Ultravox Album: “Systems Of Romance”

Quite simply, this it the finest album that Ultravox produced.

Recorded in 1979, it is best understood in the context of its contemporaries, and it owes more to Eno, <> era Bowie and Cluster than it does to the overwrought pomposity Ultravox produced once Midge Ure joined. John Foxx, the original lead singer, has a voice lacking Ure's power, but it is far more expressive and is the perfect timber for Foxx' laments about the Alienation of Post-war European urban life. Foxx has the ability to occupy a moment, especially in "Dislocation" with the chant echoing the rhythmic motions of of a swimmer and recalling the detatched quality of being cocooned in water while swimming.

Far more dependant upon synths than the punkier and more abrasive "Ha-Ha-Ha", it has a distant coolness and ethereal sense of longing which has after 24 years, the quality of still sounding new.

"Systems" lacks the baroque Poppieness of "Vienna" and is a far more introspective and less melodic. Though the melodies, including the sweeping Synth in Slow Motion and the ostinato in "Quiet Men" are eminently hummable and infectious.

I first heard this record while living alone in New York in 1979, having just been dumped by my girlfriend and spent the Summer working nights. It was the the perfect soundtrack for wallowing-for beneathe the angst of "Dislocation" with it's pounding pipe rhythm was the glimmer of hope of "Just for a Moment".

If you like Bowie's Low and Heroes, or Bill Nelson's more cerebreral work you will love this album. Fans of Vienna may see it as a crucial part of the path to Ultravox' later success. Fans of mindless and cheery Synth Pop will find it too austere.

It was November of '78, punk was dead as proclaimed by Mr. Lydon, and Joy Division's fame in the US was still several years away. Entering the scene was Ultravox with this, their third album, which received airplay on a recently revived KROQ in Pasadena. As a college sophomore working late nights, I listened to many hours of Chuck Randall ("The Midnight Lobotomist") on KROQ. On one such occasion I happened to hear the track "Quiet Men" from this album, and I was so taken with the sparse sound of synthesizers and soaring guitars that I went out the next day and bought the LP. Listening to the album start to finish was a riveting experience. On this album, the raw rage of punk has been replaced by the cold alienation of synthesizers and detached vocals. Even now, nearly 30 years later, the music has a stark power that serves it well.

From the start of Side 1 (now moot with the CD) "Slow Motion" begins the experience with a detached, spacey chorus. "Someone Else's Clothes" is a paranoiac fantasy sung with borderline hysteria by John Foxx, the creative genius behind Systems of Romance (he left after this album and the subsequent Midge Ure-fronted albums never managed to achieve one tenth of the power of this post-punk masterpiece). It is on Side 2 (tracks 6-10) where this album really works its magic. "Quiet Men" is a hypnotic gem, "Dislocation" puts into words the cold disorientation of alienation, "Maximum Acceleration" is possibly the most "drugged out" song of the era (in the words of one of my friends), "When You Walk Through Me" is the blueprint that Gary Numan would follow a few years later to commercial success and "Just for a Moment" is a plaintive coda, slipping into regret and loss while bringing the album to a close.

The album is a seamless whole with very few weak moments and remains an underappreciated masterpiece from its time. John Foxx likewise is today virtually unknown despite making several quintessential New Wave albums. Along with "Unknown Pleasures" this album brilliantely describes the bleak landscape of alienation in late '70s Great Britain and is a must purchase for anyone who is listening to Interpol, Franz Ferdinand or The Editors today.

Ultravox had 2 distict phases. The first (and better) with John Foxx fronting the band, and the second which has been totally forgettable. Their first CD, ULTRAVOX! showed a great deal of promise, and with Brian Eno producing, it was an auspicious debut. Ultraxox seemed to fall apart with "Ha Ha Ha" (theirn2nd release), but came back very strong and convincingly with SYSTEMS OF ROMANCE. Produced by Steve Lillywhite (U2, Tom Petty, and others), this CD seemed to signal that the band was on its way. Then, John Foxx and the others split up, and neither apart was equal to the sum of the parts together.

SYSTEMS OF ROMANCE was Ultravox' 3rd, and by far their best, CD. Musically, they were somewhere between David Bowie, the Talking Heads (but without that band's quirkiness) and the Cars (but with a much more intelligent set of lyrics and far more interesting musical ideas). Visually (with John Foxx) they were a lot like Japan and David Bowie.

I reluctantly gave this CD 5 stars for its music, but caution listeners: the engineering and sound quality is abysmal by today's standards. This is one CD that absulutely screams to be remastered from the original master tapes, using today's state of the art technology. Because Ultravox was not a big selling group, the record company (Island) just grabbed some tape and whipped out a CD once vinyl LP's were no longer selling.

While there are several experimental tunes, some of which work better than others, this CD has remained surprisingly contermporary and modern sounding since its release in 1980.

Buy it, and then write a scathing letter to the people at Island Records telling them they need to improve their shoddy product quality. Or, write a scathing letter, and then wait for the remastered version to be issued.

Outstanding tracks: SLOW MOTION, QUIET MEN, MAXIMUM ACCELERATION.

This is, by far, WITHOUT A DOUBT, the BEST album ever issued under the Ultravox name. As a previous reviewer stated, neither part of Ultravox has been able to replicate this album since the 1979 split.

I won't go into the details of the sound (it has been covered much better in previous reviews), but would like to mention how influential this early version of Ultravox, and this LP, were on the New Wave music of the late '70s--early '80s.

This is the album that inspired synth-rock pioneer Gary Numan to make "The Pleasure Principle", which featured the international hit single "Cars". Interestingly enough, Billy Currie, Ultravox's keyboardist/violinist, played on The Pleasure Principle and also toured in Numan's band after John Foxx and Robin Simon left the group (for a solo career and ex-Buzzcock Howard DeVoto's band Magazine, respectively). If you listen to both LPs in succession, you can certainly tell where Numan got many his ideas (it becomes even clearer if you listen to any pre-PP LPs by Numan-- especially from the Tubeway Army days!).

"Systems" was one of the first post-punk LPs to successfully fuse the sound of dance beats, rock guitars and keyboards/synthesizers into a synth-based music that's completely different from the Yes/Emerson Lake & Palmer keyboard acrobatics that were popular in the '70s. Check the track "Quiet Man" for an excellent example of this: robotic electronic LinnDrum beats, wiry synthbase and keys, and Robin Simon's arty guitar are pointing the post-punk way, even before the term post-punk was in heavy circulation!

Wait a minute,.... electronic dance beats, guitars, synthesizers? Did somebody say "New Romantic", that early 80s craze that gave us the likes of Duran Duran, ABC, Spandau Ballet, and countless others bands with bad haircuts? Ultravox was pointing the way three years before any "New Romantic" had even bought a puffy shirt or put on eye liner.

I first encountered this record (yes, record!) in 1983 when I was a wee lad of 14. I'd been a fan of Midge Ure-era Ultravox, and saw this oddity in a record store in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA-- incidentally, it was the US release on Antilles, an Island subsidiary. I was floored then, and now, almost 20 years later, I still find myself listening to it at least once a month. Even though pop music has changed quite a bit since 1978, "Systems of Romance" still hasn't lost its magic.

How incredibly great to hear this album again after all these years. And on a decent stereo this time around! The music sounds incredible, this is the mother lode -- this album is fantastic, perfect, powerful, creative, beautifully produced and makes you dance around the room AND think. Maximum acceleration...

Ultravox ought to be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. And by that I mean the ONLY version of Ultravox worth listening to, that being the John Foxx era. Incredible music. Literally perfect. You have a heard a thousand excretable imitations of this music. This is the real thing, the source of the Nile, a piece of the True Cross.

Taut, focused, experimental. It just doesn't get better than this. Truly original and creative. Early Roxy Music and the all-too-brief John Foxx era of Ultravox bookend the 70s. Undeservedly unknown. You must hear this.