Midge was a giant... a true musical genius that dominated Europe in the 80's. Ultravox, Visage, Live-Aid, etc. Too bad he was not bigger here in America.

@sylviekins

Жыл бұрын

Still is!

I like the old school Ford Transits driving around there.

Midge Ure is Great. Great Voice, Great Guitar Riffs, Great Synths. Remarkable work. I´m a Die Hard Ultravox Fan.

Midge is a true musical treasure Rock, Punk, Electronic done it all ...

@geoffreyjonathanwilson5826

3 жыл бұрын

He most certainly is, well said 🙂

Awesome tune and video!

hmm.. Midge Ure, talented. Good interview, how many could be as down to earth as that.

Fade To Grey is a belter of a tune.

defintely a fantastic song. written in Chiswick (wahaha). 80s classic, for sure.

its amazing how so many classic tracks come about by random or obscure chance origins, as for fade to grey it is one of my all time fave tracks. Good on ya midge :)

On the pure level of musicianship that may be true, but not on the level of what the music caused in the music scene and how it was received. I have the feeling that there are also production people accountable for the way the first Visage album turned out - it's just really well done all around, all sounds are in their perfect place.

After all the Steve Strange/Midge Ure posturing about the origins... reckon I’ll give the points to Billy Currie for this masterpiece

@TheGodParticle

4 жыл бұрын

Actually it was Chris Payne that first wrote the basics of the song, currie added to it and midge wrote the lyrics. there's a video here on YT Chris Payne, fade to grey. you should watch it. cheers

@Teeb2023

Жыл бұрын

How did you get Midge "posturing about the origins"?

Interesting bit of history there. I always loved Fade To Grey. Actually the Visage debut album is one of my all time favorites. I listened to it just about everyday during the summer of '81 along with Vienna by Ultravox.

@fimfengius

Жыл бұрын

15 years!? This is the oldest comment I ever seen on KZread!

I can’t understand what the Hell Midge is saying in most of this video. All I know is that for me, Fade to Grey is absolutely P E R F E C T! This is why every cover of it falls flat. Even Midge can’t do it. The music, vocals, back up vocals, highs and lows, melodies and harmonies… everything came together so beautifully. The masterpiece can never be replicated by anyone.

@lkrnpk

2 жыл бұрын

you just need a little French/Belgian girl to do the French part

He is a great speaker and is very approachable. But don't let that fool you that he is an ordinary man. He is definitely special and a gift to us all.

Know what..? Fade to Gray is the best song ever!!! And that song belongs to VISAGE!

@zoolzool1

3 жыл бұрын

Right you are, Sir. Steve Strange sang it, someone else wrote the lyrics. Someone else the music, someone else had the idea, etc., etc., etc. I love Midge but it took ALL of them to make Fade to Gray what it was and still is to this very day; a masterpiece.

My all time favourite song for 2020 ( even though it is from 1980s) love the live version.. X

Amazing story behind the song.

If they so openly admit that Chris Payne wrote the initial track then why did the poor bugger have to fight for 30+ years to get his overdue writing credit!!!!!!!

@lesneilson67

2 жыл бұрын

That's weird... my 7" single (bought on release) had Chris Payne credited alongside Billy Currie and Midge Ure

@RB747domme

2 жыл бұрын

My 1981 12" credits 'C. Payne' alongside Egan, Currie, Ure.

@JamesWilliams-ki7im

2 жыл бұрын

@@RB747domme he might have his name on there but he didn't get a cent without a decades long fight!

@Teeb2023

Жыл бұрын

@@JamesWilliams-ki7im Who are you blaming for this?

@colinwright4139

11 ай бұрын

​@JamesWilliams-ki7im sure about that?

i like his strong scottish accent. its kinda funny he doesn't have this when he sung vienna.

@221b-Maker-Street

3 жыл бұрын

Peoples accents rarely show when they sing.

@NROS2012

3 жыл бұрын

Accents are formed in the vowel sounds of speech, and when people sing in English, whatever their natural accent, their mouths make very similar shapes in order to project, so the accents 'disappear'. You can deliberately put your accent 'back in' by singing in a less natural mouth formation for the projection - this puts a little more strain on the singing but it's not bad. :-)

@yw1971

3 жыл бұрын

@@221b-Maker-Street Unless they're called 'The Proclaimers'... It's done purposefully - just as Simple Minds & other scottish bands sings with american accent

@yw1971

3 жыл бұрын

@@NROS2012 More precisely - the Music company tells the scotts singers: You want to make money in America? Well, sing like americans.

@nickevans417

3 жыл бұрын

Just had a chuckle to myself imagining Midge singing Vienna in broad scottish accent!

Thanks for posting this interesting interview! The song is an old favorite.

Midge Ure is a Man that you can trust!

Outstanding. Thanks for uploading this.

I'd like to know what is the meaning of the lyrics, English and French, and how the decided on great synth drum-kick that starts in the middle of the song. Thanks for posting Midge, he's still got it going on!

Quite a contravercy about this song, Steve Strange, Visage, Ultravox etc. Some even question Steve Strange's inclusion in Visage. So, to dispell and explain many things. In the late 70's there was a gathering of some very strange, as yet unknown people, at a weekly gathering organised by Steve Strange called The Blitz Club. It was, well, "alternative" in the extreme, and the few attendees were to become a Who's Who of the New Romantic fashion and music movement. You would be amazed who was there ! From George O'Dowd, to Stuart Goddard. From Martin Kemp, to Marc Almond. From Tony Hadley, to Billy Idol, and lots more. Some of the Ultravox band members were "Blitz Kids" and incorporated the bizzarre fashions of The Blitz Club, with their music, hence the name "Visage" (The Face). Steve Strange, as organiser and owner of the Blitz Club, was the face of New Romanticism ! So the collaboration was natural to the birth of New Romantics. Steve Strange may have been a cr@ppy singer, with no musical talent, but he was just as necessary as Midge, or Rusty.

@zoolzool1

3 жыл бұрын

I don’t know why people say Steve Strange was a crappy singer. Even though he needed some vocal coaching and perhaps more (I’m forgetting right now) he did a great job when he had to. Not just on Fade to Gray either.

@Teeb2023

Жыл бұрын

@@zoolzool1 _"I don’t know why people say Steve Strange was a crappy singer."_ Because he was. There you go, your long-awaited reason. _"...he did a great job when he had to. Not just on Fade to Gray either."_ Says the guy who has zero knowledge of how much work or how many takes went into the final versions of Strange's contributions.

@AmberJan.

2 күн бұрын

@@Teeb2023 why don't you enlighten us then? Because you seem to know it all!

Visage had some great tracks. I especially love Mind Of A Toy. You can hear Midge harmonising on the chorus (I think)

Gotta love Midge!!!

Funny reading KZread's auto generated captions to this

Toot City!

Midge , Legend 🙌🏻

@gregingram1970 I disagree. Midge Ure is def. very talented, no doubt about that, But Ultravox isnt Visage and Visage isnt Ultravox. Steve made Visage. It was'nt just the music, it was fashion, the attitude, & the encapsulation of a specific time. it all came together. Yes Steve wanted fame, they all do, & its human to want to be validated, esp. in your early 20s. But Steve & Rusty had all the right ideas @ the right time. You cant discount Steves' Vision. He had a place & deserves credit.

@prezakid9

3 жыл бұрын

Agreed, I think it was a case of the sum of the parts. They all played an important roll in Visage’s recordings until the didn’t. It’s pointless arguing who was the brainchild.

@glamnesianouveaux2039

3 жыл бұрын

Here! Here!

@AlisonBryen

2 жыл бұрын

Precisely this.

Oh my heart Midge Ure!!

Here’s the first part of the ‘Fade To Grey’ origins story for anyone interested in tracing it back to source... kzread.info/dash/bejne/c6F6wcyen867iJs.html

0:43 ‘Pffft City’

aahhh ! this question again ! ( his body language is saying at the beginning )

Midge Ure sweet voyce beauty music my sweet young life i love you

come on... I love Ultravox too! But something was going on on that first Visage album that just never came back...

@vincentdeguard4726

5 жыл бұрын

indeed...almost as if it faded-to-grey

why is midge ure more beleivable than steve? Just because someone has more success than someone else, or because one seems to have it together more than the other, does not automatically mean that person is right. Steve promoted the shit out of 'fade to grey' all over the world, making 100s of 1000s of £ for Midge et al. while they couldnt be bothered to worry about this so called 'masterpiece' or the Visage 1st album. without Steve, none of u would have heard this track to begin with!

@Teeb2023

Жыл бұрын

Wow. What a load of cobblers.

@AmberJan.

2 күн бұрын

So true!

It's Mother Theresa from Trainspotting!

TOOT CITY!

The French lyrics are simply the English lyrics done in French.

I will meet this synth man !

Midge can say he wrote Fade to Grey all he want, but without the style and voice of Steve, it would have never gone where it went. Such a shame they didn't continue to collaborate, I would so have loved to hear how "Night Train" and all the other tracks would have turned out with more musical and production-intelligence and in them.

@TylerDurden-oy2hm

6 жыл бұрын

Uhh Steves voice is average at best...Midge had to give Steve some lessons..

@spurv

2 жыл бұрын

@@TylerDurden-oy2hm I've heard Midge sing Fade To Grey and it wasn't pretty. Technically better? Yes. More impactful? Not a chance. Sometimes less is more. Midges rendition turned Fade To Grey into a football anthem. :-(

@Teeb2023

Жыл бұрын

Some of you have a real rose-tinted view of Mr Strange. There are several very potent reasons he never continued to be the "frontman" for Visage, one of which being he was not a good singer.

@AmberJan.

2 күн бұрын

@@TylerDurden-oy2hm Now I heard Ure sing live and it wasn't good to be honest. Loud.. yes! But not very nice.. After Fade to Grey the only song I liked from him was Vienna.

@AmberJan.

2 күн бұрын

@@Teeb2023 Well his singing is great on his last album. Very sad that he passed away during the making of it. To be honest, all you do in your comments is insulting him and making cryptic remarks. Maybe give us some more info if you want to be taken seriously. I don't like Ure either and surely could come up with some insults but I just don't think that's ok.

@TheGodParticle Steve also took credit for the name Visage...that was Midge. I loved Steve but all those drugs obviously screwed his memory up.......may he rest in peace!

Entends les notes d'une chanson lointaine

Maybe it's because I'm so used to the song as it is now, and maybe Steve Strange isn't an outstanding singer, but who cares? His singing works on Fade to Grey, and I'd rather have it than Midge Ure's regardless of whose singing is objectively better. That's not to denigrate Ure; this song is a ******* masterpiece, and he contributed a large part of that.

@zoolzool1

3 жыл бұрын

Steve needed help, but in the end he pulled it off. No one has sung it better than him.

Ouch! Gaz Numan was/till is a huge Ultravox! fan i.e Billy and John Foxx. He has nothing good to say about Midge's Ultravox basically 'cos he's super pally with Foxx.

@WAZA___

3 жыл бұрын

Midge's Ultravox had the better songs IMO. Vienna is one of the greatest songs ever written.

??? He's right, and you're the daft one. "Une valise asset cote" is a translation into French of "one case sitting by his side." It is all the lyrics, spoken in French. There might be some extra thrown in, I can't quite hear it, but the most of it is definitely the lyrics in French.

@1hinge

Жыл бұрын

Un homme dans une gare isolée Une valise à ses côtés Deux yeux fixes et froids Montrent de la peur lorsqu'il se tourne pour se cacher

Schotland need to have his own country 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

doo dee doodle dee doo doo dee doodle dee doodle dee... LMAO!

@truocmle No....i dont believe that to be true - its my belief that a song {IF-its any good} can be done in any style -that to me, is the acid test for any track .

What's better than acoustic? 0:35 Why - acapella of course! 🤣

So it could never have been released? Dont talk rubbish.It was just electronic music.Plenty of groups were doing it too.

Ure operates the voice of C3PO

why is he stood outside my uni for this interview? i knew he came to bathspa but it's still a bit weird

@youjoker9647

3 жыл бұрын

He lives just outside Bath, near Box Close to Peter Gabriel and Hugh Cornwell. I think he sometimes guests in Julianne Regan's classes at the University?

Really unteresting, I hadn't realised that I had written this. Cheers

they could have casted midge for night at the roxbury!

@stafanos2961 So Midge ripped off YMO? Well I'm a huge fan of both so no disrespect but YMO repaid the favour by ripping off Passionate Reply for their Cue track

Compare Enkis Lab H R Negative lot of truth in that song

People were dressing up,After watching Bowie & Roxy. Im sure someone else would have opened up a night eventually.As for watching 'flamboyant Steve' I liked the song wasnt interested in the look or the band really.Strange always thought of himself as far more important than he was.Shouldnt have took so much coke.Steve strange was lucky to be involved with Visage.

@benobrvar5956

3 жыл бұрын

Without Steve Visage would basically be nothing. He was the face of Visage and always will be

@AmberJan.

2 күн бұрын

Did you know him personally?

I remember steve saying it was his idea to have the french lyrics in the song, he won't be happy about this.

@Teeb2023

Жыл бұрын

I'm sure Stevie boy said a lot of things. Doesn't mean they're true.

@AmberJan.

2 күн бұрын

@@Teeb2023 well, you clearly don't like him, that's fine. But I doubt you have any knowledge about what is true and what isn't.. There is an interview where Steve explained how the idea came about. They were in the studio and Rusty's girlfriend who was from Belgium, was also there and just casually translated and said "devenir gris", they liked it, kept it, and so she did the French part. That's it.

Billy was on the Numan tour as Numan was a fan of the "proper " Ultravox. Midge joined and they put out a 9 track album. Hmmm. And as for a missing track, Visage had Malpaso Man, Moon over Moscow and The Steps. Not the best tracks Midge.

@arizonaidiot1250

8 жыл бұрын

+colin wright The "proper" Ultravox sucked......it's obvious Chris, Billy and Warren were stifled in it. When Midge Ure took over they became the greatest band......ever. The "proper" Ultravox would've faded away into nothing, as they should have.

@colinwright4139

8 жыл бұрын

Definitely NOT the greatest band ever. Vienna was passable. Every other album was dross.

@colinwright4139

8 жыл бұрын

And the point was about not being able to put out a 9 track album, which he did with Vienna. Visage would have been a better album as an 8 track with extended versions.

@arizonaidiot1250

8 жыл бұрын

So what?? Who cares if it had 9 tracks or 90 tracks? All of their albums are a helluva lot better than anything Ultravox! did. Midge Ure took a shit band and made it THE greatest band ever.

@Teeb2023

Жыл бұрын

@@arizonaidiot1250 _"Midge Ure took a shit band and made it THE greatest band ever."_ Ultravox!... a shit band. By extension; "Ultravox", "Ha Ha Ha", "Systems of Romance"... shit albums. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAA... Tell is your opinion is shit, without telling us your opinion is shit.

I thought visage was his song not ultravoxs mmmmmm

The origin: kzread.info/dash/bejne/c6F6wcyen867iJs.html

He said "French", not "Flemish".

@JeuneFilleaCarnival steve strange is just an ego and a man who wanted to be famous. had no talent. midege ur gave him life. steve strange is like a celebrity of today - famous for nothing and using other poeple to put him there.

Some people talk shit. If someone says you can't have a nine track album although they released one then that is open for criticism. If Ultravox are someones favourite band with Midge then thats fine, but THE greatest? I suppose the second greatest were the Human League without Marsh and Ware.

@arizonaidiot1250

8 жыл бұрын

+colin wright Why are you so hung up on 9 tracks?? Is that the only fault you can find with him? Who gives a fuck...if you listen to it he says "you couldn't REALLY put out 9 songs on an album....." It's not something that was written in stone, they all have 9 tracks except Monument, which has..........................SIX, and Brilliant. NONE of his solo albums have less than 10 tracks.....So who's the one talking shit????

She's from Belgium where they do speak French and Flemish, although, granted, Midge didn't say 'flemish'.

@stefaanfernande1465

6 жыл бұрын

djbethell we speak French and Dutch (and German). The word “Flemish” is only used as a geographical thing, as “from Flanders”.

@1hinge

Жыл бұрын

@@stefaanfernande1465 I was told by a Flemish that they did not speak dutch but flemish, so...

Steve Strange is a no-talent lump--he is still grasping on to something he had 25 years ago, whereas Midge has achieved so much in that same span--who are you going to believe? I enjoyed the Visage version because of the amazing talent around Strange--his voice in nothing in comparison to Midge. "I Need Love" was covered accoustically by Luka Bloom, for the poster below.

@antunivanovic

4 жыл бұрын

It's a bit ignorant to say this for someone who practically single hand started a movement which ended a cultural pop phenomenon. Steve Strange may not have had the best voice to sing nor the songwriting skills of Midge & Co., but that doesn't make him less of a legendary pop architect. The arrogance of youth, ambition, drugs and excess aside, Visage truly were (if only visually so) Steve and Rusty Egan's creation. Sure there were also members of Magazine in the picture, so not all the (performing) credit should entirely go to the Ultravox party alone. Thus indeed, who are we going to believe, then? Well, they all know the story between them, while all we can do is speculate. I am sure, as much as Billy Currie and Chris Payne co-wrote the damn thing, Steve surely contributed with tiny ideas but along the way never fully took care to put that on paper or articulate otherwise so in the end it became a bit of a quarrel who did what (Steve insisted, putting a French girl's voice into the song was his idea...) - in the end, it seems to have been a typical situation of push and shove in terms of the recording contract, and who's due credit for what and all and that's where it all ended in tears in the end. The first two Visage albums I dare say is the perfect sum of everyone's parts. The third one sure is audibly weaker ("Beat Boy")... but again the circumstances surrounding that album probably are more due to the commercial pressure than the Visage's core duo "inability" to deliver something as challenging, had they had more time to do so. On the other hand, it's easy to say, one would believe Midge because he has a far greater and professional career. According to some of the stories I read about Steve Strange in the past, he sure was no saint, but that doesn't (always) make him a liar. Midge sure is a great artist, yes, but at the time he's been already established, so it might have been easy for him to potentially manipulate things to his benefit, by diminishing the role of others around him... And Midge was no saint - he speaks of Gary Numan here, whom he was degrading in public in the past, when Gary was mega-popular, which remains a lasting little stain in Ure's "immaculate" pop career.

@pituparanoico

3 жыл бұрын

@@antunivanovic well said, and Numan also mentioned in his auto biography Praying to the Aliens that Chris Payne was also the song co writer as he personally witnessed a bit of the writing process. What did Ure say about Numan? I know that Numan was publicly degraded many time before by many bands but I did know about Ure .Shame. He always seemed to me like such a nice bloke

@antunivanovic

3 жыл бұрын

@@pituparanoico he probably is a nice bloke but egos at the time were huge due to competition... From what I remember reading in "Praying To The Aliens" (yes, that's where I too found out about it), Ure accused Numan of stealing the Ultravox sound... Steve Strange was also criticised now that I remember - Numan remembering when back in the day, he was excommunicated/ignored by the New romantics crowd or something, and then describing one situation when he was super famous, suddenly Steve approached him as if they were best mates, asking to be on a guest list for some Gary Numan event or something - and Gary ignored him back, driving away in his car, with Steve shouting "you f***in bitch!"... Gary just laughed at it. :)

@pituparanoico

3 жыл бұрын

@@antunivanovic NUMAAAAAAAAAAAN!

I dont agree with ya sorry. I think steve strange is a vacuous self absorbed and talentless man. i think he fitted in at the time with fashion of coure but with regards to the fade to grey track - all he did was sing it and the vocal is not even distinctive thus anyone half decent could have done the song coz the muisc was written.

The sheer randomness.... And I though it was famous french vocalist... Just some guy's belgian girlfriend. Shame that she didn't go on to be a star.

The Music always sounded a bit like a rip-off of the Human Leagues "Being Boiled" to me. Good track though.

If it wasnt written in stone why the fuck did malpaso man, moon over moscow etc get on the album? If Midge made Ultravox so great then why were Visage shit apart from a few tracks?

@arizonaidiot1250

8 жыл бұрын

+colin wright they were shit.....AFTER he left!!

I prefer visage sing it to midge as its not midges song

The greatest band ever, really? And where are they now? We know Midge can cook though.

@arizonaidiot1250

8 жыл бұрын

+colin wright I don't know and I don't care.....Midge isn't in it anymore so it doesn't matter, he's WHY they were the greatest band.