Visage (1980)

Visage and Ultravox were the quintessential new-romantic bands. Ultravox turned the movement to an ideology, and Visage were their down-to-earth counterparts. Ultravox made for music for the heart, while Visage made music for the clubs. Coincidentally, Midge Ure and Billy Currie participate here, as do John McGeoch, Dave Formula and Barry Adamson from Magazine.

The tracks can be roughly divided into two categories. The elegant ones, with the symphonic synthesizers, the futurist attitude, the dandy poses, the romantic classicism ("Visage", "Fade To Grey", "Blocks On Blocks"), and the playful, glam influenced ones (the galloping "The Dancer", the wild beats of "Malpaso Man", the robotic "Tar", the metallic disco "Moon Over Moscow").

The album ends surprisingly with "Visa-age" (that nods to the spare minimal-wave of John Foxx), and the apocalyptic instrumental "The Steps". The combination of the cerebral wavers from Ultravox and Magazine, and Blitz-kids Steve Strange and Rusty Egan, has come up with the goods. Get it here.