Review of Ultravox, LAMENT (Chrysalis, 1984).  Tracks: White China; One Small Day; Dancing With Tears in My Eyes; Lament; Man of Two Worlds; Heart of the Country; When the Time Comes; and A Friend I Call Desire.

Though the album came out in 1984, Ultravox’s LAMENT is as relevant today–perhaps more so–than it was then, at least in terms of its themes.

Considering the position that China now occupies in the world, especially when compared with its third-world status 1984, it’s hard not to wonder if Midge Ure had more than a bit of the prophet in him.  From Pale to Pink, from White to Red, the road toward totalitarianism is a slippery one.  Though Ure was probably thinking of Margaret Thatcher’s horrific betrayal of the people of Hong Kong on the first track, “White China,” he might well have been writing about the Red Chinese, the Nationalist Chinese, or the Koreans of 2017.  Or, he might have been talking about Britain and America, wrapped in Asiatic imagery.  It was, after all, 1984 (que Orwell. . . .)

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