Depeche Mode claimed to be punks with synthesizers, but it was Ultravox! who first showed the kind of dangerous rhythms that keyboards could create. The quintet certainly had their antecedents -- Hawkwind, Roxy Music, and Kraftwerk to name but a few, but still it was the group's 1977 eponymous debut's grandeur (courtesy of producer Eno), wrapped in the ravaged moods and lyrical themes of collapse and decay that transported '70s rock from the bloated pastures of the past to the futuristic dystopias predicted by punk. Epic tales of alienation, disillusion, and disintegration reflected the contemporary holocaust of Britain's collapse, while accurately prophesying the dance through society's cemetery and the graveyards of empires that were to be the Thatcher/Reagan years. "Saturday Night in the City of the Dead," "Wide Boys," "The Wild, the Beautiful and the Damned," "Dangerous Rhythm," and "Slip Away" all simultaneously bemoaned and celebrated the destruction of Western culture while swaggering boldly through the wreckage; "I Want to Be a Machine" and "My Sex" warned of and yearned for technology's triumph. And it was these apposites and didactic emotions that so pierced the zeitgeist of the day, and kicked open a whole new world of synthesized music. Dangerous rhythms indeed. ~ Dave Thompson, All Music Guide
Terry Barham (Engineer), Brian Eno (Producer), Chris Cross (Bass), Steve Lillywhite (Producer), Warren Cann (Drums), Billy Currie (Synthesizer), Billy Currie (Keyboards), Steve Shears (Keyboards), Chris Cross (Synthesizer), Chris Cross (Vocals), Warren Cann (Percussion), Billy Currie (Violin), Steve Shears (Vocals), John Foxx (Vocals), Ultravox (Producer)
"Dangerous Rhythm"
Released: 4 February 1977 (4 February 1977)
Ultravox! is the first studio album from the band Ultravox!, which at the time was properly eponymous before the band dropped the Neu!-inspired exclamation mark from their name. It was released on Island Records on 25 February 1977[1], recorded at Island Studios in Hammersmith in the autumn of 1976[2] and produced by Ultravox! and Steve Lillywhite, with studio assistance from Brian Eno.
Songs like "Sat'day Night in the City of the Dead" and "Dangerous Rhythm" were written while the band were named as Tiger Lily and were performed, alongside other songs from the album, during 1976, before its release.[3] Videos of a gig in Germany in that year can be seen on Youtube.
It's believed three of the songs of the album have promo videos, "The Wild, The Beautiful And The Damned", "Dangerous Rhythm" and "Wide Boys" and also can be seen on Youtube, but it's also suggested the three were only live performances with playback.[4]
"Sat'day Night In The City Of The Dead" features Foxx playing harmonica and rapidly delivered vocals, with lyrics that paint a picture of city nightlife on speed.
The epic "I Want To Be A Machine" has a title which comes from a famous Andy Warhol quote.
"Lonely Hunter" is about a fox, roaming around various landscapes. This is a favorite Foxx theme throughout his career.
The lyrics to "My Sex" include many striking images, such as suburbanphotographs, silent films and even a car crashoverpass. It got radio play in spite of its subject matter and caught the attention of many ears. The single moved some units and features Eno's minimoog, as does the unique sounding Currie/Foxx composition "Slip Away". The song also influenced the name of another New Wave band, formed in New Zealand in 1978, Mi-Sex.
