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Ultravox: ha! ha! ha!

 A l b u m   D e t a i l s


Label: Island Records
Released: 1977
Time:
 56:04
Category: Pop/Rock
Producer(s): See Artists ...
Rating: *......... (1/10)
Media type: CD
Web address: www.ultravox.org.uk
Appears with:
Purchase date: 2008.08.29
Price in €: 5,01



 S o n g s ,   T r a c k s


[1] ROckWrok (J.Foxx) - 3:33
[2] The Frozen Ones (J.Foxx) - 4:06
[3] Fear in the Western World (W.Cann/Ch.Cross/B.Currie/J.Foxx/S.Shears) - 4:00
[4] Distant Smile (B.Currie/J.Foxx) - 5:20
[5] The Man Who Dies Every Day (W.Cann/Ch.Cross/B.Currie/J.Foxx/S.Shears) - 4:09
[6] Artificial Life (B.Currie/J.Foxx) - 4:57
[7] While I'm Still Alive (J.Foxx) - 3:13
[8] Hiroshima Mon Amour (W.Cann/B.Currie/J.Foxx) - 5:13

Bonus Tracks:
[9] Young Savage (W.Cann/Ch.Cross/B.Currie/J.Foxx/S.Shears) - 3:01
[10] The Man Who Dies Every Day [Remix] (W.Cann/Ch.Cross/B.Currie/J.Foxx/S.Shears) - 4:18
[11] Hiroshima Mon Amour [Alt. Version] (W.Cann/B.Currie/J.Foxx) - 4:57
[12] Quirks (W.Cann/Ch.Cross/B.Currie/J.Foxx/S.Shears) - 1:41
[13] The Man Who Dies Every Day [Live] (W.Cann/Ch.Cross/B.Currie/J.Foxx/S.Shears) - 3:54
[14] Young Savage (W.Cann/Ch.Cross/B.Currie/J.Foxx/S.Shears) [Live] - 3:23


 A r t i s t s ,   P e r s o n n e l


John Foxx - Vocals, Producer
Steve Shears - Keyboards, Vocals, Producer
Warren Cann - Percussion, Drums, Voclas, Producer
Billy Currie - Synthesizer, Violin, Keyboards, Producer
Chris Cross - Bass, Vocals, Producer

C.C. - Saxonphone on [8]

Steve Lillywhite - Producer, Engineer
Steve Malins - Reissue Slevve Notes, Research
Rob harris - Additional Research
Dallas Simpson - Digital Remastering
Joe Black - Project Co-oridination
Zoe Roberts - Tape Research
Paul Agar - Reissue Design
 

 C o m m e n t s ,   N o t e s

1977 LP Island 9505
1977 LP Island 9123 024
1977 LP Island 25944-270
1977 CS Island ZCI 9505
2004 CD Polygram International 846157

The band's second album from 1977 has now been digitally remastered and enhanced with 6 Bonus Tracks. Produced by Steve Lillywhite and Ultravox ! The 16-page bookelt now contains sleevenotes and all of the lyrics printed for the very first time. Contains 6 Bonus Tracks including the non-album track "Quirks" and a rare alternate version of "Hiroshima Mon Amour".

Exclusive limited edition digitally remastered reissue of their 1977 album, packaged in a miniature LP sleeve. Features six bonus tracks: 'Young Savage' (Single Version), 'Man Who Dies Everyday '(Remix), 'Hiroshima Mon Amour' (Alternate Version), 'Quirks' and Live versions of 'Man Who Dies Everyday' and 'Young Savage'. Island Records  2006.



There's something quite chilling and compulsive about the original model of Ultravox. Sure, lots of people were experimenting with synthesizers, but Ultravox married that sound to elements of glam rock and punk to produce a more affecting hybrid. You can feel the ghosts of Kraftwerk at play here, even more strongly than on the band's debut - and that's saying something. Twenty years on, some of it does sound a little corny; however, the album does include the one undeniable classic of early-period Ultravox: "Hiroshima Mon Amour."

Alex Ogg - All Music Guide



Dass Ultravox ebenfalls der Punkbewegung entsprungen sind, oder besser gesagt, sich parallel dazu entwickelt haben, lässt sich an dem 77er-Release Ha! Ha! Ha! durchaus nachvollziehen. Auch wenn man diese Band zu den Haupteinflüssen der New-Romantic- oder Electropop-Szene der frühen 80er-Jahre rechnen muss, nicht immer klang ihr Sound wie "Dancing With Tears In My Eyes" oder wie "Reap The Wild Wind". Ultravox kombinierte erstmalig bei ihrer zweiten LP Ha! Ha! Ha! das Bandequipment, dass zwar schon unter anderem aus Pianos und Orgeln bestand, nun aber auch mit Drum Machines und diversen Synthesizern. Nur der weltweite Chartbuster "Hiroshima Mon Amour" lässt hier erstmalig erahnen, welche Richtung die Band mit ihren nachfolgenden Veröffentlichungen einschlagen wird.

Wally W. - Amazon.de



 L y r i c s


ROckWork

Rockwrok
Rockwrok
Rockwrok
Rockwrokrockwrok
Blast off, the walls are down
Cast off, the wolves are out
Come on, there's no time, I can't wait
Rip off my clothes, I'm stripping yours
Harder we're starred, wired and barbed
What a magnificent disgrace

Come on, let's tangle in the dark, dark
F*ck like a dog, bite like a shark, shark
When it's wet and hot you want to rockwrok
Rockwrok, rockwrok
Rockwrokrockwrok

Penetration boys in hotel lifts
Invitations on sinking ships
The whole wide world fits hip to hip
In aircraft, destroyers and cinema foyers
The chastened, the chasing, amazing the neighbours
Gay, wild and willing, stripped of grace

A sombre rumba in the dark, dark
F*ck like a dog, bite like a shark, shark
The population's got to rockwrok
Rockwrok, rockwrok
Rockwrokrockwrok

Rockwrok
Rockwrok
Rockwrok
Rockwrokrockwrokrockwrokrockwrok

A doodlebugger in the dark, dark
F*ck like a dog, bite like a shark, shark
When they find the top you've got to rockwrok
Rockwrok, rockwrok
Rockwrokrockwrok

A nimble mambo in the park, park
F*ck like a dog, bite like a shark, shark
The population's got to rockwrok
Rockwrok, rockwrok
Rockwrokrockwrok

An anal sailor in the bar, bar
F*ck like a dog, bite like a shark, shark
When it's wet and hot you want to rockwrok
Rockwrok, rockwrok
Rockwrok, rockwrok
Rockwrok, rockwrok
Rockwrok, rockwrok
Rockwrok, rockwrok
Rockwrok, rockwrok
Rockwrok, rockwrok

A (???) in the car park
F*ck like a dog, bite like a shark, shark
There's nothing left for us, just rockwrok
Rockwrok, rockwrok
Rockwrokrockwrok

A willing waltzer in the car stark (?)
F*ck like a dog, bite like a shark, shark
(???) you want to rockwrok
Rockwrok, rockwrok

Rockwrok


The Frozen Ones

Marching across our own screens
Our faces form all our needs
The future's not returning
All bridges built for burning
How can there be anything wrong?
Aren't we the frozen ones?

One day I'll just erase the tape, wave goodbye, and fade away
Get lost in the frost again
Clean the ashes of my face at the bottom of your suitcase
Find a sunset, turn away
How can there by anything wrong?
Aren't we the frozen ones?
The frozen ones
The frozen ones

We walk around inside each other visiting the empty rooms
Put me on, I'll put you on too
You knew I'd have to follow you because you saw I'm hollow too
But it's so nice being I too
How can there by anything wrong?
Aren't we the frozen ones?
The frozen ones
The frozen ones

Chorus:

We're nowhere
We don't care who led us here
No-one will care when we're gone

The frozen ones
The frozen ones

Too many pictures on my screen and all of them are screaming at me
Thought I had this insulation
The only way to stop the flood whenever feelings get too real
Is to cut the information
How can there be anything wrong?
Aren't we the frozen ones?
The frozen ones
The frozen ones

(Chorus)

The frozen ones

(Repeat and fade)


Fear in the Western World

Your picture of yourself is a media myth
Underneath this floor we're on the edge of a cliff
Someone told me Jesus was the Devil's lover
While we masturbated on a magazine cover

Chorus:

Dead in the streets
Who's that girl?
Ireland screams
Africa burns
Suburbia stumbles
The tides are turned
I can feel the fear in the Western world
I can feel the fear in the Western world
I can feel the fear in the Western world
I can feel the fear in the Western
The Western world

Mama's still on valium, Daddy puts the news on
TV orphans laugh at the confusion
The audience finds itself on the stage
Fifty million people in a state of decay

(Chorus)

The party goes on behind elevator doors
While the elevator plummets from the 69th floor
All the cars lost in the scrapyards of paradise
The newspaper photographs have all come alive

(Chorus)

I can feel the fear in the Western world
I can feel the fear in the Western world
I can feel the fear in the Western world
I can feel the fear in the Western
The Western world


Distant Smile

Sometimes I find I drift away
Behind a distant smile

Light years ago I think someone spoke
Quizzical glances behind cigarette smoke
She drew the curtains at the end of the day
And then we laughed because the room sailed away

Fancy glitter in the summer arcades
Then autumn leaves fall by a winter lane
Piano echoes and the perfume still lingers
But you fell through my fingers like sand

With a distant smile
A distant smile
A distant smile
Somehow I always seem to be
Adrift in other times with a distant smile

(???) the sound of the streets
The city's glittering like diamonds in heat
Our secret destination, touch down in the haze
As the cameraman pans away

Hey look, it's a long lost horizon
Private oceans you can surface a sunrise in
Hearts well ? dodging logic
But nevertheless still permanently surprised

Behind a distant smile
A distant smile
A distant smile
Somehow I always seem to be
Adrift in other times behind a distant smile

You will see (?)


The Man Who Dies Every Day

Someone stood beside me for a moment in the rain
A silhouette, a cigarette, and a gesture of disdain
I felt a dark door open, saw a sudden ghost come through
A spark leapt from my fingertip and I knew it must be you

Ain't you the man who dies every day?
You're the man who dies every day
You're the man

We never saw you walk in, we never saw you leave
You flick the ashes off a lap on everybody's sleeve
You always play that funny pack of cards without an ace
And every street you ever walked is mapped out on your face

'Cause you're the man who dies every day
You're the man who dies every day
You're the man

You always kept a sunset behind your lonely shoulder
You never showed on photographs and you never grew much older
You flicker like a shaky shadow, moving like a thief
You never drop your facade and you never seek relief

'Cause you're the man who dies every day
You're the man who dies every day
You're the man who dies every day
You're the man who dies every day
You're the man


Artificial Life

All the boys are wearing their utility drag
The girls slip identikits from their utility bags
Some refugees from suburbia are laughing
Examining each other's gags
Vibrate on sulphate when it gets late
And their velocity begins to sag

Chorus:

And it goes on all night, all night
And it goes on and on, the artificial life

Mary Mary got so confused
About the fusion game, what a game
Blunked on booze, she talks like a newsreel
She'll take up any kind of bleak exchange
She turned to perfection once
But realised she'd only turned to pain
She ran through divine light, chemicals, Warhol, scientology, her own sex
Before she turned away

(Chorus)

I've learned to be a stranger
I've learned to be a stranger
I've learned to be a stranger
I've learned to be a stranger
Stranger still

I should have left here years ago
But my imagination won't tell me how
This whirlpool's got such seductive furniture
It's so pleasant getting drowned
So we drink and sink and talk and stalk
With interchangeable enemies and friends
Trying on each other's skins
While we're dying to be born again.

(Chorus)


While I'm Still Alive

Playing the game
With the chips on my shoulder
Checking in the mirror
As my coffee cup gets colder
Stagger and swagger
Combing my hair
If tomorrow's not there
Then at least today's all mine

Chorus:

While I'm still alive
While I'm still alive
While I'm still alive

Strutting my stuff
I'm blagging the damage
From coupling with headlines
I was suckled on salvage
The fighting's exciting
The age is dramatic
I'm crackling with static
Just jiving to survive

(Chorus)

Take a stroll down the side roads, I know you want to
A shock in the dark can be good for your heart, oh yeah

(Chorus)

Scuffling along
On the crest of a wave
Laughing and grafting
Or jerking and working
Striking a match
Where life is a gas
I need the flash
To make it all worthwhile

(Chorus)


Hiroshima Mon Amour

Somehow we drifted off too far
Communicate like distant stars
Splintered voices down the 'phone
The sunlit dust, the smell of roses drifts, oh no
Someone waits behind the door
Hiroshima mon amour

Riding inter-city trains
Dressed in European grey
Riding out to echo beach
A million memories in the trees and sands, oh no
How can I ever let them go?
Hiroshima mon amour

Meet beneath the autumn lake
Where only echoes penetrate
Walk through polaroids of the past
Features fused like shattered glass, the sun's so low
Turns our silhouettes to gold
Hiroshima mon amour
 

 M P 3   S a m p l e s


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