Dave Ball contributed strongly to the normalization of synthesizers in the UK Pop scene
It was Thursday night when I saw that Dave Ball of Soft Cell had died. I hadn’t been following Dave closely and I was unaware of his myriad of health issues he’d been dealing with in the last few years. A fall down a stairwell led to broken vertebrae and bones, which was followed by pneumonia and sepsis at the age of 64. That he managed to pull out of all of that and live for another two years was a minor miracle! Particularly since Soft Cell had just put the wraps on their [now] final album “Danceteria,” just days before dying in his sleep on October 22nd.
Dave Ball had met Marc Almond at art college at Leeds Polytechnic and the two had formed a partnership that had managed, incredibly, to scale the charts worldwide. And this in a time when music without guitars was viewed through narrowed eyes in America. Even so, the soundtrack to the summer of 1982 included the Top Ten US smash that was “Tainted Love” where the single entered the charts in January of that year and began its slow, stately climb to the top ten. Eventually setting a record for being in the US Hot 100 for 43 weeks. I still reliably hear it on public music systems! And at under three minutes, it never outstays its welcome.
In England the success was bigger, with the single selling over a million copies and behind only “Don’t You Want Me, “ by The Human League, as the top selling single of the holy year of 1981. The group made a thematic single with two soul covers on either side of the record. The flip side was the Supremes classic “Where Did Our Love Go?” The band weren’t savvy enough to have put a self-written tune on the B-side so all those millions of sales worldwide didn’t exactly fill their coffers with royalties.
But their intent was never to be a chart-friendly pop band. The PMRC might have been willed into existence three years early if Karenna Gore had been a Soft Cell fan with a copy of “Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret.” As if the title weren’t warning enough, the button pushing “Sex Dwarf” certainly would have curled Tipper’s hair.
The dynamic of the duo was complementary with singer Marc Almond bearing the influence of balladeer Scott Walker, and another cabaret adjacent titan like Jacques Brel. While Dave’s aesthetic was informed by edge-exploratory music like Throbbing Gristle and his only brush with the cabaret was when he played on Cabaret Voltaire’s album “The Crackdown.” The roil and churn between them managed to cover a lot of stylistic and thematic background.
After three albums together that ran the gamut from worldwide smash hit precious metal to literally “off the charts,” the duo split shortly following the release of “This Last Night In Sodom.” Marc Almond moved deeper left field with his Marc And The Mambas project. While Dave released “I Strict Tempo,” his only solo album until 2016, which featured vocals by Genesis P. Orridge and Gavin Friday.
I picked up the great wax by Vicious Pink Phenomenon that Dave had produced and played on. VPP had first caught my ear on “Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret” as the backing vocalists there, and I have followed their career ever since. A stint by Mr. Ball in Genesis P. Orridge’s Psychic TV led to a long-term link up with Richard Norris from that project who formed The Grid with Ball and they were not only dance artists during the explosion of House music in the UK, but they were also prolific remixers. Often crossing paths with Marc Almond. I have their album recorded with Robert Fripp [!] on my seemingly endless want list.
Ball and Almond would unite for various projects following the initial burst of Soft Cell music. Compilations, and even new albums would manifest on occasion. I had 2002’s”Cruelty Without Beauty” but still have yet to hear “Happiness Not Included;” recorded twenty years later. The band famously performed their “final” concert in 2018 and enjoyed it enough to lay waste to that notion within months. With the “*Happiness Not Included” album being the first fruit of their renewed commitment.
Hearing that their new album will be named after New York’s famed Danceteria makes its issue next year a likely monastic target. The band famously loved the NYC nightlife and were very early [British] converts to MDMA from their time there. This extracurricular intake directly informed their classic remix album, “Non-Stop Ecstatic Dancing.”
So let’s drag out our Soft Cell collection and give the amazing 12” singles a play as they were really the best of their breed for the heady times of ‘81-‘82. The quality and depth of those remixes showed up most of their British peers. That was down to Dave Ball and Mike Thorne’s endless capacity for arrangements. And I’ve played my bronzed by still playable copy of my favorite of their albums, “The Art Of Falling Apart” a lot this week. And our condolences to his friends and family at this time.
Scenius, by way of the UK and France, have been a new band I first heard in the latest “Generation Blitz” compilation from the State Of Bass label earlier this summer. I’ve enjoyed the singles they have issued leading up to this, their new album, “13 Billion Light Years.” With the cosmological aspect blatant in the title, the use of spectroscopy images on the cover art all coheres tightly by now.
MMXX | FR | CD | 2025 | MMXX03/1
Scenius: 13 Billion Dark Years – FR – CD/DL [2025]
13 Billion Dark Years
Swift As Light
Golden By No Means
Every Time
Funny Sky
Guesswork
All In Good Time
Five-Arm Crystal
Beat The Light
Blink
The hum of the synth loop in the intro to the title track managed to capture the emptiness of the distance inherent in the album title. The accentuation of sonic space allowed Fab Nau’s vocal to enter into an almost psychedelic space poised betwixt the explorations of The Beatles and The Stones. A place where the spacious and low-key music allowed him to define the melodic parameters of the song before the synths and rhythm joined the song at its halfway point. Still, the sense of isolation remained strong here, even as the music opened up and expanded its reach.
The mood lightened considerably for the single “Swift As Light” which we previously reviewed this summer. Its earnest and approachable qualities were in almost stark contrast to the sombre opening. A middle ground of sorts was reached on “Golden By No Means,” where the most emphatic and pulsating rhythm track came to the fore here. As the song progressed, it attained an appealingly cinematic, minor key vibe that offset its determined rhythms. Where gated synths in the song’s climax approached animalistic trills.
The almost military snares that began “Every Time” allowed the wistful synth leads to play against them as Fab’s vocal sided with the determined rhythms. This song was one that had been my entrée to the band on “Generation Blitz” Vol. 1 earlier this summer.
“Funny Sky” had been the initial single released from this album campaign, but I hadn’t heard the band at that point. The syncopated rhythm section allowed Fab’s vocal and the elegant melody to stand apart from the fussy energy of the track. With the middle eight attaining an almost magical lightness of touch.
“Guesswork” was a return to Synthpop orthodoxy on the program. But even there the haunting melody of the chorus coupled with the synth glissandos shooting upwards throughout the song made sure to stamp the material with the duo’s penchant for an intriguing melody. One that takes care not to pander.
The minimal intro to “All In Good Time” was nothing but a desolate synth loop; sounding like a distant space probe, with a monosynth lead line adding further ambiguity. Mr. Nau’s vocal joined in and methodically joined the barely there music bed; imposing a melody on the minimalistic track. Making the sudden emergence of the rest of the arrangement rushing in at the first chorus and expanding the scope of the track all the more shocking while maintaining its strict tempo. While the arrangement went back into its shell for the next verse, this push-pull dynamic continued throughout the song.
“Five-Arm Crystal” broke tradition here with an extroverted melody that boldly staked a claim with its fiery bluntness contrasted expertly with the elegant, icy piano shot through the track. The relentless drum programming almost touching upon House rhythms in spite of the laid-back vibe. The appearance of a dance break almost shocked as the generally demure duo had shied away from such such contrivances elsewhere. This one showed the former wallflowers working up a sweat with aplomb.
“Beat The Light” offered another earlier single to beguile with its introverted charms reverting the band back to form following the shock that was “Five-Arm Crystal.” The dreamlike synth vibrato solo here was still managing to pull us into the song even after many months. Then the album ended on a note similar to the one it began on with the bleak, minor key unease of “Blink” nonetheless attaining anthemic qualities as the contrapuntal chorus warmed the chill in the air each time. It’s middle eight finally offering up some rays of sunlight that offered us some hope wrapped up in the song’s doleful vibe.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 5 out of 5.
This was an album that kept things simple and engaging. It was content not to clutter up the arrangements and to even pare them back to allow Fab’s voice to carry the main melody, and as such, it’s not an album that’s a candidate for an instrumental version. There’s a coherence to the vocals and music together that was greater than the sum of their parts. Though we live in a infinite track universe now, this was an album that felt content to keep things simple and direct and maybe to cap off each song with no more than eight tracks.
And the austerity of it allowed its few flights of rococo flourish to momentarily break the spell of introversion that cast a long shadow over the vibe of this album. And to add dynamic textures and contrast to the proceedings over the arc of the album. The emotional directness of the album, designed to place singer Nau at front and center in most times, coupled with its succinct brevity [it’s well under 40 minutes in length] make “13 Billion Dark Years” an album to revisit frequently during this season.
The album will be available tomorrow in DL for €9.00 with a physical option of CD for €14.00 so you can pre-order your copy today and quickly reap the benefit tomorrow. Speaking of which, I won’t be here tomorrow as I’m heading to Charlotte to see Lene Lovich, as well as DEVO for the first time ever. In the interim, DJ hit that button!
[L to R] Mitch Easter with Don Dixon and Chris Stamey performing Let’s Active’s “Waters Part” at the Americanafest in Nashville 2023
Great Googley Moogley! Last Friday I got a text message from my wacky neighbor Steve. His buddy had just gotten him a ticket to see Let’s Active and he was mentioning it to me. As we’d enjoyed the dBs show in town last year, he rightly assumed an interest. I like the dBs. I love Let’s Active!! My response was simply, “WHERE!!!???”
“Winston,” was his succinct reply.
I quickly searched and found that Mitch Easter was dusting off the Let’s Active catalog for the first time since the 40th anniversary shows in 2021. Had we not been in a pandemic, I would have definitely attended that show. But it did not happen. Now the occasion is the debut of the Let’s Active catalog to the streaming and download worlds. Since I have the CDs, and I don’t stream, so I was not aware! A glance at iTunes currently reveals only a handful of Let’s Active singles to tide fans over! So this is a good thing for fans of the magical Mitch Easter sound. Presumably, this will be done and dusted with the tunes flowing by the time of the special concert event to be held in the Gas Hill Drinking Room in Winston-Salem on November 29th.
The lineup is listed as “Mitch Easter + Gang.” We have no idea of the talent lineup who will be onstage with Mitch this evening, but it hasn’t stopped me from buying a ticket minutes after I found out about the gig last Friday. I’m not planing on the likes of Don Dixon or Chris Stamey as pictured above, but who can say? As long as Mitch is there I am not caring. The last time I heard any of these songs, George H. W. Bush was barely in the Oval Office!
The venue is Gas Hill Drinking Room. Presumably part of The Ramkat; a very large club in Winston-Salem. Tickets for the show are a low-ball $20 [after fees!] so who else is going to join me in hearing these ringing Pop gems [one more time] from one of the best players in America [and his “gang”] for the price of a decent burger and shake? DJ hit that button as this will surely sell out soon!
Pete Burns keeps things very direct and immediate on “Slow Burn Sorrow”
I only just heard of Peter Burns of Kill Shelter this summer, when his noise guitar work enlivened a cover of Ultravox’s “Dislocation” by Stephen Netschio and A State OF Flux. And now he’s apparently stepping out of his comfort zone for a spontaneous EP of what he’s describing as “electroacoustic works” in a larger series of which this is the first volume. It was released Friday on DL and a cassette edition but I finally got to hear it on Saturday as I was at work and able to play it there on a day where I was the only one in the office and I wanted to share news of this one as quickly as I could.
Bandcamp | UK | DL/CASS | 2025
Kill Shelter: Slow Burn Sorrow – UK – DL/CASS [2025]
I Don’t Believe in You 4:38
In the Long Grass 2:29
Late November 2:30
A Gift of Ashes 3:32
Victims of Fate 2:42
Say 3:18
Slow Burn Sorrow 2:54
It began with a cover version of Talk Talk’s “I Don’t Believe In You” that might be setting the tone for the entire EP here. The whole piece of work was made with just guitars and minimal rhythm box so the emphasis is definitely on guitars with long sustain creating vast, reverberant acoustic spaces. He’s recorded only the scantest of overdubs here to keep the performance as direct as possible. As I’m shamefully less than complete in my Talk Talk collection, I’ve never heard “The Colour Of Spring” in its entirety. So I cannot compare it to the original. But once Mr. Burns begins singing the wounded, scornful lyric, I could not help but notice his assumption of the vocal stance of David Sylvian.
But this was a clear, focused work that pared production down to the bare minimum. Voice and guitar. When a shimmering wave of guitar effects suddenly rose in the mix as if a string section were on the session, it carried a dramatic magnification of emphasis; as if this had been a Scott Walker session. The drop where the drum machine was all we heard, like a subdued heartbeat for two bars, felt like the world had suddenly come to a halt. This was then followed by a solo twinned with what felt like e-bow too amplify the gut-punch of the song.
The crystal cascade of Burn’s guitar was spellbinding on “In The Long Grass” as he occupied a tone in the Robin Guthrie realm. The rhythm box here was more than a minimal presence but it was still all about the guitars as the shimmering climax to the song proved. “Late November” explored a pensive mood with the weave of guitars spinning sonic cocoon designed to heal as Mr. Burns proclaimed “these last few days I’ve been wandering, trying to find some piece of mind.” The waves of guitar continued to spread outward until the climax, where the first instances her of distortion dared to disrupt the reflective mood. Ending the song on a dissonant note.
The closest thing to a widescreen sound here manifested in the swelling intro to “A Gift Of Ashes.” With the rhythm box and guitar overdubs expanding the footprint of the song ever outward and upward. This was truly the heart of the beauty to be found in this exploratory EP.
The title track closed out the mini-album with a final focus on the purity of voice and guitars to channel the series of brief haikus of hurt that were “Slow Burn Sorrow.” Only the Talk Talk cover broke the four minute barrier here. The rest of the material was quite succinct and left one wanting more. Never a bad thing in this business called “show.” Making the “Slow Burn Sorrow” EP into a coherent project that eked out new artistic paths for Pete Burns; who was apparently concerned about the fan reaction to work of such a different nature.
He need not have worried. This music is redolent of David Sylvian, Robin Guthrie, and Robert Fripp as stylistic touchstones of a high water mark. With perhaps the vibe of This Mortal Coil and the ghost of Scott Walker to be glimpsed in the shadows; hovering over it all. Fans of music to be felt are in for a treat. The Bandcamp DL is £6.00 with the physical covered by a cassette edition of 49 to be shipping on November 11th for £12.00. I’m looking forward to hearing the future volumes in this series, so DJ hit that button!
Jyl Porch had plenty of expat fun in making her album in Germany…41 years ago
I had written about this album in 2021 when I discovered that it had been released but sometime things flow slowly around Monk Central. Nevertheless, when I sold some CDs the money garnered had me thinking about a few LPs that didn’t get a CD release yet were still desired in the Record Cell, from boutique label Minimal Wave. While I’d prefer CDs of the albums in question by Jyl and Vicious Pink, I still ordered them. I buy any releases by Vicious Pink and was interested in finding out why the “JYL” album sold for three figures.It’s best to act on these impulses before the reissue is selling for three figures as well!
Minimal Wave | US | LP | 2020 | MW075
Jyl: JYL – US – LP [2020]
Mechanic Ballerina 3:27
Universe 3:55
Computer Love 3:55
Positions 3:55
Dance And Death 3:40
The Computer Generation 4:09
Animation 4:10
Silicon Valley 4:06
Electric Lady 3:45
I’m A Machine 4:06
The quirky rhythms of “Mechanic Ballerina,” military snare tattoos punctuated by synthetic percussion, let us know that we were in the right place for a blend of Krautrock and New Wave. Jyl herself offered the duality of spoken work verses and a chorus that sounded ripped from a Kate Bush record. Leo Leonhardt added the guitar chops which added the pressure that the methodical rhythms assiduously avoided.
Pulsing bass shot through with synth glissandos in the intro to “Universe” while heraldic synth lead lines pointed to the provenance of Prog rock roots with keyboardist Ingo Werner. The icy reserve of the track insuring that it never rose above the level of a simmer. Leaving us vulnerable to the irresolute drive and urgency of “Computer Love.” The middle eight with Helene Vernant speaking in French added complex shading to this variation to the Kraftwerk song that built to a fabulous climax courtesy to the range of vocalist Jyl.
“Positions” featured a crystalline rhythm track not a million miles from “We Are The Robots,” albeit with a slower tempo. The subject of the song was a model as in Kraftwerk’s classic but this time the magazines she appeared in were sexual. Ultimately, the narrator of the song suggested a queer romance between themselves and the model. Offering sigifiers of a sophisticated, monied romance such as champagne and caviar.
The fleet-footed dance beats of “Dance And Death;” touched by fluttering, rhythmic eighth notes challenged listeners not respond to the slipstream it created to the dance floor. Frank Wolf’s stinging guitar leads and bass backing vocals added both high and low end for the propulsive track.
The entire “Computer Generation” track felt like it was subjected to varispeed tempo increase throughout. Not merely on the gimmicky vocals, but the entire music bed as well. Giving the track a cartoonish, pixilated vibe that sort of rubbed me the wrong way. With only the over the top Simmons drum fills passing muster in the end with me. Far better was the song “Animation” that followed. It also had a pixilated feel but with contrasting elements that balanced the track out more. Jyl’s vocal was not contrived here and I liked how she adopted various personae within the song. Her almost giddy vocal on parts of the performance had the feel of false cheer from advertising carried to the extreme.
The funky Electro of “Silicon Valley” was a welcome influx of syncopation to the album. The sequencer line bouncing though the song reminded me of The System’s “You Are In My System.” Always a good thing. The juxtaposition between that element and the heraldic synth lines worked like a fiend. And I swear that the “hwah-hwah-hwah-hwah” expression vocal hook in the song showed that the “JYL” album was a part of Sparks record collection. With it manifesting once more as the hook in Sparks brilliant “Ugly Guys And Beautiful Girls.” I’ve never heard the distinctive hook anywhere else.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 5 out of 5.
This album was a fun glimpse into Europeans who normally made Art Rock exploring the Technopop space right when the analog technology was at its peak. There might be a PPG Wave Synth here but that might be the only digital synth in the mix. The mixture of drum machines and real, if treated, percussion worked like a charm for me. And the guitars and bass added their charms to the mix admirably.
And the Element X in the mix was Jyl herself, who inhabited the songs more like an actress than a singer. Not surprising given her background as a dancer and model. She had met up with co-writer Ingo Werner as a dancer in a project he was contributing to and then one thing led to another. Fortunately, this was carried through to finally reach our ears in the 21st century.
And more fortunately still, Jyl was possessed of a fine soprano voice that had no problems reaching Kate Kate Bush territory in those pre-Autotune days. Even so, she was more content to inhabit the songs as a character here, with her singing trading off with a sprechgesang approach. Between Jyl’s background and the chops that Producers Ingo Werner and Klaus Schulze brought to the project, this gave the “JYL” album the feel of a Grace Jones album of the period mashed up with the bird-of-a-feather that was Pater Baumann’s fun “Repeat, Repeat” album of the same period.
After enjoying this and diving for pearls in Discogs, my next step is to hope that Minimal Wave issue the two Angela Werner albums which feature the same cast of musicians here on LPs that also sell for a high cost in the aftetrmarket. Fortunately for anyone reading this, Minimal Wave have not sold this one out …yet. It’s yours for a modest $27.00 in their Bandcamp store along with a high-res download. The DL alone is $12.00. DJ hit that button!
Ross Middleton [L] and Gary Barnacle [R] were Leisure Process…sometimes Leisure Process International!
Just when I think, that’s it. Game over. There’s nothing left to buy that I’ve waited for half a lifetime on CD …they keep proving me wrong! I’m a fan of the band Ross Middleton started with his brothers, Scotland’s Positive Noise. And Gary Barnacle is on dozens of releases in the Record Cell as his facility with reeds make him a go-to sax player in the 80s…and beyond. By the 21st century I have been collecting their scant few singles as Leisure Process; a band on Epic Records who never managed to get an album out, but their singles were dancefloor catnip!
Like anything else produced by Martin Rushent in the ’83-’83 period, we paid attention to what he was working on. There were only four Leisure Process singles issued, and I have three of them in the Record Cell.
The only one that’s kept me from compiling a Leisure Process CD in my REVO series has been the lack of the 7″/12″ of “A Way You’ll Never Be.” “Love Cascade” was an Epic track. So much so that it’s among the earliest Razormaid re-edits which I duly have a copy of as well! Now the busy beavers at Cherry Red have green-lit [via sub-label Strike Force Entertainment] a best of all possible worlds collection that compiles all of their released singles as well as their unreleased album, “Remarkable People With Interesting Lives!” Another orphaned album resurfacing after way too many decades…and we’ll take what we can get! Here are the facts – previously unreleased material in red.
Strike Force Entertainment | UK | 2xCD | 2025 | SFE117D
Leisure Process: The Complete Epic Recordings – UK – 2xCD [2025]
DISC 1 | The 12” and 7” Singles, B-Sides and Remixes
Love Cascade (12” Version)
The Sun Turns Back
The Fluke
A Way You’ll Never Be (12” Version)
Rachel Dreams
Cashflow (Million Dollar Mix)
The Emigré 2
Anxiety (Neurotica Mix)
Company B (Extended Mix)
Love Cascade (7” Version)
A Way You’ll Never Be (7” Version)
Cashflow (7” Version)
Anxiety (7” Version)
Love Cascade [KD remix 2024]
A Way You’ll Never Be [KD remix 2024]
DISC 2 | Further Versions and Unreleased Tracks
Love Cascade (Dance Mix)
The Fluke (7” Edit)
Cashflow (DJ Edit)
The Emigré
The Company
Sweet Vendetta (Rough Mix)
Pentagon (Rough Mix)
Learning To Love (Rough Mix)
Interesting Lives (Rough Mix)
History Of My Heart (Rough Mix)
Call Me President (Rough Mix)
Cashflow (Rough Mix)
Anxiety (Rough Mix)
New Song 1 (Unreleased Instrumental)
Untitled (Unreleased Instrumental)
Son Of Untitled (Unreleased Instrumental)
The project is guided by reissue producer Barney Ashton-Bullock who oversaw the stellar Peter Godwin “The Polydor Years” 2xCD that Strike Force Entertainment put out last year that I finally got this summer as part of my Godwin-fest ’25 celebration. [Review to follow, one hopes!]. And I see he’s included previously unreleased tracks so raw at the end of disc 2, that they lacked names on the master tape. There are also two ringers – Post-Modern remixes from last year of two of the singles appended to disc 1.
The package will reach ears on November 7th and Cherry Red is pricing it to move at only £14.99. More than fair for two CDs worth of material. The package comes with 32 pages of liner notes in the booklet with words from Mr. Middleton himself along with producer Ashton-Bullock. It’s penciled in on the tightening up…but still incredibly long Monastic Want List! If it also whispers in your ear, then DJ hit that button!
Ultravox capped their Imperial Period with a Greatest Hits album for Christmas ’84
Knock me over with a feather! When the Blank + Jones remix EP of “Love’s Great Adventure” manifested last month I mistakenly pegged it for the very last tracks to be issued from the “Lament” ultrabox campaign. What it really was instead was a harbinger of the next Ultravox ultrabox campaign, and they are venturing where not even eagles dare with what is to my mind, the first super deluxe boxed set of a greatest hits album!
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 5 out of 5.
Back in 1984 the band had another strong year with their second top selling single ever, “Dancing With Tears In My Eyes.” Chrysalis felt that it was time for a Christmas season knockout by compiling all of the thirteen singles they had put into the charts from 1980-1984. With a new single included in the album with “Love’s Great Adventure.” There was a UK 2xLP with a bonus LP of 12″ remixes featuring a couple mixes that only appeared there. Which I bought as soon as I found out about it. Probably by 1986 at the latest.
More interesting to me at the time was the home video of their music videos. Their efforts were few and far between on MTV and many clips never got an airing at all in The States. Their first four as directed by Russell Mulcahy were over the top in being the best looking music videos I had ever seen. The clip for “The Voice”‘ still stuns me. Once “The Collection” videotape got a Japanese release [compatible with US TV standards] I was all over a ßetamax copy in hi-fi stereo like white on rice! All of my friends came over to watch that thing like it was rare gold on display. Which for us, it certainly was.
I later got a US CD of it to have “Love’s Great Adventure” on CD format and by 1988, I had traded up to the Japanese Laserdisc of it with digital sound. And even though I collected Ultravox, the four copies of that release – US CD, UK 2xLP, JPN ßeta, and JPN LD were all I ever had in my Record Cell. And truth be told, I think I have the CD of that earmarked for removal from the Record Cell at this advanced era.
Now there will be a fifth Ultravox BSOG with a multi-disc set due for “The Collection” on December 5th, 2025. It was Ultravox’s best selling album in the UK with triple platinum [over 900,000 copies sold and a number 2 chart ranking. So maybe that was the thinking behind turning it into a super deluxe ultrabox. What’s the bait for this Ultravox collecting fan? Exclusive material shown in blue.
THE SILVER DISC
Chrysalis Catalogue | UK | 4xCD + 2x Blu-Ray
Ultravox: The Collection DLX RM – UK – 4xCD + 2x Blu-Ray [2025]
CD1 | THE COLLECTION
Dancing With Tears In My Eyes [Single Version]
Hymn [Single Version]
The Thin Wall [Single Version]
The Voice [Single Version]
Vienna [Single Version]
Passing Strangers
Sleepwalk
Reap The Wild Wind
All Stood Still [Single Version]
Visions In Blue [Single Version]
We Came To Dance [Single Version]
One Small Day
Love’s Great Adventure
Lament [Single Version]
CD 2 | THE COLLECTION II
All Stood Still [Version]
The Thin Wall [Steven Wilson Single Mix]
Serenade [2025 Single Remix]
White China [Steven Wilson Remix Edit]
Brilliant [Radio Edit]
Same Old Story [Radio Edit]
Hymn [Version]
New Europeans [Moments From Eden Live]
Rise [Live
Live [Single Edit]
Lament [Version]
All Fall Down [Radio Edit]
All In One Day [Single Edit]
Vienna [Version]
CD 3 | THE RE-MIXES
Hymn [Steven Wilson 12” Re-Mix]
Sleepwalk [Steven Wilson 12” Re-Mix]
The Thin Wall [Steven Wilson 12” Re-Mix]
Visions In Blue [Steven Wilson 12” Re-Mix]
Reap The Wild Wind [12” Re-Mix]
Love’s Great Adventure [Blank & Jones so8os Reconstruction]
All Stood Still [Midge Ure 12” Re-Mix]
New Europeans [Extended Re-Mix]
Same Old Story [12” Re-Mix]
We Came To Dance [12” Re-Mix]
CD 4 | THE B-SIDES
Waiting
Passionate Reply
Herr X
Alles Klar
Keep Talking (Cassette Recording During Rehearsal)
I Never Wanted To Begin
Paths And Angles
Hosanna (In Excelsis Deo)
Monument
Break Your Back
Overlook
Easterly
Building
Heart Of The Country [Instrumental]
Man of Two Worlds [Instrumental]
3
All In One Day [Instrumental]
Dreams?
Stateless
Blu-ray 1 | PROMOTIONAL VIDEOS
Passing Strangers
Vienna [Uncut Version]
The Thin Wall
The Voice
Reap The Wild Wind
Hymn
Visions In Blue
We Came To Dance
One Small Day
Dancing With Tears In My Eyes
Lament
Love’s Great Adventure
Same Old Story
All Fall Down
Rise [Live]
Vienna [Live In St Albans 1980]
Sleepwalk [Live In St Albans 1980]
Reap The Wild Wind [Extended Version]
Visions In Blue [Uncensored Version]
The Thin Wall [Steven Wilson Single Edit]
Reap The Wild Wind [Steven Wilson Stereo Edit]
Dancing With Tears In My Eyes [Piano Version]
Quartet [Australian Electronic Press Kit August 1982]
Extended Special Re-Mix [Part 1]
Extended Special Re-Mix [Part 2]
Blu-ray 2 | AT THE BBC
Sleepwalk [Top Of The Pops 14.8.1980]
Vienna [Top Of The Pops 15.1.1981]
All Stood Still [Top Of The Pops 11.6.1981]
The Thin Wall [Top Of The Pops 27.8.1981]
The Voice [Top Of The Pops 12.11.1981]
Hymn [Top Of The Pops 16.12.1982]
We Came To Dance [Top Of The Pops 8.6.1983]
One Small Day [Top Of The Pops 9.2.1984]
Dancing With Tears In My Eyes [Top Of The Pops 31.5.1984]
Lament [Top Of The Pops 5.7.1984]
Love’s Great Adventure [Top Of The Pops 18.10.1984]
Mine For Life [Old Grey Whistle Test 5.11.1982]
Visions In Blue [Old Grey Whistle Test 5.11.1982]
Hymn [Old Grey Whistle Test 5.11.1982]
Billy Currie Interview [Riverside 1/11/1982]
Hymn [The Kenny Everett Show 28.12.1982]
Visions In Blue [ORS 18.2.1983]
Hymn [ORS 18.2.1983]
I Remember (Death In The Afternoon) [ORS 18.2.1983]
One Small Day [ORS 2.3.1984]
White China [ORS 2.3.1984]
Man Of Two Worlds [ORS 2.3.1984]
White China [One For The Road 18.8.1984]
Dancing With Tears In My Eyes [One For The Road 18.8.1984]
Love’s Great Adventure [Saturday Superstore 20.10.1984]
Same Old Story [Wogan 12.9.1986]
All Fall Down [Wogan 14.11.1986]
The insurmountable pothole I can see right off the top is the fact that half of the CD material is already in my Record Cell. I’ve got the A-sides and B-sides on discs one and four nine ways to Sunday already. The worst is that for anyone who bought the first four boxed sets [raises hand], that material is already a part of them. I also see that several B-sides are missing from CD4 as well: “King’s Lead Hat [Live],” “Face To Face [live],” and “7/8.” Maybe they all couldn’t fit?
The only real pull for this fan is to be found on discs two and three. Disc two is a re-think of “The Collection” with material from the later albums added. As well as “versions” of some old standbys. Whether these are actual version mixes [dub mixes to you] remains to be seen, but there’s also a 2025 mix of the “Serenade” single mix from the “Quartet” box.
Disc three is the most interesting thing here to me. A whole disc of new remixes, including the Blank + Jones “Love’s Great Adventure” so80s reconstruction. Of course the big gravitational pull for my money will be the four Steven Wilson remixes of material running the gamut of “Hymn” to “Sleepwalk.” I’m expecting good things there given the transformative nature of the 12″ mixes from the hand of Wilson on the last box. A “Sleepwalk” 12″ will be most delicious and highly desirable.
Then as far as I can see, the main fan-bait here are the two Blu-Rays filled with music videos, EPK material, and various TV appearances from over the years. All of the videos were shot on 16mm film, so I can’t imagine them being transformed on Blu-Ray even if they were 4K scanned from the original elements. 16mm film was full of grain, but in 2025, there exist numerous digital noise reduction plug-ins that can eliminate all traces of grain. Giving the resulting video a weird plastic sheen. I’m hopeful that this has not happened to these great videos as the grain was intrinsic to their look, but I’m a purist, and possibly an old man shaking his fist at the clouds on that issue! We’ll only know when the product ships.
The BBC material has undoubtedly been upscaled with AI to look appropriately hi-res. As much as I despise AI, that’s one of the handful of least objectionable uses for it that I see. There are a lot of Top Of The Pops appearances and I wonder if the “Vienna” performance with Midge Ure looking like the bastard son of Rob Halford in his leathers, chains, and studs will be included. It’s the biggest “what the…!!??” imaginable if you’ve not seen it.
Old Grey Whistle Test videos are more interesting in that the band were actually live. Seeing Ultavox play live back then in the pre-MIDI days was always a thrilling, razor’s edge ballet of timing and coverage as the band members strove to perform their material in all of its complexity. I recognize the names of other the TV show appearances, with the exception of ORS. Can any UK fans help out a clueless Yank here?
CLEAR WAX
Chrysalis Catalogue | UK | 4x clear LP | 2025
Ultravox: The Collection DLX RM – UK – 4 x clear LP [2025]
LP 1 + 2 | THE COLLECTION
Dancing With Tears In My Eyes [Single Version]
Hymn [Single Version]
The Thin Wall [Single Version]
The Voice [Single Version]
Vienna [Single Version]
Passing Strangers
Sleepwalk
Reap The Wild Wind
All Stood Still [Single Version]
Visions In Blue [Single Version]
We Came To Dance [Single Version]
One Small Day
Love’s Great Adventure
Lament [Single Version]
LP 3 + 4 | THE COLLECTION II
All Stood Still [Version]
The Thin Wall [Steven Wilson Single Mix]
Serenade [2025 Single Remix]
White China [Steven Wilson Remix Edit]
Brilliant [Radio Edit]
Same Old Story [Radio Edit]
Hymn [Version]
New Europeans [Moments From Eden Live]
Rise [Live
Live [Single Edit]
Lament [Version]
All Fall Down [Radio Edit]
All In One Day [Single Edit]
Vienna [Version]
Of course this being Ultravox, there’s also a clear vinyl LP box of this, but only the contents of CDs one and two make the cut for that edition. Making me so glad I’m not longer a hardcore Ultravox collector. If this had happened thirty years earlier, I might be buying all of these. Including the blue/white splatter 2xLP limited edition of 300 that’s already sold out [so why did I bother mentioning it]. So if we wish to partake, what’s the buy-in cost?
There are 5000 copies worldwide of the CD/Blu-Ray box at $95.99. The clear LP version will cost the same in a 2500 pressing. The 2x splatter LP version [only 300] will be pressed up by Vinyl Factory so that explains why it was a costly $102.99 [winces]. With the current worldwide shipping turmoil [courtesy of The Fathead] I can’t imagine how much more it will cost to get these shipped from the UK Ultravox store. Fortunately there are fine US dealers who will offer the CD box for a scanty $2.99 domestic shipping charge. And they’ll sell you the CDs at a pre-order discount at $83.58!
But is any of this resonating with me? Not for that much money. I’m winding down my collecting and in fact liquidating many Ultravox CD titles from my Record Cell. I look at this package with a critical eye and think, how often do I watch the Ultravox videos that I already have? That would be almost never by this point in my 45 years of fandom. Boxed sets with DVDs and Blu-Rays often go unwatched in this household. So the 2x Blu-Rays aren’t pulse-quickening for this fan.
Looking at this package coldly, I can see myself buying the unreleased mixes ala carte in the iTunes store for under $20 total. I can be up for that. Especially those Wilson 12″ mixes! If Chrysalis is willing to release a boxed set for a compilation, this tells me that the Ultravox ultrabox campaign will continue forward, with perhaps a “Monument” box, but definitely boxes for “UVOX” and “Brilliant.” And not even Steven Wilson remixes could salvage those albums for me! I’m trying to sell off the copies I have already! If any of this rings your bells, then DJ hit that button!
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Post-Punk Monk 