Ultravox: Extended – The 12″ Remix Collection UK 2xCD [2018]
CD 1:
- All Stood Still (Extended Version)
- I Never Wanted To Begin (Extended Version)
- Reap The Wild Wind (Extended Version)
- We Came To Dance (Extended Version)
- One Small Day (Special Re-Mix)
- One Small Day (Special Re-Mix Extra)
- White China (Special Re-Mix)
- Dancing With Tears In My Eyes (Special Re-Mix)
- Dancing With Tears In My Eyes (US Extended Re-Mix)
- One Small Day (US Club Version)
CD 2:
- Lament (Extended Version)
- Heart of The Country (Special Re-Mix)
- Love’s Great Adventure (Extended Version)
- One Small Day (Final Mix)
- Serenade (Special Re-Mix)
- Same Old Story (Extended Version)
- All Fall Down (Extended Version)
- Brilliant (Blank & Jones Extended Remix)
- Brilliant (Blank & Jones Club Mix)
- Brilliant (Blank & Jones US Club Mix)
With Ultravox finally relegated to the history books buy this point, the label has sought to work that reissue action where likely in the last few years. I recently got the nice 2017 newly created “definitive edition” of “Lament,” the only one of the 2009 2xCD reissues with “O” card that I had not eventually bought. I was happy to find it in Amoeba Hollywood, and would have bought it even without the deluxe black on black, thermographically printed digipak that replicated the original limited edition UK LP. After that campaign, what else was there to turn the eye towards?
Well, when EMI were having their first crack at expanding the Ultravox catalog on CD back in the late 90s, twenty years ago they reached the end of the line with “Extended Ultravox,” [see left] a single disc wrapping up any loose vinyl-only mixes that Chrysalis UK had issued for the CD era completist. They had already stuffed a few remixes onto the “Rare Vol. 2″ B-side compilation a few years earlier. This ostensibly finished the job. It was a nice valedictory gesture, but as an American who had bought the only commercial 12” single that Chrysalis America had ever issued from the band, I knew it to be an ultimately failed one. There were two mixes missing from this disc.
Ultravox: Dancing With Tears In My Eyes US 12″
- Dancing With Tears In My Eyes [extended]
- One Small Day [club version]
In 1984, US Chrysalis did the unthinkable and commissioned exclusive US remixes for the “Dancing With Tears In My Eyes” b/w “One Small Day” US 12″ from “Lament” from Steve Thompson for the A-side, and François Kevorkian + John Potoker on the B-side. The A-side benefitted much by topping out at a more healthy 7:45 length as opposed to the 10:00 UK mix, and Thompson packed more dynamics into that shorter time to boot. The B-side was a 7:48 remix of “One Small Day” that remains my second favorite mix of this, the most remixed Ultravox song. I bought this as soon as it was released because I sensed that it would feature new American mixes, and wasn’t disappointed. Due to the nature of the beast, these two remixes remained the only Ultravox tracks never re-issued on CD ever, probably due to those pesky licensing issues. Until now.
So hats off to Chrysalis for making this finally happen. They tout these as new masters from original analog production masters by Alchemy Mastering. So the vinyl rips I was wondering about for the US mixes are a non-event. And because someone had their thinking cap on tightly, they have also added the 2012 remixes [previously DL only] of the title track to “Brilliant” by Blank + Jones. Our intrepid crew made three mixes; duly accounted for on this CD and they also provided two 7″ edit mixes in that same DL bundle which buyers of this new “Extended” CD will also get as DL premiums so that they can have every remix in a neat and tidy bundle. The asking price for all of this on CD? A pleasing $16.99. Available here.
These being the end times, there’s also no shortage of fan-squeezing bundles going all the way to $127.99, and even higher if you want the WLP test pressing on 4xLP! These antics are passé for me. Hell, the whole point was that I already have the mystical first pressings of this stuff on 12″… what I needed was this material on CD, and that’s taken care of so I’ll probably get one of these packages somewhere down the road. Honestly, I never thought that I’d ever see these mixes make it to the shiny silver disc without doing it first myself. Which I actually did, many years ago.
– 30 –
Hi mr monk,
glad to see this news got its own post,
as we were discussing this in a previous one.
great price and selection. its good seeing all
these mixes and tracks being brought back.
————————-
of course, there are tracks missing or left off
due to licensing, or just selections.
——-
for we came to dance, which is one of my all time
favorite tracks and mixes, there is the regular 12
inch version:
—————
https://www.discogs.com/Ultravox-We-Came-To-Dance/release/371001
which has the extended version at 7:38
then there is the clear vinyl version:
———————————————
https://www.discogs.com/Ultravox-We-Came-To-Dance/release/1081824
which is this version at 7:58
also, they are missing the vienna 1992 remixes:
1 Vienna 92 (The Classic Mix) 4:35
2 Vienna 92 (Goodnight Vienna Remix) 7:31
and also the ‘i am alive’ extended version:
I Am Alive (Extended) 6:30
i will add those to my own version, along with a disc
compiling all the instrumental remixes, and work in progress
mixes. don’t forget the new unreleased instrumental 7/8
that was only on a promo cd.
finally, a real collection of all the 7 inch edits too.
there’s a lot more to include than just the remixes like
they’ve done here, but this is a good start.
later
-1
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negative1ne – Crazy! I did not know about the clear vinyl mix of “We Came To Dance [ext. ver.]” clocking in at 7:57! But according to the oracle, the 7:57 mix is on this album, which I have had since day one, but never played! Another Buried Treasure! I will be now trying all of my “We Came To Dance” extended versions to parse the differences. Maybe even this afternoon. I really appreciated the black vinyl 12″ I bought on release. The bass response with the synth bass used by Chris Cross sounded fantastic on the 12″ single. I only saw the 7″ on clear vinyl in the stores [which I also bought] at the time of release. The clear vinyl Ultravox singles, apart from the “We Came To Dance” 7″ never made it to Orlando record stores at the time, and the rest of my Ultravox 7″ collection on clear vinyl had to wait until I saw them in mail order catalogs. I still don’t have the “Vienna” 7″ in clear in my collection.
Of course the Billy Currie’s Ultravox material like “Vienna ’92” and “I Am Alive” were on a completely different version of the band under completely different contracts, so I would not imagine these cuts being included unless the earth had shifted on its axis! At the time, I was highly dubious of “Vienna ’92” and when I got the CD5 single, I might not have gone any further except for the killer B-side “Systems Of Love.” That was so fantastic, I bought more. Good thing too, since I liked “Revelation” a lot more than “UVOX.” Only the shuffle beat 7/12 of “Vienna ’92” was egregious, in retrospect.
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To me it’s weird that they skipped over to the
reunited version of ultravox for brilliant and
stuck those 3 mixes on there. Why leave out
a period of the bands history. Those are the
very things that bother me, along with leaving
out versions of other mixes. Anyways, someone
decided already, so whats done is done, and
my own version will be up to date, and more
complete.
Glad you got to confirm the ‘we came to dance’
remix versions. I’m still finding several alternate
mixes from bands i like, there was ‘never again
the dancer’ alternate mix from a flock of seagulls,
the new york mix of ‘heartbreak beat’ from psychedelic
furs, the recalled remixes of omd ‘forever live and die’,
the john tokes potoker limited remix of peter gabriels
‘sledgehammer’, the extended version of a-ha’s
‘the sun always shines on tv’, the mendelsohn mix
of psychedelic furs ‘heartbeat’. i’ve listed some more
here : https://www.discogs.com/lists/Rare-and-alternate-remixes/184553
later
-1
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negative1ne – I remember finding out about the Potoker mix of “Forever Live + Die” back in 2001 when I was compiling my OMD boxes of “Optical Musical Data” phases 1 and 2. I was just lucky to have gotten the Potoker mix at the time of release. I had the other mix on the CD5 of “Shame.”
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I recently found a mix that is attributed to the Brothers in Rhythm of OMD’s Souvenier, one of their tracks that I quite like a lot. I have no idea if it is real or misattributed. I did find, while researching it, a Russian who has a bunch of zip files of every BiR or Trouser Enthusiast mix (same-ish people different moniker) and it appears pretty comprehensive and the so-attributed mix is absent.
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Tim – A BIR mix of “Souvenir?” Unlikely unless a gray market mix. Never heard of it but if it’s not in the BIR Soundcloud it could be apocryphal. You used to be able to hear the full BIR mix of ABC’s “Viva Love” on their Soundcloud page.
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For me my capture of that is the only way I’ve been able to snag a copy of it to date.
Folks have posted the BiR mix of Souvenir on YouTube if you want to take a listen. It’s actually a slower mix for them.
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Well, I dug out the Japanese “Hymn” ‘magnum single’ and played it for the first time in 35 years. Sure enough. “We Came To Dance” on it was the clear vinyl extended re-mix. It was very similar but the last 1-2 minutes seemed to differ and it ended with a cymbal crash; not like the 7:37 mix.
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Can you check and see if there is a
tape speed up error on this version,
the original had it at 6:57, sure it
might have been intentional, but it
has always sounded wrong to me,
and i’ve tried to fix it.
later
-1
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I thought that this was the same mix as the ten minute mix (DWTIME) as on the 2 disc Lament. How are they different?
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Just re-read, it’s shorter, got it, and tweaked. I was disappointed with the 10 min mix because it’s light on lyrics from the song. Does the shorter mix use more of the lyrics?
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tim, yes the US remix uses more of the lyrics, and of course the same musical elements.
check it out here : http://burningtheground.net/2012/06/ultravox-dancing-with-tears-in-my-eyes-us-12/
later
-1
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Thanks for the link, I was looking for something else and found another blogger today who also had that, I haven’t listened to it yet. I am pretty sure that I d/l the DJPT one years ago. Too many mixes, maybe it’s time for some housecleaning in the Midge Ure/Utlravox folder.
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Tim – The U.S. mix is more dynamic and songlike. Listen to it before you buy on the Ultravox webstore home page. I really appreciated it at the time as I felt that the 10:00 of “Dancing With Tears In My Eyes” was more like a diffuse dub mix. Also, US remixers brought in after the fact like Steve Thompson, were more accomplished at the time than the bands trying their hand at it in 1984 as the case was with Ultravox making their own 12″ mixes. The best Ultravox 12″ mixes were the “Final Mix” of “One Small Day” used on the bonus remix album that came with “The Collection” UK/OZ Ltd 2xLP edition and the “White China [Special Mix]” which was apparently listed as a single cut at some point and they decided not to do it and added it to the 1984 CD of “Lament” as a bonus track and blew our minds at the time!
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It’s out now. Sounds great so far.
More comprehensive review coming soon.
later
-1
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negative1ne – That’s encouraging. I hated that mastering on “ Brilliant.”
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Surely that leaves them room to “re-master” it sometime in the future when they are short of a bob or two and need us to buy Brilliant again?
In related news, the Extended double CD set has arrived with me and it is beautifully packaged. The mixes are a bit dated, but then, well, they are! It was odd actually voluntarily listening to songs from “The Pink Album” but it is fun to hear to all those extended versions from way back in 1981 all the way up to now, all chronologically
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