This is the first album I ever bought by Ultravox back in 1981. I first heard of them after Gary Numan mentioned them as an influence in a couple of interviews. I was already a huge Numan fan. I also thought "what a cool name for a band" and eventually bought Vienna. I first thought it would sound cold and robotic like Gary Numan's music, but it was far from it. The music on this cd I find lush and full of feeling. Midge Ure's vocals express a lot of emotion to go along with the moody electronics. But the cd also rocks with guitar driven songs like New Europeans, Passing Strangers, and Private Lives. Even some synth only songs rock out, which is something their contemporaries never did, with the same ferocity. Songs Sleepwalk and Western Promise are great examples.

Most of the songs on Vienna feature synth solos by Billy Currie on an ARP Oddysey...sounding like a cross between an electric guitar and violin. Currie does play some actual violin and viola on the album most notably on Astradyne,Mr.X and the title track Vienna. Drummer Warren Cann took electronic percussion to a whole new level on this album.

I feel the title track Vienna is one of the greatest songs ever recorded. It's a beautiful blend of electronics and classical string instruments. It was a big hit all over the world except the US of course. Ultravox were just too European to have a hit in America at that time. This enhanced cd features the video which was the first video to look like a mini movie. Watch for the tarantula on the sleeping (dead?)guys face.

Also included are some B-sides to singles all of which are good songs. Waiting and Passionate Reply being my favorites. Herr X is an interesting version of Mr X done in German.

This is essential listening if you're into electronica old or new...or if you just like good music.

So this was the transitional album for Ultravox. 1980 & John Foxx had gone on to pursue his solo career giving over the position to Midge Ure (previously of the Rich Kids). Thankfully the new line-up didn't rest on the laurels of the old lead singer & his very personal & esoteric lyrics. When I saw Ultravox in Concert back 1980 they were canny enough to split their set pretty much in 1/2. Half of the old 70's fave's and then introduced the new stuff off this album. Vienna being more symphonic and richer sounding than the simpler robotic synth lines and beats of their previous effort 'Systems of Romance' this album took a huge leap forward for the group. Neither distancing themselves from their original sound, the Violins of Billy Currie were still up front and centre in many of the arrangements and given free reign on tracks like Vienna the highly emotive title track. Elsewhere you have the Instrumental lead in 'Astradyne' which shows how to make the most of a Synthesizer back in the 80's, when knob twiddling was how you played Synths rather than too much key work. However it works very well here while the group intelligently veers back to solid song-structure & the great brave vocals of Midge Ure pushing the songs like 'Passing Stranger's' & 'Sleepwalk' along wonderfully. I say brave because this was an obvious transiton for the group from Underdog Synth Punkers to the New Age scene that was fast hitting the U.K. and they straddled it with confidence and panache. Highly emotional songs like 'Vienna' & 'New Europeans' sharing space with beat driven Electro ditties like 'All Stood Still' & 'Sleepwalk' which I believe was their 1st single off the album. The stark white cover with the group in rather awkward stances I think works quite well & even their Logo changed. Certainly one of the top 10 albums in the U.K. of 1980 it jump-started a highly prolific Ultravox for another good few years but they never again achieved the height of sophistication they achieved here. A must buy for any fan of old-school New Wave. Highly recommended.

I've been an Ultravox fan since 1979, and while I liked the incarnation with John Foxx, Midge Ure's amazing voice made the band even better. I've listened to this album over and over. I know every note of it. The track listing on this release is different than what I'm used to. In addition to the four songs added on to the end, it seems that Sleepwalk and Astradyne have switched places in the track order. Maybe this is the track listing from the original UK version and I have the US version? I agree with someone else who said that Astradyne doesn't belong at the begining of the CD. It is, however, one of my favorite songs.

At any rate, you can't go wrong with this CD, especially if you love synth music. However, this is more than synth music...and that's what makes it so special. The instruments used include violin, viola, drums, piano and bass. I've always described Ultravox's music as 'Modern Classical.' The songs flow perfectly from one to the next and listening to this CD is pure bliss.

I just picked up this CD, but it's actually quite an old friend as I have owned the "Vienna" LP on and off since it was originally released. Looking over the other reviews, this recording's relevance is something that is only hinted at: it's more than 20 years old and yet still holds up just fine. I've loved "Vienna" since I first heard it those 20+ years ago and its combination of cold synthesizers, warm piano, screechy and jagged guitars, strings, and rock-solid beat still sound better today at louder-than-your-parents-tolerated volume than all the other electronics-heavy bands that were either contemporary or to follow ...OK, with New Order excepted.

The reviews so far seem to divide opinions into two camps: those who admire Ultravox's distant, edgy, and alienated sound as typified by much of the John Foxx-led era that preceded this LP and as well as a good chunk of the rather cold "Rage In Eden" album that followed "Vienna." The other camp are those who love the lush, synthesized landscapes and/or progressive rock influence of synth + guitar + classical instrumentation epitomized by this one recording with Midge Ure in the lead. Those with favorable opinions of the song "Mr. X" fall into the former camp, those who react strongly to "Vienna" and other cuts, the latter. The best way to appreciate both styles is to buy "Vienna" and "Systems of Romance," the LP that immediately preceded "Vienna" and the last with John Foxx. Conveniently, they are also Ultravox's two best albums. "Systems" contains much of that uneasy balance of nervous edginess and haunting detachment that characterized the Foxx era and yet the increasing emphasis on atmospheric synth clearly points the way to the album that was to follow. Hindsight is 20/20, but listening to "Systems" makes "Vienna" sound inevitable, Midge Ure or no. Even in the voicing, both Foxx and Ure are found alternately at the front and back of the mix, vocals both natural and electronically enhanced depending on the effect desired. Conny Plank, the producer for both, clearly had an agenda. "Vienna," however, covers all the sonic bases: plaintive & majestic ("Vienna"), propulsive ("Sleepwalk"), edgy ("Western Promise"), rocking ("New Europeans"), distant & haunting ("Mr. X"), beautifully melodic pop ("Passing Strangers"), borderline dance ("All Stood Still") and on and on - a complete tutorial for a lot of bands to come (this was released in 1980, remember). And contrary to many other reviews, I've always enjoyed the instrumental "Astradyne" with its opening synth wash leading into a pounding beat, Billy Currie's shimmering and distorted strings, and a crashing finale that melts away ...a great opener (with this CD, restored to its proper opening spot) that draws the listener into what's about to follow. More accessible than Foxx's flat, almost spoken vocals, Midge Ure's voice is also quite engaging and evocative in his debut with the band: warm on "Vienna," ice-cold and distant on "Sleepwalk," ironic on "New Europeans" ...he really emotes with the atmosphere of each song. He's in good form as well on the follow-up "Rage In Eden," but the songs on that album aren't nearly as gripping as here on "Vienna." After that one, he loses it on "Quartet" and whatever followed, sounding alternately hollow, shrill, and pretentious. Some reviewers have commented on the production, but I have no problems with it; "Sleepwalk" is the flattest sounding cut on the album but the rest of the songs have always impressed me with their multi-layering, instrumental interplay, and (relative) depth. It's great to hear it sonically remastered for digital at speaker-workout volumes without the crackle of vinyl-based playback that detracts from the mood this recording sets. Certainly nothing that followed outdid this one, even the likeably overwrought and rather syrupy "Quartet," impressively over-produced by George Martin.

The extras on this CD aren't particularly inspiring: "Waiting" is likeable enough; "Passionate Reply" rather forgettable; "Herr X" ("Mr. X" sung in German) and the instrumental "Alles Klar" are the best 2 of the 4 additions. The enhanced area features the video for "Vienna," which when played through QuickTime on my computer is out of synch with the music - an unforgivable gaffe if this is indeed the fault of the production. Someone at EMI/Abbey Road should be ashamed. The discography completely ignores the John Foxx era's output.

All the discussion is, in the end, academic as "Vienna" remains -the- Ultravox album to own as song by song, it is the perfect distillation of everything the band was about from founding to dissolution. This is really just a beautifully executed album.

This is a remastered and expanded version of what I think is the best Ultravox album ever. It includes the original album and an additional CD that includes different versions of two of the songs, two German language versions of songs, two songs not on the original album and four live versions (two of which are John Foxx-era songs done by the post-Foxx line-up). It's a great upgrade of this album with one exception: for some reason the record company flipped upside-down the order of the first four songs that were the first side of the vinyl version. This was a little disconcerting to me, who grew up with the original order of these songs. Despite this (hopefully unintentional) mistake, this is a package well worthy of purchase. P.S. A personal note: I'd like to say a public "Thank You" to Warren Cann, the band's drummer. I was working at a Licorice Pizza record store during a 1980 in-house visit the band made in San Diego to promote this album. After talking to me more than anyone else during that visit (mostly about drumming), the band was about to leave when he said to me "Goodbye, Tim. I'll see you tonight at the concert." When I told him "No, you won't", because I didn't have the money for a ticket, he put me on "the band's list" and I got in for free. It was one of the best concerts I've ever seen. Warren, if you ever read this, I just want to say "Thank You" for one of the nicest things anybody has ever done for me.