Monday 4 August 2014

Ultravox - Philadelphia Hot Club 23/02/1979

This is the first of five quality bootlegs from the final tour of a John Foxx led Ultravox. This one comes from John Headland (and for you audiophiles you can find his flac rips over at "Dime" - I would rip in flac if I could play them on my mobile devices, but until then ASFM's gonna carry on with mp3).

This final tour was apparently self funded and just after Island records dropped them post the release of their classic "Systems Of Romance" album (can anyone confirm this?). What were Island records thinking? they gave them three classic albums, more than many others have ever achieved and then they dumped them.

You also get a first taste of John Foxx's solo material. "He's a liquid" was never officially recorded by Ultravox and was eventually released on John Foxx's debut solo album "Metamatic".

The two final two tracks have been added to John's rips and came from Alyn over at punkrockposters.com, the intro and outro for each track is a little clipped, but all the music is still there, and considering one of the tracks is "Young Savage", you can't complain.

Did you ge to see John Foxx with Ultravox? If so what did you think? Leave a comment and don't forget to thank John for sharing this great rip.

Band: Ultravox
Album: Live at Philadelphia Hot Club 23/02/79
Year: 1979
Tracks:
1. The Man Who Dies Every Day
2. Slipaway
3. Slow Motion
4. Hiroshima Mon Amour
5. Artificial Life
6. Just For A Moment
7. He's A Liquid
8. Quiet Man
9. I Can't Stay Long
10. Someone Else's Clothes
11. Blue Light
12. My Sex
13. Young Savage
14. The Wild, The Beautiful, and the Damned

Ripped from glorious hissing tape (see comment from link)

If you like this, then surely you already own this, but if not, only £4.98 - bargin:
Systems Of Romance
You can also hear He's A Liquid on Foxx's great debut here, also £4.98:
Metamatic

17 comments:

Punkzer0 said...

http://www.mediafire.com/?lmknzx4twgx

You know what to do

Anonymous said...

I did see Ultravox! with John Foxx, but only the once. It was Boxing Day 1978 and I went to see them do a matinee show at The Marquee before going on to see PiL at the Rainbow (what a day!).

John Foxx had great stage presence, pacing the stage and being generally flamboyant. I didn't (and still don't) count the Midge Ure fronted version as being anything the do with the original!

PS - thanks for the post!

Gremlin

Jim said...

Great stuff!....Ultravox! were the first band that I ever went to see. Wolverhampton Civic Hall summer of 1977 supported by The Boys.I also saw them in 78 and 79 in different locations, they were never the same once Foxx left and I had no interest in them after that point.

Keep up the good work!

ROOKSBY said...

I've been after this for YEARS, many thanks for sharing... x

Longy said...

As ever a top quality post from Mr Gary Ching. Cheers matey!

arstider said...

Agree with Longy (as always!)
Might have this one somewhere.

Never saw them but I heard (and taped) the show from Stockholm 1977 on the radio.

Best wishes from Sweden

draftervoi said...

I saw Ultravox at the Old Waldorf in San Francisco 3/13/79 (according to my ticket stub). I recall it being a good show. I liked the band and owned the first three albums. I recall that Foxx had a bit of an icy stage persona, which fit the music...but kept me a bit distant from fully engaging with the music.

Punkzer0 said...

Hi gremlin, thanks for the comment, sounded like a great day. I'm 100% with you on the Ure incarnation.

Hi Jim, thanks for the comment, what a great band to see for your debut gig. Looks like we're all on the same page with the Ure period.

Glad to help Novemberer.

Longy and Arstider, Cheers as usual

Thanks for the comment draftervoi, your right about John Foxx he never really connected with the audience, but in a way if felt just right. he was so good to watch, I just didn't care.

draftervoi said...

To: garychching

Yeah, that whole "I'm an icy alienated robot" was standard sctick for young men with synthesizers in the late 70s. Hmm...were there any women pretending to be cyborgs back then? I mucked about with a build-it-yourself Paia drum machine but ended up in a rockabilly band. Unfortunately (or fortunately, if you had heard any of the racket I used to make...) none of that stuff was committed to tape.....

Anonymous said...

Thanks for that.

Ultravox mk1 are so underated - probably becuase of what they became.

Punkzer0 said...

Hi draftervoi, from electronic to rockabilly, now there's a change :-)

Hi anon, I think your right, because the Ure incarnation became so big, the Foxx one was lost. But hey the real music fans know whats best.

draftervoi said...

Ah, it was the era. It was that post-punk "I want to be in a band" period. Pre-Stray Cats, rockabilly was retro, but still every very bit as underground as Throbbing Gristle. My main regret is that we got right to the point where we had original material, and were doing some recording at an 8-track studio, and promptly had a Beatle-worthy breakup, with recriminations all around. Ah, youth and testosterone, the bane of bands everywhere! :)

Punkzer0 said...

Hi draftervoi, ahh regrets, we all have them, still sounds like you have some good memories.

sistinas said...

wow...thank you - I was at this show & still have some photos I took (and an autographed $1 bill since I didn't have any other paper on me!) never thought I would get a chance to hear it again - thanx!!!!

Punkzer0 said...

Hi Sistinas, thamks for taking the tome to comment, and glad to help you with your memories. Your a lucky one seeing them on their final tour.

If you can get me a scan of the autograph and photos I will add them to the post - email is in my profile.

All the best, Gary

EricC said...

I refer to the latter version of Ultravox as the new wave Moody Blues, and that is not a compliment. I like a few things on the first LP, and maybe a song or two after that, but man they smoothed out all the rough edges.

John's solo career still had an edge to it, even as the music became more smooth.

Someone talked about his cold stage persona. He was definitely that way when I saw them, one hand on the microphone the other half way down the microphone stand, a slight sly smile on his face through much of the show. I was probably 6 feet away from him. The only real change was during the violin solo in Artificial Life when suddenly he wrapped his arms around his back and went berserk. Scared the willies out of all of us in front. Then he went back to the distance. It was an amazing show, still one of the best live shows I have ever seen.

Punkzer0 said...

Hi again Eric, for me I preferred the earlier stuff especially Ha! Ha! Ha!. When I bought Young Savage as a single I thought it was (and still do) one of the best Punk songs ever. Don't get me wrong I still love the later stuff and Jogn Foxx solo stuff to.