Review: First released in 1981, and garnering the 100,000-plus sales needed to hit Gold certification pretty quickly after arrival - a feat which, back in the glory days of charts, was still only enough for you to peak at #4 in the albums league - at the time this was a case of Ultravox, here in the height of the Midge Ure years, taking the electronic explorations that defined the previous two full-length records, Systems of Romance and Vienna, even further, returning to the same Cologne studio to achieve that quality and feeling.
Of course, there are still shades of the band as they were in formative, mid-1970s years, which many still forget was a far (far) rockier beast. Nevertheless, the synths make the most lasting impression here, with the LP somehow sounding kind of stark, a little cold and distant, perhaps even enigmatic, yet full and in many ways fun.
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