a mark of vintage brilliance

Today, marks the release of "Brilliant", the first, new Ultravox album by the classic Midge Ure line up in 26 years.

The first single is the title track and it has all the hallmarks of the expansive, cinematic choruses of their biggest hits without sounding like a pastiche.



There are just enough contemporary elements to make it sound current. But it's the chiming piano figure that gives it a similar, elegiac quality of singles like "Dancing With Tears In My Eyes" and Midge Ure's biggest solo hit, "If I Was". My only criticism is that Midge's vocal in the verses sounds a bit disconnected and scratchy as compared to the grand beauty of his delivery in the chorus.

By the sound of the 30 second snippets on their website, it sounds like chunky, galloping basslines and giant swaths of synths are the order of the day. And it makes me realize The Killers have listened to more than their fair share of Ultravox albums in their time.

The tracklisting for "Brilliant" contains the following twelve tracks.

1. Live
2. Flow
3. Brilliant
4. Change
5. Rise
6. Remembering
7. Hello
8. One
9. Fall
10. Lie
11. Satellite
12. Contact

I wonder if there is any significance regarding the use of all single word titles. Suggestions of a cocktail napkin, please.

Ultravox are gearing up for their first tour since they reunited for a few dates back in 2009. Laptops at the ready, gents! Looking forward to seeing them back on the road to support their new longplayer.

voice recognition

Sometimes you come across a cover of a song you never thought would ever be attempted, especially when the original has such a distinct and unique sound.

Now that we're 25 years on from the 80s, it's time for a younger generation to have a fresh look at songs that, quite frankly, have aged extremely well considering that it was always thought the technology of the time squarely dated songs from that era and, thus, rendered them unimportant or not worthy of reinterpretation.

With that, I present to you "The Voice" by The Disco Boys featuring Midge Ure, singer with Ultravox V2.0.



Nicely done. But seriously, The Disco Boys? Is that really the best name they could come up with? And what's with the spastic dancer? Looks like they just plucked her off the street and stuck her in the video. Lovely graphics, though.

"The Voice", only one of two singles lifted from the album, "Rage In Eden", peaked at #16 in the UK singles chart in 1981. For purists, here is the original Ultravox video.

Love that 'stahce, Midge.