Ha! Ha! Ha! (Remastered)

Editors’ Notes Ultravox’s Ha Ha Ha packs a heavier wallop than the band’s debut from the same year while showcasing an early production from Steve Lilywhite (U2, The Killers, Rolling Stones). The whole album’s crammed with feedback, booming synths, and ear-bending guitars. It’s a sonic metaphor of inner-city fallout, with singer John Foxx providing a running commentary like he’s some trash-art preacher perched at a brothel. The Kubrickian “Young Savage” is every bit an anthem for churlish youth as The Sex Pistols’ “Pretty Vacant” was (with a weirdly classical guitar part that tears the whole song down, but in big beautiful way). The loping synth in “The Man Who Dies Everyday” is like a cop car’s siren signaling the end to a purposeless and nihilistic ritual of daily living. It’s a misunderstood rock ’n’ roll album—it does all it can to not to be pop music, while at the same time commanding your attention because the songs are so well-written.