Ultravox! - Young Savages (1978)

If you mention Ultravox to most people they'll probably start singing 'Oh, Vienna', but there's another group of people, like me, who will say 'they were never the same after John Foxx left'. Ultravox! (with the exclamation mark) were a British new wave band, formed in London in April 1974 on the initiative of vocalist and songwriter Dennis Leigh, and was originally known as Tiger Lily. An initial line-up comprised Leigh plus Chris St. John (Chris Allen) on bass, and Stevie Shears on guitar, with drummer Warren Cann and violinist Billy Currie joining in May and October 1974 respectively. The group released one single in 1975, which was a cover of the Fats Domino classic 'Ain't Misbehavin'', and then went through a series of name changes including The Zips, Fire of London, London Soundtrack, and for a short while The Damned, before they realised that the name was already taken. They signed to Island Records in 1976, although they had still not decided on a name, and it wasn't until they'd almost finished recording their debut album that they settled on Ultravox! At the same time, Leigh chose John Foxx and Allen chose Chris Cross as their respective stage names, and in February 1977 Island released their eponymous debut album 'Ultravox!'. Musically, it was heavily influenced by Roxy Music, the New York Dolls, David Bowie and Kraftwerk, and the album was co-produced by Steve Lillywhite and Brian Eno, but unfortuantely it's sales were disappointing (although I bought it), and neither the album nor the associated 'Dangerous Rhythm' single managed to enter the UK charts. They returned later in 1977 with the punkier follow-up 'Ha!-Ha!-Ha!', but sales were once again poor for both the album and its lead single 'ROckWrok'. Although Ha!-Ha!-Ha! was dominated by guitars and electric violin, the final track, 'Hiroshima Mon Amour', was a prototypical synthpop song, and this was a taste of things to come for their third album 'Systems Of Romance'. 
In early March 1978, Stevie Shears, whose style of guitar playing was considered a limiting factor, was sacked and replaced by Robin Simon, and it was also at this time that the band dropped the exclamation mark from their name. 'Systems Of Romance' was recorded with famed German producer Conny Plank, and was markedly different from their earlier work, bringing synthesisers to the forefront of the group's sound, but despite praise from some critics, the album was a commercial failure, and the band were dropped by their record label at the end of 1978. Ultravox undertook a self-financed US tour in early 1979, but split up after the final gig near San Francisco, with Foxx announcing his intention of embarking on a solo career. He subsequently signed to Virgin Records and released his excellent debut solo album 'Metamatic' in January 1980, while the rest of the band made their way back to Britain and played with artists like Gary Numan, Zaine Griff and Eddie And The Hot Rods singer Barry Masters. With the band seemingly over, Ultravox were then revitalised by Midge Ure, who joined the band as vocalist, guitarist and keyboardist, filling both John Foxx's and Robin Simon's roles in one go, and Ultravox's next album, 'Vienna', showed a major change of direction, gave them chart success, and is the end of the story for this post. I want to celebrate the band that I loved in the late 70's, and so this collection includes both sides of the Tiger Lily single, some extremely rare recordings from a German TV show, two songs from the free 7" single which came with 'Ha!-Ha!-Ha!', a non-album single and b-side, and their complete 1977 John Peel session. For those who only know the band from their Midge Ure period then I hope this album shows how they got to that stage by producing some inventive and challenging music between 1975 and 1978. 

UPDATE - thanks to cgm for reminding me of the great electric version of 'Hiroshima Mon Amour' which graced the b-side of the 'RockWrok' 7" single, and which has now been added to complete this album. 

Track listing

01 Ain't Misbehavin' (Tiger Lily single 1975)
02 Monkey Jive (b-side of 'Ain't Misbehavin'')
03 TV Orphans (from RockPop TV show, Germany 1977) 
04 I Won't Play Your Game (from RockPop TV show, Germany 1977) 
05 I Came Back Here To Meet You (from RockPop TV show, Germany 1977) 
06 My Sex (John Peel session 1977)
07 Artificial Life (John Peel session 1977)
08 Young Savage (John Peel session 1977)
09 The Man Who Dies Every Day (John Peel session 1977)
10 Modern Love (from free 7" single with 'Ha!-Ha!-Ha!' 1977)
11 Quirks (from free 7" single with 'Ha!-Ha!-Ha!' 1977)
12 Cross Fade (b-side of 'Quiet Men' 1978)
13 Hiroshima Mon Amour (alternate version - b-side of 'RockWrok' 1978)
14 Young Savage (single 1977)