Reap the Wild Wind (song)

"Reap the Wild Wind"
Single by Ultravox
from the album Quartet
B-side"Hosanna (In Excelsis Deo)"
Released17 September 1982 (1982-09-17)[1]
Recorded1982
Studio
GenreSynth-pop[2]
Length3:44
LabelChrysalis
Songwriters
ProducerGeorge Martin
Ultravox singles chronology
"The Voice"
(1981)		 "Reap the Wild Wind"
(1982)		 "Hymn"
(1982)

"Reap the Wild Wind" is a song by British new wave band Ultravox, released on 17 September 1982 as the lead single from their sixth studio album Quartet, recorded at the AIR Studios in London and Montserrat and released on Chrysalis Records.

It reached No. 12 on the UK Singles Chart and is the only single by Ultravox that charted on the US Billboard Hot 100.[3]

Critical reception

Reviewing the single for Record Mirror, Simon Hills gave "Reap the Wild Wind" a critical review. Hills commented on the song's grandiosity, speculating that frontman Midge Ure's upbringing in a Glasgow tenement might be the reason "he feels compelled to write such pompous music." He described the track as "pure commercial pop" wrapped in a "mass of swirling synthesizers," visually evoking arena-rock tropes like "dry ice and huge banks of lights." Hills also noted the involvement of former Beatles collaborators George Martin and Geoff Emerick, writing that they shaped the production "to make it sound like the pop equivalent of heavy metal’s Rush."[4]


Track listings

7" version

  1. "Reap the Wild Wind" – 3:44
  2. "Hosanna (In Excelsis Deo)" – 4:21

12" version

  1. "Reap the Wild Wind" (extended version) – 4:43
  2. "Hosanna (In Excelsis Deo)" – 4:21

Chart performance

Chart (1982–1983) Position
Australia (Kent Music Report)[5] 69
Ireland (IRMA)[6]10
UK Singles Chart[7] 12
US Billboard Hot 100[8] 71
US Cash Box Top 100[9] 58

References

  1. ↑ "Bitz". Smash Hits. 16–29 September 1982. p. 16. Retrieved 1 November 2025 – via Flickr.
  2. ↑ Evans, Richard (6 August 2024). "1982.4". Listening to the Music the Machines Make: Inventing Electronic Pop 1978-1983. Omnibus Press. p. 391. ISBN 978-1-915841-45-2.
  3. ↑ "officialcharts". Official Charts.
  4. ↑ Hills, Simon (18 September 1982). "Singles: Ultravox – "Reap the Wild Wind" (Chrysalis)" (PDF). Record Mirror. London: Spotlight Publications Ltd. p. 20. ISSN 0144-5804. Archived from the original (PDF) on 23 August 2024. Retrieved 24 August 2026.
  5. ↑ Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992. St Ives, NSW: Australian Chart Book. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
  6. ↑ "Reap The Wild Wind | IRMA". Irish Singles Chart. Retrieved June 19 2026.
  7. ↑ "Reap the Wild Wind (Song by Ultravox) ••• Music VF, US & UK hits charts".
  8. ↑ "Reap the Wild Wind (Song by Ultravox) ••• Music VF, US & UK hits charts".
  9. ↑ "CASH BOX Top 100 Singles – Week ending MAY 7, 1983". Archived from the original on 13 September 2012. Retrieved 8 December 2013.. Cash Box magazine.


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