Customer Reviews

Very Best of (2009 Limited Edition) (Incl. Bonus DVD-PAL/Region 0)

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The Very Best Of Ultravox

CD & DVD (this is NOT a DualDisc release as stated)

2009 Chrysalis/EMI release

CD ~ 75 minutes. Audio remastered by Steve Rooke at Abbey Road Studios in 2008 & 2009.

DVD ~ 73 minutes. Region 0 (all regions). NTSC format (not PAL format as stated on Amazon). Aspect ratio: 4:3. Audio: Dolby Digital Stereo. Produced by Abbey Road Interactive. Steve Rooke 2008/2009 digitally remastered audio re-synced by Andrew Walter.

UPC: 5 099926 672229. Made in the EU.

I love when record labels put out these kind of sight and sound packages! The 2009 'The Very Best Of Ultravox' CD/DVD package gathers 18 U.K. hit singles on CD and 17 promo videos on DVD spanning the '80s incarnation of Ultravox -- Midge Ure, Chris Cross, Billy Currie, and Warren Cann. All four of these members reunited in early 2009 for the first time since 'Live Aid' in 1985 in order to tour the U.K. and celebrate their 30th anniversary, releasing this special collection in order to coincide with the occasion!

The Ultravox '80s reissue campaign started in late 2008 with the 2-CD re-mastered definitive edition of 'Vienna', following with additional 2-disc editions of 'Rage In Eden', 'Quartet', and 'Monument' in early 2009. Sliding in during this campaign is this excellent sight and sound package from Chrysalis/EMI, released in April 2009. Of the 18 tracks featured on the CD a whopping 15 of them placed in the U.K. Top 40!

I've been looking forward to this kind of package from Ultravox for quite a while now since I`m not really that familiar with their hits and back catalogue and have been curious to discover more. One can imagine my excitement when I first read about this release. It's not often that record companies combine stunning audio and video in one package!

All audio tracks have been digitally re-mastered by Steve Rooke at Abbey Road Studios in 2008 and 2009. Seven-inch/single versions, mixes, and edits have been used whenever possible as well (see the tracklisting provided by Amazon), giving fans the chance to hear them as originally played on the radio and issued on 7" vinyl. It's worth noting, too, for those picky about sound quality, that the music has not been brick-walled to death, meaning that the audio is not overly loud. While everyone has different preferences when it comes to audio compression, and frankly I'm fine with brick-walled sound most of the time, the audio restoration is impeccable!

I don't think that these recordings have ever sounded this crisp and clean. One can hear that painstaking work went in to transferring and re-mastering this music from the original master tapes. I really appreciate it! The clarity of tracks like "All Stood Still", "Lament", and "The Thin Wall" have left me "dancing with tears in my eyes".

I was pleasantly surprised with the DVD as well since Abbey Road Interactive, the studio which produced this DVD and has compiled other music DVDs for the EMI branch, can be hit and miss. While the work from this studio is almost always good sometimes videos are not all presented in their best audio and visual form. Fortunately, all promo videos have been re-synced with the 2008/2009 digitally re-mastered audio, and video quality, considering the age, is good as well.

On another note, this DVD is actually NTSC format, not PAL format as stated by Amazon (thanks to Brendan for pointing this out to me!) I had the privilege of watching these promos on a big screen plasma tv and was quite surprised at how grainy some of the earlier videos are. It's different watching them on a huge screen versus a laptop screen. Maybe the quality has something to do with the conversion to NTSC from PAL, the standard format in which these videos were recorded. I would be curious to know what kind of, if any, effect that this conversion had on the quality. For a European release why weren't these presented in PAL anyway? That's the standard format!

I am no visual expert, but based on other promos that I've viewed on similar releases of this era they all still look about as good as I have expected them to be. I am not expecting the clear and vibrant picture of today's standards because it is simply not present on the original tapes. Having these promos, including the uncut clip of "Vienna" and the uncensored cut of "Visions In Blue", on DVD for the first time is enticing enough!

I must admit that I only really discovered Ultravox about 5 or 6 years ago after hearing a handful of their tracks on '80s Internet radio stations and `80s compilations that I`ve added to my own music collection. "Vienna", their biggest hit -- #2 in the U.K. for 4 weeks and #1 in Belgium, Ireland, and Holland -- amazingly never charted on the U.S. Hot 100. In Europe and around the world it is often cited as a masterpiece and classic, even ranking #1 on the countdown of the Top 75 songs of the 1980s by BJMA in 2008. It's amazing how many songs never made the charts in the U.S. yet are regarded as iconic recordings elsewhere. No matter how many more times "Vienna" will be licensed for future collections I will still never tire of it! It never gets old!

In the U.S., however, Ultravox are probably best known for the lone Hot 100 chart single, "Reap The Wild Wind", #71 in 1983, and managing to chart most of their albums in the lower half of the Billboard 200 Albums tally despite only gathering scattered radio airplay. Elsewhere, "Dancing With Tears In My Eyes", a #3 U.K. smash and massive single throughout Europe in 1984, is probably the band's second most familiar cut after "Vienna". However, these guys have so much more to offer than these best-known hits. Want to discover more of their Top 40 placements? Start here!

This is a great anthology of post-John Foxx Ultravox. It includes most of their biggest hits in two different formats: songs and videos. I would recommend it to both the big Ultravox fan and to someone who hasn't heard of this great band nor heard much or any of their songs.

I always rate bands on unique offerings and not the amount of popular songs they had. Okay on this album and DVD really bought for the three songs I love. But the 80's to me were crap on a lot of music levels thanks to 'M" TV showing that videos were more important than being a musician with a great song...#@#@#$%3 idiots.

But these guys came through and rocked and actually are one of the great era bands of that time.

This collection in unique like them and made for the definitive collector of great bands.

for the price it was a steal if you love 80's music you will love this music and video cd it's missing a couple of really good videos but let's look at the bright side it contains many great ones.if new wave is your thing buy it.

What can be said about Ultravox that hasn't been said here already?

While one could say that John Foxx's Ultravox was ground breaking. Midge Ure took the band to a completely different level with his debut on "Vienna". One could easily debate Ure's contributions to music all the live long day, but the fact of the matter is that Ultravox was one of the most incredibly musical acts out of the 80's synth scene, if not the most artistic.

This compilation spans the Ure years wonderfully and there's very little left to be desired here. From the opening pulse of the ever haunting "Vienna" to the upbeat and poppy "Love's Great Adventure", this retrospective chronicles an act that was criminally understated here in the States. Ever under the shadow of acts like Depeche Mode and The Cure, Ultravox had melodic sensibilities that neither of those bands had. I challenge any of you to listen to songs like "Vienna", "Lament", or "Visions In Blue" and not be moved by not only the lyrical content, but the beautifully rich production and arrangements. Ure, Cann, Cross and Currie pioneered this style of music by taking the cold and vacant synth sounds of their predecessors such as Gary Numan, and added a warmth and soul unheard of in synth music.

I love this compilation - I am so glad I purchased it. Ethereal, gorgeous, fantastic! Shipped quickly and with no problems, as well!

Nice collection of songs and videos from this 80's band.

Highlight the great end of the compilation with the orchestral "All In One Day". Superb!

I miss some of their early works of post punk era with John Foxx like "Distant Smile" or Dangerous Rhythm"

Recommended album for an 80s music lover by the way.

Just amazing. Brilliant. Good times. GREAT times. Aaaaaaaaah. Brings back such memories. Those were the days. If people couldn't be moved by Ultravox or Midge Ure, there was something wrong. How can you not love this music? It's instantaneously memorable and catchy, makes you move, makes you feel, makes you think and just gets you up and running! Awesome. The best songs are all there, Vienna, All Stood Still, Dancing with Tears in My Eyes, Reap the Wild Wind, White China, Love's Great Adventure, Hymn, Lament, Same Old Story, One Small Day, We Came to Dance, Visions in Blue - it goes on and on! Just amazing! I mean this is text-book stuff, folks, the height of the height of the 80's New Wave electro-Brit-synth-pop! Every song is a classic on here. And to top it off, you get the DVD and see some of the coolest music videos of all time. Ultravox had some serious style. May be they weren't as big in the US as in their homeland back in Blighty, but you listen to this now, it's all totally timeless, really. You can hear the current music harking back to these sounds! It's that good! All you have to do is to look up Midge Ure on the web and you will see what an amazing person he really is - he co-wrote the Band-Aid song "Do they know it's Christmas?" man!!!!! Besides that, he was just amazing with Ultravox, as he says they were groundbreaking as well with their music videos starting with Vienna's cinematic style that everybody else started copying! The videos were also amazing as the tackled some deeply emotional and political issues, and perhaps that is why people misunderstood Ultravox as the band's songs did have a serious tone to most of them, but they made you think with their videos, they weren't just going to sit there and show you how to have a good time and be stupid, those sorts of songs and videos don't stand the test of time against such thoughtful productions as Ultravox's. Totally 5+++++++++++ out of 5 for the CD+DVD combo, absolutely.

Another great Very Best of album from ultravox. There are now so many of these its hard to keep track. However the DVD adds to the integrity of this offering. Great to see both live shots and the original music clips.

All of the dramatic intensity, poetry, and romance that defines Ultravox is remastered and presented without a flaw in this collection. A must for any true Ultravox fan that would like to be reminded of the days when there really was alternative music that had passion. Ultravox was one of those bands back then (along with many others) that simply set the standard so high...most of the homoginized disposable trash (i mean, recording artists) of today are weak in comparison. This collection was launched along side of a U-VOX reunion tour...unfortunately, the U.S. is not a stop on the tour!!! Fans in the U.S. will be happy that the DVD in the collection is NTSC format (not PAL as advertised). Some of the best highlights on the DVD are the live cuts and rare bits of footage from the early days, and let's not forget the vintage videos by the "godfather of music videos" Russel Mulcahy. A nice collection that reflects the finest era of all the Ultravox years...the Midge Ure years 1981-1986.