I got dreadful news the first thing yesterday morning when commenter and electronic musician Gavin Brick told me that Midge Ure had announced the death of Ultravox bassist Chris [Allen] Cross yesterday. I absolutely could not write yesterday, and so I’d prepared a post ahead of time [this is rare] so that I’d have two in a row for a change. This hurts since Ultravox were perhaps the biggest influence in the development of this Monk when encountering their electro-rock fusion in late 1980 on the release of the “Vienna” album. Sure, Sure. Gary Numan had primed the pump the year prior, but Ultravox were the hard-core, stone-cold, real deal. Numan semed like a pretender next to these guys. Fighting words to some, I know, but for me this was the band realizing the fullest potential of combining the energy of electronic music with the power of rock.
That first encounter was a powerful one. I saw the music video for “Passing Strangers” and I was spellbound. Not only was the shot on 16mm video miles ahead of the competition visually [cough…bowie…cough] but more importantly the berserk electronics of the band were firing on all 16 cylinders. All of the band members seemed to be playing synthesizers and the deep bass was both of the four string and MiniMoog variety. That middle eight is still the best synth riffage I’ve ever heard. So it was imperative that I get the “Vienna” album as quickly as possible.
I had seen the clip in September in September. For whatever reason, “Vienna” was scarce on the ground in Orlando record stores in Q4 of 1980. I looked everywhere but came up empty handed. It wasn’t until I was visiting a Camelot Music in Charleston, South Carolina that Christmas break until I finally found a copy. One single play later and that was it… I had a new favorite band…easily!
In the first three months of 1981 it was all about the Ultravox! I quickly soaked up the first three albums as well as adjacent pleasures such as Visage and John Foxx. Alas, I never got the chance to see Ultravox play, with the exception of video. Their one show in the state of Florida that I knew about was just a few weeks after seeing that video in Tampa, 90 miles away. There was no second chance. The early Ultravox! albums were completely different from the high tech rock of “Vienna” with hints of reggae as on “Dangerous Rhythm” as well as a prefiguring of the deep thug bass that J.J. Burnel would soon favor on “I Want To Be A Machine.”
That violent quality to the music would explode on the intense and hostile “Ha! Ha! Ha!” album issued the same calendar year as the more sedate “Ultravox!” five of the album tracks seemed to be an incredibly violent response to the year’s Punk Rock explosion in Britain, with heavy blocks of searing feedback used to bludgeon the listener into submission. Yet the seed of the next album were obviously sown in incredibly forward-thinking tracks like “The Man Who Dies Every Day” and the classic “Hiroshima Mon Amour.” Which reached full flower on the subsequent “Systems Of Romance” album which had Cross picking up MiniMoog synths for the bass components of tracks like “The Quiet Men” and “Dislocation.”
Then there was the pre-Ultravox! single by Tiger Lily which wasUltravox in all but name, though on that single alone Chris went by the name Chris St. John for reasons known to him alone. This was the band that John Foxx had put together in art college and Chris had been the first recruit. Later, Currie and Cann had come into the collective and their single waxing was a Fats Waller cover for a film soundtrack. In 1981, following Ultravox’s breakthrough, the single was re-issued in this new sleeve making the original B-side the A-side. Which felt right given that it easilty prefigured the Post-Glam/Proto-New Wave of the Ultravox! debut album that would appear two years hence.
By the fall of 1981, I was primed and ready for the next amazing album from this Ultravox MK II, as some called them. Once more they were teamed up with Meisterproducer Conny Plank for the third time in a row for the “Rage In Eden” album and Chris’ muscular bass lines anchored tracks like “The Voice” with power and confidence. At the time, I was enraptured primarily by Billy Currie’s astounding keys and the manner in which drummer Warren Cann seamlessly blended machines and skins for a hybrid, complex sound that was his alone. I’ll admit to not paying as much attention to the bass playing in Ultravox at that time, but now I hear a quartet that’s unbelievably focused on making their sound in the world as powerful as it can be. Hearing the three boxes sets of “Vienna,” “Rage In Eden,” and “Quartet” have helped enormously in this regard as I now must give Chris Cross his due for being as forward thinking in his catholic approach to bass frequencies as much as the free thinking direction by which Cann approached his drumming.
After that iconic one-two punch of Ultravox albums, it became apparent that Cross [neé Allen] had more to offer than just high class bass playing on your choice of instruments. Equally at home on fretted or fretless, or with no strings at all with bass synth, by 1982 he was teaming up with his Ultravox buddy Midge Ure to begin directing the videos of Ultravox as well as for other acts both connected [Visage] and disparate [Fun Boy Three, Bananrama]. His collegiate background in both psychology and art giving him the tools to create iconic music videos that were up to the highest standard of the time. The video for Visage’s “The Damned Don’t Cry” is to this day my favorite New Romantic artifact; sensual and lush yet shot through with the requisite continental ennui that to me was the essence of the movement’s vibe.
Next: …The Second Half Of the Imperial Run
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Post-Punk Monk 
Very sad news I had not heard of his passing until I read your post I love the first three (John Foxx) albums, as well as Vienna and Rage in Eden. Unfortunately, as my love of music started in the 1970’s, the passing of the musicians I grew up listening to, is likely to become more frequent as the years go on.
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I came to the Ultravox party in early ‘81 after seeing them on Top Of The Pops with ‘Vienna’. It changed my life forever. So began my love for their music. This led to investigating Visage, John Foxx and a host of other artists and bands. My love for this band has remained even when it wasn’t an ongoing concern.
Although the other band members skills were often more obvious, Chris was undoubtedly a brilliant bass player no matter if he was using a guitar or a synth. He wasn’t scared of searching out and using new technology and he put it to great use.
With Chris gone things will never be the same. It shuts the door to any chance of a further reunion for sure even if that looked unlikely anyway. I played ‘Rage In Eden’ last night. His electric and synth bass on that album helps to make it such a special album.
Chris always came across in interviews as a bit of a joker. Someone who can lift spirits. That’s how I will always remember him. I will always treasure the joy he has brought me and many others with his essential part in such a special band’s music.
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AndyB – So are you saying that you first encountered Midge Ure on TOTP… and was that they episode when he was trying to give Steve Strange [not to mention Metal God Rob Halford] a run for their money with that “what-was-he-thinking” leather biker fetish gear?
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Ha ha. The episode with the leather biker gear was the Christmas ‘81 special shown on Christmas Day. Bands who had big hits that year would appear on this special episode.
When they made their appearances at the beginning of the year they were rather more smartly dressed.
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AndyB – Oh, the rest of the band were smartly dressed in any case! What was Midge thinking? No clues in his autobiography.
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Yes who knows what Midge was thinking. It certainly wasn’t in keeping with the image the band had been cultivating up to that point. I remember being surprised when I saw his look on the episode. I never did see him wearing anything like it again.
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I first saw the Midge on TOTP wearing baseball gear as a member of Slik… considering he was also very nearly a member of the sartorial vanguard that was the Sex Pistols, he clearly thought he could wear whatever he liked!
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Ray Zdybrow – Welcome to the comments! I was thinking that maybe he lost a bet!
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hi mr monk,
sad to hear this news, although throughout the upcoming years,
it will impact all the bands and singers we like.
ultravox had a huge impact on me since 83 at least, and chris’s impact
was huge. it’s a huge loss to the music world, and his family.
i appreciate his work, and will remember him every time i listen to their music now.
thanks for reporting on it.
later
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ne gative 1
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Sad news. Great band.
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Great post too.
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Losing any member of Ultravox is a tragedy, but for Cross to go first … he wasn’t just the anchor of their sound, he was by various accounts (especially John Foxx’s) the heart and soul of Ultravox.
He certainly leaves behind a body of work with no real embarrassments, and who among us can say that? (not me, at least!)
Vienna and Rage in Eden in particular are very special works for me, but I haven’t managed to acquire the Quartet box set as of yet. I really should correct that, while I wait (likely in vain) for someone to collect the UltraFoxx era into a box set …
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Very sad news about Chris – watched “The Collection” on DVD tonight in memoriam. BTW, the Foxx era albums HAVE been released in a box set, “Ultravox: The Island Years” (Caroline International/Island CAROLR037CD 2026).
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Terry, that box set isn’t bad. However Warren Cann has said in the past that he has tapes of unreleased tracks recorded by the band with John.
I know some people asked on John’s official website if there would be anything previously unreleased included in that box set. Unfortunately a decision was made to only include previously released material.
It would be good if in future a box set containing unreleased material would see the light of day. However I fear this will never happen.
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Terry – Welcome to the comments! You are fortunate that you have the time to watch a DVD. I wasted to watch “Monument” but there’s no space for that right now. There’s also a box covering the entire Midge Ure era of the band with this lovely cover:
It came out in 2013 and will now set you back a high two to three figures. And none of the B-sides/remixes. Those are still covered in other packages.
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Complete with typo, which should read “Return To Eden”.
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Quite sad, You’re very much correct Numan soaked these guys up despite my overall preference for his material. I have their 2nd and 3rd albums on CD, one thing that I enjoy reading is Conny Plank being a versatile producer.
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