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Ultramarine – Every Man and Woman is a star

This is an album that has been sucked into history and the land of deletion, that some imaginative soul has decided to reissue – not before time! Around the early 1990’s dance music was evolving from the single (Energy Flash, Voodoo Ray) to the album – the key exponents were The Orb with Adventures from the Ultraworld. Many great dance albums followed: Screamadelica, Ambient Works I, Surfing on Sine Waves, Orbital’s brown album. And then the inventive likes of System 7, The Drum Club, Autechre, Underworld…What about Ultramarine’s Every Man and Woman album.

…Well, this album is somewhere between System 7 & The Orb- though it has enough character to be individual; there is no album that is quite like this. A true lost classic.

Ultramarine Every Man and Woman

So, 14 great tracks- for the most part- that have dated well. The highlights here include Weird Gear, which samples Echo & the Bunnymen’s The Cutter; the pre-Moby/Everything across the Water sound of British Summertime (from his Everything is Wrong album of 1995); the Herbie Hancock inflected groove of Nova Scotia or the ambient pulseout of Gravity- which takes you back to the utopian era of dance music in this country- before it all became superstar DJ’s and all that mince…

I love the trip hoppy skip beats that Ultramarine use but at the same time this album is one to relax too with infectious melodies. It’s a beautiful creation of what music is all about.

Every Man & Woman is a Star has that hippie vibe of much of the progressive dance music of the early 1990’s, hopefully now it has been reissued, more people will find its vast joy for themselves…

Written by Simon Price

I'm music lover who shares experiences of faithfully reproduced audio in an ENGAGING way with HIGH VIDEO PRODUCTION VALUES. I enjoy and make reviews as I love audio gadgets, being a voice on audio and producing creative videos that ultimately benefit the industry and new participation. I keep technicalities easy, as I believe great audio serves music and music is inclusive and to be enjoyed by all!

Ulrich Schnauss – Far away trains passing by