New Wave Outpost Forum

[b]...was better with...

They were both great and so was the band!

IMHO John Foxx brought the original sound and art to the band during the Island label years (my favourites) and Midge Ure was present during the more commercial, "dancy" part of their career. I guess that wore out. Still love the early stuff. More raw, crunchy, dark, Eno.

elektrikblu
"Don't look at the carpet. I drew something awful on it!"

Two completely different bands that shared members. For years I would have said the Ure era but these days I prefer the Foxx era. As well as the Ure era.

after posting this, I didn't really think about it too much ---my knee jerk reaction is Ure. simply because the first two Ure UVox records are incredible....better albums as a whole than any Foxx Uvox records as a whole (albiet: individual tracks such as wrokrok and young savage, slowmotion etc are brilliant)...that being said Foxx's Metal beat is as good as those Ure records.

Like there's any contest. Ure brought hooks, emotion, class, range and one incredible voice.

[quote][i]Originally posted by SomebodySomewhere[/i]
<br>Like there's any contest. Ure brought hooks, emotion, class, range and one incredible voice.
[/quote]

Here, here.

Didn't they come up with another album after Ure left? Who did vocals on that one? Was it any good?

dar

Midge Ure's voice shoots through me like an annoying dagger. When he hits his high notes, "The image is gone only...", from Vienna, it makes my teeth hurt. He always struck me as very pompous. On the other hand Foxx has an amazing voice and an appreciative artistic flare. That being said, the first two U-Vox albums are spotty, but "Systems of romance" is perfection.

Scott

No[}:)] I cannot choose.

John Foxx was interesting and the music was innovative, but his phrasing always kinda got under my skin ("a sil-o-uette and a cig-a-rette and a gesture of disdain...rrr) but "My Sex" is one for the ages. Some great singles. Standout album: SYSTEMS OF ROMANCE.

Midge Ure-era produced VIENNA and RAGE IN EDEN. If that weren't enough the later, poppier albums had their moments too. "Reap The Wild Wind" was a great underappreciated single.

My vote is cast for Midge.

Ure did seem pompous, but Foxx always struck me as aping Bowie a little (as did alot of other artists at the time (Sylvian, Richard Butler etc) .... I think I was just a little too young to appreciate Foxx's raw Ultravox, but when the Album Vienna dropped I was just the right age for the"modern world" to revolve "around the synthesizer's song"....

Ure's Ultravox, IMHO, lacked the ability to "rock out", so to speak. With Foxx they put out a few songs--like "Rockwrok"--that really tore it up, even if most of them were more arty than heavy.

Urevox, on the other hand, mainly became another wimpy new romantic band; no ambition but to make pretty-sounding synth noises set to a disco beat. Very disappointing. I mean, Midge could rock back in the day; he was even considered for the lead vocalist of the Sex Pistols before Lydon showed up. Listen to "Put You In The Picture" by PVC2 (not the Rich Kids version) for proof.

That PVC2 7" is great, but I think it's the anomally in the Ure ouvre. If you listen to Slik, they were pretty poppy. The Rich Kids was really lightweight too.

PVC2 was recorded as a joke with some extra studio time.

Then again he DID tour as a guitarist in Thin Lizzy.

Like I said in my post above, I like both eras of the band but to me they are completely seperate entities.

Both spectacular. I can't choose. But then again, I even loved the post-Ure Ultravox...

As a complete body of work though, I would certainly choose Ure over Foxx. He sang the soundtrack for many of the most memorable moments of my life: "Vienna", "Fade to Grey", "Dancing with Tears in My Eyes", "Lament", "Answers to Nothing", "Breathe", ...

Has anyone else read "If I Was", the Midge Ure autobiography. A page turner. Picked it up for 9 pounds last time I was in England. Rich Kids, Ultravox, Visage, Band Aid, his solo work. Quite a legacy. He and Sir Bob helped redefine youth activism in the wake of the 70s "Me Generation". And he helped bring us "Vienna", perhaps the greatest epic of the synth pop era.