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Rating: "...This means nothing to me, oh Vienna!"
Epic and glacial, "Vienna" is one of the iconic songs of those early '80s when the charts were dominated by synth-pop (Memorabilia, Just Can't Get Enough, Enola Gay), and the first signs of a kitsch hedonism were emerging, which would make them one of the most maligned decades in the history of music.
Experimental and poignant in its dark romanticism, "Ah! Ah! Ah!", on the other hand, is one of the fundamental albums of the first wave of the "new wave", with the ensemble still in the hands of John Foxx, a figure bearing more than a passing resemblance to Peter Green (remember him?). The singer with the shy and uncertain voice would leave Ultravox! right after the release of the LP following this one, retreating into an isolated life after a few solo albums.
What makes this album so essential? The violin? The keyboards? The fusion of punk elements and decadent melodies? Or perhaps that strange force that seems to emanate from the instruments? Probably the credit is due to the vitality that swept through that crazy year (1977), energy that drove everyone to go "beyond", to experiment with new sounds, new effects. Bowie and Eno had paved the way; it was their task to carry the work forward. The themes and atmospheres of the compositions are those typical of a certain new wave characterized by chronic pessimism towards the future, seen as inhumane and dominated by machines.
Their second work (after the self-titled album from the same year, produced by the Midas King in this field, the ubiquitous Eno) begins with "Rockwrok", a crescendo of rhythm and robotic beat. Next is "Frozen Ones", a track that well represents the band's eclecticism: the tension accumulated in the slow and chilly start dissolves in a fiery ending. "Fear In The Western World" is similar to the second part of the previous piece but has the misfortune of being right before a masterpiece: "Distant Smile". The piano initially lulls us only to leave us in the hands of a mix of schizophrenic instruments. "Man Who Dies Every Day" has a suspended and evanescent rhythm, while "Artificial Life" is built on wonderful keyboard effects and a co-protagonist drum action. "While I'm Still Alive" has a biting guitar that captivates but suffers the same fate as "Fear In The Western World": it is soon forgotten because of the ethereal, melancholic, eternal "Hiroshima Mon Amour", with our Foxx's singing never so moving. Tear-inducing.
...how I stopped worrying and learned to love the bomb...
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 ROckwrok (03:35)
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
04 Distant Smile (05:21)
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 (?)
07 While I'm Still Alive (03:16)
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)
08 Hiroshima Mon Amour (05:12)
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
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By luludia
The day John Foxx left the group was declared a national day of mourning.
Here, all together and all in one go, you have ice, heat, chaos, and intelligence, which, in one word, means a bomb.
