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Midge Ure: Move Me

 A l b u m   D e t a i l s


Label: Arista Records
Released: 2000
Time:
 53:02
Category: Pop/Rock
Producer(s): Midge Ure
Rating: ********.. (8/10)
Media type: CD
Web address: www.midgeure.com
Appears with: Ultravox, Visage
Purchase date: 2000.09.30
Price in €: 15,99



 S o n g s ,   T r a c k s


[1] You Move Me (Midge Ure) - 5:39
[2] Beneath A Spielberg Sky (Midge Ure) - 4:52
[3] Words (Midge Ure) - 3:54
[4] Strong (Midge Ure) - 4:45
[5] Let Me Go (Midge Ure) - 4:53
[6] Alone (Midge Ure) - 5:11
[7] Monster (Midge Ure) - 3:01
[8] Absolution Sometime (Midge Ure/MItchell) - 5:01
[9] The Refugee Song (Midge Ure/Mitchell) - 5:19
[10] Four (Midge Ure) - 4:46
[11] Somebody (Midge Ure) - 5:51

 A r t i s t s ,   P e r s o n n e l


MIDGE URE - Vocals, Producer, Keyboards, Guitars

DAVE WILLIAMSON - Bass, Upright Electric Bass
RUSSEL FIELD - Percussion
LEE GEORGE MOULD - Triangle
JOSH PHILLIPS - Hammond Organ. Piano
MARTIN BADDER - Add. Keyboards, Piano
BRUNO ELLINGHAM - Bass Synth, Mix Engineer
BILLY GODFREY - Backing Vocals
MARY PIERCE - Backing Vocals
ANGIE BROWN LEE - Backing Vocals
M. SINCLAIR - Backing Vocals

JOHN DENT - Mastering Engineer
ADAM S. WAHLER - Design
PHIL OATLEY - Photography
CHRIS DUFFY - Photography

 C o m m e n t s ,   N o t e s


Move Me finds Midge Ure moving seamlessly into the role of a pop/rock elder statesman without sacrificing any of the emotion and fervor of his earlier recordings, both as a solo artist and a member of Ultravox. The album is an amalgamation of Ure's most enduring traits: strong songwriting, soaring melodies, impassioned vocals, tight arrangements, and engaging lyrics. Synthesizers, electronics, and guitars play a prominent role on every track, however, Ure is able to sidestep the 1980s retro label that many of his contemporaries get stuck in by striking an aural balance between taste and overkill. If there is an underlying theme to this record, it's about growing older and coming to grips with life's seemingly never-ending search for happiness and spiritual fulfillment. Touching on a myriad of subjects, from the political climate of Kosovo in the late '90s ("Refugee Song"), America's obsession with bigness ("Spielberg Sky"), to isolation ("Alone") and a yearning for companionship ("Somebody" and "Strong"), Ure is a restless soul that is not about to go quietly into the night. The album's lone instrumental track, "Monster," is a Fatboy Slim-meets-Led Zeppelin sendup worthy of the legendary heavy metal mock-u-mentary band Spinal Tap. This is not necessarily the album to introduce the uninitiated to Midge Ure, but it is a praiseworthy addition to his catalog, and gradually grows on the listener.

Tom Semioli - All Music Guide
© 1992 - 2001 AEC One Stop Group, Inc.



Midge Ure will always be Ultravox's singer, to me, but while Ultravox were making records with John Foxx, Midge was touring with Thin Lizzy, turning down an offer to be in the Sex Pistols and eventually joining Glen Matlock's post-Pistols band Rich Kids, and helping Steve Strange out with Visage, so presumably his post-Ultravox solo-career wasn't as surprising to everybody as it was to me. After a couple albums on which it sounded like he wanted to be Peter Gabriel, by 1996's Breathe it seemed to me that if Midge wanted to be Peter Gabriel, it was a version of Peter Gabriel that Peter himself had lost interest in, a continuation of what "Solsbury Hill" and "Biko" began, before "Sledgehammer" and "Big Time" sidetracked Peter in one direction and all those self-congratulatorily cross-cultural Real World projects in the other, studio facility and New Wave's expanded instrumental palette placed in service of songs written with the same compositional discipline that would have been required if they'd been created for an acoustic guitar, a piano or a symphony. Ultravox wrote some real songs, to be sure (I'll stick up for "Vienna" and "Dancing With Tears in My Eyes" at the Final Reckoning) but they also filled a fair amount of space with noise tricks. The intrinsic flaw in New Wave was the "New" part; the haircuts and the synth timbres went from novel to dated incredibly quickly, and in a sense synth-pop is still recovering from that setback. Many of its innovators defected to dance music or walled themselves up in their own caves, and today we're left with discouragingly few good examples of what a New Wave icon turns into as an adult. Devo and Thomas Dolby retreated into multimedia, Peter Godwin disappeared, Depeche Mode got disreputable, Missing Persons and the Human League imploded, Sting and Patty Smyth overcompensated towards the middle, Joe Jackson and Mark Hollis overcompensated towards the fringe, Morrissey never changed at all, Adam Ant and Billy Idol missed the costumes too much. Cyndi Lauper, Aimee Mann and Neil Finn are probably the best role models, if only because they each had to overcome seriously goofy hair. Aimee and Neil, however, grew up by becoming pop traditionalists, and Cyndi grew up mainly by keeping making records that didn't sound like "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" until finally everybody either started believing she was serious about it, or stopped paying attention. Midge is one of the few to try to pull the form into adulthood with him, instead of, far more expediently, leaving it behind.

Move Me, then, to me, is a brave and potentially inspiring exercise in imagining what New Wave, freed of the glum austerity of "New Europeans" or the agoraphobic insularity of "Cars", might have unfolded into. Pinging, mathematically precise piano-chimes sparkle through the clipped drum-loops and splayed guitar of the airy, earnest "You Move Me". A gospel backing choir lifts the ironic paean "Beneath a Spielberg Sky", even as it decries our ability and willingness to manufacture counterfeit triumph ("Watch it as it happens on the news, / Live from the camera on the missile"). "Words" starts out like an heir to "Da Da Da" or "She Blinded Me With Science", minimal and beepy, but turns out to be elegantly pan-ethnic, with primitive, rattling percussion under slithering Cajun accordion. "Strong" is a ballad almost as deadpan as "Sister Christian", or "Vienna" for that matter, except the melody twirls where "Vienna" traced morbidly straight lines, and that's the difference between an upholstered sofa and a marble bench. "Let Me Go"'s chattering drums, squalling guitars and eerie piano would all fit in a Gary Numan song, but Midge's voice floats where Gary's would sink. "Alone" is a miniature tour de force, crossing broad-swath Backstreet Boys pantomime with the slashing guitars of recent Rush albums and some of Metallica's measured howl. The chugging instrumental "Monster" is a bizarrely grim non sequitur, somewhere between Black Sabbath and Faith No More, but play the radiant "Absolution Sometime!" back to back with Gary Numan's malevolent "Absolution" and you'll have as stark a contrast between hope and gloom as I can think of. Martial drum splatter and whistling synths circle around "The Refugee Song" without much disturbing its funeral cadence, like a bleak composite of the Waterboys' "Somebody Might Wave Back" and "Red Army Blues" in which the narrator understands exactly what he's lost. "Four" turns on a guitar riff close enough to the Edge's in U2's "Until the End of the World" that I think I would have either rewritten it or worked it in as an allusion, but "Somebody", the record's finale, backs up and does a credible job of summarization, combining watery piano, glassy synth pads, muffled guitar, twitchy drum-machines, an Icicle Works-ish chorus solemnity and an angelic falsetto vocal that makes me wonder, for what feels like the first time, how much Thom Yorke owes Midge. The New Romantics approached music like it was architecture, and architecture, as an aesthetic impulse, spends more time out of fashion than in, but Move Me rings like an apology and a new resolve, like Midge now sees which mistaken assumptions made Ultravox monstrous when they only meant to be grand, knows why the needs of masses and individuals dictate that parade grounds and promenades must have different characters, or else your public spaces all start to recapitulate Triumph of the Will.

Copyright © 2000, glenn mcdonald



"Move Me" goes heavy on the Celtic leanings and an '80s rock feel that screams U2's Joshua Tree and everything before that. Even Ure's vocals seem to resemble Bono's signature warbling at times. Ure still indulges in his political lamentations but in a more personal and philosophical way. He uses electronica-inspired soundscapes on which he works his spare guitar twangings in "Let Me Go", but takes a heavy-rock stance with his guitars going heavy on the fuzzbox in "Alone". Guitars alternate between electric-on-fuzzbox and spare, steel-string pluckings. Ure also indulges his rock roots in most of the tracks, reaching a crescendo with passionate guitar work on "Monster". On "Somebody" the volume gets toned down a couple of decibels with vocal refrains working up a nice contrast against the rock-inspired background. Many a time, the album takes the time machine back to '80s rock, with influences ranging from the Spandau Ballet to U2, fluctuating between a passé datedness and mildly progressive innovations. Although poised electronica lends edginess to what could have been REALLY dated rock, the album's unmistakable running theme of arty-farty political lamentations and melancholic melodies seem to try too hard to be relevant.

© Copyright 1999. Live-e.com Pte Ltd. All rights reserved.



Working out of his own studio, Midge Ure--the multi-talented fellow best-known (despite successes with Slik, the Rich Kids and Ultravox) as Bob Geldof's Band Aid buddy--has crafted Move Me, his first solo album in five years. For the most part, he goes it alone: writing the songs, producing the tracks and playing virtually every instrument himself, with only the rhythm section of bassist Dave Williamson and percussion maestro Russell Field contributing much else. To judge by his lyrics, Midge is a man close to his spiritual nadir, fretting about the cynical war-mongering world he's forced to live in, bewailing his own shortcomings and desperately seeking some kind of spiritual salvation. Fortunately the music is rather more uplifting, with some tracks bordering on rootsy rock and others reminiscent of the late-period Ultravox, as they might have been had they the benefits of sampling and computer technology.

Johnny Black - Amazon.co.uk



Auf seinem fünften Soloalbum Move Me kehrt Midge Ure zu den signifikanten Stilmitteln seiner Erfolgsbands Ultravox und Visage zurück. Nach dem opulent instrumentierten Folkrock-Album Breathe hat sich der Technik-Freak überlegt, wie die erfolgreiche New Romantic-Musik der 80er-Jahre mit neuester Technologie klingen könnte. Das Ergebnis ist dunkler, mysteriöser, atmosphärischer, scharf geschnittener Rock aus melancholischer Elektronik, wilder E-Gitarre und inbrünstigem Crooner-Gesang. Genau diese Zutaten machen aus der Single "You Move Me" das Doo-Wop-Paradestück und aus "Beneath A Spielberg Sky" ein apokalyptisches Weltuntergangs-Szenario mit dramatischen Moll-Akkorden. Ure denkt die Fernsehgesellschaft konsequent zu Ende -- den großen Knall erleben wir fasziniert am Bildschirm. "Let Me Go" hingegen ist ein elegischer, vollendet komponierter Popsong, ganz im Kontrast dazu steht das Heavy Metal-Gitarren-Instrumental "Monster", bei dem man unwillkürlich an Led Zeppelin denkt. Auch auf dem Folgestück "Absolution Sometime" greift der Schotte so vehement wie schon lange nicht mehr in die Saiten. Mit bombastischen Chor-Harmonien und der verhaltenen Ballade "Somebody" klingt das wahrhaftig bewegende Gefühlsbad aus.

Ingeborg Schober - Amazon.de



Midge Ure - der Meister der großen Gefühle ist wieder da.

Mit einem grandiosen Album meldet sich Pop-Veteran Midge Ure im neuen Jahrtausend zurück. Der ehemalige Ultravox-Sänger, der in den 80ern und 90ern mit verschiedenen Projekten für Aufsehen sorgte und häufig zu Gast in den europäischen Charts war (siehe Biografie), hat mit "Move me" einen Longplayer vorgelegt, der auf ganzer Linie überzeugen kann.

In bester britischer Tradition zaubert Ure musikalische Gefühlswelten auf Diskette, wie sie intensiver kaum sein könnten. Vom verträumten Popsong in Radiohead-Manier bis zum krachenden Rockinstrumental ist auf "Move me" alles vereint, was neugierige Träumer-Ohren dieser Tage hören wollen.
Der Opener "You move me", ein schnörkelloser Popsong mit eingängigem Refrain, zeigt gleich an, wo es hingeht. Der Midge Ure des neuen Jahrtausend ist dynamischer als früher, differenzierter, reifer.

Das theatralische "Beneath A Spielberg Sky" avanciert zum ersten Höhepunkt auf "Move Me". Beginnend im Trip-Hop-Stil der 90er entwickelt sich daraus ein opulenter Pop-Song zum Mitsingen.
"Strong" ist eine melancholische Midtempo-Ballade, wie sie Radiohead nicht schöner hätten schreiben können.

Süß-saure Vocals und eine ganz und gar tragische Grundstimmung nehmen den Hörer dabei mit in die für Midge Ure so typische Welt aus verzweifelter Theatralik und anrührender Schönheit. Noch pompöser, noch intensiver, noch schöner ist das lange nachhallende "Let me go". Dezente Pianoklänge, flächige Gitarrensounds, weiche Streicher und der einzigartige Gesang von Midge Ure jagen dem Hörer reihenweise kalte Schauer über den Rücken. Erstaunlich ist dabei die trotz fortgeschrittenem Alter glasklare Stimme von Ure, der auch höchste Lagen perfekt beherrscht und stimmlich die Entwicklung guten Weins gemacht hat: er wird besser im Alter, er entwickelt ganz neue Facetten, er bringt es erst nach Jahren zur vollen Reife.
Midge Ure, ein Mann in der Lebensmitte, erzählt von Einsamkeit, von der Kraft der Worte, von der Liebe, vom Leiden, davon, das alles wunderbar ist.

Doch dabei klingt Ure, anders als andere Pop-Größen der 80er und 90er, frischer denn je. Freilich ist es die Frische eines sonnigen Herbsttages. Denn der Hang zur Melancholie, zu süß-schweren Themen, zu großen Gefühlen ist Ure geblieben. Das alles kommt aber sehr kompakt und anregend verpackt rüber und ist darum ein echter Lichtstrahl im musikalischen Herbst 2000.

in2sound.at



Man könnte Midge bzgl. seines neuen Albums vorwerfen, er wäre auf Nummer sicher gegangen. Aber damit würde man dem Werk absolut nicht gerecht. Diese 11 neuen Nummern sind der i-Punkt auf dem bisherigen Schaffen von dem Musiker und Menschen Midge Ure. Vieles klingt zwar bekannt, aber alles ist neu. Manchmal, so habe ich den Eindruck, wurden hier Ideen umgesetzt, die schon etwas länger im Kopf des Schotten herumschwirrten, andere Songs klingen brandaktuell.
Mit "You move me" beginnt das Album schwungvoll, ja sogar fröhlich. Die im Gegensatz zur Single Edit Version längere Version ist viel verspielter und am Ende mit einigen Überraschungseffekten versehen. Einmal gehört ist dieser Song nur schwer aus dem Kopf zu bekommen.
Mit "Beneath a Spielberg Sky" bekommt der Hörer als nächstes das erste Highlight des Albums zu hören. "I see hope" kommt mir immer sofort in den Sinn, aber "Beneath....." ist viel mehr. Fast klingt es so bombastisch wie einst "Vienna".
"Words", das viele ja schon aus dem ZDF Fersehgarten kennen, ist für mich persönlich eine der Überraschungen des Albums. Wummernde Drums, teilweise Sprechgesang, ungewohnte Töne von Mr. Ure, die aber keineswegs unwillkommen sind.
"Strong" war bei den Konzerten im Sommer mehr ein Stimmungskiller, Midge's Stimme klingt aber hier im besonderen so innig und herzzerreißend, ich mag diesen Song mit jedem Hören mehr.
"Let me go" ist der erste Song, der für mich das Prädikat "Ultravox 2000" verdient. Midge selbst bringt ja diesen Vergleich immer wieder ins Spiel, und "Let me go" ist ein Klassiker. Schon das Intro erinnert an Billy Currie, der Aufbau des Songs an "Vienna". "Alone" überrascht durch seinen rauhen Klang. Hier wird mal wieder richtig gerockt, der Song macht Spaß. Live ein Highlight!
"Monster". Midge goes Heavy, und wie. Dieser Song wird sicher viele überraschen, die Midge's musikalische Wurzeln nicht kennen. Absolut genial, war ja auch schon bei den Konzerten ein Abräumer. Leider viel zu kurz.
Es folgt mein persönliches Highlight des Albums : "Absolution sometime" . Prädikat: ULTRAVOX 2000 . Ein wenig " Passionate Reply", ein wenig Gesang aus der "Lament und Answers" Zeit, Gitarrensounds wie auf "Vienna". Der perfekte Song für alle, die immer noch von einer ULTRAVOX Reunion träumen.
Der seit zwei Alben übliche Walzer heißt dieses Mal "Refugee Song" und besticht durch seine Ohrwurmmelodie und seinen Text, welcher zur Zeit des Krieges in Jugoslawien entstand, aber leider immer noch aktuell ist.
"Four", welches Midge sicher seinen 4 Töchtern widmet, steckt durch seine Fröhlichkeit an. Eine durchgängig schöne Nummer.
Den Abschluß bildet mit "Somebody" ein weiterer Super Song. Der Text spricht sicherlich viele an und wäre perfekt für einen Auftritt bei "Geld oder Liebe".

Sowohl vom Gesang als auch musikalisch holte Midge bei diesen 11 Songs alles aus sich heraus. Mehr kann man nicht verlangen. Bleibt zu hoffen, das es dieses Mal mit dem Erfolg nicht so lange dauert. Selten haben mich Songs, die ich in der Entstehung schon verfolgt habe, so angesprochen. Man durchgeht ein Wechselbad der Gefühle, von todtraurig bis total happy. Midge's Stimme ist besser denn je, und so frisch haben auf den letzten Alben wenige Songs geklungen. JE ÖFTER MAN DIESES ALBUM HÖRT, UMSO BESSER WIRD ES!

Review von Mike Lubek



Schön, dass es noch Musiker gibt, die einen echten Song schreiben können. Midge Ure ist so ein Vollblutmusiker, der nicht nur mehrere Instrumente beherrscht, sondern auch hervorragend singt. Dazu komponiert er wie kaum ein anderer von den Britischen Inseln. Seine Songs haben einfach alles. Und das kommt nicht von ungefähr. Als Gitarrist und Sänger von Ultravox führte er diese Band in die oberen Regionen der Charts. Auch als Solist behielt er die vorderen Plätze gebucht, weil er es verstand, Rockmusik mit Anspruch zu verbinden.

Gleich der erste Song 'You move me' zeigt das ganze Spektrum seiner Fähigkeiten. Das ist eine Pop-Nummer mit wunderbaren Harmonien und Wechselgesang. 'Words' beginnt verhalten und gewinnt mit jeder Strophe an Fülle. So interessant kann Rockmusik sein! Auch bei langsameren Nummern wie 'Let me go' überzeugt Ure damit, Gefühle im Hörer zu wecken. Kein Song hat eine Schwäche. Auch der Hard-Rock-Kracher 'Monster' zeigt, wie man innerhalb von drei Minuten Musik macht, die so spannend ist, dass man erst nachher merkt: 'Da war kein Gesang!'

Midge Ures exzellentes Songwriting können wir wieder einmal eine ganze CD lang genießen. Die Songs sind so stark, dass man auch nach dem zehnten Hören noch Neues darin entdeckt. Und das ist einfach genial!

ZDF.MSNBC



Das ist zum Beispiel Lied Nummer fünf: "Let Me Go" heißt es, und es erinnert an die großen Zeiten einer Band, die viele Mittdreißiger von heute in den 80er-Jahren bewegt hat, wie kaum eine andere. Ultravox - "Dancing With Tears In My Eyes", "Vienna", das waren Songs, die Kraft hatten. 1986 trennte sich die Band, die Zeichen setzte in Sachen Elektro-Pop. Der Sänger, Midge Ure, ist geblieben. "Move me" heißt sein neues Album.

"Le Me Go" ist nicht der einzige Song, der an Ultravox erinnert. Auch in "Strong" oder "Words" spielt der Songwriter auf bekannt emotionale Art mit den Möglichkeiten seiner unverkennbaren Stimme. Synthesizer dominieren wie früher den Takt. Doch verstaubt oder überholt klingt "Move Me" deshalb zu keinem Zeitpunkt. Die elf Tracks begeistern durch Frische, Kreativität und mitunter gar durch gewagte Experimentierfreude. "Monster" etwa ist ein reines Instrumentalstück, getrieben von Heavy-Riffs.

Doch die meiste Zeit besinnt sich der Künstler auf seine Stärken: Niemand vermag wie er Melancholie zu vertonen, niemand produziert Gänsehaut wie er. Das Hymnische von damals, das etwa "Love's Great Adventure" hatte, ist zwar weitestgehend verklungen. Das Pathos hat - leider, mag mancher sagen - ausgedient. Doch an seine Stelle ist glaubhafte Ehrlichkeit getreten - selten genug in der Rock- und Popmusik an der Wende zum neuen Jahrtausend, die Midge Ure offensichtlich spielend genommen hat.

von Kai-Oliver Derks, zdNet.de
CD-Kritiken Kalenderwoche 37



MIDGE URE INTERVIEW CD

Is your new album "Move Me" very different from your last record "Breathe"?

I've put a lot more of me into this record than I did the previous one. I mean it's a lot more guitar-oriented. I've gone back and grabbed my synthesizer with great gay abandon again and I've started making all those lovely lovely noise and atmospheres. It's very different to Breathe but it's still very much a Midge Ure record. The melodies are there; the lyrics are there. The Midge Ure stamp is still on it although it's wearing different clothes as it were. The songs are still the important part.

The lyrics to this album seem very personal - is there a common thread through the album?

I still write about things that affect me - you know things that go on in my life, things that affect me from books, from watching television, from seeing the news. You know there's a real wide range of subjects on the record.
Um, it's a series of my thoughts and feelings overit's like documenting what I've been through over the last 5 years. The good and the bad. It's the highs and lows of life. That's what I write about.

This time around you produced the album yourself - how was that?

Being back in control again, you've got to care, there's no one else around to do it for you. You've got to be on board and make sure you're doing it right, but I've done it plenty of the times in the past, produced my own things, I was very confident this time around, because I was very keen on using a lot of new technology and getting on board and see how I can make it sound different to what I've done before. I think I have achieved that.

The title track is also the first single at radio - what is it about?

Move Me is about moving you physically, moving you spiritually, moving you sensationally that's the whole idea of it. If you can't write and record something that doesn't touch someone's heart there's no point in doing it. So the song - the title track - is about that. It's about different things that come into your life that really leave a quite deep affect on you.

Are you aware of how much you yourself move people with your music?

The internet has been absolutely amazing and I've got my site up there and I get e-mails from people all over the world who've never been able to come directly in contact with you. So I get people telling me of amazing things that have happened in their lives because of something that I've written which completely - I'm gobsmacked at that - anything that I've ever done that's actually touched someone's life is quite incredible. So you know people have not only conceived their children to things that I've written but you know they've had babies born, been married to things that I've written, they've buried people to things that I've written, and that stuff is just absolutely amazing. So the whole idea of being able to touch someone's heart, to move someone, was quite something.

Does it come easy to you to just sit down and write new songs? What's the process?

There's many people out there who I think are so prolific it's ridiculous, you know - they just seem to go to the loo for 5 minutes and come back with half an album, you know. I can't do that. I've got to really sit down and work at it because I'm not just trying to make a song that's maybe more interesting than somebody else's song. I've got to make it more interesting than what I've written in the past. It's got to equal it or better it. And that's my kind of, that's my guideline. So it means, it just means an awful lot of work. Sitting there writing the stuff and putting down just like I said before putting down all the emotions and all the feeling all your thoughts and all your innermost thoughts on a piece of paper and then I die a thousand times when I do it. I write something at night I think oh that's not bad and then I look at it the next day and go oh God that's dreadful and I scrap it and I start again and it really takes me a long time to live with it, I've got to live with it for a long time once its finished.

Would you say that songwriting is a form of therapy?

Absolutely. Songwriting is a great way of kind of getting it out of your system. You know whatever, whatever is eating away at you, whatever is really messing up your head, you know whatever is playing around you know inside your head at the time .. you can sit there and you can exorcise those ghosts by writing it all down and the great thing is because a lot of it's real, a lot of it's genuine, it's things that do upset you and do worry you or do make you happy, or do make you really ecstatic and you write it down and it's real, people pick up on that, people write back to you and go "huh, that's how I feel, that's got me through a really sticky horrible situation" - that song, that positivity, or that train of thought has done that and um it's just a great way of pouring it all out, you know.

"Alone" is a very emotional track - what's it all about?

It's just feeling sorry for yourself. And then it ends up by saying it turns itself around. 'Cause I'm not alone. I have a partner and I've got friends, whatever. But the end of the chorus says that "nothing comes from nothing and that's exactly what I am. Alone" So, if you're alone, there's nothing there. You've got to have other people around you. So it's just a "feeling sorry for yourself" song.

Tell us about "Somebody"

Again it's like no man's an island, you know. We all need somebody. We all need somebody, as I've said in the song, "someone to lay your head on". You know, you just need somebody to give you a cuddle, a hug and tell you everything is all right, you know. When you're babbling on about whatever you need someone there to kind of back you up when you're not 100% confidant of what you're doing. And we all need that. "Somebody" is a favorite as well and I like it because it's such a different kind of laid back feel for me. I've never done something that's got that kind of laid back casualness about it. And it's got all those lovely gospel singers on it as well and it's just there's something really nice about the way that builds each time the chorus comes in - their voices get louder and bigger and it's just so relaxed and so.. it's a very unusual thing for me to do. I just love the track for that. It's something new for me.

What is a Spielberg Sky?

Well you look at most Spielberg movies and he's got, he's got huge, kind of you know threatening, you know, it's big, it's panoramic. In just about every movie he's ever had had huge, what I call a Spielberg Sky. It's my term that I use making videos. I say "Alright, OK- that shot, we need the Spielberg Sky" so it's got to be brilliant, you know, beams of light, shafts of light coming down. You know, God's made this image, that kind of thing. It's about war actually. The whole thing, about how it's all changed. How we sit and we watch war on television now, um, and it becomes kind of less real and you get kind of action replays of satellites, of missiles hitting the target and you think this iswatching this is like a computer game or it's like watching a video. So I thought "Hold on a second, when the end of the world comes we'll be watching it on television." And it'll be directed by Steven Spielberg or something like that. It'll be like watching a movie. 'Cause it's become so kind of soul-less and detached and I just thought that's what's gonna happen. You know, when the morning comes up and you open up your eyes and see it disappear forever beneath a Spielberg Sky.

Tell us about the track "Words"

I started thinking about how powerful words are. How a book can make you cry or smile or feel good or feel bad. How a book can educate you. And I started thinking about songwriting - that's what it does, it tells people a story. It gives them a feeling. You know, a movement. It gives them - some kind of emotion is provoked because of a song. And I started thinking about words and I just started writing. You know, "the words that touch, the words that heal" Words that you know, move you. Do things to you. And that's what the song was all about.

What's the story behind the "Refugee Song"?

I did a series of concerts for Kosovo last year and I met some of the refugees, some of the kids, and that leaves a real strong impression so I went off and wrote the "Refugee Song" about what would happen if a situation like what's happened in Yugoslavia happened here. I put myself in those positions and just think what would I feel as a father being separated from my family, not knowing what's happening to them. And then when you meet them again, and if you ever meet them again, what language will they be speaking

What is "Strong" about?

About being weak (laughs). It's about, it's about men and how men can be so incredibly weak for the most ridiculous reasons. We are all human but you know the sexes are incredibly different and I wrote this thing about men you know not being particularly strong you know, in certain instances. So, uh it was just an interesting angle for me I think.

"Monster" is the only instrumental track on the album - tell us about it

I was doing some music for a television series about women in prison and I just thought, I thought of this amazing, this bizarre guitar riff and I started messing around with this, this very strange hybrid, it's kind of a cross between Led Zeppelin and Fatboy Slim .. I mean if they all got together that's probably what the track would sound like. And I started doing this piece of music and I ended up loving it so much I didn't do it for the television thing. I just ended up just doing it as this piece of music. I've always dabbled with instrumental music and I've always loved it. And people love it live, we've done it 3 or 4 times now in front of people and it's just, they go crazy about it, they just love it. Power.

What kind of things would you say really move you?

I think, I've got to say my kids because they're wonderful. You know, I've got 4 daughters and they're just lovely. You know, it's great. That stuff you can't help - it's life changing stuff, it's big grown up stuff. You have a baby and all of a sudden you feel this unconditional love that you've never felt before in your life. So that stuff is a huge curve - it's tiring, but it's incredibly rewarding at the same time.
Children do change your life. They change the way you work. They change your routine. You know, the classic quotes that you hear newly pregnant couples saying is that "Well the baby will fit into our routine and we'll be fine." It doesn't - it turns your world upside-down. But incredible at the same time. It puts a slightly different emphasis on the work thing. I'm very lucky. I've got the studio at home here so I can spend my time between the children, the family and work. You know, I'm in a very lucky position.

Having children has of course affected your life. Isn't one of your songs written for your daughters?

One of the songs on the album "Four" is about the children. You know, one can sing and dance, and one can make you happy, and oneyou know. That's just about fun, 'cause it's nice when they're grown up to think "Oh, that was written about me and you know, I was the one who was doing the dancing." It's just a nice thing to, a nice angle on it really calling it "Four".

Talking about your private life - is it true that you steer away from the life of a "Pop Star"?

I'm down in the supermarket, you know. I came off stage in front of 10,000 people the other night, got back here, you know and then went out shopping. That's what you do, you know. And the funny thing is people just tend to pass you and think you look a bit like Midge Ure, and by the time they've actually clicked you've gone. It doesn't matter - all of that stuff. It's real life, it's quality of life you've got to have. I don't want to be locked up in a castle somewhere. I don't want to, you know, go to raves at 5 o'clock in the morning and stuff. I've got my life. I've got what's important to me going. Um, and I think it's probably got to do with a fairly early sensible Glasgow background

A lot of your new fans might not be aware that your career started in the 80s - how do you feel about those early days of your career today?

I don't deny anything I have done in my past, be it good or bad because if I hadn't done it, it wouldn't have taken me on to whatever the next step was. The 80's were a fantastic time to be in a band. It was brilliant - we were a bunch of lads, traveling the world, doing what lads do, and just having an absolute ball, you know and being paid for it, which is just ridiculous. So yeah I can't deny any of that stuff. What I do deny is going back to it. I can't go back. I've moved on in my own funny little way. I've gone off on various tangents and discovered new things.

In your 20 year career what things stand out the most?

I think the Band Aid thing has got to be one of the main things. I really was like a fish out of water there. Both Bob and I realized we had gotten ourselves embroiled in something that was just absolutely huge and when it came to sitting down at Band Aid meetings talking about you know buying trucks, renting ships, ocean liners to take all the stuff across, and I'm thinking "God what am I doing, I don't know anything about soy and high protein biscuits" and it really did feel like it was enormous this thing, which it was. So that was bit of a highlight, you know actually getting through the initial six months from the making of the Band Aid record right through to when we were about to do Live Aid.. And then of course the evening of Live Aid, it was just magnificent, the whole thing.. You know standing on stage in front of that sea of people and playing those songs, and then sitting in the audience afterwards watching U2 and Queen and all these guys doing such an amazing job. It was just brilliant to be there, to be part of it. I mean it was history in the making you know just being there in the audience people will be talking about it forever, but I was there making history, and you know not realizing it at all. So that was just huge, it's just ridiculous.

What about "Vienna" - what are your thoughts on that today?

I could never think of "Vienna" as anything but what is was. It was an interesting piece of music that became immensely successful commercially, and I am thankful for that, cause I don't think I'd be here doing this today if it wasn't for that. Because it turned Ultravox from a small kind of college, you know hardly known electronic pop band/rock band into this huge world wide known act, and that is just amazing, you know how the strength of one record can change you, can elevate you to a stature way above anything you thought you'd ever achieve

Has there ever been any talk to bring Ultravox back together again?

I've been asked many times would we reform Ultravox, 'cause there is a whole lot of people who never managed to get to see Ultravox and they want to see it now cause they have latched on to the music. I just don't see that it works. I think things work for a reason. You can't just go back and do it. More often than not the reason to go back and do it is not the right reason. You are doing it for finances rather than for the love of the music. Um, and I still love the music. I love what I'm doing now. I want to do that and that's more interesting than kind of doing this retro thing so I am steering way clear of the whole 80's package thing.

You've collaborated with a series of fellow musicians - any special memories?

There have been loads of people. I've been incredibly lucky to be able to work with my heroes. You know as an inspiring young guitarist, Eric Clapton was God to me, you know I had that written that on my jacket you know "Clapton is God" and you know to work with some one like that was great. But also working with someone like Kate Bush, who I seriously admire, she is just brilliant at what she does. You know I've worked live with Peter Gabriel, all of these people I really respect and admire for what they do, they're brilliant. You know I've worked with great musicians like Mark King from Level 42, was probably one of the best bass players in the world. George Martin, Sir George Martin, I mean the most amazing character, I worked with him last week at the big orchestral event. How can you go through life thinking, "I know George personally". I mean he sends me a Christmas card every year. You know he is one of the most famous men in musical history. All of those people are just amazing. The interesting collaborations are the ones that come up because the artists admire each other, they admire each other's work.

Is there any advice you'd like to give young artists starting out today?

Not really, you learn from your mistakes, the thing that's worrying right now about the state of the industry, a lot of the bands aren't actually bands, they're not real. They haven't gone out and played all the sleazy clubs with all the graffiti on the walls and no toilets backstage and all of that stuff. You've got to go out and do that because that's how you learn how it works.
That's what it's all about, you know, cause once you have done that you can face any of it all these bands that you see saying "oh I am so tired of touring America" in all their air conditioned limousines, ah busses and their Nintendos and game gear, that's nonsense. If you're bored doing that don't do it, you know I don't want to hear it, you know you should thank god every single day that somebody pays money to come and see what you do. Somebody is interested in what you are doing. That's what it's all about. So you make it as hard as possible in the beginning, then when you do get the good stuff you appreciate it, you know.

Apart from being your daily bread and butter - what does music mean to you?

Music is incredible evocative. You know you hear something on the radio you haven't heard for ages, and you go "Oh my God". And I remember who I was going out with or who I fancied at that moment in time. You know you remember what year it was, and what you were wearing, and who you were hanging out with, and that stuff is great. Music is brilliant for that.

What was the last album you purchased?

The last one we bought I think might have been Macy Gray. I think. 'Cause that's real. That's great. You know, it's like really interesting stuff. Great voice, smoky, you know. There was that. Travis - good straight forward pop. Radiohead - good kind of hippie-head music, you know. There's lots of good stuff. Lots of good stuff around out there right now.

You're very active on your website - tell us something about it

Sure, I think everyone and his brother has got a web site now, cause it's the big thing. When we were doing midgeure.com, we looked into quite seriously to see what everyone else was doing, and we wanted to find the mistakes they were doing, not only the good things, but the bad things. So we looked into it and we found that a lot of the problems were things like slow access, you know it took ages to download anything, it took ages for the main screen to come up. Between Berenice, who is my tour manager and sound engineer, and Cerise, who runs the fanzine, we all kind of sat there and figured out what to do, how it should look, get it up and running as quickly as possible. And I constantly update, I can answer emails and stuff on it, which is great, so people ask questions I can actually talk to them direct. And we put footage up everytime we're away doing anything. We got some footage up of the band performing in Spain at a Womad concert, 100,000 people it's a great atmosphere and stuff. And its such a great thing to have - for the first time ever I have instant access to people who write to me, they have instant access to me as opposed to writing to the record company or writing to the management office, and a lot of that stuff never gets through to you, or if it does get through you never have time to read it all. So when I go out on tour or do anything, I take my lap top, I can sit there and access the site and pull down all the emails, and all that stuff. So it's a great fantastic facility to have, and people know what you're up to instantly, they don't have to go chasing around. midgeure.com, all the information is there - it's great.

Talking about touring - you had a great band for the "Breathe" tour .

It was the funniest band I've ever been with. They were justit was not just great musically, but just being in their company all the time was just brilliant. And it's going to be very difficult to top that. Because Troy who was a uileean pipe player/multi-instrumentalist is just the funniest man in the world. And we had such a great time touring and it was a great thing to do. I mean, the record being successful and going to Italy and seeing not just the hard core fans who've always been there but an entire new audience. Young people who'd gone out and bought the record simply because they liked the music which was the great thing about it.

Will you use the same band for the "Move Me" tour?

I've got a whole new band this time around because the music calls for a different type of musician. So I've got a whole new band, all new guys, young guys that I found all around here (just outside Bath) [clears throat] and it's excellent.

Are you looking forward to being on the road again?

Yeah definitely, we have been looking at dates in Europe, and possibly doing some proper dates in the UK, which I haven't done for a long time, you know maybe start out with four or five up and down the country just to show the new band in action. You know we're looking to coming to Germany, I think it's in November, a few weeks after the release of the new album.

Are you nervous about how this new album will be received?

I think it's always worrying putting anything out because the press can be incredibly harsh and scathing and that's always difficult. I never like reading reviews - be they good or bad. I think the hardcore fans are the ones you kind of gauge it from, and from what I can glimpse off everyone's very happy with what it's all starting to sound like. We've put little snippets of it up on the web so people can actually go and access it and listen to like 30 seconds of a track and a bit of this and a bit of that and the response we're getting is very, very good. So I'm feeling quite confident about it. It's successful to me now because musically it's successful, but commercially successful - I can't do anything about it. I can't make it work. Someone else has got to decide that.



Oh. Wow.

These were the first words out of my mouth when I put the freshly-mastered copy of the new album on this morning, with a careful precision that belied my haste. I sat back, I turned off the phone, and turned up the volume. The neighbours would understand...

The first thing that hit me was that this has to be Midge's strongest vocal performance since Quartet, which (I suspect) owed much to George Martin's uncompromising perfectionism. Midge has always had an incredible vocal range, and despite protesting that he constantly writes songs that are a tone above what he can comfortably sing, you can't fault him here for a second.

The second thing was that, in defiance of the "Celtic folk/rock" label which has been bestowed on him by the press in the last five years, there has been a serious return to guitars and synths. A return to his roots. And it has never been more welcome than now.

Here's a brief rundown:

Beneath a Spielberg Sky is the cleverly-titled opener, which starts out with quiet, intimate vocals sung close to the microphone - then bursts into life with a spectacular choral backing which grows and grows. Interesting that a name can instantly conjure up a perfect sunset in the mind's eye - and if anyone's could, it'd be Stephen Spielberg's.

Words - fantastic drums, brings Answers to Nothing to mind a little (the drum solo on the single), but that's certainly no bad thing. The plucked guitar riff is very catchy, and I could easily imagine it being a single.

Alone - I loved this one when I heard it as a demo, and that hasn't diminished. That high note in the chorus... it reminds me why I've always loved Midge's voice so much. "Nothing comes to nothing, and that's exactly what I am. Alone...". Hard for me to psycho-analyse this when I know you're going to read it Midge, but you're going to have women wanting to hug you better from here to eternity!

Somebody has been my current favourite since hearing the extract on midgeure.com - it's the one that I haven't been able to get out of my head all week long no matter what pap might be playing on the radio. And oh God, it's so sad. Again, that high, driving note in the chorus that's so powerful. It's quite R&B, with the constant hi-hat. I love it.

The opening drums in Let Me Go are like a heartbeat, underpinning intimate lyrics which seem to tell of the relationship between artist and craft - the "sipping comfort from my writer's cup, the one that's constantly filled up, the one that doubles as a crutch, the one I cling to oh so much. It eases the sadness, it drowns all the sorrows and kills all the pain". It strikes an uncomfortable chord; if you throw yourself into your work, the rest of your life doesn't seem so out of control... It speaks to me more than I'd really care to admit. Ouch.

Right when you can no longer put off reaching for the Kleenex, along comes something that hits you right between the eyes. Monster is an apt working title for this fantastic instrumental - previously known as "The Thing", it reminds you why Thin Lizzy picked Midge to replace Gary Moore on their 1979 USA tour. Seriously heavy metal, Led Zeppelin would be proud!

Strong is another really powerful track. It's quiet and understated, with reeeally high vocals (damn, that's gonna be tough on tour!). This is the one that improves with every listening - I wasn't at all sure about it the first play, especially the quiet part in the middle - but stick with it because it 's a rewarding journey.

Refugee Song was the one that I was wary of, having heard it on tour last year. I have a tendency towards *really* disliking the 3/4 'waltz-time' tracks that have rounded off the last two albums (Tumbling Down on Pure, The Maker on Breathe), so I was glad to see that it's not the last track, and it's not merely a "ditty" which leaves you wondering if someone somewhere ran out of time. It's a good, solid song. Midge has imagined himself in the position of dispossessed refugees around the world, losing their homes, being split from family, from friends, from loved ones. What happens when their sons and daughters are finally found? Will they remember their parents? Will they still speak the same language?

Move Me is a strong contender for a single. On first play the bass line, which is well to the fore, drove me nuts. Then I found I was humming it. Now I'm singing it. Look out, it's a 'grower'...

Absolution Sometime opens with searing guitars which scrape across your nerves like rusty razor blades. The vocals are heavily chorused, with the occasional exception. Maybe there's some irony there in the lyrics that I haven't picked up yet, but this one seems to be rather more full of hope than many of the others.

Four is, I suspect, about Midge's four daughters; Molly, Kitty, Ruby and Florence. "One who brings me hope in handfuls, two who give me joy and laughter, three who make my life complete and four who make me happy". Very catchy, and a good one to go out on, with its abrupt finish leaving you wanting more. Wonderful.

PROLOGUE

With every play of the album (for it's been on 'repeat 'all day), the impression I received this morning grows and grows; that this is the best thing Midge has written in his solo career. This is no empty gesture on my part; Answers to Nothing has occupied the top spot for me, for twelve years. This knocks it into a cocked hat. Forget Breathe, forget anything Midge has previously done. This is new, this is fresh, this is modern. And it ROCKS!

Ladies and gentlemen.... we have a hit.
 

 L y r i c s


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 M P 3   S a m p l e s


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