The Gift (Midge Ure album) explained

The Gift
Type:studio
Artist:Midge Ure
Cover:Midge Ure - The Gift album cover.jpg
Border:yes
Released:[1]
Recorded:1985
Studio:Music Fest Studio (London)
Genre:
Label:Chrysalis
Producer:Midge Ure
Next Title:Answers to Nothing
Next Year:1988

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.

Background

Daniel Mitchell and Ure wrote "Wastelands" together for the band Modern Man. They started a songwriting partnership that has produced 5 songs on "The Gift", including a reworking of "Wastelands", which was originally from the Midge Ure-produced Modern Man album Concrete Scheme released 1980. Ure had built his own new recording studio Musicfest in his garden in Chiswick, and recorded most of the album there.[2]

"The Gift" features 3 instrumental tracks, which was recorded on the Caribbean island of Montserrat using a Casio CZ-101. Ure said in 1985:[3]

Ure said in 1989:

On "Edo" Ure plays on a koto he bought in Japan the first time Ultravox toured there.

The song "The Gift" was dedicated to the 19th-century Scottish architect Charles Rennie Mackintosh.

At the end of October 1985 Ure started The Gift World Tour with Zal Cleminson on guitar, Kevin Powell on bass guitar, Daniel Mitchell and Craig Armstrong on keyboards and Kenny Hyslop on drums. In addition to shows in the UK and Europe the tour even reached four shows in United States and Australia, two in Canada, and one show in Tokyo, and ended with a closing show at Wembley Arena 23 December 1985. Recordings can be found on the super deluxe edition of The Gift released in September 2023.[4] [5] [6]

Track listing

  1. "If I Was" (Midge Ure, Daniel Mitchell) – 5:22
  2. "When the Winds Blow" (Ure, Mitchell) – 4:07
  3. "Living in the Past" (Ian Anderson) – 4:35
  4. "That Certain Smile" (Ure, Mitchell) – 4:08
  5. "The Gift" (Ure) – 5:00
  6. "Antilles" (Instrumental) (Ure) – 4:08
  7. "Wastelands" (Ure, Mitchell) – 4:40
  8. "Edo" (Instrumental) (Ure) – 3:24
  9. "The Chieftain" (Instrumental) (Ure) – 4:45
  10. "She Cried" (Ure, Mitchell) – 4:12
  11. "The Gift (Reprise)" (Ure) – 1:45

Bonus tracks for 1996 UK re-release:

  1. "Mood Music" – 3:30
  2. "Piano" (Ure) – 2:28
  3. "The Man Who Sold the World" (David Bowie) – 5:37
  4. "The Gift (Instrumental)" (Ure) – 5:11

Bonus disc for 2010 remastered definitive edition:

  1. "No Regrets"
  2. "Mood Music"
  3. "If I Was" (extended mix)
  4. "Piano"
  5. "The Man Who Sold the World"
  6. "That Certain Smile" (extended mix)
  7. "The Gift" (instrumental)
  8. "Fade to Grey" (recorded live at Rehearsals 27 September 1985 featuring Mick Ronson on guitar)
  9. "Wastelands" (extended mix)
  10. "When the Winds Blow" (recorded live at Wembley Arena, 23 Dec 1985)
  11. "After a Fashion" (recorded live at Wembley Arena, 23 Dec 1985)
  12. "The Chieftain / The Dancer" (recorded live at Wembley Arena, 23 Dec 1985)
  13. "Call of the Wild" (extended mix)
  14. "That Certain Smile" (recorded live at Wembley Arena, 23 Dec 1985)
  15. "The Gift" (recorded live at Wembley Arena, 23 Dec 1985)

Personnel

Technical

Charts

Chart (1985)!scope="col"
Peak
position
Australian Albums (Kent Music Report)[7] 29

References

Notes and References

  1. 28 September 1985. ...Stop Press. Number One. 6. flickr. 10 May 2022.
  2. Web site: 2023-10-28 . Midge Ure on The Gift .
  3. Sound on Sound Magazine November 1985
  4. Web site: 2023-09-22 . interview/midge-ure-on-the-gift .
  5. Web site: 2023-09-22 . archive/gift. .
  6. The Gift Tour Program. 1985
  7. Book: Kent, David. David Kent (historian). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992. illustrated. Australian Chart Book. St Ives, N.S.W.. 1993. 0-646-11917-6. 318.

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