Answers to Nothing is the second solo studio album by Scottish musician Midge Ure, released in August 1988 by Chrysalis Records. It was the first release by Ure following the demise of Ultravox.
Ure wrote, produced and recorded all the songs during the span of months in his 24-track home studio. As a solo artist, Ure only hit the singles chart once in America with the single "Dear God". It reached No. 95 on the BillboardHot 100, No. 6 on the US Billboard Mainstream Rock chart and at No. 4 on the US Billboard Alternative Music chart in 1989.[3][4] He filmed the music video to "Dear God" in Los Angeles.
The album had an provenance in that it grew out of the broadening of Ure's social consciousness during the past four years. It was a development out of the personal scale to the global. He was changed by his involvement with Live Aid and accompanied the first shipment made to Ethiopia. His direct confrontation with the conditions of starvation and death was the most powerful experience of his life. In addition, his recent embrace of marriage and fatherhood had only reinforced his commitment to caring about the state of the world. All of these changes had found their way into his work.[6]
This is the first time ever in my career that I've had to stand up and say: 'right. This is Midge Ure. This is what he sounds like. This is what he does, without any outside influence. I don't have to compromise at all in what I'm doing. And that's very strange for someone who's been in the music business for so many years. That's why I consider "Answers to Nothing" my first genuine solo album.
The track "Sister and Brother" was a duet with Kate Bush.[8][9] In 1982, Ure had appeared onstage with Kate Bush while she performed live onstage during the Prince's Trust Rock Gala. After Ure's approach, Bush said she'd send a vocal contribution back if she had time. "I wasn’t expecting Kate to do anything at all, or that she’d take months if she could help," Midge Ure admitted, "Then she phoned up a week later and said: 'I've done something, do you want to come to my studio to hear it?". Having turned her vocals around so quickly, Ure was ready for Bush's contribution to be two or three lines; probably her sister character answering the brother's questions. Instead, Bush had multi-tracked the vocals with effects Ure called: "all these wonderful Kateisms", including a choral section at the end of the song. "It was glorious," said Ure. "My only regret is that I didn’t see Kate at work to see how she’d done it. Hearing someone like Kate Bush pour their heart and soul into one of my songs was an incredible affirmation. It was, 'Well done you, we're giving you a gold star for your essay.' I was shocked she’d taken so much time and effort."
Having that mutual respect from Bush helped convince Ure he was following the right path. He said: "I realised I didn't have to be aiming for three-minute pop songs, that I could make pieces of music I love, even if nobody else gets it."[10]
The track "Homeland" was written about Phil Lynott, who had died two years prior to when the album was released.
After the first Band Aid shipment to Ethiopia, the sights, sounds and smells of the starving and dying left an imprint on his subconscious that have found expression on the album in songs like "Hell to Heaven" and "Dear God".
Ure said in an interview 2015 about Dear God:
In a way, it's a double-edged sword that song. It's like a child's prayer: "Dear God, is there somebody out there?" And in another way, it's absolute despondent despair, saying, "Dear God, is there somebody out there?" It's a question and an explanation at the same time.[11]
Ultravox were a British new wave band, formed in London in April 1974 as Tiger Lily. Between 1980 and 1986, they scored seven Top Ten albums and seventeen Top 40 singles in the UK, the most successful of which was their 1981 hit "Vienna".
James "Midge" Ure is a Scottish musician, singer-songwriter and record producer. His stage name, Midge, is a phonetic reversal of Jim, a hypocorism of his given name. Ure enjoyed particular success in the 1970s and 1980s in bands including Slik, Thin Lizzy, Rich Kids and Visage, and as the second frontman of Ultravox. In 1984, he co-wrote and produced the charity single "Do They Know It's Christmas?", which has sold 3.7 million copies in the UK. The song is the second-highest-selling single in UK chart history. Ure co-organised Band Aid, Live Aid and Live 8 with Bob Geldof. He acts as a trustee for the charity and also serves as an ambassador for Save the Children.
"Vienna" is a song by British new wave band Ultravox from their 1980 fourth studio album of the same name. It was released as the album's third single on 9 January 1981 by Chrysalis Records and features Midge Ure singing the lead vocal.
Rage in Eden is the fifth studio album by British new wave band Ultravox, released on 11 September 1981 through Chrysalis Records. The album reached #4 in the UK album charts and was certified Gold by the BPI for sales in excess of 100,000 copies.
Mark Michael Brzezicki is an English musician, best known as the drummer for the Scottish rock band Big Country.
Lament is the seventh studio album by British new wave band Ultravox, released on 6 April 1984 by Chrysalis Records. It was the last album featuring original drummer Warren Cann until the band's reunion album Brilliant in 2012. The album peaked at number eight on the UK Albums Chart and was certified gold by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) on 8 June 1984 for shipments of 100,000 copies. It also reached number 25 in Germany and number 115 in the United States.
The discography of English singer-songwriter Kate Bush consists of 10 studio albums, two live albums, two compilation albums, six video albums, four box sets, five extended plays, 36 singles, seven promotional singles, and 39 music videos.
U-Vox is the eighth studio album by British new wave band Ultravox, released on 13 October 1986 by Chrysalis Records. It was the band's fifth album during the Midge Ure era, and the final one featuring the band's 1979 lineup, with the exception of Warren Cann, for nearly 26 years. The Ure-era lineup would eventually reform in 2008. It was also the last Ultravox album to reach the top 10 of the UK Albums Chart, peaking at number nine.
"Dancing with Tears in My Eyes" is the second single from Lament, Ultravox's seventh studio album, released on 11 May 1984.
Derek Peter Palmer was an English musician and sound engineer, best known for his work with Kate Bush, with whom he also had a long-term relationship from the late 1970s to the early 1990s. He released his first solo studio album titled Leap of Faith in 2007, followed by Gift in 2010. His third solo album, Point of Safe Return, was released on 6 March 2015.
The Gift is the debut solo studio album by Scottish musician Midge Ure, released on 7 October 1985 by Chrysalis Records. It was released while his band Ultravox were taking a break; the band would go on to release U-Vox (1986) before breaking up. The album reached No. 2 in the UK Albums Chart partly due to the large attention drawn to it by the single "If I Was" which reached No. 1 on the UK Singles Chart in September 1985. "That Certain Smile" was released as the second single in November 1985, and "Wastelands" was released as the third single in January 1986.
"No Regrets" is a song by folk and blues singer/songwriter Tom Rush. It is the final song on his 1968 album The Circle Game and was released as a single in the UK in January 1968 and in the US in April. It peaked at number 57 on the UK BMRB Breakers, an official extension of the UK Singles Chart.
Steve Brzezicki is a British session bass guitarist and younger brother of drummer Mark Brzezicki with whom he often forms a rhythm section as "The Brzezicki Brothers". Among others, he and Mark worked together on Midge Ure's solo albums Answers to Nothing (1988) and Pure (1991), and Nik Kershaw's album Radio Musicola (1986). They also played live with ex-Marillion singer Fish on his first solo tour in 1989/1990 and Procol Harum in 2000.
Big Country are a Scottish rock band formed in Dunfermline, Fife, in 1981.
"I Can't Even Touch You" is a song by the British singer-songwriter Steve Harley, which was released in 1982 as a non-album single under his band's name Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel. The song was written by Harley and produced by Midge Ure.
"Yellow Pearl" is a song recorded by Thin Lizzy frontman Phil Lynott, originally for his 1980 solo album, Solo in Soho. It was written by Lynott and Midge Ure, who was a temporary member of Thin Lizzy at the time, as well as frontman of Ultravox. It was subsequently remixed and released again on Lynott's second album, The Philip Lynott Album. The remixed version was used as the theme music to the British music chart television programme Top of the Pops from 1981 to 1986.
Messengers were a Scottish new wave duo consisting of Danny Mitchell and Colin King. The duo were originally part of Modern Man, a Glasgow post-punk/new wave band discovered by Midge Ure of Ultravox. Modern Man disbanded after releasing one album produced by Ure, Concrete Scheme (1980), after which Ure stayed as producer with Mitchell and King as Messengers.
If I Was: The Very Best of Midge Ure & Ultravox is a 1993 compilation album by Scottish musician Midge Ure, featuring songs from his solo career and as part of the new wave and synthpop band Ultravox, along with Ure's collaborations with Mick Karn, Phil Lynott, Visage, and charity supergroup Band Aid.
Pure, released 16 September 1991, is the third solo album by former Ultravox frontman Midge Ure. It was the first release by Ure with a new record label BMG-Arista. The first single "Cold Cold Heart" reached number 17 on the UK Singles Chart in August 1991. "I See Hope in the Morning Light" and "Let It Go?" were also released as singles. The album has a blend of ethnic rhythms and clean album-oriented rock pop, pervaded by catchy hooks.
Breathe, a 1996 album by Midge Ure, was the fourth solo release for the former Ultravox frontman. The album, produced by Richard Feldman, was released first in Continental Europe, followed by the U.K. and U.S.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
[2] 
