ULTRAVOX
Vienna: Deluxe Edition CHRYSALIS
Synth-pomp monolith receives the Wilson treatment.
Although its immortal title track battled fruitlessly to topple Joe Dolce’s Shaddap You Face from the top of the UK singles chart, famously stalling at No.2 for an enervating three weeks, Ultravox’s fourth album thoroughly deserves to be viewed as one of the great creative pop triumphs of the early 80s. Originally led by the charismatic, lethally cheekboned John Foxx, the band’s first three albums had drawn in fans of artful and forward-thinking rock. But it was Foxx’s departure and the subsequent arrival of frontman Midge Ure prior to Vienna that turned them into bona fide pop stars