Midge Ure: “Vienna was a love song to an imaginary girl,” he told The Guardian. “Why ‘Vienna’? There was a decaying elegance about it”
Such was the shock of the new with regards to the fresh line-up and the invigorated sound that came with those changes that many Ultravox devotees of the John Foxx era were vocal about the group’s more mainstream direction, some even branding them ‘sell-outs’. Ultravox addressed their critics head on with the album’s opening track, a sprawling, experimental instrumental number which clocked in at more than seven minutes. The state-of-the-art kit they’d bought with the proceeds of their session work for other artists included a Roland CR-78 drum machine, lots of Yamaha gear – a CP70 electric piano, a SS30 string machine, a CS40M synth – plus an ARP Odyssey, a Minimoog and much more. Originally titled Ad Astra (To The Stars), the name was changed to Astradyne, a combination of the RAF’s motto ‘Per Ardua Ad Astra’ (Through Adversity To The Stars) and an aerospace company called Rocketdyne.
Since Ultravox had achieved little commercial success via their first three albums with John Foxx as leader, Chrysalis were hesitant to throw money at the group until they were confident that sales would improve. Therefore, when the band released Sleepwalk as Vienna’s first single, it was without a video as the label weren’t sure their investment would be financially viable. With no promo, the band was forced to travel around the UK playing small gigs and performing on any TV or radio show that would have them. One of their TV spots was later released as an official promo for the single. youtu.be/vIdbeJzjKSs