"Astradyne" – 7:07
"New Europeans" – 4:01
"Private Lives" – 4:06
"Passing Strangers" – 3:48
"Sleepwalk" – 3:10
"Mr. X" – 6:33
"Western Promise" – 5:18
"Vienna" – 4:53
"All Stood Still" – 4:21

Written and composed by: Writer(s) Midge Ure, Chris Cross, Warren Cann, and Billy Currie.

Warren Cann - drums, percussion, backing vocals, lead vocals on "Mr. X" and "Herr X"
Chris Cross - bass, synthesizer, backing vocals
Billy Currie - keyboards, violin, synthesizer
Midge Ure - guitar, synthesizer, lead vocals (except "Mr. X" and "Herr X")

Recorded RAK Studios, London, February 1980

Producer Conny Plank and Ultravox

Released: 11 July 1980 through Chrysalis Records

In 1980, after John Fox had moved on, Midge Ure was the lead for Ultravox, and with Billy Currie, successfully re-employed the band to a more pop and electronica that was at once more of a commercial success, until 1988, when the band decided to break up.

I got my vinyl copy of Ultravox advanced to me from Chrysalis the day I had just bought a new but retrospectively crap hi fi and a pair of Koss headphones to match. Yes 'Close to the Edge' and Ultravox's Vienna were the first things played on the reinforced plastic turntable and even with the slight hint of bad earthing running through the eleccy bits, both albums sounded incredible and blew me to pieces!

'Vienna" was the third UK single for Ultravox released through Chrysalis Records on 15 January 1981. It spent something like four weeks at number 2 in the UK charts and was drawn away from the number one position by John Lennon's "Woman" from the Double Fantasy album. Perhaps more importantly however, Vienna was also featured on the album of the same name that quite literally pounded itself into the psyche's of the masses with some truly fantastic tracks such as 'New Europeans' (my all time favourite), and 'Astradyne'.

'Sleepwalk', 'All Stood Still' and 'Passing Strangers' were all diamonds in their own right, but it really was the title track and it's accompanying video that embellished everything we needed in the 1980's to define synthpop although other band's share at least some of the credit for making that happen too.

The really cool thing about Ultravox during this less experimental period was their drive for excellence and their clinically proven permanent shine. The music sways and meanders in all kinds of synthpop directions but it's really the skills and production expertise that made the album what it was and still is... a classic in every sense of the word!

Colin Lynch