The early 1980's were probably an interesting time to be, say 18 to 24 years old in Britain. Some of the most interesting, inventive music was emerging from the wreckage of punk. One of those groups that managed to crawl out from under that particular pile was Midge Ure's Ultravox. Ure would go on to help write, record, and produce a little song called "Do They Know It's Christmas" and organize BandAid and later LiveAid. Ultravox's biggest UK hit - to the point that it drove some folks nuts because it just seemed to be everywhere - was "Vienna". I have the multi-disc set from LiveAid, where they performed this and their other big radio hit, "Dancing With Tears In My Eyes", and this song is just better, even though the electric violin is painfully out of tune.
