Ultravox: The Collection (Deluxe Edition)

(Chrysalis Records)

Released 5 December 2025

CD + Blu-ray | Vinyl | DL | Streaming

Our Score

 

Synth-pop stalwarts Ultravox continue to revamp their back catalogue with this expanded multi-format reissue of their biggest-selling greatest hits album. It now stretches across four CDs, with two Blu-ray discs of videos. It certainly means something to Robert Plummer.

Every now and again in pop, the experimental suddenly becomes conventional. As the 1970s turned into the 1980s, it happened to electronic music – and Ultravox were among the biggest beneficiaries.

One moment, they were all jagged art-rock and John Foxx. The next, they were all soaraway synths and Midge Ure. In the process, they lost an exclamation mark from their name, but gained a massive mainstream following.

It’s still hard to pin Ultravox down in the scheme of things, particularly since they seem to have faded in public esteem since their glory days. They were on the fringe of the New Romantic movement, because Ure and keyboardist Billy Currie formed part of Blitz club host Steve Strange’s band Visage. Yet there was always an Expressionist edge to their sound that set them apart from their preening peers – and they never owned a frilly shirt between them.

 

The original version of this album came out in 1984 and was a huge success, reaching number two in the charts and going triple platinum in the UK. However, it caught them at the tail-end of their imperial phase. The three singles from their subsequent U-Vox album, now on disc two of this expanded edition and added to the new single-disc version, fell well short of the top 20.

Whatever their place in chart history, listening to all these hits in one go still induces a giddy nostalgic rush. The sheer minimalism of the career-defining Vienna, with its echoing percussive thud, wistful electronics and sparse grand piano, is still as arresting as ever. Although routinely described as bombastic, mainly because of its stately pace and Ure’s portentous vocal, it remains a case study in how much can be achieved with surprisingly little.

A previously unreleased alternative version of Vienna, lodged at the end of the second CD, sheds light on the creative process. The percussion is more restrained, as is Ure: the effect may be more tasteful, but the track takes longer to work its magic. As is often the way with such outtakes, it leaves you grateful that the right version was released in the first place.

Other songs on disc one tug equally at the heartstrings. Dancing With Tears In My Eyes makes an impressive opener, perhaps the catchiest invocation ever of nuclear apocalypse. All Stood Still, Reap The Wild Wind, Hymn, Love’s Great Adventure: all the major tunes are there, albeit not in chronological order.

There is also a near-complete collection of B-sides on disc four, which obsessive collectors will doubtless have already as part of earlier deluxe album editions. But it’s the other two CDs in this set that will prove the biggest draw for Ultravox devotees, since they feature 18 otherwise unreleased tracks. These include several specially commissioned mixes by Steven Wilson, who won plaudits for offering a fresh sonic perspective on previous reissues by the band.

In fact, the all-new remix CD gets off to a cracking start with an epic Wilson re-working of Hymn that lasts nearly 11 minutes. Chris Cross’s bassline, hitherto buried in the dense soundscape, is isolated and showcased at length, making him sound more like Peter Hook than previously imaginable. None of the other nine mixes are as revelatory, but Midge Ure’s revamp of All Stood Still foregrounds the originally fleeting reggae section before reverting to its usual relentless groove.

This is the fifth box set in Ultravox’s reissue programme, following expanded versions of their first four albums on the Chrysalis label – Vienna, Rage In Eden, Quartet and Lament. Unlike those sets, this one contains a visual element, with two Blu-ray discs featuring dozens of promo videos and TV appearances. Still, it’s probably the only time that a record company has taken a greatest hits album and made a super deluxe edition out of it.

Ultravox fan forums online are already wondering who it’s aimed at, given that half the audio material is already contained on its predecessors. But if you have the original compilation and want to upgrade it, there’s no finer way to get all the highlights of the band’s most successful era in one place. For the general listener, it’s a powerful retrospective that brings one of the 1980s’ more underrated bands sharply into focus.

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You can find Ultravox online via their website. They are also on Instagram here and on X here.

All words by Robert Plummer. More writing by Robert can be found at his author’s archive. He is also on X as @robertp926.