Classic Albums Reviewed And Rated Day 6

Throughout this month we are going to take a look at albums regarded as classics from the 80s and one or two from the late 70s and give you our comments, and our rating of each album.

Each day, during November, we will focus on one album.

To rate the albums we rate each track on the album as either 3 (Outstanding), 2 (Good), 1 (ok) and 0 (Hate it). Those points are totalled up and then divided by the maximum points the album could get (EG 10 tracks would equal 30 points, 10 x 3). Then times the figure by 100 and that gives you your percentage rating. This is a very good indicator of how you rate an album.

Today's album under the microscope is "Systems Of Romance" by Ultravox, that was released in September 1978. This was the 3rd and final Ultravox album that featured John Foxx on vocals. The album failed to get the commercial success it deserved and seemed to mark the end of the band, as they were dropped by their record company. They of course went on to achieve success all over the world when Midge Ure joined the band as their new vocalist.

I bought this album on the strength of hearing the track "Slow Motion" that was played on a Radio 1 interview with Gary Numan shortly after "Replicas" was released.

The album features 2 singles, "Quiet Men", and following the success of the "new Ultravox" "Slow Motion" was also released as a single and made the top 40 in the UK singles chart.

This is an essential album you should have in your music collection and, it is clearly evident, that this album had a big influence on the Tubeway Army album "Replicas". Like "Replicas", "Systems Of Romance" makes excellent use of Synthesizers and guitar.

This is another one of those albums I play on a regular basis

Our track recommendations for this album are the 2 singles mentioned above, as well as, "Maximum Acceleration". There are no tracks on the album I dislike.

Our overall rating for this album is 70/100

The album is available from Amazon here