Some new sounds here from the ballroom of Europe. Well, not new, exactly – Heaven 17's U.S. debut is actually a compilation comprising nine of the British tracks they've released over the last two years. Synthesizer-pop aficionados will already be familiar with this material, but noninitiates are in for a bit of a treat. Heaven 17–singer Glenn Gregory and producers, synth players and former Human League members Martyn Ware and Ian Craig Marsh – are amateurs in the best sense of the word. While their music is anchored by the big, boomy beat essential for dance-club play, they steer well clear of the glossy sheen characteristic of many English electropop groups and instead decorate their tracks with daffy percussive effects and an engaging wit. Of their original U.K. hits, "Penthouse and Pavement" already sounds a little quaint–especially those aimless synthesizer noodlings – but "(We Don't Need This) Fascist Groove Thang" is as delightful as ever. Also appealing: "The Height of the Fighting," a distinctive slice of martial funk; the richly computerized "Let Me Go"; the amusing concepts of "I'm Your Money" and "We're Going to Live for a Very Long Time"; and "Geisha Boys and Temple Girls," a flipped-out agglomeration of snapping, hissing electrosounds that impart the sensation of huddling in a tin hut in a hailstorm.

Ultravox is the most stylistically striking of the English-speaking Euro-rock bands–masters of overwrought angst and high instrumental drama. But if losing touch with producer Conny Plank (the man behind their superb Vienna LP) was a mistake, signing on George Martin to produce Quartet was something of a catastrophe. Martin has subtly gutted their ravishing romanticism and trivialized their mood of Euro-doom. This is especially depressing because the material here is still remarkably attractive: the lovely "Reap the Wild Wind," the almost subliminally textured "Hymn," the elaborate, Bryan Ferry-ish "Visions in Blue." But Warren Cann's drum sound is meant to snap your neck back, and Ultravox' enormous, bass-driven bottom should pummel your innards. In Martin's regulation AOR production, there's little depth or drama; everything seems to sit on the surface. Quartet isn't a bad record, but coming from the band that gave us Vienna, it's inevitably a disappointment. (RS 392)

KURT LODER