[Review] Ultravox!: Ha! Ha! Ha! (1977)

Science fiction slams into punk rock on this classic elpee.

Kronomyth 2: No laughing matter.

Ha! Ha! Ha! is another sci-fi punk masterpiece from the exclamatory Ultravox! The album explodes out of the gate like a rocket with Rockwrok, maybe the best song ever about anal sex. (Okay, probably a narrow field, but still.) It ends with the hauntingly beautiful Hiroshima Mon Amour, with its shades of Avalon. In between are half a dozen early punk classics that range from experimental (Distant Smile) to just plain mental (Artificial Life). This and their first album, Ultravox!, rank with some of the best music that the early English punk movement had to offer. The Sex Pistols were more famous, Buzzcocks and The Clash were catchier, The Damned and The Cure more gothically stylish, but John Foxx and the band were every bit as anti-establishment. Anyone could call the world a bunch of c*nts, but call them frozen, dead, frightened, point out the hypocrisy of their perverse appetites… that’s what Ultravox! does here. No doubt the first two Ultravox! albums made an impression on Gary Numan and the sci-fi rockers who followed. Despite the absence of Brian Eno, the band’s second album is of a piece with their first. The group shares writing credits this time, as Foxx’s lurid imagery and sci-fi storytelling lead the way. There isn’t an ounce of fat on these eight tracks (well, maybe a little fat on While I’m Still Alive), and any one would make a fine ambassador of the best that England’s musical punks had to offer in 1977. I don’t recall it getting a lot of positive press when it came out, but history has since given critics a proper perspective from which to appreciate the band’s futuristic vision. If you’re not hooked by the time the last verse of “Rockwrok” rolls around, put your punk rock pins back in a box and call it a day.

Original elpee version

A1. Rockwrok
A2. The Frozen Ones
A3. Fear in the Western World
A4. Distant Smile
B1. The Man Who Dies Every Day
B2. Artificial Life
B3. While I’m Still Alive
B4. Hiroshima Mon Amour

All songs written and arranged by Ultravox!.

CD reissue bonus tracks
9. Young Savage (2:56)
10. The Man Who Dies Every Day (remix) (4:15)
11. Hiroshima Mon Amour (alt. version) (4:54)
12. Quirks (1:40)
13. The Man Who Dies Every Day (live) (4:15)
14. Young Savage (live) 3:25)

The Players

Warren Cann (drums, vocals), Chris Cross (bass, vocals), Billy Currie (violins, keyboards, synthesiser), John Foxx (vocals), Steve Shears (guitar). Produced by Ultravox!/Steve Lillywhite; engineered by Steve Lillywhite.

The Pictures

Sleeve concept by Dennis Leigh. Design by Bloomfield/Travis.

The Plastic

Released on elpee in October 1977 in the UK (Island, ILPS 9505) with innersleeve and bonus 7-inch single (“Quirks” b/w “Modern Love (live)”).

1. Re-issued on compact disc in 1992 in the UK (Island, IMCD 147) and on December 5, 1992 in Japan (Island, PHCR-18747).
2. Re-issued on expanded, remastered compact disc in 2006 in the UK (Island, IMCD 325) with 6 bonus tracks.
3. Re-issued on expanded compact disc on May 18, 2015 in Japan (Island, UICY-77082) with 6 bonus tracks.