Midge Ure can look back an a supremely varied career

Last Friday, I got separate comments from both negative1ne and Mr. Ware regarding the upcoming Midge Ure compilation due in early September. So I thank my commenters for keeping me on my toes. Because I don’t get out of the Record Cell all that much. But the world has a lot of Midge Ure compilations. Six, as Discogs tells it. I’ve already got two of them. What makes this one a bit different is that it dips its net into by far the widest waters of his  storied career yet. Taking us from 1978 and the Rich Kids album, up to the present. They could have thrown Slik on there as well, but there are limits to what may be considered right and proper. Readers of this blog may have more successfully argued for inclusion of the lost PVC2 single, but that’s probably mired down in rights issues. Lets see what Chrysalis has in store for us this time.

Chrysalis | UK | 2xCD+DVD | 2019

Midge Ure: Soundtrack 1978-2019 UK 2xCD+DVD [2019]

CD One

1. Call of The Wild [7” Version]
2. Answers To Nothing [7” Version]
3. Dancing With Tears In My Eyes [7” Version] – Ultravox
4. The Gift
5. Wastelands [7” Version]
6. After A Fashion [7” Version] – Midge Ure & Mick Karn
7. Remembrance Day
8. No Regrets [7” Version]
9. Marching Men – Rich Kids
10. If I Was [7” Version]
11. Fade To Grey [2017 Version] – Band Electronica
12. Dear God [7” Version]
13. The Man Who Sold the World
14. That Certain Smile [7” Version]
15. Sister & Brother (feat. Kate Bush) [Alt. 7” Version]
16. All In One Day [7” Version] (Ultravox)

CD Two

1. Become
2. Touching Hearts And Skies
3. Glorious [2019 Single Mix] – Midge Ure & Rusty Egan
4. Star Crossed
5. You Move Me [Radio Edit]
6. I Survived [Single Edit]
7. Personal Heaven – Midge Ure & Glenn Gregory
8. Beneath A Spielberg Sky [7” Version]
9. Breathe [7” Version]
10. Nevermore
11. Cold, Cold Heart [7” Version]
12. Let Me Go
13. I See Hope (In The Morning Light) [7” Version]
14. Let It Rise – Schiller feat. Midge Ure
15. Dark Dark Night [2019 Remix] – Midge Ure feat. Moby
16. Vienna [Orchestrated Version]

DVD – Promotional Videos +
[Audio Commentary on Promotional Videos by Midge Ure]

1. Marching Men – Rich Kids
2. No Regrets
3. After A Fashion – Midge Ure & Mick Karn
4. If I Was
5. That Certain Smile
6. Call of The Wild
7. Answers To Nothing
8. Dear God
9. Cold Cold Heart
10. I See Hope (In The Morning Light)
11. Breathe
12. You Move Me
13. Beneath A Spielberg Sky
14. Become
15. Let It Rise [Live 2014] (Schiller feat. Midge Ure)
16. Breathe [Orchestrated Version]
17. Band Electronica [11mins]:
18. Yellow Pearl/Passing Strangers [Live 2017]
19. Fade To Grey [Live 2017]
20. Orchestrated Promo Videos [11mins]
21. Vienna [Orchestrated Version]
22. Dancing With Tears In My Eyes [Orchestrated Version]
23. A Portrait of [‘The Gift’ EPK 1985] [17mins]
24. Answers: A Musical Biography [Documentary 1990] [49mins]
25. Orchestrated [The Making of EPK] [9mins]

It looked like the cover was designed by the same person who did the recent Ultravox Extended compilation. The washed out swatch tints on white are not my go-to look but at least the photo of Midge is a recent portrait. It must be dispiriting for artists to see their old images of youth being used to sell their wares. The pair of CDs rehash most of the program familiar to other Ure comps, but feature a trio of cuts that were previously unreleased. It’s a familiar collection of 7″ mixes, a few deep cuts, and more interestingly, about a third of the program consists of loose tracks of the new millennium that would fall by the wayside if it were not for eventual compiling as in this case. Collaborative cuts and guest appearances. I’m most interested in the Glenn Gregory duet. I told Mr. Ure the last time I saw him that he really should think about an album together with his good friend.

It’s fairly expansive with Rich Kids getting added for the first time on a collection of his. No Ultravox this time, apart from his recent orchestrated version of “Vienna,” but I have to think that a chance here was lost that they did not include the hit 7″ remix of Phil Lynott’s excellent “Yellow Pearl.” I have the original LP and first 7″ remix on a Phil Lynott compilation, and I have the 12″ mix on vinyl, but the hit 7″ 2:53 version that had the great Midge Ure directed music video, was not used here. And I still need a copy. I get it. Phil Lynott sang the lead, but they put it on the 1993 “If I Was: The Best of Midge Ure + Ultravox” compilation. The playing and production on that cut was basically half of Visage with Rusty Egan and Billy Currie joining Ure on the awesome track. It was eventually used as the early 80s theme for Top Of The Pops. Here is a brief clip on the making of that iconic title sequence below as Midge Ure discusses the creation of the song and the designer of the titles talks about how it was done before After Effects in the gritty early 80s.

I have this PAL VHS but it’s compromised in terms of program

Speaking of video, the real Monk-Bait® in this package was the included DVD [NTSC], that with the exception of the already lamented “Yellow Pearl” video, stands to right some long standing wrongs on the Midge Ure music video front. With the exception of “Yellow Pearl,” it looks like any clip that should be here was included! I got the first video to feature Ure solo and Ultravox clips together when “If I Was: The Best of Midge Ure + Ultravox” was released [PAL VHS] in 1993.  Back then, it seemed that the stunning clip for “No Regrets” and the semi-legendary Egyptian travelogue that was “After A Fashion” could not be sourced for the production, so they were not included. I did have a copy of “No Regrets” from MTV. It’s on my videotape number 2 [out of about 700, eventually], recorded on ßeta in 1982 and I guarantee that it is unplayable currently without extensive time-base correction. Happily, those clips are on the new DVD and reason for me to buy, right there!

This 1990 biofilm neatly summarized Ure’s career

This collects all of Ure’s solo clips and has a generous program of bonus materials, including recent live footage, Electronic Press Kit videos, and something I’m most interested in seeing/hearing; Ure’s secondary audio commentary on every one of the music videos! I’ve only ever seen this done once before with the Kemp Brothers giving commentary on a Spandau Ballet concert video but as a music geek, this is what I want more of! Better yet, the 1990 home video of “Answers; A Music Biography” was also included! I have the JPN laserdisc of this title, and it’s been an enjoyable career summary to watch over the years. Taking the Midge Ure story from Slik [with clip excerpts] all the way through Rich Kids, Thin Lizzy, Visage, Ultravox, Band Aid, and his solo efforts. With friends and cohorts like Kenny Hyslop, Chris Cross, and Rusty Egan all chiming in. Any Midge Ure fan who has not seen this will love it.

So besides the well-considered DVD, the reason to buy this doubled when taking the asking price into consideration. The 2xCD+DVD will set you back $19.99. That’s easy to love. There is also a clear vinyl LP [750 made] with only ten tracks for $27.99, as well as various bundles for the fans so inclined. I can pass on the vinyl and t-shirts. But the CD/DVD package looks like something I want in house. Preorders can click here.

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