Systems of Romance

RELEASE
LABEL
Mystine
GENRES
Pop/Rock, Post-Punk, Alternative/Indie Rock, Prog-Rock, Dance-Rock, Punk/New Wave, New Wave, Alternative Pop/Rock, Contemporary Pop/Rock

Album Review

With 1978's Systems of Romance, Ultravox! left punk behind and single-handedly blue-printed the entire New Romantic movement to come -- well, with a little help from co-producers Conny Planck and Dave Hutchins. Gone was the brittleness of Ha!-Ha!-Ha!, replaced by a rich lushness of sound that would define the forthcoming genre. Shifting from the political to the inter-personal, gone too was the overwhelming sense of looming Armageddon, replaced by more generalized (and mundane) feelings of alienation, "Dislocation," and unease. "Quiet Men" is a Lowry painting brought to life, the chorus of "Slow Motion" a swaying field painted by Renoir, "I Can't Stay Long" a Degas ballet, while "Maximum Acceleration" is as lavish in sound as Botticelli was with paint. The rhythms still remained dangerous, however, and Robin Simon's guitar gives the set a tough edge, but it's the swirling, swooping synths and keyboards that predominate within.
Dave Thompson, Rovi

Track Listing

  1. Slow Motion
  2. I Can't Stay Long
  3. Someone Else's Clothes
  4. Blue Light
  5. Some of Them
  6. Quiet Men
  7. Dislocation
  8. Maximum Acceleration
  9. When You Walk Through Me
  10. Just for a Moment