Thursday, January 19, 2017

Take Off Your Halo


Ultravox : Dangerous Rhythm


Debut Single and Eno Production of the Week. Dangerous Rhythm (Island).
They might be rather like a younger early days Roxy Music but, oh my, what a good model to copy. And their very youth bestows upon them a direct brashness missing in the recent Roxy. Rich emetic bass, precise Ringo drums, synthesiser cascades and Eno’s hand in the production make this the best and most confident debut single since ‘Anarchy’.
Sounds Review
Here is the Record Mirror March 12, 1977 singles review...
Dangerous Rhythm (Island WIP 6375) Cosmic reggae, if that’s possible. Heavier than lead bass and ice-cold vocals. Very weird and wonderful. **** (four stars)
Record Mirror March 12, 1977 singles review
By far their most memorable number, a reggae abstraction, mesmeric, simple, and subliminal, with Ferried vocals. - The New Musical Express




On January 19, 1977, Ultravox released its debut single, "Dangerous Rhythms". Island Records credits the production to Brian Eno who worked with the band, but not in the way they hoped. Drummer Warren Cann says Ultravox hoped Eno would be a technical wizard who could help the band find a unique sound.


   Cann told interview Jonas Warstad :

Eno was far more of a conceptualist—an ideas man. He was quite bold about not giving a damn about what the final result sounded like. He was only interested in the process (which is great for learning, and fine if your musical future doesn’t hinge on public, rather than private, reaction to the “final result”). While we immediately acknowledged the importance of “the journey” as opposed to “the destination,” in our case we were more pragmatic—the “final result,” which would be released for people’s listening pleasure, mattered very much to us! We agreed that it was very cool to do all sorts of unusual things via the recording process, but it still had to end up sounding good. There wouldn’t be a second album for us to make if the first one was less than we were capable of, and all we might say was, “But it was a gas to make!”

 After all was said and done, Eno only worked on three or four songs on the Ultravox debut, and none of his mixes made the final release.

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