Još malo od pravih majstora kvalitetnog evropskog arty synthpop zvuka koji su obelezili rane 80-te, posle pauze od četvrt veka (i 11 god posle Midge Ure-ovog poslednjeg studijskog solo albuma)...
Vrhunsko uzivanje!

odličan review sa:
http://consequenceofsound.net/2012/05/album-review-ultravox-brilliant/

In a recent interview with the Spanish magazine Metropoli, former Ultravox singer John Foxx had this to say about nostalgia: „It’s an illness. It’s a kind of death. Why should anyone attempt to imitate themselves as a young man – often a foolish young man? You have to be blind, vain, and terribly insecure to do this. There is absolutely no point in looking backwards when there is still so much to investigate.” While he wasn’t being asked about the band he founded, it’s pretty clear that Foxx would think that the idea of Ultravox reuniting with his replacement (Midge Ure) is faintly ridiculous for a number of reasons – and it’s not hard to disagree with that assessment.
The Foxx-era Ultravox was a futuristic and aggressive synth-pop act, indebted to both krautrock experimentalism and the punk rock movement. It did not meet with much success, but it’s generally regarded as one of the more innovative acts of the early New Wave movement. After Foxx left the band, Ultravox became one of the most popular and successful bands of New Wave’s commercial era and made a string of records that, while certainly not all that groundbreaking, nonetheless captured the epic melodrama that so defined the sound of the early ’80s. It was, basically, the European pop version of Van Halen vs. Van Hagar, but if David Lee Roth was more into the Velvet Underground than Black Oak Arkansas.

This „reunion” album brings vocalist/guitarist Midge Ure (a.k.a. Sammy Hagar) back together with the „classic” lineup of Chris Cross (bass), Billy Currie (synthesizers), and Warren Cann (drums), and revisits the unapologetically huge synth-rock sound that the band was so successful with between 1980 and 1986. Within the first minute of Brilliant, the skyscraping anthemry, the pulsing synth lines, and the gorgeous textures of „Live Again” immediately evoke the band’s Vienna/Rage in Eden era, during which legendary krautrock producer Conny Plank helped Ultravox connect the experimentalism of their early years with their mainstream ambitions. Contained within that song is pretty much any reason one would have to pay attention to an Ultravox album in 2012.

Unfortunately, after that, Brilliant quickly loses the plot. Before the album even hits the halfway mark, the band seems to have completely run out of steam and focus, unable to decide if stadium-sized fluff like „Flow” or synth-heavy dirges like „The Change” are the right way to go. By the time the album reaches the witheringly dull second half, half-baked, late-’80s leftovers like „Satellite” and bloodless midtempo numbers like „This One” very nearly suck all the remaining life out of Brilliant. Of course, this is where the band slips in the most interesting song on the whole album: „Fall” is part musical theater solo number, part twisted synth-pop, and all epic drama. It’s almost uncomfortable to listen to, but unlike the discomfort caused by the rest of Brilliant, it actually makes you want to hear more where it came from.

Essential tracks: „Live Again”, „Fall”

i još jedan review
http://www.thisisnotretro.com/review-ultravox-brilliant-album

THIS IS NOT RETRO SAYS...

The first fifteen seconds of opening track 'Live' leave you in absolutely no doubt that this is Ultravox, they're back and they're on extraordinarily good form. 'Live' employs every trick in the band's book: it's solid, upbeat and epic, it's sprinkled with their electronic and string sounds, and it's underpinned by a pop-hit catchy chorus featuring their trademark echoing vocals. As an opening track 'Live' sets the bar high for what's still to come, and as the album continues it quickly becomes clear that 'Brilliant' has classic Ultravox DNA running through the veins of every single track.

The mid-paced second track, 'Flow', although distinctively Ultravox, carries something of U2's epic rock sound and then we're onto 'Brilliant', the title track and the first single from this album. Starting with a oddly muted vocal 'Brilliant' is an ideal first single, very much a statement of intent for what else is to come. It's classic Ultravox in every way, from the solid guitar sounds overlaid with an understated sheen of electronics, to the epic drama of the lyrics and vocals.

'Change' steers the album into darker territory, slowing down the pace of the record as it couples a dramatic electronic beat with a rather menacing vocal that lightens only slightly as it reaches each chorus with the faintest of echoes of Kraftwerk's 'The Model'. The electronic mood is sustained on Rise', the most overtly electronic track of the album so far, which picks up the pace again before the synths swirl out of control, a dramatic introduction for the next track, 'Remembering', which is constructed around a slow and melancholy piano refrain and slowly blossoms into an impressively wistful and introspective ballad.

There's something of the Pet Shop Boys in 'Hello', it doesn't sound like them as such but there's something in the the way the spoken introduction explodes into the song, something to do with the electronic string sounds that underpin the chorus, and something to do with the way the track ends in an electronic explosion into silence. The jagged guitar and bombastic synths however, set off against an elegant piano riff, are a definite nod to Ultravox's rockier influences.

The next two tracks - 'One' and 'Fall' - slow the pace of the album right down, the emotion in Midge Ure's impassioned vocal performance in 'One' giving way to the gentle electronic pulses, crackles and chimes of 'Fall', a moody, sophisticated and deceptively simple song. The upbeat 'Lie' comes next in stark contract to the melancholy of the previous two tracks, but still tinged with sadness, despite its distinctively epic Ultravox sound.

The exuberance of 'Satellite' with it's haunting middle-eastern melody is a far more straightforward proposition, an upbeat number with echoes of the epic grandeur of Simple Minds. Then, all too soon, the album finishes on a curiously downbeat note with 'Contact', a slow, atmospheric and haunting track which leaves you wanting more… which may be exactly the point!

Ultravox may not be breaking much new ground with 'Brilliant' but would we want them to? What they have delivered is an assured, accomplished and extremely enjoyable album that plays to the band's many strengths, and as such it's already a definite contender for our album of the year.