#402/1038
October 18 1985
Midge Ure
The Gift
Genre: Smooth New Wave
3.25 out of 5
Highlights:
Living in the Past
I had always thought of Midge as Ultravox and the co-writer of “Do They Know It’s Christmas?”. That was the extent.
Until I was researching Adam And was determined to find that Pete Frame New Romantics flow chart.
The name that kept popping up in weird amalgamations was Midge.
Starting with Slik, Midge slides over to Rich Kids with Ex-Sex Pistol Glen Matlock and Billy Currie from Ultravox. Then he enlists Steve Strange and they create the studio group Visage.
But did you know that he spent a couple months as the guitarist for Thin Lizzy? I absolutely did not.
Only after that does he hook back up with Currie and Warren Cann and Chris Cross to create the last version of Ultravox.
The guy got around, sure. But, for me, the most interesting aspect of this was the fluidity of Midge’s stylings. He’s a pretty unctuous sounding guy, at times. Like he could give Bryan Ferry a run for his MOR money. Yet, he hooked up with guys from Tubeway Army and Sex Pistols and even Phil Lynott wanted to work with him for a while. And then he writes the epic Christmas Band-Aid classic.
Maybe Midge is a footnote in modern rock who deserved a little more credit.
He may not be Bowie or even John Foxx, and he’s certainly not Gabriel, but he had a finger in a lot of pies during this time.
Does anyone ever cover Jethro Tull? Nope. Does he give Ian Anderson’s “Living in the Past” a New Wave reinterpreting? Yes. Does it work? Definitely.
The rest of it is pretty pedestrian. Not a lot to hang hats on. Midge is enjoying himself and making some music and maybe you’ll buy it and maybe you’ll listen to it one day whilst reading a book or something.
There is no link. I had to cobble together all the songs on YouTube. (The things I go through for you guys….)
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