Been listening to it over and over since Saturday! I have to admit that settling down with it for the first time was a fairly nerve-wracking experience. I'd listened to all the previews online and was really excited by what I'd heard, but still... Well I wasn't disappointed, what an album!!

And it wasn't like a trip back to the 80's, this is Ultravox very much now but with all those essential signatures still weaving their magic through the music . Mind you I think Ultravox's music is timeless, it never dates

I love how the well the tracks work together as a whole, the mood changes flow really well. So difficult to choose favourites. Still think ‘Change’ is exceptional.‘Lie’ is stunning and on rather a permanent loop for me at the moment Hope they play that live as well as ‘Live’ of course. These are two classics that just refuse to let go once they’ve got a hold of you and demand to be played very loudly ;)‘Satellite’ is amazing and that violin solo *swoons*. ‘Hello’, ‘Flow’ and ‘Brilliant’ are fantastic tracks. Loving the slower ones as well. They have a real sense of intimacy and introspection. Try listening to them on head-phones for the most powerful effect, they really draw you in. ‘One’ is beautiful, brought tears to my eyes. ‘Remembering’ is very touching. I wasn’t so sure about ‘Contact’ at first, but getting into it more and more, it’s very atmospheric. And I know it seems to be one of the least popular but I really like ‘Fall’. It has a deceptive simplicity, but is a powerful song with a subtle driving tune and great lyrics. In fact the only track I ‘m not so keen on at the moment is ‘Rise’, got to agree with Bladerunner it’s something to do with that beat. Do like the ‘evil laugh’ in it though

One hell of an album is probably the best way to sum up all my thoughts. Billy, Midge, Chris & Warren thank you so much!!

You and me both, Your Shadow! Still waiting for mine. Lets hope you and I have a pleasant surprise this evening waiting for us on our doormats when we get home from work, eh?

I have to say I still absolutely like Live,but there are a lot of stand out tracks! I do like Rise but one that hit me was Remembering,,apt lyrics for anyone who would love to take all the best bits from their life and relive it all.

Just played all of album at work and colleagues said "It's instantly recognisably Ultravox" That's praise enough for me!

I agree with you in almost everything.
And yes... "Rise"... it's not only that beat, but also the vocals that seems to me very "forced".
About "Contact", i thought i was listening to "Alfie", from Midge Ure's "Ten" . But only at the first seconds...

The CD still hasn't arrived from Amazon yet. This is so frustrating!!

quick review,
Ultravox should be really proud of themselves and of this album, I've never replayed a UV song as much as Lie.
Change and One are the other standouts, it's great to hear some sensitive tracks, not just slow and moody ala RIE, but truly emotional and heartfelt.
(the only song I have reservations on is Hello)
The small crit I have is I wish the post-bridge hooks and melodies on some of the songs were introduced earlier, even at the beginning of the songs, I often found myself skipping to them because they're that good (Live is a good example with the spacey melody kicking in later),

it's an EXCEPTIONAL ALBUM!!!
and it's going to sound pukka live

Ditto. May need an iTunes purchase. Have EMI done a deal with Amazon to increase sales?

Ah, that's why I didn't order from Ginza or CDOn, I wanted my copy as soon as possible.
I had my cd on repeat at work today - I work in a store, so both costumers and colleagues had to listen to Ultravox
Noone complained, my colleagues liked it (if they don't like the music they always change to their favourites).

Now on something like my sixth or seventh listen through the whole thing, and I have to agree - the guys really should feel proud of producing such a great collection of music after so long apart. It really is superb, but I'd have to add Remembering & Brilliant to the list of those that really raise the neck-hairs.

Finally my CD + a slightly bent art print arrived yesterday. Listening to the actual CD is so much better than on simfy!

All you people that have not received your CD from Amazon yet, did you choose "free delivery"? In that case delivery is 3-5 business days. I never pre-order CD's I definitely want. I buy a copy on the day but then I'm working 5mins from Bluewater, not that easy for everyone I assume.

My favorite 3 tracks are: Change & Lie and Satellite. There are definaetly traces of Vangelis and JM Jarre in there.

And my copy arrived today!!! But the bad news is that I have no time to listen to it proberly until Sunday.

I finally received my copy today from Amazon. It was definitely worth the wait. I absolutely love it. The short clips that have been available only give a hint to the album's contents. I can't say there's one track that I don't like. Fantastic work lads!!

Thanks for your comments, Peter. I've been listening to an iTunes download of the album all week (although I converted the files to .wav and knocked-out a CD-R straight away) and I thought something just wasn't quite right with the sound, which you've articulated nicely with your "tech mumbojumbo". Initially, I thought it was just the mixing ... there seemed to be just a 'wall of sound' on some tracks and parts of the drums seemed too loud, as you've suggested. But, for me, it's the treatments on Midge's vocals that sort of diminish the quality of the recordings somewhat. Most noticeably on Hello, where at some points it does make for hard work on the ears at higher volumes.

My copy of the CD from Townsend Records is yet to arrive (hopefully today!), so it'll be interesting to hear if there's any difference in the sound quality.

Cheers ...

Still no CD despite being sent on Saturday. Won't be home until Tuesday so may get iTunes download. Was I naive to think pre-ordering meant it would arrive on release date?

Still waiting from Amazon despite being dispatched last Saturday and having an estimated delivery date of today!! Highly frustrating with HMV not too far down the road! Won't be pre ordering any albums from Amazon again in the future!!! Grrrrr!!

I don't usually mind ordering stuff off Amazon and waiting three or four days for delivery. However Briiliant was preordered some weeks ago and considering it was despatched last Saturday to arrive today was very sluggish. In future if I'm desperate to receive something as quickly as possible I think I will go elsewhere. I have sympathy for those still waiting their album but I promise you it will be worth the wait.

I'm still waiting for mine. That snail must be really slow, even for a snail.

First of all:
Thanks guys – Billy, Chris, Midge and Warren – for making it happen – for taking a chance – and what a result.
The album exceeds every expectation – and then some:

Straight into my top 3 all time ultra-favourites:
Rise – what a track …. Can’t get it out of my head

Great:
Live, Flow, Brilliant, Change, Satellite

Good:
Remembering, One, Lie, Contact

Not reaching it’s potential:
Hello (Great elements (Billys and Midges solos), but the chorus is pretty annoying - to be honest – and the drumming doesn’t seem right). Second part is so much better

Expendable:
Fall

All in all – a really great album and Ultravox should be very proud of themselves – quite some “mood changes” – but nevertheless the album works perfect together as a whole.
I understand perfectly how “This Is Not Retro” has the album as a contender for “album of the year”.

Anyone notice how Midge's voice sometimes sounds like Morten Harket's? I think it's the new tunes which give this superb album a very a-ha like melodic feel to it... Also,good to hear you got the album delivered to you at last Andy!

Here's my tuppence-worth...

It's a great album with lots of immediate tunes - I woke up this morning with One in my head - which makes me want to listen to it over and over. The bass sounds great - really meaty and satisfying. The overall sound is a bit squashed for my taste - you can hear the crash cymbols pumping in several places as the compressor leaps into action, but that's modern production for you. It doesn't really matter. Flow definitely sounds like a Midge Ure solo song.

In fact the only thing which niggles is that I think some of Ultravox's theatricality has been replaced by musicality - I mean that some of the song make me think of musicals! The intro to Lie really brings to mind Phantom of the Opera for some reason, and the bit in Remembering where Midge sings, "just remembering" and "if I could gather..." at the same time immediately conjured up the image of a man and woman standing back to back in a spotlight singing the respective parts! I can't put my finger on why - maybe the choice of synth and bass voices and the use of sustained chords (much more than on other albums I think). Maybe that's just me though. I hope so, because it's irritating!

Whatever, I'm really enjoying getting into it. Every song has something good and interesting about it, and though it's early days, quite a few of them have potential to be up there with the rest of the catalogue.

TTFN

After listening to the music for a thousand times now I think the closing track Contact is a sort of new romantic approach to modern means of communication. Actually it emphasizes that it's even harder now to make contact despite all gadgets we have. Not a very innovative and revealing idea perhaps but so true and presented in such an impressive way.

Thanks Torque Torque. It was one long excruciating wait,especially knowing that so many people had been enjoying the album for days!

It's arrived at last! Got a nice apology from the snail too for it being late.

Gave up and bought it from HMV. If Amazon get round to delivering, it's going back.

Still hasn't arrived from Amazon. At this rate they may as well include it with Ultravox's "next album"!!!

Got iTunes copy here in Seattle. At risk of sounding melodramatic, the album just feels right. Reminds me of what drew me to the band when I was a morose teenager in the early 80's. That and it is just pretty good.

I brought the Brilliant CD into my car today to show my wife some of the songs. She is not a fan of the music that I listen to (says that I am stuck in the '80s) and after 30 seconds of "Live" she commented that it was "so typical Ultravox". I responded with an resounding "EXACTLY!!". I really did not think that Ultravox would be able to produce new songs that were even close to the caliber of their older stuff, and boy was I wrong. I started to listen to Ultravox when I was 12 years old and what a wonderful gift it has been to have these four gentlemen produce new music over 30 years later for the true fans to enjoy. It would be excellent if this new gem produces some new fans.