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Ultravox


A little something about Ultravox

In its early, electro-rock days, Ultravox was made up of singer John Foxx, drummer Warren Cann, guitarist Steve Shears, synth player Billy Currie, and bass player Chris Cross. Like contemporaries Kraftwerk, Ultravox had a hard time gathering a sizable audience, and after four years together the band members, unhappy with the band's progress, began looking for projects beyond Ultravox. New wave fans should look back and rejoice at the demise of early Ultravox, for in its ashes arose two of the genre's greatest acts. The first band was Visage, which along with Currie featured Steve Strange, Midge Ure, Rusty Egan, and three members of Magazine; Dave Formula, Barry Adamson, and John McGeogh. The second band was the '80s incarnation of Visage, with new friends Currie and Ure along with Cann and Cross. Vienna, the band's first album with Ure, truly raised the bar for the synth acts that were to come, and Ultravox helped create the look and attitude of the new romantics that would follow their lead. The title track had no pop hooks, you couldn't dance to it, and the lyrics aren't suggestive of anything, yet the single spent a couple of months on England's top ten. For those of you looking for a Christmas connection in this song, Ure went on to pen "Do They Know It's Christmas" with fellow new wave icon Bob Geldof.


Vienna

We walked in the cold airFreezing breath on a window paneLying and waitingA man in the dark in a picture frameSo mystic and soulfulA voice reaching out in a piercing cryIt stays with you untilThe feeling has gone only you and IIt means nothing to meThis means nothing to meOh, ViennaThe music is weavingHaunting notes, pizzicato stringsThe rhythm is callingAlone in the night as the daylight bringsA cool empty silenceThe warmth of your hand and a cold grey skyIt fades to the distanceThe image has gone only you and IIt means nothing to meThis means nothing to meOh, ViennaThis means nothing to meThis means nothing to meOh, Vienna