[My Gang] Ultravox - Vienna : Reco of the Week 30 March 2010

2010年 03月 30日火曜日 15:51

Track: Vienna
Artist: Ultravox
Album: Vienna (1980)
Tags: new wave, new romantic, post-punk, 80s, synthpop, my gang rotw
Video: Click the pic…

http://i1.ytimg.com/vi/xJeWySiuq1I/default.jpg YouTube, official video

The best of the time travel series begin this Easter weekend with the new Doctor Who and the return of Ashes To Ashes, both BBC1.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/images/bank/programmes_tv/drama/ashes_to_ashes3/446image1.jpg
Source: BBC press pack

To celebrate 30 years since the original release of Ultravox's signature track, Vienna, and to herald their reunion tour, there is a campaign in Facebook to download Vienna from Sunday 4th April and get them the UK number 1 that eluded them the first time around. The aim is to get it to number 1 for Sunday 11th April.

http://photos-d.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/hs036.snc3/12419_377560397559_298248757559_3542064_4673882_n.jpg
Source: Facebook

Vienna was an unusual piece even at the time. We were getting used to synths taking over from real instruments, but a balanced mix of synths, orchestral strings and piano, so that it sounded more classical than pop, was new. The size of the music is epic and immense. The look and feel of the video is about being grand, wealth, good taste and highbrow culture, taking inspiration from the film The Third Man (1948). It was released as a single in 1981, which probably doesn't suit the purposes of the Facebook group but there we are.

It is the title track and the third single from the album, Vienna, arguably their best, which was released in 1980. I remember Passing Strangers and Sleepwalk but Vienna was the one that got everyone talking.

The early 80s were a backlash against the free and easy, natural-look 70s. Prog was out, tightly constructed and composed was in. Scruffy threads were out, 1940s polished design and couture was in. The New Romantics made it an art form but on the street, everyone looked the way Keeley Hawes does in Ashes To Ashes. Midge Ure captured the mood and set the tone with his haughty aloofness and this video. Fans may have been mourning the loss of John Foxx, but there was a new audience who hadn't noticed them before, me included.

http://userserve-ak.last.fm/serve/_/152191/Ultravox.jpg

I had the 12" to this track and it irks me to this day that someone 'borrowed' it, without asking, and never gave it back. And we used to giggle at the name, because of course Vienna was the name of Mr Rigsby's cat in Rising Damp. The two are inextricably linked in my mind.

I will continue my tradition of building radios per series for Ashes To Ashes and will have one up and running from Friday. You can view tracklists per episode in the Last.fm group - Ashes To Ashes.

Series 1: Right! Fire up the Quattro! http://static.last.fm/matt/tinyradio.gif
Series 2: You've Been Quattroed! http://static.last.fm/matt/tinyradio.gif
Series 3: Let's Fire Up The Quattro! http://static.last.fm/matt/tinyradio.gif

http://www.denofgeek.com/siteimage/scale/800/600/124230.png
Source: Den of Geek

Don't forget - don't download Vienna before this Sunday. Wait till then, spread the word, and let's see if we can put history right.

Babs_05

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[My Gang] Ultravox - Vienna : Reco of the Week 30 March 2010

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