Ultravox!(John Foxx) - 1979 US Tour rarities - He's a Liquid

In 1979, the original line up of Ultravox! embarked on a, self funded, tour of the USA shortly before singer John Foxx and guitarist Robin Simon departed on return to the UK, leaving the group in limbo. On that tour the band debuted some new songs that had yet to be recorded, two of these, 'He's a Liquid'(Foxx's 1980 electronic masterpiece, Metamatic) and 'Touch and Go'(Foxx's Metamatic, 1980 and as 'Mr X' and 'Herr X' on Ultravox's 1980 album Vienna) would be used again but 'Radio Beach' was only to be performed live.

Line-up:
John Foxx - vocals
Billy Currie - Keyboards, violin
Chris Cross - Bass and keyboards
Robin Simon - Guitar
Warren Cann - Drums

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Ultravox!
• john
• foxx
• billy
• currie
• radio
• beach
• us
• tour
• 1980
• synthesizer
• new
• wave
• electronic
• ultravox
• vienna
• gary
• numan
• electro

[stuwbooth]

I had no idea that Ultravox! played some of the songs that Foxx would then have on Metamatic. Brilliant, simply brilliant.

[xtc58100]

so far ahead of it's time for 1979 & still to this day somehow

[timwilderspin]

Billy's violin solo is a forerunner of the "Thin Wall" one I reckon. Many thanks for posting these stunning rarities.

[zanebean]

A total mismatch. John has immense talent but the the guys like Billie, Chris and Warren were plyain' in waitin'....for James.

[RiotNrrrdUTube]

@NuSynth What performance is this from? I have a boot from Detroit and another from Buffalo from this tour but this does not sound like either of those recordings.

[cpdaddy7]

There were the essentials for a great 4th album but then we wouldn't had "Metamatic", the blueprint for all the great music Foxx (and Gordon) have made in the last 13 years.

[progpunker]

Thank you for posting this rare material. However, this WAS NOT the original line-up. Robin Simon (later in Magazine, John Foxx solo band, and again with Foxx on tour, 2010) was the guitar player here. Foxx was ousted from the band not long after (even though, he says he quit- he would have eventually been fired for not conforming with certain expectations). This was the TRUE Ultravox,. heart and soui still there. No offense to Midge, it just was not quite the same. Loved some of that too..

[flicker66]

This song and Touch and Go ended up on Foxx's stunning debut album Metamatic some six months after Ultravox mark 2 split in March 79. The Hollywood gig was the penultimate gig on the (self-financed) tour. They'd been dropped by Island on New Year's Eve 1978. Notice how the lyric differs here from the one on Metamatic and that Foxx is credited as the sole writer on that album even though Cross, Currie, Simon and Cann must have had some input.

[ShreveportJoe]

Not the original Ultravox line-up. Steve Shears was the guitarist for the first two albums to be replaced by Robin Simon for the third and the subsequent tour. Saw them twice on this tour at the Whiskey-a-go-go in Hollywood. This song appears pretty much in this version on John Foxx' first solo album, Metamatic.

[soundmanhaven1]

wow cool never hear this one ....