- Ha!-Ha!-Ha!
Infobox Album | Name = Ha!-Ha!-Ha!
Type =Album
Artist =Ultravox
Released =October 14 ,1977
Genre = New Wave
Length =
Label =Island Records
Producer = Ultravox!,Steve Lillywhite
Reviews =
*Allmusic Rating|3|5 [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:3u63mpc39f2o link]
Last album =Ultravox!
(1977)
This album = Ha!-Ha!-Ha!
(1977)
Next album =Systems of Romance
(1978) |Ha!-Ha!-Ha! was the second album by British pop group
Ultravox , at that time formally known as "Ultravox!", with an exclamation mark, as a nod toNeu! . Although the group would later achieve fame and commercial success with lead singerMidge Ure , the band was in 1977 led by singer/songwriterJohn Foxx (born Dennis Leigh), who was accompanied by guitaristStevie Shears , drummerWarren Cann , bassistChris Cross (born Christopher Allen), and keyboard/violinistBilly Currie ."Ha!-Ha!-Ha!" was released on
October 14 ,1977 , and was accompanied by lead single "ROckwrok" backed with "Hiroshima Mon Amour ", which was released eleven days earlier. Neither reached the pop charts, althoughIsland Records would continue to have faith in the band. As a consequence of the album's confusing typography - it is variously known as "Ha!-Ha!-Ha!", "Ha! Ha! Ha!" and "-ha!-ha!-ha!", the group decided to abandon their exclamation mark for subsequent releases. [ cite web
url = http://home.tiscali.se/musicworld/ultravox-interview2.html
title = Ultravox interview at "tiscali.se"]Whilst the group's first album had been a product of the
Brian Eno /David Bowie /Roxy Music -esque side ofglam rock , their second was considerably more informed by the burgeoning punk movement, although it also marked the group's first widespread adoption of synthesisers and electronic production techniques. Money from the first album was used to improve the band's equipment, and funded the purchase of anARP Odyssey and, most notably, aRoland TR-77 drum machine, which appeared on the album's final track, "Hiroshima Mon Amour ". This song was the most indicative of the group's later synth-pop direction, and remains both a fan and critical favourite. [ cite web
url = http://www.trouserpress.com/entry.php?a=ultravox
title = Band history at "TrouserPress"
author = Grant, Steven; Robbins, Ira; Reno, Brad] [ cite web
url = http://www.newtimesbpb.com/issues/2003-11-20/music/music2.html
title = "New Times"' The Quiet Man
author = Stratton, Jeff
date =November 20 2003 ] It was performed on the group's 1978 "Old Grey Whistle Test " appearance and was covered by The Church in 1999."ROckwrok" was, as mentioned, the lead single. An unusually sensual paean to unrestrained sexuality, the song featured a chorus which began "come on, let's tangle in the dark / fuck like a dog, bite like a shark" and lyrics such as "the whole wide world fits hip to hip" - despite which, it apparently achieved airplay on
BBC Radio 1 on account of Foxx's garbled vocal delivery and the song's punky guitars. [ cite web
url = http://www.ultravox.org.uk/images-history/Ultravox-History_Screen_v1.0.pdf
title = Page from "ultravox.org.uk"
format =PDF ]Other songs included "Fear In The Western World", which was also a punk number, with socially-conscious references to contemporary global hot spots including
Soweto andIreland . "While I'm Still Alive", although subsequently regarded by the band as the album's weakest title, was particularly reminiscent ofSex Pistols , and specifically the vocalphrasing ofJohn Lydon . "Fear in the Western World" also ended with a short burst of feedback - edited from a much longer take, in the manner of the Beatles' "Helter Skelter" - which segued into the quiet piano opening of "Distant Smile", which eventually developed into a conventional rock number, albeit using a similar vocal-synth fade asPink Floyd 's contemporaneous "Dogs". "Artificial Life" was reminiscent of Roxy Music's "Every Dream Home A Heartache ", with lyrics that examined suburbanteenage life and tribes. "Hiroshima Mon Amour", featured thesaxophone playing of cc from the bandGloria Mundi , and includes the Roland TR-77 drum machine working a modified bossa-nova preset by drummer Warren Cann, and foreshadowed the music both John Foxx and Ultravox were to make later, apart.The song "Young Savage" was improbably named as record of the week on Mark & Lard's Radio 1 show in 2002.
Track listing
#
ROckWrok (Foxx) – 3:34
#The Frozen Ones (Foxx) – 4:07
#Fear in the Western World (Foxx/Currie/Cross/Cann/Shears) – 4:00
#Distant Smile (Foxx/Currie) – 5:21
#The Man Who Dies Every Day (Foxx/Currie/Cross/Cann/Shears) – 4:10
#Artificial Life (Foxx/Currie) – 4:59
#While I'm Still Alive (Foxx) – 3:16
#Hiroshima Mon Amour (Foxx/Currie/Cann) – 5:13
#Young Savage * - 2:56
#The Man Who Dies Every Day (remix)* - 4:15
#Hiroshima Mon Amour (alternative version)* - 4:54
#Quirks* - 1:40
#The Man Who Dies Every Day (recorded live at Huddersfield Polytechnic)* - 4:15
#Young Savage (recorded live at The Marquee)* - 3:25* 2006 CD bonus tracks marked with an asterisk.
Personnel
*
John Foxx - vocals
*Stevie Shears - guitar
*Warren Cann - drums, vocals (rhythm machine on "Hiroshima Mon Amour")
*Billy Currie - violins, keyboards, synthesiser
*Chris Cross - bass, vocals*cc (from
Gloria Mundi ) - saxophone on "Hiroshima Mon Amour"References
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