by Tamaal Ghosh

Created on: March 31, 2009

The advent of the Eighties saw the synthesiser (which debuted in Sixties with the Mellotron and the Moog) power its way into ubiquity on the airwaves and on stage. It was also the era when Ultravox, a band that dominated and, arguably, defined Eighties music, rose from obscurity to all-conquering prominence.

To begin with, Ultravox were somewhat mercurial in their music. Under the aegis of their vocalist, John Foxx (aka Dennis Leigh) from 1973, they dabbled in genres ranging form glam to punk to synthpop. Heavily indebted to the art-school musicians of the era such as David Bowie and Roxy Music, they still failed to garner appreciable sales of albums or singles.

However, the last track on the second album, Ha!-Ha!-Ha! - an album dominated by electric violin and punkish guitar - featured the first use of a drum machine. The synth-pop prototype, "Hiroshima Mon Amour", has remained a favourite with critic and fan alike.

The third album, Systems Of Romance in 1977, was again met lukewarm criticalresponse and massive public indifference. By 1980, the band had disintegrated; dropped by their Island label had them (the Ultravox catalogue expunged and replaced by a compilation); Foxx gone solo; keyboardist and violinist Billy Currie was playing and touring with Foxx-influenced Gary Numan and bassist Chris Cross dabbling in projects with members of The Pretenders and Eddie & the Hot Rods.

It was into this cavernous breach into which Midge Ure stepped. A multi-talented musician - a guitar god and a keyboard king, as well as a a vibrant vocalist, - Ure re-juvenated the moribund Ultavox in 1980.

His C.V. indicated of his versatility with stints in the semi-glam Slik, outfit, the punkish Rich Kids (Glen Matlock of the Sex Pistols) and, most recently, helping power the muscular rock of Thin Lizzy.

This, the band's third mutation, released their debut album, Vienna in July of 1980. One of the tracks, "Sleepwalk", had been released a few weeks earlier in an effort to cement their relationship with new label, Chrysalis. It became the band's inaugural Top 40 single in the U.K., thus achieving its purpose and paving the way for a "Vienna" title track and album.

"Vienna" embodied variety and versatility. A number of different styles make an appearance here, from the minimalist approach of the brooding "Mr. X" to the sweeping breadth of instrumental "Astradyne", with synth-rock numbers like "Passing Stangers" parading within its walls.

It was a soft parade to some; Rolling Stone panned

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