Lament

Lament is the seventh studio album by British new wave band Ultravox, released on 6 April 1984 by Chrysalis Records. It was the last album featuring original drummer Warren Cann until the band's reunion album Brilliant in 2012. The album peaked at number eight on the UK Albums Chart and was certified gold by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) on 8 June 1984 for shipments of 100,000 copies. It also reached number 25 in Germany and number 115 in the United States. Background Ultravox were producing Lament themselves, a logical step considering the experience that they had gained working with two very different producers, Conny Plank and George Martin. Ure and Currie had at this time built their own home studios. Ure's Musicfest Studio located in Chiswick and Currie's Hot Food Studio in his basement in Notting Hill Gate. The album's inner sleeve on LP releases features a photograph of Callanish Stones, a neolithic stone arrangement on Lewis in Scotland. On later releases of the album, this photograph appears on the front cover in place of the original tracklist, which is instead displayed on the formerly-blank back cover. Ure told Event magazine, "When Ultravox made Lament, we talked about having the entire sleeve black. My argument was, it's minimal advertising, and people would say, 'Wow, what's this?' Then Spinal Tap did Smell the Glove - none more black - and it was rubbish. A close escape."