Ultravox - The Same Old Story (Chrysalis)

Ultravox sound as if they're just becoming a backing band for Midge Ure. It's a Phil Collins and Genesis situation really, where one member is under a much bigger spotlight than the others. With its imported brass section and female chorus this could easily have been a track off a Midge solo album. But Ultravox fans will buy it in their droves, and I'm probably in for a lot of hate mail. Aargh, it's so tough at the top. (Robin Smith, Record Mirror, September 20, 1986)

Well, they said it. To hear the ever-anxious Midge complaining about someone else being "so predictable" seems not unlike the pot calling the kettle black. Take away the trendy, loud girl singers and punctuating brass "riffs" and , this sounds particularly dull and ponderous, even by Ultravox's lead-booted standards. (Ian Cranna, Smash Hits, September 10, 1986)

Artificial bustle and brass. If life was kind Ultravox would now be Phil Collins or Simple Minds, but nay, they're still Ultravox - struggling in the potbelly between rock and pop. The "Same Old Story" is obviously just that - an ordinary rock song accompanied, no doubt, by a preposterous video. Welcome. 2/5 (Paul Simper, No 1, September 20, 1986)