation, and later Sam Blue replaced Fenelle in a new five-piece Ultravox line-up, lending his voice to their final release, Ingenuity (1994). Warren Cann, Chris Cross, Billy Currie and Midge Ure reformed Ultravox again for a UK tour in April 2009, entitled "Return to Eden". A live CD and DVD of Ultravox sell-out Roundhouse show was released on 5 April 2010. The DVD features a documentary filmed on the build up to and during the reunion tour, much of it filmed by Midge Ure. Ultravox returned to performing live with their Return To Eden II tour during the spring and summer of 2010. On 20 January 2011, via their official website, Ultravox.org.uk, the band announced that a new studio album is nearing completion.

xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx

Punks with synthesizers, it was Ultravox! who first showed the kind of dangerous rhythms that keyboards could create. The quintet certainly had their antecedents -- Hawkwind, Roxy Music, and Kraftwerk to name but a few, but still it was the group's 1977 eponymous debut's grandeur (courtesy of producer Eno), wrapped in the ravaged moods and lyrical themes of collapse and decay that transported '70s rock from the bloated pastures of the past to the futuristic dystopias predicted by punk. Epic tales of alienation, disillusion, and disintegration reflected the contemporary holocaust of Britain's collapse, while accurately prophesying the dance through society's cemetery and the graveyards of empires that were to be the Thatcher/Reagan years. "Saturday Night in the City of the Dead," "Wide Boys," "The Wild, the Beautiful and the Damned," "Dangerous Rhythm," and "Slip Away" all simultaneously bemoaned and celebrated the destruction of Western culture while swaggering boldly through the wreckage; "I Want to Be a Machine" and "My Sex" warned of and yearned for technology's triumph. And it was these apposites and didactic emotions that so pierced the zeitgeist of the day, and kicked open a whole new world of synthesized music. Dangerous rhythms indeed.

Ultravox! – Ultravox!(flac 210mb)

01 Satday Night In The City Of The Dead 2:35
02 Life At Rainbow's End (For All The Tax Exiles On Main Street) 3:44
03 Slip Away 4:19
04 I Want To Be A Machine 7:21
05 Wide Boys 3:16
06 Dangerous Rhythm 4:17
07 The Lonely Hunter 3:42
08 The Wild, The Beautiful And The Damned 5:52
09 My Sex 3:09 

 
xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx

Ha!-Ha!-Ha! is a bruising album, a tsunami of a set that epitomized the fire and fury of its age. Icy to its core, producer Steve Lillywhite brilliantly captured both the band's urgency and the brittleness of their sound. Like the implosion of gases that ignited the Big Bang, Ha!-Ha!-Ha! hangs in the millisecond before the ensuing explosion, trembling with ferocious tension and fierce anticipation of the coming storm.

Whilst the group's first album had been a product of the David Bowie/Roxy Music-esque side of glam rock, their second was considerably more informed by the burgeoning punk movement, although it also marked the group's first widespread adoption of synthesisers and electronic production techniques. Money from the first album was used to improve the band's equipment, and funded the purchase of an ARP Odyssey and, most notably, a Roland TR-77 drum machine, which appeared on the album's final track, "Hiroshima Mon Amour". This song was the most indicative of the group's later synth-pop direction, and remains both a fan and critical favourite.

Unlike the celebration of destruction that defined their debut set, Ultravox! now stood staring aghast into the abyss, with the manic exuberance of "Rockwrock" emerging not as the exhilarating dance through the death of civilization that many listeners assumed, but the band's panicked response to its collapse. And as fear took hold in the Western world, the band battered themselves against its crumbling walls, ravaged by the artificiality of the society rising amongst its ruins. Even decades on, the sheer ferocity of this set continues to impress.

This was the last album featuring original guitarist Stevie Shears, who was fired from the band early 1978, after the forthcoming Ha! Ha! Ha! tour.

Ultravox - Ha! Ha! Ha! ( flac 381mb)

01 ROckWrok 3:35
02 The Frozen Ones 4:06
03 Fear In The Western World 4:00
04 Distant Smile 5:21
05 The Man Who Dies Every Day 4:12
06 Artificial Life 5:00
07 While I'm Still Alive 3:16
08 Hiroshima Mon Amour 5:13
Bonus Tracks:
09 Young Savage 2:56
10 The Man Who Dies Every Day (Remix) 4:15
11 Hiroshima Mon Amour (Alt Version) 4:54
12 Quirks 1:40
13 The Man Who Dies Every Day (Live) 3:54
14 Young Savage (Live) 3:25

xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx

Systems of Romance, released on 8 September 1978, is the third album by British band Ultravox (an exclamation mark having been dropped from the moniker earlier in the year). It was the final recording for the group with original lead singer, lyricist and co-composer John Foxx, and their first album without guitarist Stevie Shears.
With 1978's Systems of Romance, the band left punk behind and single-handedly blue-printed the entire New Romantic movement to come -- well, with a little help from co-producers Conny Planck and Dave Hutchins. Gone was the brittleness of Ha!-Ha!-Ha!, replaced by a rich lushness of sound that would define the forthcoming genre.

The opening song, "Slow Motion", was indicative of the band's direction on the new album. Though based around conventional rock guitar, bass and percussion instrumentation, it featured a number of rich synthesizer parts throughout the piece rather than simply a discreet solo or special effect. The subject matter of "Quiet Men" grew out of an alternate persona developed by John Foxx, 'The Quiet Man', who embodied detachment and observation.

The album's September 1978 release was book-ended by two singles, "Slow Motion" in August and "Quiet Men" in October. Like Ultravox's previous albums, Systems of Romance received mixed reviews at the time and failed to chart. The band was dropped by their label Island Records just prior to a 1979 tour of the US. During the tour Foxx, tired of rows with other members, and of being in a group, announced his intention to leave Ultravox when he returned to England. Guitarist Robin Simon also left, electing to stay in New York.

Ultravox – Systems Of Romance (flac 288mb)

01 Slow Motion 3:32
02 I Can't Stay Long 4:19
03 Someone Elses Clothes 4:28
04 Blue Light 3:11
05 Some Of Them 2:32
06 Quiet Men 4:11
07 Dislocation 2:58
08 Maximum Acceleration 3:56
09 When You Walk Thru Me 4:18
10 Just For A Moment 3:10
Bonus Tracks:
11 Cross Fade 2:53
12 Quiet Men (Full Version) 3:55

xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx

A late entry here. a live radiostudio recording of one of their last shows with John Foxx, recorded in Philadelphia, PA.
23 February 1979 for FM broadcast WIOQ

Ultravox – Philadelphia (23-2-79) (flac 279mb)

01 The Man Who Dies Every Day 5:16
02 Slipaway 4:16
03 Slow Motion 3:45
04 Hiroshima Mon Amour 4:02
05 Artificial Life 5:10
06 Just For A Moment 4:16
07 He's A Liquid 5:53
08 Quiet Men 4:18
09 I Can't Stay Long 4:10
10 Someone Else's Clothes 4:35
11 Blue Light 3:22
12 My Sex 3:19

xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx