As I’m less than two weeks from a return match with Midge Ure in Nashville, thoughts are turning to the upcoming concert as well as a mystery that’s centered around the Scot icon. On the occasion of my birthday last September, I ordered a large amount of CDs from mostly Amazon dealers attacking the want list before it got to be too late and expen$ive OOP discs would forever haunt my dreams. I try to do this at least every several years. This time, I turned to the Ultravox 2xCDs of “Vienna,” “Rage in Eden,” and “Quartet.” I received the wrong 2009 pressing [single disc, not double] of “Quartet” but straightened that out and after my refund, ordered it from another source to successful fulfillment. Over the end of September through October, there were a lot of CDs arriving in the mail. Some of them Ultravox CDs. Some not. None so puzzling as the copy of Midge Ure’s “The Gift” [1995 EMI Gold RM] + 4 bonus tracks as shown above. It was puzzling because I never ordered it!

I’ve owned the 1996 bonus track version of “The Gift” since it came out in 1996, and I had no need of this CD for a second copy! Nevertheless, it is in my house; a complete mystery as to how it got here. It was mailed on October 3rd, from Palm Harbor, Florida. I have already mailed a letter of inquiry to the person on the return address on the envelope, which I kept. I received no response to date as to my query how this CD came to be sent to me. Tracking info reveals that on October 3rd, it was mailed from a post office in  Dunedin, FL 34698. More, I cannot say.

I found it amazing that the timing of this had it coming among a large swath of similar merchandise mail-ordered around that time. It’s not the worst CD I could receive unbidden. While not as strong as any of the Ultravox albums that preceded it, about half of it is pretty good, and the mastering has served me well for 20 years on. I am just stymied as to how it all came down. I was just thinking that I should post this to the blog, as it’s conceivable that someone out there may have a clue, but it’s not as though I share my mailing address indiscriminately with anyone else for that matter. So what do you do when you receive CDs in the mail that you already own? The first thing I can think of is to blog about it.

B.C. Taylor on drums and Tony Solis on bass/keys support Midge Ure for another leg across North America

It’s Friday the 13th and Midge Ure is halfway through his 2nd North American tour leg. Against my nature, I’ve checked out set lists and there have been a few songs added to the typical set. Now “Reap the Wild Wind” is a fairly regular feature and the best tune off of the last Ultravox album, “Flow” have begun making inroads. I hope that when I see Ure in 10 days time, that the additions are not at the expense of “Call of the Wild.” If either of those took the place of “Beneath A Spielberg Sky” I’d manage to cope, somehow. Will I review another leg of ostensibly the same tour? I’m unsure about that. Let’s just keep our options open.

Midge Ure | North American Tour | 2017 Remaining Leg

• Jan 13 | Roxy | Los Angeles, CA
• Jan 14 | Casbah | San Diego, CA
• Jan 16 | Grand @ The Complex | Salt Lake City
• Jan 18 | Soiled Dove | Denver, CO
• Jan 20 | 3Ten | Austin, TX
• Jan 21 | Dan’s Sliver Leaf | Denton, TX [Dallas]
• Jan 23 | City Winery | Nashville, TN

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