ULTRAVOX LIVE WITH SIMPLE MINDS
Ultravox are proud to announce a series of joint shows with great friendsSimple Minds in November 2013.
The four UK arena shows will see the band sharing the bill for the first time in the UK after parallel careers spanning 30+ years:
The Hydro, Glasgow
Wed, 27 Nov 2013 at 7:30 PM
Manchester Arena, Manchester
Thu, 28 Nov 2013 at 6:00 PM
National Indoor Arena, Birmingham
Fri, 29 Nov 2013 at 6:00 PM
The O2 Arena, London
Sat, 30 Nov 2013 at 6:00 PM
"It's unbelievable to think that this will be the first time two of the outstanding rock bands so influential in the eighties have ever shared the same stage in the UK", a spokesperson said.
ULTRAVOX LIVE DVD & BLU-RAY
Also imminent is a high definition live concert from Ultravox's European tour in October 2012. This multi camera shoot will be available on Blu-Ray as well as DVD.
A release date is yet to be finalised, but it is planned to be released mid to late summer to coincide with the November shows.
ULTRAVOX DOUBLE CD LIVE AT HAMMERSMITH APOLLO 27th Sept. 2012
http://abbeyroadlive.sandbag.uk.com/Store/DisplayArtist.html?CatID=5431
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Limited Edition Deluxe Double CD GBP 20,00
MP3 Download GBP 10,99
VIDEOS FROM THE BRILLIANT TOUR
Bristol, Colston Hall - "BRILLIANT"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kierY9fBMAc
Bristol, Colston Hall - "RISE"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJ8K3CKZMls&list=UUlc-hCm9bqcmgS_nDj3wNJg&index=2&feature=plcp
Oxford, New Theatre - "THE THIN WALL"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2-PBv1YvmM
Oxford, New Theatre - "SLEEPWALK"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3SvZrpMAfs&feature=share
ULTRAVOX ANNOUNCE "THE BRILLIANT TOUR
Ultravox have unveiled further plans for their forthcoming tour which starts on September 21st in Bristol and includes 14 shows in the UK, with a further 20 dates throughout Europe.
ULTRAVOX UK & EUROPEAN TOUR DATES 2012
SEPTEMBER
21.09.2012 - BRISTOL COLSTON HALL
22.09.2012 - OXFORD NEW THEATRE
23.09.2012 - PORTSMOUTH GUILDHALL
25.09.2012 - NOTTINGHAM ROYAL CENTRE
26.09.2012 - BIRMINGHAM SYMPHONY HALL
27.09.2012 - HMV APOLLO HAMMERSMITH
29.09.2012 - GUILDFORD G LIVE
30.09.2012 - MANCHESTER PALACE THEATRE
OCTOBER
02.10.2012 - SOUTHEND CLIFFS PAVILION
03.10.2012 - IPSWICH REGENT THEATRE
04.10.2012 - SHEFFIELD CITY HALL
06.10.2012 - BLACKPOOL OPERA HOUSE
07.10.2012 - GLASGOW CLYDE AUDITORIUM
08.10.2012 - GATESHEAD SAGE
10.10.2012 - FrRANCE, PARIS
11.10.2012 - BELGIUM, ANTWERP
12.10.2012 - HOLLAND, TILBURG
14.10.2012 - HAMBURG - DOCKS (GERMANY)
15.10.2012 - Denmark, Copenhagen
16.10.2012 - Sweden, Malmö
18.10.2012 - Finland, HelsinKi
20.10.2012 - Sweden, Stockholm
21.10.2012 - Norway, Oslo, Rockefeller
23.10.2012 - Sweden, Gothenburg
25.10.2012 - BERLIN - COLUMBIAHALLE (GERMANY)
26.10.2012 - MAINZ - PHOENIXHALLE (GERMANY)
27.10.2012 - LEIPZIG - HAUS AUENSEE (GERMANY)
28.10.2012 - MÜNCHEN - KESSELHAUS (GERMANY)
30.10.2012 - VIENNA - AUSTRIA
NOVEMBER
01.11.2012 - ZURICH - SWITZERLAND
03.11.2012 - MEMMINGEN - STADTHALLE (GERMANY)
05.11.2012 - MILAN - ITALY
07.11.2012 - KÖLN - E-WERK (GERMANY)
08.11.2012 - BIELEFELD - RINGLOKSCHUPPEN (GERMANY)
New Interview with Midge and new review of BRILLIANT:
http://www.electrozine.net/de/features/detail.php?beitragid=391
http://www.electrozine.net/de/releases/detail.php?beitragid=392
ULTRAVOX site released on May 08, 2012: www.ultravoxbrilliant.com
Blank & Jones Remix of "BRILLIANT" here:
1. Brilliant (Blank & Jones US Club Mix)
2. Brilliant (Blank & Jones Club Mix)
3. Brilliant(Blank & Jones Extended Remix)
http://fluxbpmonthemove.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/review-ultravox-brilliant-blank-jones.html
Pop Icons ULTRAVOX return with their fantastic new album and single "Brilliant".
Blank & Jones are proud to deliver the exclusive Remixes to this new anthem.
While the "Extended Remix" focuses in true "Blank & Jones so8os" style on the creation of Original Extended Mixes in the 1980s,
The two "Club Mixes" lead the way onto the big rooms around the globe.
New 'Brilliant' press release - RELEASED MAY 28TH ON EMI
Seminal electro pioneers Ultravox have issued the artwork for their first new album in 28 years, ‘Brilliant’ which is released on May 28th through EMI. The legendary quartet of Midge Ure, Billy Currie, Chris Cross and Warren Cann have created an album that not only stands alongside the finest work of their career but firmly places them as both a huge influence upon, and a vital contemporary force within, today’s musical climate.
Recorded in Canada, Los Angeles and the UK, ‘Brilliant’ is a stunning tour de force. “I think this record is probably the best one we’ve ever done,” explains Midge Ure, “because the songs are so much stronger than before. There’s a lovely naivety you have when you start out where you throw things together and think that they’re great and somehow that affects other people, but I think the fact that we’ve been working away separately over the years perfecting our art comes out on this record.”
The writing process for the twelve songs on ‘Brilliant’ started when Billy and Chris joined Midge at his house in Canada. “I have a house in the middle of the woods by a lake in Montreal and we realised if the three of us went to my house out there and sat down with some laptops, keyboards and guitars with no outside distractions at all, we could find out whether we were actually capable of writing something together again. And it was a phenomenal experience, a great bonding thing for the three of us; we just ate, slept and breathed music. It was a very, very instant thing, like getting back onto the horse again. We climbed back onto the saddle again and we were off and running.”
It was this sense of starting again that, according to Midge, really inspired the band. “That’s what we were trying to do when we first started, make something unique, something that came from the four of us. You can hear directly from what we were doing thirty years ago stuff that was coming out of deepest, darkest Germany - bands like Kraftwerk and Neu - but you can also hear the pop of Roxy Music and David Bowie and you put that mixture together and it becomes unique because nobody else sounds like that collective. But over the years we had an awful lot of followers and you can still hear some of that influence running through music today with other bands, the melody and the structure and the atmospherics.”
Yet the fact that the four members of Ultravox have come together again means that ‘Brilliant’ has the singular, unique sound which has inspired so many of today’s artists, but never been bettered. “If it was Ultravox with a slightly different line-up, if one of us wasn’t there it wouldn’t have that link but because the four of us are there together it has that link. Something about the persona of these characters coming together and those emotions turns it into something else.”
Further sessions in Canada and LA to record Warren’s drum parts followed leaving Midge, Billy and Chris to finish the recordings in their home studios. With the album almost complete they decided to bring in an outside producer to bring the whole album together.
“We didn’t want to lose the momentum and dry up after this amazing flurry of activity and great creative bubble,” recalls Midge. “So that’s when [producer] Steve Lipson came into the process at the end and helped us fine-tune everything. He’s very much a musician and became almost a fifth member of the band for a while, and he would challenge and question us on everything. We’d done about a year’s work on our own, very isolated and insular, and nobody else had heard anything. So once he came on board and got involved it just worked incredibly well.”
And the result is astonishing. From the opening, swelling barrage of ‘Live’ with its instantly identifiable piano motifs through the epic rock of ‘Flow’ to first single and title track ‘Brilliant’, there is no mistaking the sound of Ultravox; the huge choruses, the impassioned vocals, the driving rhythms and pulsing electronics.
‘Rise’ is a modern computer-pop classic while the likes of ‘Remembering’, ‘One’ and ‘Change’ evoke the cinematic atmospheres Ultravox do so well. Coupled with the widescreen drama of ‘Lie’, the chiming exoticism of ‘Satellite’, the sinister tension of ‘Hello’ and the chilling heartbreak of ‘Fall’, Ultravox have crafted an album that may well be ranked as their finest work to date.
The final part of the jigsaw puzzle was choosing which record company to release the album through, as the band had a number of offers on the table. But it was EMI, the band’s home for many years that they decided to return to. “We’ve always had the EMI connection through being signed to Chrysalis and EMI did such a fantastic job with the reissues around the ‘Return To Eden’ shows that it felt very natural. EMI got it, and understood what we were doing and understood the standards we have. We spent six weeks rehearsing for a three week tour to make sure it was as good as it could be and EMI are able to work to the same high standards.”
New article: Behind the scenes of Brilliant....
As previously announced, the classic line-up of seminal electro pioneers Ultravox – Midge Ure, Billy Currie, Chris Cross and Warren Cann – are releasing their first album of new material in almost three decades on May 28th via EMI. Entitled 'Brilliant’, which is also the lead single, it precedes a 27-date UK and European tour, with full details to be announced soon.
"'Brilliant’", explains frontman Midge Ure, "is a bitter sweet comment on pop culture. "You, the brilliant thing you are, outshine the brightest star, so distant and too far". It’s about the other side of fame and success, a song about the bright young things that ignore the consequences of fame with the ensuing burn out rate… In a way it should read 'Brilliant’ with a question mark."
Dramatic, passionate and truly epic in scale and sound, 'Brilliant’ is not only a prescient reminder of how great this reborn band are, but an exciting and vital addition to an extraordinary catalogue of music which today sounds more current and influential than ever.
"You only have to look back to the '80s and Ultravox were an oddity even then" remembers Midge. "When everyone else was doing poppy stuff on synthesizers, we did 'Vienna’. We didn’t fit into any music camp, we straddled them. At times we were an out-and-out rock band if you came to see us live, but we were making that noise with synthesizers as well as guitars. I mean 'Vienna’ still sounds unique thirty years on and if you make things that sound unique it becomes timeless."
Emerging from the new wave and electro scenes of the late 70’s, Ultravox fashioned a form of electronic rock music that delivered massive hits through the 1980’s such as 'Hymn’, 'Dancing With Tears In My Eyes’, 'The Voice’, 'Reap The Wild Wind’, 'Love’s Great Adventure’, 'We Came To Dance’ and of course 'Vienna’. With four top ten studio albums and a triple platinum greatest hits collection under their belts, the classic line-up played their last concert together in 1985 at Live Aid.
Then in 2009 the four members reunited for the sold-out Return To Eden tour and from that grew the seeds for this new album. Recorded in Canada, Los Angeles and the UK, 'Brilliant’ sees Ultravox expanding their classic sonic template and reminding us of their strength as songwriters of the highest calibre.
"We’ve got a very, very weird and strange outlook on music and this album has Ultravox’s DNA running right through it," says Midge. "And that DNA has a lot to do with Billy’s classical music upbringing, the way he structures chords and melodies, the way certain notes touch and provoke emotions and my pop sensibilities and melodies. Once you throw those things together it’s instantly Ultravox.
"I think there’s a direct link between what we did thirty years ago and 'Brilliant’ because it is us. If we’d tried to sit there and emulate what we did thirty years ago it wouldn’t have worked but luckily for us, if we sit down and do something together it sounds like Ultravox, we don’t try and make it sound like that, it’s just what comes out."
And the result is astonishing. From the opening, swelling barrage of 'Live Again’ with its instantly identifiable piano motifs through the epic rock of 'Flow’ to first single and title track 'Brilliant’, there is no mistaking the sound of Ultravox; the huge choruses, the impassioned vocals, the driving rhythms and pulsing electronics.
'Rise’ is a modern computer-pop classic while the likes of 'Remembering’, 'This One’ and 'The Change’ evoke the cinematic atmospheres Ultravox do so well. Coupled with the widescreen drama of 'Let It Lie’, the chiming exoticism of 'Satellite’, the sinister tension of 'Hello’ and the chilling heartbreak of 'Fall’, Ultravox have crafted an album that may well be ranked as their finest work to date.
"There are so many equally strong emotions to write about as well as love," Midge says of the inspirations behind the album, "which I hope we have used to good effect. My favourite song on the album is the final one, 'Contact’. It reflects how technology has taken over our lives and how we only communicate through that technology. That’s modern contact."
It’s been a long time coming but with 'Brilliant’ there’s no denying Ultravox have found their voice again.
Source: http://www.solo.uk.com/news/ultravox/ultravox-behind-the-scenes-24722.aspx
PRESS RELEASE March 29th 2012 - U L T R A V O X
Listen to the the new single "Brilliant" (edited from BBC2):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DY6VxLjBoq8
http://soundcloud.com/dominic-c-producer/ultravoxs-forthcoming-new
Pre-Order the new ULTRAVOX CD here:
http://www.townsend-records.co.uk/artist.php?artist=ultravox&ac=uvx
April 04: Teaser clip "Making of Brilliant":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhKNGouOnSQ
Those were the days .... 1976 .... Warren - do you remember?
Forthcoming TV Show mit Midge Ure:
"Durch die Nacht mit Glenn Gregory (Heaven 17) & Midge Ure (Ultravox)"'
Ein Film von Hasko Baumann, Länge: 52 Minuten, eine Produktion von Avanti Media für ZDF / ARTE
ARTE,5. Mai 2012, um 23.50 Uhr / ARTE 5th May 2012, 11:50 p.m. [complete press text will follow soon]
PIC OF THE DAY:
Latest comment from BILLY CURRIE - 13th DECEMBER 2011
Merry Christmas to all you people and have a great 2012!!!!!!!!!!!!
We have finally finished the ULTRAVOX album. We are putting a tour together for April.
Can't say exactly where yet. Looking at all possibilities! We will be performing some of our new music. Looking forward to that!
It was excellent working with Steve Lipson. Very talented! What energy he has!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Fucking Hell!
It is good to get out of the studio and thinking about performing live again! The release of the album will coincide with our tour.
Everything has changed in the music scene but not that one! I played the Violin on the Ultravox album.
It's good to work with a band again when playing the Violin. Musicians who have a feel for the instrument!
I played the Violin in Ultravox of the 70's and 80's. Enough for it to be part of the sound of the band.
I am getting on with my new music. This album will be out later in 2012.
The Viola will be prominant. It is such a soulful sound. I also have a beautifully quality instrument.
I will be informing everyone as to what is happening. Updating my site more frequently now we have the album finished so keep in touch!
Billy
Ultravox EXCLUSIVE interview with Jared Sagal: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wa5-VWAo5Tc
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Further comments from Midge and Billy about the new album:
Billy Currie - 20st MAY 2011
Hi people!
Very very excited now!
In the next few days the band is going into the main studio, here in London, with our choice of producer Steve Lipson to finish off and mix the new Ultravox album. You couldn't make it up, could you!!!!!
Let's give a big hand to Chris O'donnell, our points man, for putting all this together.
Without him we would have fallen out for another 20 years. Only joking.
Yes that's right what Midge says - I have dug out my old ARP and got it fixed up by my old Huddersfield mate Pete Wood.
Pete used to work for Ultravox back in the 80's. He built original custom electronic instruments for us as well.
He did a good job on my ARP.
It may end up on a few more tracks!!!!! I had forgotten what a lovely instrument it is.
Me & the band had such a hoot doing these solos and bits!!!!!!
It was fun doing it like we do now :- WITHOUT AN ENGINEER That does make quite a bit of difference.
Making ALL the decisions ourselves. It brings you closer!!!!!!
WOW!
All the best,
Billy
Midge on Twitter:
New Ultravox album turning out to be one of the best pieces of work we have ever done. Looking forward to completing it over next few weeks.
Classic Ultravox but with 2011 twist. Synth stacked. Guitar chugging. Texture filled. Haunting. Beautiful and fragile. Soaring and exciting.
OUT NOW: LIVE EP "Moments From Eden"
Ultimate Deluxe Edition [Includes Exclusive Artwork Print]
(Limited CD/10 Inch) (1xCD & 1X10 INCH)
Ultravox's Ultimate Deluxe limited Edition live EP 'Moments From Eden' is ultimately a collector's item made for the band's devoted fanbase as a memorandum of their most recent reunion 2010 European tour. The product itself is a combined 10" vinyl/CD 4-track EP which includes new live recordings of the classic Ultravox tracks "New Europeans", "Herr X", "White China"and "Love's Great Adventure".
Also included is marquis artwork, a booklet printed on specialised paper as well as an embossed gatefold sleeve.
As a new special addition, each order will now come with an Exclusive A4 High Resolution Artwork print. The Ultimate Deluxe Edition is an
exclusive to Townend Records and the Ultravox store. All previous orders have been upgraded to theUltimate Deluxe version.
Order here:
http://www.townsend-records.co.uk/product.php?pId=10004013&pType=1
MP3-Download here:
http://www.amazon.de/Moments-From-Eden/dp/B004QQEPT6/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=dmusic&qid=1301217452&sr=8-2
OUT NOW: Return to Eden-Live at the Roundhouse [CD+DVD] [Box-Set]
Recorded during the bands 2009 sell out UK tour on April 30 at the legendary Roundhouse in London. The Return To Eden tour was the first time that the classic Ultravox line-up of Midge Ure, Billy Currie, Criss Cross and Warren Cann had performed together in over 2 decades, and was follwed by a highly successful European and festival tour that ran through the summer and into the Autumn.
The DVD features incredible live versions of the band's greatest, most loved tracks including 'Dancing With Tears In My Eyes,' 'Hymn,' and the classic 'Vienna,' all in stunning 5.1 surround sound.
Tracks
1. Astradyne (live at The Roundhouse/DVD)
2. Passing Strangers (live at The Roundhouse/DVD)
3. We Stand Alone (live at The Roundhouse/DVD)
4. Mr X (live at The Roundhouse/DVD)
5. Visions In Blue (live at The Roundhouse/DVD)
6. Thin Wall (live at The Roundhouse/DVD)
7. I Remember (Death In The Afternoon) (live at The Roundhouse/DVD)
8. Rage In Eden (live at The Roundhouse/DVD)
9. Lament (live at The Roundhouse/DVD)
10. One Small Day (live at The Roundhouse/DVD)
11. All Stood Still (live at The Roundhouse/DVD)
12. Your Name (Has Slipped My Mind) (live at The Roundhouse/DVD)
13. Vienna (live at The Roundhouse/DVD)
14. Reap The Wild Wind (live at The Roundhouse/DVD)
15. Dancing With Tears In My Eyes (live at The Roundhouse/DVD)
16. Hymn (live at The Roundhouse/DVD)
17. Sleepwalk (live at The Roundhouse/DVD)
18. The Voice (live at The Roundhouse/DVD)
19. Building Eden (Reformation Documentary)
ULTRAVOX Re-Mixes complied by Blank & Jones
Dusseldorf and Koln based Remix team Blank and Jones are continuing their succesful "so80's" run of CD's to include Ultravox -
Press release from EMI Germany says - so8os [so eighties] – Artist Editions – by Blank & Jones // OUT FEBUARY 11, 2011
The finest Collection of original classic 12’’ Club & Extended Mixes! For the first time the very successful so8os [so eighties] compilation series extends the concept and focuses on some of the most influential bands of the 80s with their own so8os artist edition: Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark (OMD), Ultravox, Heaven 17 and Kajagoogoo.
The concept remains the same, only the original 12 inch and extended versions created by the artists with their producers were used.
For all fans of the legendary "so8os [so eighties]" compilations, these one artist collections are a must have as well.
REMEMBERING EDEN 30th ANNIVERSARY TOUR BOOK
ULTRAVOX fans launch ‘Remembering Eden – 30th Anniversary Tour Book’ a celebratory project to commemorate the return of the ‘80’s synth pop pioneers to the live stage in 2009/10.
The official release coincides with the 30th anniversary of the hit single ‘Vienna’ with a book launch taking place in London on the evening of Saturday 15th January 2011. The launch will then be followed by a club night devoted to Ultravox with a DJ set based on all the early Ultravox PLUS some very special mixes. Details to be confirmed.
Remembering Eden is a seven chapter journey presented in the form of a story which takes us from the ‘80’s right through to the present with the Return to Eden 2 tour being represented in its entirety. In brief, it contains:
- Foreword by Rusty Egan
- Exclusive interviews with Chris Cross and Billy Currie – provided by journalist Rob Kirby and only ever published in their entirety in the Re:Vox Fanzine which is now out of print, therefore many may not have read these.
- Alan Wild (original lighting designer) looks at the professional side of stage sets and lighting for the various tours.
- Laurie Small gives an insight into tour managing the band in the 1980’s with his stories and recollections while ex crew member (80’s) Roy Gwinn talks about specific preparation for the return.
- Zaine Griff recalls his memories of working with/meeting band members in the 1980’s
- Fan reviews and extensive photo library (including professional prev unpublished photos) covering all of Return to Eden 2 and highlights from Return to Eden 1.
- Martin Slade talks about the 2010 Vienna Campaign
- The publication also includes individual detailed band member biographies plus a snapshot of solo work, and a full band biography – all superbly illustrated with the fantastic digital artwork of Toni Hearn.
Have a look: http://www.rememberingeden.co.uk