United Kingdoms

by John BushWhat should have been Ultramarine's breakout album, United Kingdom sank them with an audience expecting far-out ambient techno who received instead lukewarm folk-pop with only occasional electronic textures. The added vocals (from a heavy influence, the Soft Machine's Robert Wyatt) were a good idea, but United Kingdom sounds more like a Mike Oldfield LP from the 1970s rather than an electronic album of the 1990s.