Ultravox Album: “Rare, Vol. 1”

If you're looking for that synth/guitar sound Midge Ure and the gang made into powerful new romantic tunes on their early 80s albums, featuring Midge's gorgeous tenor voice, than Rare 1 gives you a bunch of treats that were not on any of their albums but very well could have been--Waiting, Passionatge Reply, Herr X, I Never Wanted to Begin, Paths & Angels, Overlook. These are the b-sides worth having, where as rare vol. 2 is infested with boring instrumental b-sides and live versions of album tracks. On volume 1, even some of the live tracks were never recorded for an album, making them gems--face to face, kings lead hat.

Fans of the Midge Ure Ultravox years will NOT want to pass this one up.

I got this one to complete my collection to a digital standpoint, I have all these on the vinyl. This is better then Volume two which I will also review later. It brings back memories, I recommend it for the collector but not the regular fan, save that for the "Best Of" albums, but if you really want to hear some experimentation, check this one out. The only flaw is that "Break Your Back" starts off with crowd noise that originally came from the 12" single its segues into the live version of 'Reap the Wild Wind' from its appearance on the 12" single of 'Visions in Blue'. I liked it, for what it is, a bunch of tracks not heard much and since this is now out of print, I'd grab it or get the mp3's before it is gone forever. Check out my website sometime and say "Hi" at "Judemac forever" Google it.

I was hoping for more unusual cuts than just the B-sides I collected in the 80's. It is good for the Ultravox completists, but better packaging with info on these tracks would have been nice. I'll skip the second volume, which I have heard is worse.