![]() “Forty years later I want to celebrate this period and as we pass from 2019 into 2020 play the Vienna album in its entirety along with highlights from the eponymous Visage album. The work we did that winter on the Vienna album was an exhilarating rush of creativity the likes of which I had never experienced before. Over the course of autumn into winter 1979, while working on the Visage project with Billy Currie, I was invited to join Ultravox. “Over the previous two years I had grown from ‘pop band’ (Slik) to ‘post punk band’ (The Rich Kids) to being a stand in guitarist for Thin Lizzy. “Autumn 1979 was a pivotal point in my career trajectory,” Midge Ure explains. The albums that birthed those landmark singles expanded that sonic palette even further and brought the art-school alternative into the very centre of the mainstream.īoth records were co-written, recorded and produced by one of the leading characters in British music, Midge Ure, and not only transformed the charts around the globe but his life in the process. Visage’s single ‘Fade To Grey’ from the band’s debut eponymous album and Ultravox’s single ‘Vienna’ from the album of the same name were global hits that shared the same stark ambience, European aesthetic and electronic heart. The 1980s were about to explode into life and nothing would be the same again.Īt the heart of this seismic leap into a futuristic new dawn were two records that set the template for much of what was to follow. The guitar-driven dominance that had propelled rock and punk throughout the decade was about to end, as synthesizers signalled the sound of the future and video transformed the look of the pop charts. Tickets for the tour go on sale on Friday, 14 December at 9am.Īt the end of the 1970s momentous change was afoot in Britain and the world – in society, politics, fashion and culture – and the musical landscape was also about to change forever. The music will be performed in a stage setting designed to reflect the atmosphere and ambience the albums deserve. Both these trailblazing synth-pop albums were released in 1980 – Vienna has never previously before been performed in its entirety, while selections from Visage will also be making their live debut. Currie’s subsequent retirement from Ultravox left Ure in charge of keeping the group’s music and legacy alive, largely via solo tours.Midge Ure and Band Electronica have announced details of the 1980 Tour for October 2019, during which they will perform Ultravox’s classic Vienna album in full and also include highlights from Visage’s self-titled debut album. They reunited several times with different lineups, including a fruitful revival from 2008 to 2013. The early ’80s found Ultravox enjoying more success with dramatic synth-pop singles “Dancing with Tears in My Eyes” and “Reap the Wild Wind” before the band broke up in 1987. Ure replaced Foxx in 1979, setting the stage for the Vienna LP, a futuristic mix of jagged rock and crisp keyboard sounds that was overseen by the legendary German producer Conny Plank. This lineup debuted in 1977 with two albums: Ultravox!, an LP indebted to Roxy Music and Kraftwerk, and the more raucous, punkish Ha! Ha! Ha!. Ultravox formed in 1974 under the name Tiger Lily with a different vocalist, John Foxx. ![]() But while the London band did have strong ties to that fashionable scene-frontman Midge Ure and keyboardist/violinist Billy Currie had also been bandmates in the influential synth-pop act Visage-they had much artsier and rougher roots. ![]() Ultravox were often associated with the UK’s early-’80s New Romantic movement thanks to their 1980 single “Vienna,” a swooning electro-pop song with heartbeat rhythms and melodramatic vocal flourishes. ![]()
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