![]() Others seemed just as likely to chart, such as Mr X.īut I wanted to release it. But when we heard the final mix, we didn’t think we had a hit. This was the start of a new decade and people were receptive – though, obviously, there were a few punks shouting at us. The crowd thought we were on to something new. And Conny Plank, our producer, replied: “Well, sing that then.”Įven though there was no middle section at that point, we performed it at the Electric Ballroom in Camden. Midge felt a little uncomfortable, because he’d only just joined and thought we were being arty-farty. That was why I did a violin solo that was overly vibrato and romantic. He’d tried too hard to be successful and deliberately overdid it. We’d been listening to music by this old German composer called Max Reger. Midge stood at the mic and came up with the lyrics almost straightaway: “Walked in the cold air, freezing breath on the window pane …” We were denied the No 1 spot by the novelty hit Shaddup You Face Billy Currie We were extremely arrogant back then and probably too prog-rocky. I said to the guys I was keen to do something that sounded like the late-19th-century romantics, like Grieg and Elgar. Ultravox had just hooked up with Midge Ure, who’d replaced John Foxx, and I wanted to use my classical training. Everyone wanted us to write a track called Berlin or Paris. ![]() Then, the moment it became huge, the pressure on us to surpass it with a follow-up was incredible. It was too slow, too long and there was a violin solo – the antithesis of a commercial single. ![]() It was about £300, which was a substantial amount of money for someone who normally only bought stuff from Save the Children. The only thing that cost money was the Burberry raincoat, because I’d always wanted one. Everything I wore in the video was from thrift shops. Then you go back to your cold, grey, miserable life in Chiswick. In such a crumbling environment, you could easily fall in love. Why Vienna? There was a decaying elegance about it. You’ve gone to this beautiful place, met someone and vowed it is going to continue – and, of course, it doesn’t. Vienna was a love song to an imaginary girl. Everything I wore in the video was from thrift shops Midge UreĪ lot of what Ultravox did back in the day was soundbites. I remember going into the studio with just a line in my head: “The feeling is gone, this means nothing to me – oh Vienna!” That was all I had. The cinematic aspect was high on our agenda: every track was for a movie that didn’t exist. Currie’s subsequent retirement from Ultravox left Ure in charge of keeping the group’s music and legacy alive, largely via solo tours.The song had the feel of a haunting mid-European classic, thanks to our keyboard player Billy Currie’s classical training. They reunited several times with different lineups, including a fruitful revival from 2008 to 2013. ![]() The early ’80s found Ultravox enjoying more success with dramatic synth-pop singles “Dancing with Tears in My Eyes” and “Reap the Wild Wind” before the band broke up in 1987. Ure replaced Foxx in 1979, setting the stage for the Vienna LP, a futuristic mix of jagged rock and crisp keyboard sounds that was overseen by the legendary German producer Conny Plank. This lineup debuted in 1977 with two albums: Ultravox!, an LP indebted to Roxy Music and Kraftwerk, and the more raucous, punkish Ha! Ha! Ha!. Ultravox formed in 1974 under the name Tiger Lily with a different vocalist, John Foxx. ![]() But while the London band did have strong ties to that fashionable scene-frontman Midge Ure and keyboardist/violinist Billy Currie had also been bandmates in the influential synth-pop act Visage-they had much artsier and rougher roots. Ultravox were often associated with the UK’s early-’80s New Romantic movement thanks to their 1980 single “Vienna,” a swooning electro-pop song with heartbeat rhythms and melodramatic vocal flourishes. ![]()
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