Old Enough to Forget

I hated this song when I first heard it. It was a clunky, tone deaf bit of musical hubris that seemed entirely self serving. That and it featured a gaggle of singers I ... could ... not ... stand. Over the years the song has managed to worm it's way into my subconscious, and I will begrudgingly admit that there are some pretty catchy bits and I actually enjoy the song now. To the point where I look forward to hearing it over the holidays. It's still completely tone deaf, but now it just feels like something that was okay in the olden days, and a tad out of step today but that's okay. It's hard to imagine that it's been forty years. Good grief. Of course, to celebrate the occasion there's a 40th Anniversary remix that has managed to recreate all of the vitriol I felt when I first heard it back in '84. Now, it's not just a case of me being a borderline boomer, it really is a stinking piece of musical crap. Even my daughter who loves all things Christmas ha...

The song "Fade to Grey" I always figured came out in the mid '80s and it was one of those rare example of a nearly perfect balance of new wave and techno elements. It wasn't until fairly recently that I found out this was actually recorded back in 1979 and released in 1980. I'm guessing the band waited just to have their album come out in the new decade. To add to my pile of trivia both Midge Ure and Billy Currie would go on to join a resurrected Ultravox. Oddly though Midge wasn't the front man here, it was Steve Strange who sang lead. I know I keep repeating myself when writing about this era of new wave, but I have always loved the integration of organic and synthesized instrumentation. The presence of acoustic drums along with early drum machines, and guitar and bass is a wonderful blending to two worlds. The results have always had more tension and energy than much of the later techno work that was to come. I can't say it isn't dated, but it has a...

I remember driving home during rush hour when all of a sudden this song comes on the radio, and it just blew my mind. Thankfully the disc jockey had the good manners to identify the band and the song. "That was "Dancing with Tears in my Eyes" by Ultravox." Thank you I said to myself, and filed it away as something I needed to remember. Good lord that was a good song. I particularly loved the guitar work with the dive bombs and string growls interwoven with the very prominent keyboards. As enamoured as I was I never did get the record. In the mid '90s I picked up their best of collection The Voice: The Best of Ultravox and boy howdy that had the bits and pieces I had heard over the years. Of course as fate would have it I'd start consuming vinyl again, admittedly at a rather shocking rate. I'm still adhering, for the most part, to my don't buy what you already have, rule. Rules are meant to be broken and there are exceptions of course, but the reve...