Out of all the bands that still survive from the New Romantics movement of 1980-81, Ultravox is making music that's closest to its original style: a mixture of electronic and conventional instruments that owes more to Munich than to Motown, and in which the vocals take a backseat to the beat. It wasn't bad then, and it's not too bad today, either. Lament may seem a bit less aurally complicated than this quartet's earlier efforts, but its glossy Eurosound is icily appealing all the same.

Singer Midge Ure does have an unfortunate habit of sounding like a pinched Dennis DeYoung – as on the uptempo "One Small Day" – but it's the instrumental backing that's designed to attract attention. One moment it's vibes and tinkly piano (the moody title track), the next it's synthesized pipe-organ sounds ("White China"). What street touches there are – sixteenth notes on an electronic bass drum, for instance, à la Arthur Baker – seem misplaced. Even when things get more melodic, as on the more chipper "Man of Two Worlds," the feel is isolated, removed, vaguely distant. Ultravox may think it's on the cutting edge, but many of this album's moments are Blitz Club, circa 1980.

At its best, Lament sounds like the first nostalgic technopop record. (RS 423)

CHRISTOPHER CONNELLY