High Gear, Page 14

Under the needle

66

Rage In Eden" Album of the year?

By Steve DelNero

Last month's column got such a great response from Ultravox and John Foxx fans that I decided to review their new albums.

The fact that they spawned the New Romantic movement can be forgiven, since they can write and produce music that runs rings around such Johnny-come-latelies as Spandau Ballet, Duran Duran, or Classix Nouveaux.

Of course, Ultravox is no more a disco band than Kraftwerk. They use disco to a greater extent on this album (their fifth) than any previous one, but essentially they are a hard rock band which combines disco, progressive space music, and heavy metal. In fact, Ultravox might be called the Roxy Music of the Eighties.

Ultravox has been around since 1975, but it is within the last two years that it has attracted the most attention.

After nearly two years of inactivity after Foxx's departure, Ultravox rebounded with guitarist/vocalist Midge Ure--a teenybopper of some repute--who also is quite an eyesight. His voice is stronger and not as pretentious as Foxx's, and subsequently their album Vienna (1980) gave them their first world-wide acceptance. It even got a bit of reaction in America, where some cuts ("Sleepwalk, ""Mr. X,""Passing, Strangers," and "New Europeans") were played in rock discos.

Like Vienna, Ultravox's new LP Rage in Eden contains disco songs,,

meanderings into a lost void. You will hear a lot about this band (the LP is even getting airplay on WMMS!), and you'll certainly bop away to their music in the discos.

Ultravox's earliest fans were glit-heavy metal songs, and spacy ter freaks who couldn't understand why David Bowie and Roxy Music were dabbling in mass-appeal music. Their fondness for bone-andsoul-crunching, intelligent, electronic rock turned off all the British "modernists" who were getting into punk or Gary Numan instead.

Ultravox became especially electronic-oriented around 1978, when they traveled to Cologne, Germany to work with producer Conrad Plank, a man whose wellknown touch with the dials has influenced all sorts of people, from Cluster to Devo. After founder/vocalist John Foxx left Ultravox, the nucleus (Billy Currie on strings and keyboards, Warren Cann on percussives, and Chris Cross on bass and synthesizers) continued to work with Plank, their music becoming more experimental.

The LP, clad in a “classic” cover designed by Peter Seville with avant-garde art on his mind, opens with "The Voice," possibly the strongest pop-potential song on the LP. Singing with much more power than on Vienna, Midge Ure is also convincing on guitar, and the rest of the band is quite danceable. Its engaging melody should help make this one a huge hit, too.

The second cut is "We Stand Alone," another rock disco number which is so catchy you'll be singing along by listen #2. Just when you thought everything was fun and games, though, you get the haunting title cut, "Rage in Eden." One of the

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maturest songs on the album, "Rage in Eden" will have you shivering with its intensity-due in part to Midge Ure, who plays lingering, stinging guitar chords against Warren Cann's steady yet langouring beat. The introspective lyrics deal with lost innocence--and the song closes with an obvious Pink Floyd rip-off: changing production to sound as if it were coming from a transistor radio.

The next cut, "I Remember (Death in the Afternoon)," also deals with past innocence. Again juxtaposing Ure and Cann, the song is reminiscent: "the lovers and the friends all felt the same...we raised our glass and drank to times we had but'd see no more." Billy Currie's piano is a special treat.

Side Two is even more discoslanted than the first, opening with "The Thin Wall" (reviewed here last month). Quite a bit like "The Voice," it is full of pop potential. My favorite cuts are right after this, though. "Stranger Within" is a moody piece that is nonetheless quite danceable. Producer Plank ¡must have had a field day with this one, with Talking Heads-type guitar, spacy string and synthesizer cascades courtesy of Mr. Currie, and Bryan Ferry-ish vocals warning us, "don't fear the stranger within." Its rhythm is hypnotic.

The next song, "Accent on Youth," summarizes the album. Our

supposed lost innocence is filled with scenes of fleeting debauchery. Lines such as "We stumble blindly chasing instant thrills and lasting memories," "take my soul and go, and "we stalk dark passages/we're looking for that sweet surrender" suggest that these suave boys are familiar with the darker side of life. However maudlin the subject matter, however, this should be a big hit at the discos. The following "song," the 1:10 "The Ascent," is basically a showcase for Billy Currie's violin. Disco programmers will certainly challenge their audience with this!

The final cut, “Your Name (Has Slipped My Mind Again)," reiterates the album's theme of halfforgotten memories, with ponderous "thud" percussion and solemn piano. Midge Ure sounds almost apologetic--what is going wrong these days? "A misty haze floats round the room."

All in all, if you only buy one album this year, let it be Ultravox.

John Foxx-The Garden

Those of you interested in Ultravox will want to pick up John Foxx's new solo LP, The Garden. John Foxx was the charismatic lead singer, songwriter, and spokesman for Ultravox until he left on rather

unfriendly terms after Systems of Romance in 1978.

On Foxx's solo LP of last year, Metamatic, it was obvious that he was trying to win Gary Numan's large audience. He succeeded quite vociferously in out Numan-ing Numan, who had been one of Foxx's biggest fans. With his new release, The Garden, Foxx has found new confidence--The Garden ends up about a zillion-percent improvement over Metamatic, and is much more accessible than Numan's recent LP, Dance. In fact, it sounds more like Rage in Eden than anything else!

John Foxx is an exceptionally handsome man, and he is equally talented and creative. In addition to a record, we get the first edition of his book, The Church, containing magnificent color photos of an old church and its garden--some with a super-imposed Foxx. Foxx has also written a story, which (typical!) says very little of anything, but sounds poetic. The book closes with lyrics and liner notes to the album.

John Foxx's music is quite similar to current-day Ultravox. The best cuts are the rockers, which should fit in the rock discos as easily as those of his former band. On the rock cuts, Foxx is joined by ex-Ultravox guitarist Robin Simon--a sun-scorched blond who is one of the more underrated guitarists around.

These cuts ("Systems of Romance," "Dancing Like a Gun," "Walk Away," and "Fusion/Fission") sound like outtakes from Ultravox's old days. "Night Suit," with lyrics like "the fabric is made of stances collected," shows that not only did Foxx profit from his old days, but that Ultravox profitted from Foxx's fashion conscious guise.

The haunting title cut, "The Garden," will ultimately remind you of Roxy Music's "Sea Breezes." With Floydian bird-sounds in the background, Foxx sings "I see you standing in the long light/dress discarded/windows glow/ All along the warm horizon/the sunset goes/We fade away..."

"Pater Noster" is likewise very haunting. Almost a disco version of The Lord's Prayer (yes, it's sung in Latin), oxx has made this sound like it was recorded in a massive cathedral, complete with a 1000voice chorus. Even if it's not the most spiritually-lifting song on the album, you're sure to be "moved" just a bit!

Two other cuts, "Europe After the Rain," and "You Were There," were reviewed here last month. They sound very good in context with the rest of the album.

John Foxx and Ultravox are the real new wave. Give em a try!