Midgeure.eu as in the fan site, don't worry!

Midge's official site is MidgeUre.com

Yep, just confirmed - the album design is being done in-house at EMI, NOT by Rian Hughes.

I'm not that concerned about the title - although it just isn't very Ultravox - but I am concerned that this is going to be a predominately Midge Ure project, and not a collaboration, which the title and 'This One' would seem to suggest it is. 

'Brilliant' has also been a text book example of how not to PR a new album: fifteen months from announcement to release, and sparse teasers and trailers has somewhat dwindled the interest. 

That said, it is probably the only album I will be looking forward to this year.

You think? Given the tone of the official press release, I doubt it. "Dramatic, passionate and truly epic in scale and sound..." doesn't sound like a Midge album to me.

I'm going to bury my head in the sand until 28th May
I don't want to hear any spoilers, see any artwork. In my day (lol)you just bought the album, went home said this is brilliant (no pun intended) and looked forward to the tour that followed the Album. This I'm hoping to do this time

Yeah, I don't think there's much evidence that this is a Midge Ure project at the moment. Midge does seem a dominant type of character but the others appear to be more than able to hold their own. My uninformed impression is that the album will be like a modern version of the Lament 'song' era but with some nods to the more atmospheric soundscapes of Vienna and Rage. Just a hunch. Could be massively wrong.

All have to say I am disappointed in the raft of negativity around the album name, FFS, 3 years ago this whole scenario would have seemed impossible, yet we have seen TWO tours of previous well loved material. Who cares what the new album is called, as far as I am concerned it could have been called "Chicken Supper" and I would not have cared, all I want to hear is NEW Ultravox music and see them Tour.
We have got the 4 members from the Classic era, I say classic but I guess some would consider it as the commercial era, which people is not a bad thing.
I do not necessarily want Vienna, RIE, Quartet or Lament revisited, but a nod to the bands history would be appreciated, and I think that is the case.
We want the re-invigorated Ultravox to be commercially successful again, lets not play the uber-fan "but their MY band and I dont want anyone else to like them" card which I think some people seem to want, or be in the "can you play that obscure remixed B-side again and re-release it" camp, not to say that the particular track is not important to you or the band are not special to you, but spread the word, make the band attractive to others in the current environment, rather than argue whether the title "fully captures the ambience of a renewed passion and the current socio-political commentary of the day, combined with a new found acceptance and forgiveness of things past".
We can look back at previous albums and match them to whatever we wish, it is called hindsight, I recall a lot of Ultravox music played a part of my formative teen years and it will forever be associated with various times and experiences, same as it did for everyone else, these are personal journeys.
What we currently have is foresight, looking forward to something new, with a hint of the past, which will make us all live new experiences and perhaps revisit old ones, whatever it is, it is up to us as fans, old and new, to support and encourage the band to new glories and not dim the current situation by being negative.

MON THE ULTRAVOX...................................BRILLIANT !

That would do for me, Ian.

Thanks for that, Cerise.

Would you know if the album will carry the Chrysalis label/logo, or would that have ended with Return To Eden?

It would be great if we could just refrain from arguments about 'negativity' and 'positivity' and just allow people to express themselves. As long as things don't get personal, I see nothing wrong with a good old debate. We're all adults (presumably). We're allowed to say what we think.

And the new James Bond film will be "the best Bond ever"... But let's hope this PR is to be believed eh?

Would be good wouldn't it?

Keep the faith...the "tracking drums" and "teaser" snippets on YouTube sound good to me!

Absolutely.

This also is my concern, that it will be an album of Midge or else to reflect where Midge is in his thinking just now. The lyrics of the "This One" song might have made me think it would be from a solo album if it had not been written that it was not!

I hope that, yes, the others have stamped down their feet and made their marks, too! This is not as if to say that I wish there had been unhappy conflict (because I do not and I think they all are older, they are wiser!) but it is true that passion and reasonable argument can make people try harder than otherwise they would. Midge is only one fifth of Ultravox, equally Billy and Warren and Chris; and, of course, the final fifth is - THE WHOLE, which adds to itself a certain sort of unique character!

If we are all polite and have respect then I see no reason that we may not write our thoughts and doubts, our worries and hopes and fears, although always it is nicer to write of good things. It shall all pass and we may seek out the good which raises our spirits and so our health and makes us smiling!

I'm with you Brian!

Grettings and Salutations, Rodney. I am truly honoured you remember me from the 2009 concert 'interactions'. Thank you for your kindness and generousity to me during that magical time. Hope you and yours are well. If all goes well, hope to see you again in the fall..which would be..."Brilliant"!
Take Care.
-Volglory

Yeah, I don't think there's any doubting that this is an Ultravox album, hence why they seem to be very happy that this is/will be one of the best collective results they've produced.

I think that track played in Steve Lipson's studio is awesome ... a nice 'poppy' vocal song with an electronic bassline of French origins (i.e. Jean Michel Jarre). It sounds different to anything they've done before, but even that short piece sounds 'Ultravoxy', as do the other two pieces ... especially the track filmed with Warren recording manual drums.

Actually, I wonder if his laptop is one of those new releases from Iron Lung Industries? I'm sure he's contributed some exciting new drum designs and with Billy's keyboards (including the old ARP) and violin (and viola?) over it, I'm sure this will not be a revisit to the 'venetian obscurity' of the U-Vox era.

Erin: Absolutely! I still have your business card, too! I met quite a few of the good forum folk at that time. Sadly, it was such a whirlwind experience that I feel as though I hardly got a chance to say anything to anyone except,"Nice to meet you!" (including the band ... like meeting the Queen, I expect ... shake hands and then you've got 13.25 seconds!).

Is that a good sign?! I´m not certain...

Neither am I, but I'm hoping they'll surprise us. It did occur to me to ask to be given a chance to design it, but... y'know what, I think I just want to wait in anticipation like everyone else, hoping for something that's going to blow us away.

I've been looking at Australian music media websites today trying to find reportage of the new Ultravox album, and I'm struggling to find any. Then again, electronic music, I think it's fair to say, doesn't have much appreciation here. I'm not sure about the level of media interest in the UK and elsewhere.

I'm wondering whether it would be worthwhile to have a dedicated website for the new album, or a webpage(s) being a part of this website, with a separate section for the media (selected fan reviews, promo grabs, etc), to try and 'spread the word'? And just maybe, exclusive merchandise that could be an earner for EV & UV (so long as it, of course, doesn't cause conflict with the sales arrangements with Amazon.) Or perhaps I'm being presumptious?

On his website, Billy mentions that he also used the impOSCar 2 on Briallant, maate (news and current information post of 20th January 2012).

Aye, Phil ... the old battle between vintage and virtual. So many choices ...

I'm hoping to suffer partial shift of hearing from being Odyssey'ed to insanity in a couple of months.

In the early 80s Australia was responsible for some interesting music acts which could have been categorised as ‘electronic’:
• Pseudo Echo (their 1st LP Autumnal Park has Ultravox sounds all over it; unfortunately, their later records were too poppy)
• Real Life (Send Me An Angel & Catch Me I’m Falling were huge on the continent)
• Kids In The Kitchen sounded a bit like Simple Minds
Not bad for country mainly identified with the likes of Kylie, INXS and AC/DC.

Yeah...bring it on. Incidentally, my Novation Ultranova synth has an OSCar pre-set on it...sounds quite good, too. I have managed to get it to howl on a number of occasions!

Quite correct about Pseudo Echo ('PE') and Real Life ('RL'), Seb. RL & PE weren't that big in Australia, however. Did you know Brian Canham formed Brill and released their only (self-titled) album of mostly guitar-pop about ten years ago? (There isn't any information on the year of publication, either on my CD or in the liner notes). I've alway's liked Brian's vocals. Kids in the Kitchen aren't considered an 'electronic' band, however.

Even Icehouse, probably the most prominent 'electronic' band, gradually reduced this element with each passing album. Compare their debut album with their most successful album 'Man of Colours' in this regard. Their final album 'The Berlin Tapes' was of acoustic covers.

Mi-Sex (They were originally from New Zealand) were a good 'electronic' singles band. Machinations used keyboards, but weren't considered 'electronic'. Koo De Tah released some passable songs. But from here, there just aren't that many more 'electronic' bands.

For cultural reasons, I suppose, electronic music acts have not been warmly embraced here. I wish it wasn't so, but there you are.

Forgot all about Icehouse! Shame on me!
However, I’m afraid I don’t know that much about the Aussies of the 80s.
Now…, we’d better drop this not-so-Brilliant topic, before we get kicked out to the green-room.

PS. 'So Much For Love' by the Venetians is a great song (sounds a little New Orderish).

Oh stop teasing Cerise :), I can imagine something very fresh, clean, classy ( as always), pristine, pure, arctic, mint, dazzling,,,, Ultravox music and design concept always filled and stimulated my imagination, still doing it today.

and now, after the weeny but fantastic taster, it appears that 'brilliant' refers to someone or something......maybe its us!!!!?

You [Aardvark] SHOULD have been given the job.....it's a no brainer as far as I can see!!!! I mean...come on - who better!!!!!!

M