Entertainment For Lively Minds
Random thought of the day.....Ultravox
The John Foxx/Midge Ure conundrum in particular.
It still puzzles me. I know the oft cited musical differences and "wanting to move in different directions" gets an airing but it was a fair old leap from the relatively established experimental left field electronica to the globe straddling fantastic synth pop that Ure delivered in a very short space of time. Being only 10 or 11 at the time, I wasn't aware of how the inkies reported this back then or what the general consensus was.
What would be the modern equivalent? Will Young fronting Beady Eye???
Whilst I'm on an Ultravox theme, does anyone remember Midge Ure on a programme in the mid 80's (Blue Peter or similar) demonstrating a synthesiser that was based on a guitar rather than a keyboard? Ure was very enthused by this piece of kit saying it was perfect for those musicians without formal training who found it easier to play melody on strings rather than keys. No idea who this was manufactured by and never seen one since. Can the Massive assure me I didn't dream this?!
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Might this be what you are looking for?
Midge appears at around 6.20.
Guitar synth also used quite a bit by Andy Summers, Robert Fripp, Pat Metheny, etc.
I lasted 60 seconds...
They should all have been given a year's detention. Seldom have I heard such a hideous collection of sounds in such a brief time. Ghastly.
That's amazing.
I'd never heard of this programme before (I'd have been about 5 when it was originally shown). I've watched about four episodes all morning.
Yes, horribly dated but you always get that with tech-heavy stuff. I wish there was something similar on now - about music theory and technology as it relates to being in a band and so on.
It was a great show
It lasted for two series, I seem to remember, and I loved every minute of it. Much of the music is unlistenable tripe nowadays, but at the time this was a real eye-opener into the life of a musician.
The idea that major music names would appear on what was, basically, a children's show to pass on what must have been to them the most banal advice seems almost impossible nowadays given the fact that, seemingly by law, all music shows on TV (particularly here in the Great White North) must involve only (a) Simon Cowell and (b) voting.
I always wanted more shows like this, or documentaries about how the music business works, or simply footage of skilled people playing an instrument rather than a parade of tuneless drones "singing" the latest pop drivel a capella in front of judges.
But I'm clearly in the minority - a couple of years ago I remember the launch of the Musician's Channel on Sky/cable. Unless I'm mistaken, it was dead within a couple of months.
Not quite but nearly...
As I recall Midge was also a proponant of the short lived "Stepp Guitar Controller" which was kinda a poor man's Synthaxe. Here it is on Tomorrow's World
Like the Synthaxe it had separate pitch and velocity sensing strings but the next wasn't at a funny angle and the frets were spaced as on a normal guitar - not equidistant as on the Synthaxe.
Cor! That was great!
I was sixteen again. How mant thousands of quidsworthworth of kit were they playing with? Blimey.
Rock School. What a fine programme it was.
Hmm - IMHO Ultravox! (as
Hmm - IMHO Ultravox! (as they were) never recovered from losing John Foxx. it was a real "Gabriel leaves Genesis" moment: and the metaphor is not as inappropriate as you might think.
That begs the question...
It depends a lot on what you mean by "never recovered"! I'm sure I don't need to go into the question of the globe-shagging sales figures racked up by Genesis post-Gabriel, the sort of non-recovery most bands would mortgage their grannies for. But even on an artistic level (which is what I assume you meant), I think Genesis continued to make really great music after Gabriel left (Trick Of The Tail being a good example).
It's a long time since I've listened to much Ultravox, with or without the exclamation mark, but not all of the Foxx era stuff was that great; and the Midge-era had some superb singles (plus of course great commercial success).
Different band with different objectives
The last lp with Foxx - 'Systems of Romance' - was headed in the musical direction of 'Vienna' but everything changed in terms of lyrical style and band image. When Foxx left the band became smoother, and certainly Midge is a much better singer technically than Foxx. UV Mark I was never going to have a massive pop hit, which is I suppose the most telling example of where the sensibilities of the the two UV's lie.
I thought it was a nice, subtle move
to lose the exclamation point when Foxx gave way to Ure.
There's an argument that Midge Ure has been a member of bands with the widest range of styles - Slik, Thin Lizzy, Visage, Rich Kids, Ultravox.
Midge Ure...
now there's a candidate for a podcast. Talented, articulate and a sense of humour. Any chance?
Great idea...
Love to hear his stories around Slik, Rich Kids and Ultravox etc, keep Live Aid off topic!
Don't forget
PVC2. Slik jump aboard the punk bandwagon 12 months too late. If they brought this out instead of The Kid's A Punk....... but I suppose Martin & Coulter wouldn't stand for that kind of stuff.
Listen for the synth solo at 2.03
Not to mention...
..his stint in Thin Lizzy. Renaissance Man or what? Agreed - perfect Podcast material.
One of the best live shows I've seen
The atmosphere at one of their reunion gigs will stay with me to my dying day. They had the audience in the palm of their hands from the first beat (Astradyne, since you ask), singing - and air keyboarding - to every note, and by the time they started Vienna, they could have been carried shoulder-high around the streets.
As much as I enjoy the Foxx-era material (and Slow Motion is particularly good), there is nothing about it that would provoke that sort of reaction. And given his post-UV work, I get the feeling that Foxx is probably not aiming for that type of impact either.
Midge's biography is well worth a read, although as pointed out he does have some pretty strong feelings about Band/Live Aid and how the plaudits for it have been distributed. And he's quite right too...
Reunion Shows
Yip, I was dragged along to a reunion gig by Mrs Resting Place, head down, scuffing my shoes as I went in.
Not really my sort of thing I thought, but as Astradyne started, I got the tingles! Great stuff.
Looking forward to seeing John Foxx with The Maths next month too. Interplay is a mighty fine album.
A common misconception...
They didn't lose the exclamation mark when Foxx went. They lost it between the second and third (final) album with Foxx up front.
There doesn't seem to be a single writer in the entire music journalism industry who is aware of this, though.
Not that I particularly/pedantically care about people getting this wrong per se, but since a lot of them do start reading philosophical significance into it, I guess it should really be pointed out that they're extrapolating from erroneous data...
D x
Extrapolating From Erroneous Data
Magnificent!
Can't believe i'm the first
Ultravox -It means nothing to me.
I promoted Ultravox!
on a couple of college gigs but unlike the comparisons with the Genesis factions I preferred the more successful Midge Ure era. I cannot listen to the track below without singing along as Young Cabbage.
Ultravox! - Young Savage