Ultravox! Slow Motion

[TheMjblades]

It's strange to see this immediately listed as a single underneath 'Sleepwalk' the 1st release with Midge Ure fronting the band, taking them from punk & psychedelia into New Romantisicism, synth-whimsy and goth-like orchestration. Even more amazing this song charted higher than Midge's follow-up 'Passing Strangers'. This remains the only Foxx sung 'old-school' Ultravox song included on their singles discography past 1980!

[jadonx]

bought the Lp vinyl in 78 and loved ever since!

[jadonx]

was this the founder of eighties music............I think so

[jadonx]

the one dislike did it to be different

[vegbloke]

And some of us found another time .... and drifted away...

....slow motion.

Merry christamas to0 you all.

[maltrouve]

maybe the best album ive ever owned..such a huge influence on what i listen to today..."systems of romance"..brilliant...eno, numan, bowie, simple minds, etc



[TheMandragoraBCN]

The first song I ever played live was a cover of this (wise, now looking back on our original material!)

[themachman19691]

midge ure thumbed down

[ollie633]

Arp Odyssey MK2 Nuf' said.

[ochihiro]

大昔、英Island盤をジャケ一目惚れで買った。彼等はちょっ­と出るのが早すぎたんだろうなあ。John Foxxのヨーロッパ趣味、好きよ。

[GandalfsBeard1]

The original Cyberpunk / Industrial sound. Between Ultravox, Gary Numan and Devo, they took the Proto-Trance sounds of Kraftwerk and Tangerine Dream to the next level with heavy rock and punk in the mix.

You can hear echoes of their music in every Industrial / EBM and Goa Trance tracks. 

[seanryan22]

Have this on record. Amazing !!!!

[jolantamaus]

i love ULTRAVOX:)FOR EVER::::::::::::)

[abagail4me]

1978? This band sounded so ahead of their time during the John Foxx era.And I own a CD with this track on it which title is funnily enough called "Slow Motion"

[bodsnvimto]

I used to own this on clear 12' vinyl. I also had 'Quiet Men' on white.

When Midge "Which category should I fit into next" Ure took over they still put out some good stuff but it was pop, by then.

[26354BladeRunner]

@bodsnvimto Me too, me too and I couldn't agree more!

[bodsnvimto]

@26354BladeRunner

Cheers! Nice to find agreement on this 'ere medium - usually I just get slagged off for my opinions.

We say that Midge changed the sound of the group but in all fairness, the metamorphosis was already underway. In some - nay many - respects this album, Systems of Romance*, sounds more like the Ure period than it did Ha! Ha! Ha!*, the LP just previous to it. * I added the names, not for whom I am responding to, but the casual viewers who don't know the Foxx stuff.

[AlkmenesAlkmenes]

"merging with the people on the (or on a) frame"

[maltrouve]

systems of romance....FANTASTIC..one of my fav albums still play it on my way to work..tubeway army was born

[urbanguerilla93]

Greetings from Indonesia

[hoosierdaddy99]

Merging with the people on FRAMES

BLURRING my face, and conversation

[Dristarg]

Gary Numan once nominated this as his all-time favourite song.

[euqsabtnatillim]

WHERE THE FUCK IS MAXIMUM ACCELERATION

[mfactor88]

from the day i could get my hands on this album in vinyl (which i transferred to metal tape) in 78 it has been in my car playlist tape to cd now on mp3. at 49 i still think of this as my all time favourite album :)

[machman36]

john foxx's influence on todays music is finally getting the widespread recognition that his incarnation of ultravox! did'nt get in 1978.go and see him play live........i did and it was one of the best gigs i've been to.

[chasman19651888]

big fan of mr foxx ,love this,mile ahead of mrure

[xyaqua]

i didn't hear this album until 84, 6 years and i still wasn't ready, this is freaking art-punk-epic. This still sounds fresh and original 32 years later. in-freaking- pressive.

[DN9woody]

(Y)

[kondo337]

This album is Great,and the Guitar is amzing ,w/ Curries Synths, by Robin Simon of Magazine's Live Album-Play and The Futants ?

[wuckle]

Top track......  'nuff said!

[DeepRiver68]

Systems of Romance is one of the best albums ever! Look when it was made, and what other people were listening to at the time... disco, soft rock. NO ONE sounded like UV.. wow originality, what a concept! 70s, 80s, 90s all had some original music. What did this decade have?... unoriginal-unimaginative rap, bands who can barely play their instruments, write and sing, Justin Bieber! What happened? Did we run out of ideas and now have to copy what has already been done? At least we still have Indy.

[desolatesoul87]

@DeepRiver68 maybe that's true in the US...but we've had a couple of decent bands in the UK. I think a lot of good songwriters and bands have been overlooked, to be honest. I mean, there've been quite a few pretty big Scottish groups/artists come out this decade! You have to remember that back when this came out, this wasn't particularly popular. Late 70s, people were listening to stuff more like Clapton or Fleetwood Mac...and that's not taking into account the more poppy stuff back then!

[blacknganga]

@desolatesoul87 Fleetwood Mac fans never mattered though. Wasn't anybody who mattered in the sound/scene still in punk mode in '78?

[desolatesoul87]

@blacknganga well, yeah that is true. It'd kinda moved away from Fleetwood Mac and the likes and was more of a punk feel by that point...but punk had kinda gone too commercial by that point - hence all the post-punk bands (such as early ultavox)

[blacknganga]

@desolatesoul87 yeah, and it's funny how the fascist element really came into it's own with the rise of synthpop. Bowie supported fascism and Ferry supported conservatism and they ended up influencing all these aspiring middle class midless-consumer synthpop groups who happened to make really shit hot tunes. I suppose there was always lefties like the Communards, Bronski Beat and Boy George, all gay, sort of following up on the super-industrialist McLaren's trench attacks on conservatism.

[dm18876]

@blacknganga Err, Bowie's 'fascism' derives from a one-off publicity stunt at Victoria station. He was just being ironic, as he's said many times since. As for Ferry, actually Roxy Music was the main influence on bands like Ultravox - whose real creative force was Brian Eno, who is definitely not a conservative. Ultravox - like Ian Curtis of Joy Division, Mark E Smith of The Fall, and Gary Numan - were nihilists. Nihilism is sceptical of all ideologies - left and right.

[blacknganga]

@dm18876 Gary Numan openly supported Margaret Thatcher. Eno was no more important to Roxy than was Ferry, a self confessed "conservative". I have no doubt that Bowie has fascist ideals; after all it wasn't long before the Thin White Duke was courting the other "thin white" general Pop, also strong fascist tendencies. Look, it's not as deadly serious as it is in the real world of politics, it's sort of a cool thing; "oh yeah I'm a fascist, yeah, do you dig fascists?"

[NIDANWalthersan]

@blacknganga This was so numb so I have nothing to say !!!

[blacknganga]

@dm18876 Certainly Bowie was AT LEAST as influential (in terms of synthpop influence) as Roxy Music.

[blacknganga]

@dm18876 Do you not vibe the "fascist" element of synthpop? I thought it was bleeding obvious. "We are your electro overlords, to get this ball (band) rolling, you don't wanna know what immoral shit we had to fiddle behind the scenes, in fact we may as well have little Hitler fetish shrines in our basements" Lester Bangs attacks Ferry and Bowie with the charge of "vacuous rock idols" with good reason. Ferry a sex addict, Bowie a drug fiend, what did they stand for? I know what they stood for

[blacknganga]

@DeepRiver68 No, original music today rarely shifts many units. You have to look at underground hip hop, tech-house, electro/indie and world music to find the goods. Oh, and all those local punk/metal bands in your nearest big city.

[shanemc68]

This album is effing incredible!!!!!!!

[kemil69]

Rewelacja!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!­!Ultravox z Johnem Foxem był taki classic.. John Foxx był tutaj niesamowity!!!!!!!!!

[RalonzoP]

Amazing stuff that stands the test of time

[80metamatic]

my favourite ultravox song brilliant

[TheSodiumhaze]

Ha Ha Ha say no more! Just the best! John you are the best! The sound track to my miss spent youth!

[scensiu]

Punk!!! What shit are you saying!!!! John, forgive them...

[ashccfc1]

Awaydays. Fucking quality Bring back the casuals.

[dharting1]

That bass synth outro from 3:20 onwards is one of my absolute all time favourite recorded sounds anywhere! Sounds like a Mini Moog but could have been an ARP Odyssey - any experts on here? I bought a Yamaha DJX (remember them?) to mess about on circa 1998 and found that I could get quite near to this sound, so I played it over and over....and over. Is that totally sad or does anyone else know where I'm coming from?

[xnonsuchx]

Billy Currie was a huge fan of ARPs, so I wouldn't be surprised if it was an Odyssey. As he said in an interview about it, "Sometimes I wanted to f*** that ARP." ;-) I don't think they ever used Minimoogs.

[dharting1]

Lol sounds about right - he certainly makes sweet love to the Oddy he played on Gary Numan's live version of On Broadway as featured on the Touring Principle footage!

[cypionate011]

most of the lead synth on this track is a Mini moog,Currie is playing the Odyssey and the Yamaha SS30 parts,Chris Cross is doing the lead on it,he used a mini moog for most of the keyboard bass parts,

[Franzko787]

I think the bass is a Mini Moog. The only way to get that 24db rolloff on the VCF would have been an older ARP where they copied the Moog circuit. I doubt he could get that bass on a ARP 2600 let alone an Odyssey. The final bass note at the end I am almost positive is a Moog.

This album was so good because they were working with Conny Plank. Also Robin Simon's guitar playing was just incredible. Ultravox finally reached their potential with Slow Motion leading off this GREAT album.

[xnonsuchx]

@Franzko787 - Most of Billy's leads and solos are an ARP Odyssey, but if Chris Cross was playing bass synth, he usually used a Minimoog.

[chuftka]

John Foxx for the win

[boxcrsoup]

0066bond your right only heard this album last week, the synths may sound old but the music is so so... just can't put it into words gotta listen, thank you to Ultravox! mr Foxx, thank you.

[bonol888]

I loved Ultravox at this point in the bands history, it was all downhill after this album.

[0066bond]

SUPERB!!! JOHN FOXX UNDERESTIMATED

[AQUAVIVARIA]

Pure Energy ! Left Punk suckin its own D*ck As we wheeled away into our own light an drifted away ! ! ! !

[rchdsmth]

Nobody was listening to punk or Ultravox in 1978. They were listening to disco.

[permaveg]

Not true, i listened to ultravox ( foxx days anyway) and saw most of the punk bands at the time, i knew others who also followed both.

[schmads]

@permaveg I did!!

[RockyBalboa7777]

@AQUAVIVARIA

What the hell are you talking about? Punk was still going very strong during that time period. The Ramones (who are obviously legendary now), The Clash, Social Distortion, Bad Religion just to name a select handful.

[blacknganga]

@RockyBalboa7777 Rotten: "there was no punk movement, only me and me band". Haha.

[JustaScotsman]

@AQUAVIVARIA ..........its Just early "Tubeway Army" it couldnt get near the energy of early Punk bands.!!!!

[Fryer2k9]

best band ever !

[PaeKerZz]

awaydays (L)

[Castile100]

Damn this is good! I only re-discovered this song recently, and since i wasn't hearing Midge Ure on the vocal, I didn't know it was Ultravox. Brilliant.

[MyCatsBreath]

How could you NOT tell it was Ultravox by Billie Currie's keyboards...they are soooo recognizable..especially during the bridge..

[Castile100]

Sorry. Simply couldn't make that connection. I became familiar with/loved Ultravox with Midge Ure as the front man, and older Ultravox sounds completely diff to me....sort of like "old" OMD vs. they're much later stuff...different-sounding bands altogether.

[elementel73]

@MyCatsBreath I've been saying that all the time. Billie Currie is Ultravox.

[scotsburd63]

FANTASTIC!!!

[spassy13]

what album had the electric bagpipe sounds in it ?

[BigMrFirebird]

Anything by OMD! :D

[vikesh81]

Did Midge Ure and John Foxx ever play together ??

[2youngbutcrazy]

no way he joinmed an album later

[acousticland]

great album. I still got it and listen.

[pauladaly]

can we have maximum acceleration ...

please thank you

[telkines]

John Foxx, B. Currie,  M. Ure...

[ElectronicSculptures]

Out of all the rock and roll albums ever

released, I think this album is the best.

I think that the song "When You Walk Through Me" is the catchiest, most melodic and best song ever composed. I'll never get bored of listening to it, or the other songs as well

after 30 years of this album being released. It is totally brilliant

and so are all of the other songs. These men are complete musical geniuses.

[hahasaidthecar]

"When You Walk Through Me" is a magical song, and my favourite, with its surreal, almost psychedelic and dream like coda. The closing track still sends shivers up my spine. I have a cassette of this, which still plays well...

[celtickool]

Midge took the band in a different direction but he was as much an asset as john foxx was

[iancurtis51880]

I love Johh Foxx. I'm 40 and this is the music I listened to in the 80s and still love the most now. Well, this, The Cure, JD and The Smiths.

[themachman19691]

john foxx is amazing,and yes wass miles better than midge ure...

[marcusgabriel6]

Close your eyes, lie down and you will travel back in time to the moment when your perceptions of "modern" music were shattered.......for ever.

Ultravox MADE ME start writing and join a band.

[2youngbutcrazy]

amazing, very much like alphaville. I think foxx era is a bit better than with Ure.

[steveking61]

Saw them in the Stowaway in Newport in about 77 with John Foxx. God this takes me back - awesome!! You're right, an album ahead of its time. They went in a different direction with Midge Ure - shame!

[pedrofrantic]

Brilliant album .... way ahead of its time when it was released and still stands up as a classic today !

[Padulas]

"systems of romance" was a pionnering album,and slow motion,was the biggest hit of this LP.

[fenthedog]

Just a guess! but i bet everyone who posted on here is like around the same age as me! 48!! hahahah I remeber this on the old grey whistle test and went out and bought the album the next day! I remeber it was a snowy winter too! hahaha

[manzanadecoco]

I'm here in Canada, and I'm 47. But the other posters are a variety of ages. The Dutchman below is older, and he's an Amon Duul fan, interestingly enough.

I had this LP but sold it, and all of my other New Wave LPs, to a friend in 1979.

This was a good one though. But my favourite was the one by The Demics, which is now collectable.

[Cougari72]

I'm 36. I was brought up on the 1980's. I'm rediscovering that era and the stuff just before it such as this!

[pauladaly]

maximum acceleration

[KARLITOS61]

Great track of "The Systems of Romance".

I like very much this record

[PAULLONDEN]

Masterstroke....♫

Dislocation♫I can't stay long♫Quiet men ◘

♂~~~«d~_~b»~~~♂

[silmalila]

Love Ultravox, love John Foxx.

You are really making me happy by posting this great song.

Thanks.

[Tazz77]

One of the coolest intros ever. Great song.