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Ultravox - BBC Radio 1 Live In Concert (c) 1992 Windsong
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Supplier: TEAM AMOK Encoder...: Lame 3.90.3
Ripper..: TEAM AMOK Quality...: VBR kbps / 44,1Hz / Joint-Stereo
Source..: CDDA Label.....: Windsong
Scans...: None Catalogue#: WINCD 028
Tracks..: 07 Type......: Album
Rel.Date: Mar-22-2005 Genre.....: New Wave
URL.....: http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:gnu1z81aoyvj
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Windsong's licensed rifling of the "BBC Radio 1 Live In Concert"
archives continues with this new CD release of an Ultravox concert
originally recorded on 14th January 1981 at the Paris Theatre in
London.
The disc captures the band at a very important time in their history
- John Foxx has left, leaving many critics believing the band were a
spent force and, although the group has by this stage had a couple
of minor hit singles with "Passing Strangers" and "Sleepwalk" and
the first album with the new lineup, Vienna, has been out for six
months and has done reasonably well, the group's major successes are
yet to come. In fact, the first of them is only three days away -
when the new singles chart is published on the Wednesday following
this Sunday night concert, amongst the new entries will be the
single "Vienna" which will proceed to hang around on the charts for
a full fourteen weeks. It'll become one of the classic tracks from
the eighties and will only be kept from the number one slot by a
novelty record performed by an unpleasant fake Italian called Joe
Dolce.
The new lineup's unproven, fledgling status helps ensure that
they're really out to impress in this concert. When it's compared to
the other officially available live Ultravox album (1983's Monument)
this performance has a vibrancy and enthusiasm that is largely
lacking from the slick, confident big-name band of the later album.
At the time of this recording though, they're not an established
chart act and have yet to make the leap from cult status to stardom
(at least in the UK - they failed to break into the US market for
some reason).
Proceedings kick off with a version of "New Europeans" that's almost
indistinguishable from the album version. There's a few minor
percussive differences, and Currie's synth sweeps seem even more
ebullient than usual but otherwise it's a faithful rendition. One
small glitch though - during the bridge there's a very noticeable
click when Ure switches microphones/effects. Other than that, it's
very impressive indeed. No tapes were used by the way, Ultravox were
capable (at this stage at least) of reproducing their studio sound
live.
"Passing Strangers" is rather less faithful, with a number of
differences in arrangement and sound that will probably not be
obvious to non-fanatics. Ure's vocals do seem rather quiet at times,
especially when contrasted with the backing vocals during the chorus
which are a little too prominent (and who is it that's singing in a
falsetto voice?) The extra frills here consist of a long, tightly
controlled Ure guitar solo towards the end.
We can be pretty sure that the falsetto voice didn't belong to
drummer Warren Cann who sings (well, speaks) the vocals to "Mr.X" in
a voice that's about as far from high-pitched as you can get (he
also did the vocals on the original album version). Again, there are
only minor changes to the album arrangement. The one flaw is that
Cann's vocals are very quiet indeed (almost inaudible) at the
beginning of the track. This is compensated for by a multitude of
extra synth twiddles though which raise it above and beyond the
original.
"All Stood Still" is another track where the fidelity of the live
version to the album mix is commendable. Superior points include a
more impassioned vocal performance from both Ure and the backing
vocalists (Cross and Cann), an extended guitar solo and some
incredible keyboard work from Billy Currie.
The arrangement of "Sleepwalk" differs from the album version in
having a beefed up synth bass line and another one of those
extravagant Currie solos. Ure does seem to miss his cue at one point
(or at least, whoever is on the mixing desk misses Ure's cue) but
that's a small price to pay for yet another high quality live
version.
The version of "Vienna" is a clear head and shoulders above the live
version on Monument since it actually manages to sound like the
original, whereas the Monument track sounds stilted, false,
artificial and somehow just plain wrong. It might be something to do
with the distinctive percussion, which is just right in this concert
but sounds rather flatter in Monument. Better than the studio
version? I wouldn't like to make a decision there, it's too close to
call.
The concert is rounded off with the lengthy instrumental
"Astradyne". Again, it's faithful to the album but the ambience of
the live venue somehow combines with a vigourous performance to give
this performance an extra momentum (that's only marred slightly by
some distortion of the sound) that's absent in the studio original.
Overall, this is a great live album. It captures the energy of the
band from start to finish (something that Monument manages only very
intermittently) and has to rank as one of the best live performances
I've heard. Generally I don't listen to live albums very often,
usually preferring the studio equivalents of tracks, but this is a
very big exception to that rule since almost all the tracks here are
at least the equals of their album originals. Very highly
recommended indeed for serious Ultravox fans, almost as highly
recommended for less serious Ultravox fans and not a bad place at
all to start if you're interested in hearing the group at their very
best.
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01 New Europeans (Live) 04:11
02 Passing Strangers (Live) 05:12
03 Mr. X (Live) 07:04
04 All Stood Still (Live) 04:43
05 Sleepwalk (Live) 03:47
06 Vienna (Live) 05:03
07 Astradyne (Live) 07:10
Total:49,8 MBB / 37:10 min
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contribute to the growing sale losses of record companies.
Unfortunately our style primarily targets small, independant labels
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<Thinking AMOK - The Superior Lifestyle>
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