Foxx's solo album "The Garden", is an absolute gem in my opinion.

The Ultravox with John Fox,will always be the best.

This is one of their best tracks. I wasn't a fan of the later stuff once John Foxx left.

Probably my favorite Foxx-era Ultravox song, it's just so mysterious and unique.

@patrick3926

10 ай бұрын

Agree

Great track, it moves me still, even after all these years... Thanks for listening...

Very trippy. It sounds like it was ahead of its time. Also mysterious, futuristic and very good to hear.

Such an exceptionally great track, the textures of percussion set against synthesised strings and harmonies within the backing track whilst John Foxx tells the poetic story in a monotone fashion are so ahead of its time and the haunting sax very reminiscent of Roxy Music

A very Roxy Music sounding Ultravox track.

@bobholtzmann

10 ай бұрын

It's that sax -- their later music used more keyboards.

@RD-dl9ms

9 ай бұрын

Interesting, given that there's a Bryan Ferry song with the same name (but entirely different).

@BaalDavaR999

5 ай бұрын

A lot of the John Foxx-era stuff has a very heavy Roxy Music influence, at least to my ears.

I love their song "The Wild, the beautiful and the Damned".

There’s just something about when that shimmering synth line starts up, gets me every time.

THE PRODUCTION AND SOUND DESIGN (AUDIO ENGINEERING) IS FANTASTIC ON THIS TRACK ! ! !👍👍👍👍👍👍👍

@dizzcovermusic147

Ай бұрын

Conny Plank was the master Krautrock producer fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conny_Plank You can feel his influence on the next album Systems of romance

My all-time favourite track. So far ahead for 1977.

@patrick3926

10 ай бұрын

This would have been cool to witness in ‘77. Wow

i never did care about post-foxx ultravox, but love their first three albums. this was a favorite, along with My Sex, I Want to be a Machine, The Man who dies everyday. (And the complete Systems of Romance-album.)

It reminded me of international travel -- where you dont quite know what will happen when you get there but you're along for the ride

There was so much good music around about in this period of punk /post punk, most of it wasn't mainstream and mostly only diehards know it but even today they stand the test of time. Ultravox were one of these bands and before Midge Ure joined to make them more commercial they played some really cool synth prog rock. I had the first three albums but sold them to get some money when I joined the army, mores the pity. 😢

Foxx and numan both geniuses 😊

The title is from a famous film by French director Alain Resnais

The best song about the bomb ever. So poetic. Few "punk" bands would have been brave enough to incorporate a tenor sax and banjo but Ultravox did - to great effect.

The interesting thing about this one is, it seems like every time they performed it, they arranged it quite differently. There's a faster, more punk-influenced guitar/bass/drums version, used as the B-side of a single around the same time. There is also a live in-studio TV performance where it is performed slow with the inclusion of live drums played in tandem with the drum machine. Each version quite different from the other.

This is a band I've never really delved into, but I've been following around here with a lot of interest. I can say that it has been a journey of discovery. I'm loving every track on every album. It's amazing how certain bands pass us by practically unscathed over time only to find out much later how we wasted time not hearing them before. I knew some singles, I liked them, but I never felt motivated to look for the albums properly. Now here I am enjoying every minute of it. Thanks for the opportunity, JP!

I’m one of the people that likes both versions of Ultravox.

I bought this album because Gary Numan had spoken about them and I had heard this brilliant track - the rest of the album was a shock at first but I soon grew to love it and you should do one of the other tracks just to see what punky Ultravox! is like the ! is a doff of the hat to Neu!

Congrats forn your 30k Hola desde España! The BEST Channel to Discover "new" music. Do The Feelies, they're really special

One of the best songs I’ve ever heard. Love John Foxx early Ultravox!

Coming at the end of their ‘Punkiest’ album, this was a bit of a sore thumb at the time, but a very sweet one, as it pointed the direction they would take, and it’s still a proper Classic 👍

I love this song! My favorite album by them is “Systems of Romance.” As a big Genesis fan Justin I thought you might mention that the drum machine on the track is quite similar to the one used on “Duke”. It’s a Roland I think :)

@konfu-tzu

10 ай бұрын

Roland-CR78 to be precise. I had one about a thousand years ago it seems...

..yeah ! Hiroshima mon Amour, movie by Alain Resnais, screenplay by Marguerite Duras !... a certain french style !

Song named after a famous 1959 French film by Alain Resnais; it's a beautiful sing in its own right

I cannot say that this is my favorite Ultravox song because there are more than one in the first row on their first two albums.

Great song,great album....Jon Foxx era was the best by far.

Justin's thinking..... Andy Mackay?

Another great "old" one by Ultra Vox is "I Want To Be A Machine".

Please Justin.. listn to the Whole album ! the 2nd of Foxx Ultravox era ! So higher than S.o R. !!

Both ultravox line ups were great in their own ways , no negativity with me .

song in its own right

Hiroshima is a great track. There are some other great moments on Ha!- Ha!-Ha! Like Distant Smile, The man who dies everyday, The frozen ones and Fear in the Western World, but I do think Systems of Romance is a stronger album. Try The Thin Wall and The Voice from Rage in Eden and/or Hymn and Reap the wild wind, from Quartet. Alternatively, I suggest playing the while of the Lament album. In reality, it's like 2 different bands, the one fronted by John Foxx and the one with Midge Ure. Also Metamatic and The Garden by John Foxx are worth listening. BTW this makes me feel old as I bought the album first time around!

Don't know much about the John Foxx era Ultravox but this one gets the thumbs up from me. I like the use of the sax: those early drum machines can have a harsh sound, combining them with the acoustic instrument gives something smoother.

The live version they did of this on the BBC's Old Gray Whistle Test in 1977 (readily available on youtube) is much better in my view.

. . . Dressed in European grey . . . :)

Yep, the artistic Foxx is in part channelling the film of the same title which is confusing in its use of flashbacks (Resnais utilises the unreliable flashbacks to depict trauma and its aftereffects on the memory; the mirroring of the trauma of the Japanese architect after the atomic bomb on his native Hiroshima and the French lady who was shunned and treated like a scapegoat by her community after her affair with a German soldier in Nazi-occupied France). *A thematic sequel to this song, at least in my mind anyway, is the song 'Europe After The Rain' from Foxx's second solo album 'The Garden'. kzread.info/dash/bejne/n4qgpKOrg7DLlbw.html

@sonnyhenriksen284

10 ай бұрын

Thanks for this, Justin! Glad you enjoyed it.

Foxx penned this. He's re-recorded this a few times. His solo recordings of this are better imho, vocals are the highlight to me.

Please do their song Monument. It's little known but great 80s electronic soundtrack material

🎸🎸🎸🎸🎸

The sax is fairly dry also, when that changes it is welcome to me. A little pieced together but we were all learning to explore the new technologies. Not something I’m into but I’m glad to hear it.

Ha! Ha! Ha! is the most raw album in the career of Ultravox however it is in its final track, the softest "Hiroshima Mon Amour" that we feel like an aftertaste of Roxy Music (certainly John Foxx' vocals and the saxophone which can make think about that).

Such a classic. And this is the only track on the album that's anything like this - it's the closer, and the rest of the album is scathingly punky. And you're right about the vulnerability and raw yearning here - such a perfect contrast and pallet cleanser after all you've been through here. It stands on its own just fine, but is all the more impactful in the context of the album. John Foxx always had a knack for that, closing albums out with a stunning final track that leaves you satisfied and touched.

I prefer the cover by The Church

@tonywood8755

14 күн бұрын

Absolutely agree

The Church did a better version i think.

@patrick3926

10 ай бұрын

The church do everything better 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

@Kevvinm

10 ай бұрын

Didn’t know that, will have to check it out.

There is another version of this from an EP around 1978/9. It's much better than this, more chaotic and hollow sounding. The sax parts here are replaced by guitar. Look up 'alternative version' and compare

Very much like Tuxedomoon!!!!!!!

WoW