CCMusic.com

• Track Listing

The bristling post-punk of Ultravox took a sharp turn toward the melodic, the romantic…and the synthesizer when Midge Ure took over for John Foxx as the band’s lead singer on this 1980 LP. This lush, dramatic music gave Ultravox their first charting album in the U.S. (it shot to #3 UK and climbed high across Europe and in Australia): the UK hits "Vienna," "All Stood Still," "Passing Strangers" and "Sleepwalk" plus "Mr. X," "Western Promise" and more. The double-vinyl 40th-anniversary edition has been half-speed mastered and includes the U.S. promo edit of the title song (previously unreleased, and exclusive to the vinyl edition) plus "Waiting," "Passionate Reply," "Face to Face," "King’s Lead Hat" (last two live), "Keep Talking" (rehearsal cassette recording) and more collectibles. The first 2 CDs in the deluxe edition bring you the 1980 analog master of the album plus a new Steven Wilson stereo mix. The next 3 CDs abound in 1979–80 cassette rehearsals ("Vienna," "Animal," "Mr. X," "Astradyne," "Sound on Sound" and more including instrumental versions), 1980 live performances in St. Albans ("New Europeans," "Quiet Men," "Sleepwalk," "Hiroshima Mon Amour," "Slow Motion," "Vienna" and more) and a whole disc of singles, 12" mixes and live tracks. The box concludes with a DVD-Audio disc: the 5.1 Steven Wilson mix of the album (also in 24/96 hi-res stereo), the album’s original analog mixes, the Wilson mixes of the B-sides and more plus a 20-page large-format booklet full of band notes, photos from Midge Ure and Chris Cross’s collections and four A4 art prints. It’s a suitably opulent celebration of a New Romantic classic! Chrysalis.