Ultravox Foxx-Era Box Set Coming

[BigManRestless]

The author David Buckley mentioned on Facebook last night that he's just finished writing the sleeve notes for a Foxx-era Ultravox box set. This would tie in with their signing to Island 40 years ago. I'd hope this will include at least the first album out-takes City Doesn't Care and Car Crash Flashback. Maybe there will be demo versions of Touch and Go and He's A Liquid too if they exist.
I can't imagine this will just be a boxing of the three albums as these are readily available at budget price already. Fingers crossed.

[Rubellan]

Details have now been released:

The Island Years is a four CD box set featuring the band's three classic albums released by Island Records in 1977 and 1978, plus a bonus disc featuring twenty non-album singles, remixes and some previously unreleased recordings from the BBC.

The four discs are housed in a clam shell box and each have their own wallet, together with a twenty page booklet featuring a brand new essay by respected writer and music journalist David Buckley (David Bowie / Kraftwerk / Mojo).

Disc One is a newly remastered version of the band's debut album, Ultravox! from 1977 which was produced by Brian Eno and Steve Lillywhite.

Disc Two is a newly remastered version of the band's second album, Ha! Ha! Ha! from 1977 which was produced by Steve Lillywhite and Ultravox!.

Disc Three is the newly remastered version of the band's seminal third album, Systems Of Romance from 1978 which was produced by legendary German producer Conny Plank (Kraftwerk / Neu! / Cluster / Killing Joke).

Disc Four - Rare Retro - features twenty songs including four songs recorded in session for the Radio One John Peel show and two songs recorded live on the BBC television programme The Old Grey Whistle Test.



The full track-listing is as follows...

Disc One : Ultravox!

01. Satday Night In The City Of The Dead
02. Life At Rainbow's End (For All The Tax Exiles On Main Street)
03. Slip Away
04. I Want To Be A Machine
05. Wide Boys
06. Dangerous Rhythm
07. The Lonely Hunter
08. The Wild, The Beautiful And The Damned
09. My Sex

Disc Two : Ha! Ha! Ha!

01. ROckWrok
02. The Frozen Ones
03. Fear In The Western World
04. Distant Smile
05. The Man Who Dies Every Day
06. Artificial Life
07. While I'm Still Alive
08. Hiroshima Mon Amour

Disc Three : Systems Of Romance

01. Slow Motion
02. I Can't Stay Long
03. Someone Else's Clothes
04. Blue Light
05. Some Of Them
06. Quiet Men
07. Dislocation
08. Maximum Acceleration
09. When You Walk Through Me
10. Just For A Moment

Disc Four : Rare Retro

01. Young Savage
02. Slip Away (Live)
03. The Man Who Dies Every Day (Recorded Live At Huddersfield Polytechnic)
04. Young Savage (Recorded Live At The Marquee)
05. The Wild, The Beautiful And The Damned (Recorded Live At The Rainbow)
06. My Sex (Recorded Live At Huddersfield Polytechnic)
07. Young Savage (John Peel Session Version 28/11/1977)
08. The Man Who Dies Every Day (John Peel Session Version 28/11/1977)
09. My Sex (John Peel Session Version 28/11/1977)
10. Artificial Life (John Peel Session Version 28/11/1977)
11. ROckWrok (Seven Inch Version)
12. Hiroshima Mon Amour (Alternate Version)
13. Quirks
14. Modern Love (Live)
15. The Man Who Dies Every Day (Remix)
16. Slow Motion (Old Grey Whistle Test Version 05/12/1978)
17. Hiroshima Mon Amour (Old Grey Whistle Test Version 05/12/1978)
18. Quiet Men (Seven Inch Version)
19. Cross Fade
20. Quiet Men (Twelve Inch Version)

Pre-order it from Amazon : http://amzn.to/1qxvtew.

Label : Island Records / Caroline Records
Catalogue Number : CAROLR037CD
Release Date : 20 May 2016

[negative1]

i've never listened to the john foxx era of ultravox.

only the midge ure one.

might check this out.


later
-1

[BigManRestless]

What a disappointment - all the bonus tracks from the (excellent) remasters spread on to the fourth disc. The Peel Session was issued back in the 90s the only 'new' stuff is the OGWT tracks. Now if they'd put those on in vision, on an accompanying DVD, I'd be in.

[Barmy]

Somewhat off topic but John Foxx is one of the very few 80s NWers who has retained integrity to date. Congrats.

[Gary Russell]

I think the 7" versions of ROckwork and Quiet Men are new to CD

[Spudboy]

There are SO MANY MORE live tracks that they could have chosen... He's A Liquid, Radio Beach, TV Offer, etc.

Why just give us versions of the songs we already know by heart?

[Gary Russell]

Maybe this is the only stuff Island still have the rights to. Shame there's not more.

[BigManRestless]

Gary's right - all the 1979 stuff is post-Island, when the band were sort of in limbo prior to John and Robin leaving and then Midge joining.
Weren't the team behind Extreme Voice working on a box set years ago? I'd expect that would have pushed for more unreleased stuff, where it exists, similar to the works-in-progress added to the 2CD versions of the Midge Ure era albums.

[Mr. Odd]

Anyone know if the 7" versions of "Rockwrok" and "Quiet Men" are actually unique versions or just edits?

[FiveTenFifteen]

The versions of Quiet Men, both 7" and 12" are pretty different - most noticeably the drum machine/electronic percussion is a lot more obvious on the single versions, much busier. The version of Rockwrok is much more subtle - there is a small amount of a verse late on in the song that is edited out - the stereo mix is pretty different in comparison to the album version to be found on the Ha!-Ha!-Ha! CD.

Unfortunately, all three of these single mixes appear to have been sourced from vinyl, not the original tapes, as there is some fairly obvious rumblings of vinyl to be heard on the quieter intro/outros. Oddly, the 12" of Quiet Men is a different source than that found in the CD reissues from 2007 - most noticeably, the channels have been flipped over, Robin Simon's guitar which is panned off to one side is on the opposite side when you compare the Rare Retro CD with the Ha!-Ha!-Ha! reissue CD.

[Rubellan]

Unfortunately, all three of these single mixes appear to have been sourced from vinyl, not the original tapes, as there is some fairly obvious rumblings of vinyl to be heard on the quieter intro/outros. Oddly, the 12" of Quiet Men is a different source than that found in the CD reissues from 2007 - most noticeably, the channels have been flipped over, Robin Simon's guitar which is panned off to one side is on the opposite side when you compare the Rare Retro CD with the Ha!-Ha!-Ha! reissue CD.

Thanks for pointing this out, but it led to even more unfortunate revelations regarding this set. I've not yet received my copy but posed the question on the Metamatic forum and received the following response. I suspect I just may send my box back:

Scott Davies:
So I just read on another forum that the single versions of a few tracks are clearly mastered from vinyl and not mastertapes. Are these tapes lost or did no one look for them? Are the rest of the tracks new mastertape transfers or just tweaked versions of the last remasters? My box is on the way and I'm already getting concerned. Source material should always been mentioned in this day and age of cost cutting shortcuts or tweak and re-release.

Rob Harris:
I hope that the following will help clarify matters...
**
The three Ultravox! albums (Ultravox!, Ha! Ha! Ha! and Systems Of Romance) were all remastered back in 2006 from the original master tapes. Discs One, Two and Three in The Island Years box set have been remastered using the 2006 masters.

All of the tracks contained on Disc Four - Rare Retro - that also appeared on the 2006 CDs have been remastered using the 2006 masters.

The four John Peel session tracks (Young Savage, The Man Who Dies Every Day, My Sex and Artificial Life) and the two tracks from the Old Grey Whistle Test (Slow Motion and Hiroshima Mon Amour) were mastered using audio supplied by the BBC.

The single edits of ROckWrok and Quiet Men and the twelve inch version of Quiet Men had to be taken from vinyl as unfortunately (and despite extensive searching) the master tapes no longer exist in the Island archive. All of the audio contained on The Island Years box set was approved by John Foxx.
**
The Island Years box set is currently available from Amazon

Rob

[Barmy]

Why people care about single edits has always escaped me.

And I think people would lead happier lives if they didn't obsess over sources for CDs. Brickwalling is a different issue, which is why I never discard or sell older CDs that are later reissued, as the latter are often brickwalled.

Vinyl sourcing doesn't bother me at all--if there is a crackle or two it's hardly a deal breaker. On a good stereo system I have never detected vinyl sourcing in any way that is distracting. On headphones it might be a different story.

If you are complaining that the 2006 CDs haven't yet again been remastered, that is rather sad. This is a budget re-issue, at roughly $5 per CD. How many times do you really expect CDs to be remastered when the market for CDs continues to decline?