• Source: Vienna (album)

Vienna is the fourth studio album by British new wave band Ultravox, first released on 11 July 1980 through Chrysalis Records. Vienna was Ultravox's first album with their best-known line-up, after Midge Ure had taken over as lead vocalist and guitarist following the departures of John Foxx and Robin Simon, as well as the group's first release for Chrysalis. The album peaked at number 3 in the UK Albums Chart and reached the top ten in Australia, New Zealand and several European countries.
Vienna was produced by German producer Conny Plank who had also produced Ultravox's previous album Systems of Romance, and mixed at Plank's studio near Cologne, Germany. Ultravox changed pace, style and audience with the arrival of Ure, who had already participated in the formation of Visage with Ultravox's keyboard and viola player Billy Currie. Many different styles are in use on the album; "Astradyne" is a long instrumental featuring sweeping, majestic synthesizer arrangements throughout, while "Mr. X" is a simpler, much sparser Kraftwerk pastiche. The lyrics to the album's songs were mainly written by Ure and drummer Warren Cann, who also takes a rare lead vocal on "Mr. X".
Four singles were released from the album. "Sleepwalk" was released as a single in June 1980, and was followed by "Passing Strangers" in October 1980, "Vienna" in January 1981 and "All Stood Still" in May 1981. "New Europeans" was used in a Japanese television commercial and released as a single in Japan, earning a gold disc.
In terms of sales, the album had a slow start, but the release in January 1981 of the title track as the third single from the album heralded the band's commercial breakthrough worldwide and led to healthy sales throughout 1981.
Vienna was remastered and re-issued on CD in 2000 on the EMI Gold label. This release also included a selection of B-sides from the album's singles as bonus tracks as well as the promotional video for the "Vienna" single. A remastered Definitive Edition of Vienna was released in 2008, which included a second disc of rare and previously unreleased tracks, and a 40th anniversary six-disc Deluxe edition was released in October 2020.




Background


Writing and rehearsing the songs for the album began in autumn 1979, shortly after Midge Ure had joined the band. Among the first tracks written were "Astradyne", "Mr. X" and "New Europeans". As opposed to the band's previous albums, the music was written collectively by the four members by throwing ideas back and forth between them and then working on the ideas and turning them into song structures. Warren Cann contributed to the lyric writing as Ure, who would later write more of the band's lyrics, was still settling in as a new member. Cann wrote the bulk of the lyrics to "Sleepwalk", "Mr. X", "Private Lives", "All Stood Still" and "New Europeans".
Following a live gig in London in February 1980 Chrysalis Records had become interested in the band and gave them studio time to record some demos. The band decided to concentrate on one song and record it properly. They recorded "Sleepwalk" and were offered a contract by Chrysalis.
The tracks for the album were then recorded at RAK Studios in London and later mixed in Conny Plank's studio in Germany. The song "Vienna", which had been written quickly in early 1980, was seen by the band as the musical high point of the album and the song that best represented what they wanted to do, so they decided to make it the title track of the album. However, a few test pressings of the album were made with the alternative title Torque Point on the sleeve.




Critical reception



Reviews for Vienna were mixed, with Ure's introduction and the move towards mainstream pop dividing critics. In Sounds, John Gill gave the album an enthusiastic review, and challenged the reader, "I dare you to find another band who can mix Euro systems-rock, electronics, Can's fairground style and English music with such panache". In Smash Hits, reviewer Steve Taylor was similarly enthusiastic, giving the album a 8 out of 10 rating: "The addition of talented Midge Ure", Taylor wrote, "has done these leading lights of electro-pop nothing but good. This is tough, emotive music for all the cleverness of the arrangements and the technical skill that has gone into the playing and production... Synthesizer music with backbone and muscle."
Penny Kiley of Melody Maker was generally positive but felt the album contained weak moments, saying that "the first half of side two reveals the most tedious liabilities. Electronic clichés are no worse than guitar clichés, but they're more likely to sound pompous." Overall, however, she concluded, "Ultravox deserve success. This should do the trick."
Philip Hall of Record Mirror felt that although "Ultravox make all the right noises, they are never capable of writing consistently memorable pieces ... Vienna is full of conventional electronic rock songs which are beautifully executed but never inspiring."
NME's Chris Bohn was also indifferent, calling Vienna "an album of gaudy, sometimes magnificent, but mostly hollow edifices, housing songs that replace Foxx's elliptical imagery with clumsily verbose descriptions of similar scenery", and described that imagery as "seemingly derived from Hollywood films of the continent ... it's similarly full of glamour and lacking in true essence". The review presciently concluded, "Despite their wanton plagiarism and less clearly defined ideas, Vienna will probably be the album that makes Ultravox because, unfettered of Foxx's commitment, they're free to compromise themselves a touch to suit contemporary tastes."
American music publication Billboard named Vienna as one of its "recommended LPs" in August 1980. Rolling Stone's Debra Rae Cohen was more critical and found that Ultravox "seem reduced to mimicking their earlier achievements", panning the album's "overblown arrangements" and "familiar and banal electronic effects." Critic Robert Christgau dismissed Vienna as "dance music for the locked pelvis."
Reviewing the 2000 reissue for Q, David Quantick called Vienna the band's "best album" and said that "there were fine singles such as 'Sleepwalk' and 'All Stood Still' and the title track which – like a cartoon hippo – remains pompous yet loveable." Peter Kane's review of the deluxe version for Q eight years later was less favourable, describing the album as "sounding as cold and artificial as ever".
Also reviewing the 2008 version, Mojo's David Buckley said that "[the title track]'s studied grandeur has aged far less well than the electro-rush of lead-off single 'Sleepwalk', the instrumental 'Astradyne', or the punishing riff-rock of 'New Europeans'. Ultimately, Vienna, with its winning formula of cold futurism and big rock textures, took Ultravox out of the margins and into the big-haired '80s mainstream." Buckley was more complimentary in a 2020 reappraisal for Mojo, noting it as the album where Ultravox "transformed (or transmogrified, for many lovers of the original line-up) into chart contenders; nothing whatsoever wrong with that."
AllMusic critic David Jeffries said, "There are plenty of pretentious and pompous moments at which Foxx-era purists cringe, but taken as a snooty rebellion against the guitar-heavy climate of the late '70s, they're ignorable ... Add Anton Corbijn's photography and Peter Saville's smart cover design and all the ingredients for an early-'80s classic are there. A few albums later, it would all seem like a fluke, but on Vienna, all the pieces come together."




Track listing


All songs written and composed by Warren Cann, Chris Cross, Billy Currie and Midge Ure.
European version
Side one

"Astradyne" – 7:07
"New Europeans" – 4:01
"Private Lives" – 4:06
"Passing Strangers" – 3:48
"Sleepwalk" – 3:10
Side two

"Mr. X" – 6:33
"Western Promise" – 5:18
"Vienna" – 4:53
"All Stood Still" – 4:21
North American version
Side one

"Sleepwalk" – 3:10
"Passing Strangers" – 3:48
"New Europeans" – 4:01
"Private Lives" – 4:06
"Astradyne" – 7:07
Side two

"Mr. X" – 6:33
"Western Promise" – 5:18
"Vienna" – 4:53
"All Stood Still" – 4:21
2000 reissue bonus tracks

"Waiting" (B-side of "Sleepwalk") – 3:51
"Passionate Reply" (B-side of "Vienna") – 4:17
"Herr X" (German version of "Mr. X" – B-side of "Vienna" 12") – 5:49
"Alles Klar" (B-side of "All Stood Still") – 4:53
"Vienna" (promotional video for single)

2008 Remastered Definitive Edition
Disc one is the same as the original European release/album.
Disc Two

"Sleepwalk" (early version) – 3:23
"Waiting" – 3:51
"Face to Face" (recorded live at St Albans, 16 Aug 1980 – B-side of "Passing Strangers") – 6:04
"King's Lead Hat" (Brian Eno) (recorded live at The Lyceum, 17 Aug 1980 – B-side of "Passing Strangers" 12") – 4:06
"Passionate Reply" – 4:17
"Herr X" – 5:49
"All Stood Still" (12" version) – 5:08
"Alles Klar" – 4:53
"Keep Talking" (cassette recording during rehearsals) – 6:23
"Sleepwalk" (recorded live in rehearsals at The Lyceum, 17 Aug 1980) – 3:43
"All Stood Still" (recorded live in rehearsals at The Lyceum, 17 Aug 1980) – 4:35
2020 40th Anniversary Deluxe Edition
Disc one: original 1980 analog master

"Astradyne" – 7:07
"New Europeans" – 4:06
"Private Lives" – 4:08
"Passing Strangers" – 3:50
"Sleepwalk" – 3:23
"Mr. X" – 6:31
"Western Promise" – 5:22
"Vienna" – 4:54
"All Stood Still" – 4:23
Disc two: Steven Wilson stereo mix

"Astradyne" – 7:09
"New Europeans" – 4:03
"Private Lives" – 4:13
"Passing Strangers" – 3:54
"Sleepwalk" – 3:19
"Mr. X" – 6:32
"Western Promise" – 5:20
"Vienna" – 5:03
"All Stood Still" – 4:35
"Waiting" – 4:08
"Passionate Reply" – 4:30
"Alles Klar" – 5:04
"Herr X" – 6:00
Disc three: Rarities

"Sleepwalk" (early version) – 3:22
"Waiting" – 3:54
"Face to Face" (Live in St. Albans, 16 August 1980) – 6:03
"King's Lead Hat" (Live at the Lyceum, 17 August 1980) – 4:08
"Vienna" (single version) – 4:42
"Passionate Reply" – 4:20
"Herr X" – 5:53
"All Stood Still" (single version) – 3:44
"Alles Klar" – 4:56
"Keep Talking" (cassette recording during rehearsals) – 6:23
"All Stood Still" (12" mix) – 5:07
"Sleepwalk" (soundcheck, The Lyceum, 17 August 1980) – 3:44
"All Stood Still" (soundcheck, The Lyceum, 17 August 1980) – 4:36
"Vienna" (live video version, St. Albans City Hall, 16 August 1980) – 5:29
"Sleepwalk" (live video version, St. Albans City Hall, 16 August 1980) – 3:41
Disc four: Cassette recordings during rehearsals, 1979/1980

"Astradyne" – 7:15
"New Europeans" (Instrumental) – 3:30
"Private Lives" (Instrumental) – 6:13
"Passing Strangers" (Instrumental 1) – 7:32
"Sleepwalk" (Version 1) – 2:56
"Mr. X" – 5:50
"Western Promise" – 4:51
"Vienna" – 4:47
"All Stood Still" (Instrumental 1) – 4:33
"Sound on Sound" – 3:51
"Animals" – 4:10
"Sleepwalk" (Version 2) – 4:02
"Sound on Sound" (Instrumental) – 5:15
"Passing Strangers" (Instrumental 2) –
"All Stood Still" (Instrumental 2) –
Disc five: Live at St. Albans, 1980

"Astradyne" – 7:21
"New Europeans" – 4:19
"Passing Strangers" – 5:28
"Quiet Men" – 4:36
"Face To Face" – 6:05
"Mr. X" – 6:48
"Western Promise" – 5:23
"Vienna" – 5:15
"Slow Motion" – 3:52
"Hiroshima Mon Amour" – 7:35
"All Stood Still" – 4:31
"Sleepwalk" – 4:38
"Private Lives" – 4:42
"King's Lead Hat" – 5:03
Disc 6: Region 0 audio-only DVD
Steven Wilson Mix of album and b-sides

24/96 5.1 surround sound mix
DTS 24/96 5.1 surround mix
DOLBY AC3 5.1 surround mix
24/96 LPCM stereo mix
1980 Original analog master on album and b-sides

24/96 LPCM stereo mix




Personnel


Ultravox

Warren Cann – drums, electronic percussion, backing vocals, lead vocals on "Mr. X" and "Herr X"
Chris Cross – bass, synthesizers, backing vocals
Billy Currie – piano, synthesizers, viola, violin
Midge Ure – guitars, synthesizers, lead vocals (except on "Mr. X" and "Herr X")
Additional personnel

Conny Plank – co-production
Brian Griffin and Brian Aris – band photography




Charts






Certifications






Release history






References






External links


Ultravox: The Story: interview with Warren Cann by Jonas Wårstad

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