U-Vox

U-Vox is the eighth studio album by British new wave band Ultravox, released on 9 October 1986 by Chrysalis Records. It was the band's fifth album during the Midge Ure era, and the final one featuring the band's 1979 lineup, with the exception of Warren Cann, for nearly 26 years. The Ure-era lineup would eventually reform in 2008. It was also the last Ultravox album to reach the top 10 of the UK Albums Chart, peaking at number nine. Background Despite reaching the UK top 10, the album was not as successful as the previous Ultravox albums from the 1980s and contained no top-20 singles (with "Same Old Story" and "All Fall Down" reaching numbers 31 and 30, respectively). In addition, drummer Warren Cann was unceremoniously dumped by the band, due to "musical differences", before recording the album. The drums on the album were played by Mark Brzezicki from Big Country. Billy Currie shared in a 1989 interview “We had some problems with the rhythm section, and we wound up kicking out our drummer, Warren Cann. Poor old Warren, but there’s always someone to take the crap when things start getting bad, and Warren took the crap.” On Big Country’s Mark Brzezicki Currie said, “The problem is that Mark was too good. Because he’s so amazing, he stamped a non-Ultravox thing onto the album, and it ended up not sounding like us.” The sound developed the movement away from electronic rock started by Lament further and some unusual instrumentation was used, such as the Celtic sound of "All Fall Down" with instrumentation by The Chieftains. Brass on the lead single "Same Old Story" by Beggar and Co. The album's final track, "All in One Day", with an orchestral arrangement by George Martin was written about the Live Aid event. EMI Gold remastered and reissued U-Vox on CD in 2000, with bonus tracks, alongside the other re-releases of the Ultravox catalogue. A remastered two-disc version was issued in 2009, which featured the original nine-track album on CD one and several B-sides, mixes and demos on CD two.