Audio CD review:
Ultravox - Rare, Vol. 2

Ultravox - Rare, Vol. 2

Band: Ultravox Title: Rare, Vol. 2 Rating: Release Date: 2007-03-27 Media: Audio CD Tracks: 1: Easterly - Ultravox, Cann, Warren 2: Building - Ultravox, Cann, Warren 3: Heart of the Country - Ultravox, C.C. 4: White China - Ultravox, Cann, Warren 5: Man of Two Worlds - Ultravox, Cann, Warren 6: 3 - Ultravox, Cross 7: All in One Day - Ultravox, Cross, Chris [1] 8: Dreams? - Ultravox, Cross, Chris [1] 9: All Fall Down - Ultravox, Peterson 10: All Fall Down - Ultravox, Cross, Chris [1] 11: Dream On - Ultravox, Cross 12: The Prize - Ultravox, Cross 13: Stateless - Ultravox, Cann, Warren 14: Heart of the Country - Ultravox, C.C. 15: One Small Day - Ultravox, Cross

messy mish-mosh of uninspired stuff Instead, this disc is filled with--well--filler. As a hardcore fan of some of the beautiful new romantic music of Midge Ure, I was excited at the rerelease of this out of print collection, hoping to find at least a few b-side gems featuring his gorgeous melodies and vocals. There's a reason these tracks were b-sides. They sound like it cost nothing to record them. It's all experimental ambient synth stuff, without vocals. The live tracks are--well--LIVE, and I much prefer the original studio recordings. The instrumental versions of some Ultravox singles are a waste of disc space. The "special mix" of 'heart of the country' runs over 10 minutes, and is somewhat excessive, and the 'final mix' of One Small Day is ok, but lacks the punch of the one amazing 12" version I have never seen on CD, the US 12" mix that was the flip side of the US 12" mix of Dancing With Tears in My Eyes, which I have also never seen on CD. Too bad they didn't make it to this 'rare' series. You can see a complete list of all Ultravox discography, or go back to the Ultravox tabs