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Ultravox "Return To Eden " & "Lament" Reissues


Ultravox "Return To Eden " & "Lament" Reissues

Postby omar » Thu Jul 27, 2017 11:53 pm

The 2009 2CD remaster of Lament and the 2010 Return To Eden Concert are getting reissued once more this time in a 8 panel digipak and with new booklets. More info here... http://www.pledgemusic.com/projects/ultravox-reissues
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Re: Ultravox "Return To Eden " & "Lament" Reissues

Postby negative1 » Fri Jul 28, 2017 2:45 pm

Nice.
Will pick up lament in some versions:

It's my favorite album from them.

wonder why they're doing return to eden though.

later
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Re: Ultravox "Return To Eden " & "Lament" Reissues

Postby humanracer » Sat Jul 29, 2017 11:04 am

I like the description,

Ultravox are one of the pioneers of early 1980s electronic music, with ground breaking singles and pop videos such as ‘Vienna’, ‘The Thin Wall’, ‘The Voice’ and ‘Dancing With Tears In My Eyes’. They released five Top 10 albums before taking an extended break. They reformed in 2009, later releasing their most recent LP ‘Brilliant’ in 2012.

Factual of course but they should have mentioned they did 3 albums in the 70s and two in the 90s.
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Re: Ultravox "Return To Eden " & "Lament" Reissues

Postby obs » Sun Jul 30, 2017 2:05 am

I guess the write-up was referring to "Midge Ure's" Ultravox :) .

Hmm, I can get the 2009 CD pressing for about $10, shipped, via Amazon Marketplace. I think that will be the cheaper option. They should have done vinyl replica sleeves instead of a digipak, in my opinion. But no matter; the original cover looks rather lame.
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(I'm assuming that the scan of the original cover was brightened to show the spot varnishing.)
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Re: Ultravox "Return To Eden " & "Lament" Reissues

Postby Passing_Stranger » Sun Jul 30, 2017 9:54 am

I'd rather they remix Brilliant, making it less brackwalled and harsh to the ears - or get their live video recordings out (if there are any). Anything is better than constantly re-releasing the old stuff readily available in all formats imaginable.
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Re: Ultravox "Return To Eden " & "Lament" Reissues

Postby crystal » Sun Jul 30, 2017 11:10 am

Passing_Stranger wrote:I'd rather they remix Brilliant, making it less brackwalled and harsh to the ears - or get their live video recordings out (if there are any). Anything is better than constantly re-releasing the old stuff readily available in all formats imaginable.

There are a few liverecordings + a lot of BBC appearance they could release. The Brilliant tour was recorded and I don't think a DVD/BD will ever be released, which is a shame.
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Re: Ultravox "Return To Eden " & "Lament" Reissues

Postby postpunkmonk » Mon Jul 31, 2017 5:38 am

The "Brilliant" show that was recorded for a planned live CD/DVD probably didn't get released due to the "custard pie" incident. During their performance of the song "Contact," an apparently deranged woman ran onstage and smacked Midge Ure with a pie in his face. I thought it was funny at the time [I really hated the new album - that song in particular] but having since come to terms with Midge Ure, who is a solid gentleman, no matter what I think of the last 30 years of work he's done. I understand what they probably tabled the notion of that live video. They would have had to edit that out of it and well...

The "Return To Eden" is being re-issued since it was only available with the 2xCD + DVD for a short while. It was later de-bundled as two separate items. It makes sense to sell it this way again.. It's a fantastic live performance; warts and all*, but really hot. Their live versions of cuts like "Sleepwalk" and "All Stood Still" sounded sharp and vicious.

I still need the 2xCD version of "Lament" but I'll probably opt for the 2009 DLX RM still out there for less, though I find it interesting that they replicated the original silk-screened gloss black on flat black paper UK LP cover. Good attention to detail. If they used raised, thermographic printing, like on the OMD "Electricity" single [also designed by Peter Saville] I would definitely buy this new version!

Passing_Stranger - Remixing "Brilliant" might help, but what that album needed was to be re-written and re-recorded and especially, re-sung. And yes, a re-mastering would keep the drums from sounding like harsh gunfire; it's badly brickwalled. It's impossible to listen to that album on headphones [though why would I?]. If they would have allowed Warren to write, maybe it could have been better. But they didn't. And having Stephen Lipson produce was a mistake. He only caught lightning in a bottle once, with Propaganda. Yet, he keeps getting jobs because of it. I think maybe Trevor Horn was more involved with that album than he was given credit for, though "Dr. Mabuse" was clearly their finest hour.

* Billy Currie lost the plot during his "Astradyne" solo and it's fun to hear him get back on track.
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Re: Ultravox "Return To Eden " & "Lament" Reissues

Postby BigManRestless » Tue Aug 01, 2017 6:23 am

Whatever happened to that Ultravox anthology the Extreme Voice website were putting together?
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Re: Ultravox "Return To Eden " & "Lament" Reissues

Postby postpunkmonk » Tue Aug 01, 2017 7:18 am

BigManRestless wrote:Whatever happened to that Ultravox anthology the Extreme Voice website were putting together?

I assume that it morphed into the 2009 2xCDs. I don't think there was much in the way of unreleased songs. Ultravox were in the tour/album/tour grind for four straight years of hard work. Even strong non-LP B-sides were thin on the ground for the last half of that period; instrumental versions being common gambits.
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Re: Ultravox "Return To Eden " & "Lament" Reissues

Postby Passing_Stranger » Thu Aug 03, 2017 6:58 am

postpunkmonk wrote:Passing_Stranger - Remixing "Brilliant" might help, but what that album needed was to be re-written and re-recorded and especially, re-sung. And yes, a re-mastering would keep the drums from sounding like harsh gunfire; it's badly brickwalled. It's impossible to listen to that album on headphones [though why would I?]. If they would have allowed Warren to write, maybe it could have been better. But they didn't.


From my perspective "Brilliant" is a perfectly acceptable album in terms of music, songwriting etc. Just had a listen to it and can't really understand what can be remotely wrong with actual songs. OK, Midge doesn't sound like in his younger days, not as forceful and all, but surely that's to be expected? For his years he sounds good - and seems to even grasp the art of singing the piano ballad, something which he was sometimes simply incapable of in their glory days ("Building" spring to mind - now here's the song simply painful to listen to). That's some progress! Maybe in places vocals are too processed but that's how things are done these days and processing is not abused like too often happens.

Not sure that letting Warren write* would've changed anything - is Mr Cann widely known for his writing talents? I admire him immensely, he's my favourite Ultravox member ever, but did he do anything musically during 1990s and 2000s? "Ultravox 2" music relied mainly on Billy and Midge so "Brilliant" simply reflects where these two were musically in early 2010s (of course with a look back at the past - musical citations from earlier songs brought smile to my face). And to me their styles merged quite successfully. Well, they could lose "Contact", that's for sure, but that'd be the only omission. And anyway, what lots of critics miss while speaking of Ultravox is that it is (and always were) atmospheric music first and foremost - so you just have to be in the mood for it, to find the right setting or state of mind. Lots of songs here are reflections on the past, loneliness, getting old, even dying - I don't know why but I can relate to it.

Agree on Lipson, though. The sound could've been so much better (i.e. richer). That's mainly why the remixing is needed - to bring out more of hidden elements (and maybe add something too - I'd personally love to hear more viola/violin). But my main concern is remastering.

* I understand it was not a case of not letting him write - Warren simply couldn't take part in writing sessions due to his work commitments. Though it would've been nice to credit him too.
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Re: Ultravox "Return To Eden " & "Lament" Reissues

Postby MissingPersons » Thu Aug 10, 2017 7:59 am

They should make some Remaster of their 2 albums from the 90s. They are criminally underrated, and even disowned by the band as it seems.
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Re: Ultravox "Return To Eden " & "Lament" Reissues

Postby postpunkmonk » Thu Aug 10, 2017 12:20 pm

MissingPersons wrote:They should make some Remaster of their 2 albums from the 90s. They are criminally underrated, and even disowned by the band as it seems.

Ahhh. "Billy Currie's Ultravox." They were not bad. The first one had some great material spoiled somewhat by the slick Tony Fenelle vocals. "Systems Of Love" had a Currie synth solo to die for. I really loved the second one with a proper band [all half Currie's age]. Some of that was prime Ultravox. The title track was superb. "Majestic" was the sequel to "Astradyne" that we had all been waiting years for! I liked it a lot better than "Brilliant." I was hoping that "Brilliant' might strike a common ground between "Quartet" and "Ingenuity" and while 3-4 tracks did about that [i.e. pretty good!] the rest were very inferior to my ears.
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