If you come to this album expecting something like the Midge Ure-fronted
Ultravox of Vienna et al, you're in for something of a shock. Ultravox of the late
1970s were a much stranger, and frankly much more interesting outfit.
The music on this, their debut album, is as idiosyncratic as anything that
made it onto vinyl in that era. The list of influences is long: Berlin-era
Bowie and Eno-era Roxy Music are perhaps the most obvious, but more telling
is who they influenced. The fascination with Futurism is there ("I want to be
a machine"), the melodrama, androgyny and other-sexuality from goth
("my sex", "the wild the beatiful and the damned"), and there is a definite
punk flavour to the whole proceedings. Yet it would be wrong to pigeonhole
them in any of these categories. The sound really was unique, and I suspect
they didn't gain much of a following because it was just a little too different
for most listeners.
The album hasn't dated badly, except perhaps the cover (I can't help thinking
that a few of the band look like they know they'll regret it in a few years!), and
the lyrics are a little pretentiously overblown and sixth form-ish at times ("I'll bring
you truckloads of flowers/ from all the world that you stole from me/ I'll spin a
coin in a madhouse/ while I watch you drowning"). For me, though this is part
of the fun.
Overall, this really is an unusual and enjoyable album, as long as you can forgive
the odd flights of fancy. It's also interesting
to hear how they develop from this into the "Systems of Romance" ultravox, where
you can definitely hear lead singer John Foxx about to produce "Metamatic", and
where you can see the mittle-European fascination that spawned "Vienna". If you want to hear
something different from the era of The Clash and The Damned, it's well worth worth a visit.