Metamatic Forums John Foxx John Foxx Ultravox

What can i say. I was young, and i did'nt know any better. Mostly though it was cos my sister was too young to go on her own. Year later, i introduced her to Numan, by way of the 'Berserker Tour'.

Hmmm . . . isn't that mandatory for anyone who attended art school?

I might be mistaken, but I seem to recall reading a review sometime last year of a gig at which someone called out for "Vienna" and John Foxx smiled and pretended to consider playing it, which indicates he's fairly good-natured about such teasing/tormenting. If someone shouting out for "Vienna" got tossed from a different gig maybe it was less because of what he was yelling than it was because of how loudly, annoyingly, and persistently he was yelling it. Then again, perhaps John Foxx was just having a bad day and his tetchiness got the best of him -- understandable since some jokes do get tiresome pretty fast.

I couldn't agree with you more!

As someone who paid for a ticket and sizeable travel expenses to the ICA in September last year, only to have the experience partially spoilt by drunken morons whose attempts at 'jokes' languished towards the bottom of the sliding scale of utter humourlessness (bookended by bubonic plague and Jim Davidson) may I just state here, for the benefit of posterity, that I would cheerfully have ejected every one of those people personally. If that makes me a draconian killjoy, well, it's a price I'm more than happy to pay. Sorry, and all that.

I don't suppose we'd be willing to actually - shock, horror - look at the massive amount of evidence to the contrary before chucking totally unnecessary personal barbs at Foxxy, would we? Seems bizarre that this should even be raised as an issue in a month that saw the announcement of a record featuring several current reworkings by John and Louis of Ultravox songs - something that, lest we forget, isn't exactly without precedent, both live and on record. Evidently, I failed to see all the seething resentment contained within those deceptively positive interviews - you know, the ones where John reiterated how much he admired his former bandmates as musicians and refused to be drawn into any attempt to dredge up bad feeling. Just look at that recent interview where he politely declined to talk about Midge Ure's Ultravox, because it 'wasn't his band' and therefore had nothing to do with him! How unreasonable can you get? :rolleyes:

I think there's a moral here somewhere, and it probably goes a bit like this: don't get your knickers in a twist until you know for sure that somebody's actually, erm, done what you're having a go at them for. Let me pre-emptively duck the incoming barrage of 'you're so sycophantic' comments by making clear that I'd say that about anyone, not just John. I don't think there's anything particularly big or clever, least of all deserving of 'solidarity', in cheap attempts to knock someone's solo career - you know, the incredibly influential one that only recently yielded a fantastic tribute album - in comparing it with that of a band with whom his music shares little, if any characteristics.

Oh well. I guess I must be an overly-precious twit, too...

Gem,sorry,but I was at the ICA last year,at considerable expense to myself too!!,big deal!!
and WHO?? were the 'morons',sorry!!,all I saw were people having fun,respectful during TCM but rockin out at the gig,and the aftershow...well,sorry,we didn't all sucum to the wonders of ginger beer!! :rolleyes:

I had an absolute blast at the ICA last year,and would love to repeat it again and again,each to their own I guess

I have to admit that I was a huge fan of both John Foxx and Ultravox with Midge Ure in the 80s. The early 80s was a fantastic period musically. I just love my record collection (mostly CDs now) from the new romantic/synth/futuristic genre.

Vienna is indeed my favourite song from the band but the Vienna album is only second to Systems of Romance .

A little note on Vienna :

IMHO I'm afraid there's more to Vienna than Midge. Unfortunately, it's always the lead singer/frontman that gets most of the attention and recognition. The vocal melody and delivery is basically what you hear on top of the music of a song. It was indeed a perfect performance by Midge, however Vienna and the album was more of a team effort.

Billy Currie in an interview around the time of the Unearthed album had this to say about early Ultravox,"It was John's band". With Ultravox Mk II this was not the case as we all know ie for the frontman to run things. Following Billy's successful stint with Tubeway army he was excited about resurrecting Ultravox. So he did and Warren and Chris decided to form part of this new project. Whilst contributing to the Visage project Billy spotted the talented Midge Ure, someone who could sing, play guitar and synths and produce records. Fantastic.

If you listen to Vienna it's their darkest album, very Numanesque but not exactly (as Billy contributed to the Numan live sound) and moreover it had classical (as in classical music) written all over it conceived via electronic equipment. It's obvious that Billy took over John's role, however making it more democratic.

From what I've listened to and read, it appears that it was Billy Currie, the only classically trained musician in the band, who wrote most of the music in Vienna with Warren and Chris doing most of the lyrics, and each band member contributing their own instrument sound to Billy's compositions, which as a result, merits a credit to the rights of a song. Anyhow, the band had decided to split the song credits equally between the four. Nevertheless, it appears that Midge did the lyrics for Vienna.

At the beginning, Midge's involvement in Ultravox was lesser than in Visage. He had just joined a band with very strong personalities and he largely contributed lead vocals and guitar and the occasional synth. As the next Ultravox albums came out year upon year Midge's involvement became bigger and bigger and by the time of Lament he was leading the way. Mind you, the track Dancing with Tears in My Eyes is a Currie composition with Ure's vocal melody on top. Billy wrote this track after listening to Michael Rother's (ex-Neu!, Harmonia) track Sonnenrad from the Sterntaler album which Conny (Plank) had lent to him.

BTW Vienna's song structure template is the track Just for a Moment from Systems of Romance. Many bands take this too far with many of their songs sounding the same. The Beatles, however, used this to great effect and the results were amazing.

As much as I admire Midge (I personally think he's a great guy and musician) there's more to Vienna than Midge.

Notwithstanding the fact that all artists should be respected, before someone shouts Vienna in a mocking way in a Foxx concert one should think for a moment, "Hold on Midge didn't write that song he just sang on it". :rolleyes:

Chris

I don't recall any drunken hecklers "ruining" the ICA Metamatic show.

My only two moans were that I recall myself having rather a stiff neck after having to stand for an hour looking up at a screen to see Tiny Colour Movies, (and thus making a mental note of "Ah, this is why they have seats in cinemas"
And being slightly non-plussed at finding that my ticket did not guarentee access to see Cathedral Oceans after all, as the cinema was too small for all the ticket holders. But hecklers? Nope.

I didn't say that the behaviour of a *minority* of people at the ICA 'ruined' my enjoyment of the gig; what I said was that it 'partially spoilt' it. I'm glad it didn't affect you, Will and feline1 (and my comments were in no way aimed at you, Will, or indeed anybody else who regularly posts on this forum - we met at the aftershow and got on well, as I recall, so no need to take it personally!) I'm not going to withdraw my description of the 'drunken morons', though - from my vantage point, there were frequent and very annoying catcalls and shouts, and some other antisocial behaviour nearer to me that I really can't be bothered to relate here. I wasn't the only one to notice it, either, as I remember several other forum members commenting on the incidents I'm thinking of. I'm no killjoy (although I'm not prepared to apologise for not being the heaviest drinker in the world - it's hardly a crime) but there's a fine line between having a few drinks and a good laugh, and being really, really annoying to other audience members - I guess John and Louis are used to it by now.

FWIW, it was a 'big deal' for me - my first Foxx gig, and the Metamatic tour at that. I go to gigs frequently and I've seen all sorts of behaviour, most of which I can put up with, but I chose to mention the ICA in particular because it was such a constrast with the Luminaire, a night where the crowd was, apparently, well able to have more than a few drinks and yet still remain totally pleasant and respectful. I don't think it's any coincidence, actually, that the vast majority of people there were regular attendees at John's gigs. Like I said, a minority of people caused a problem at the ICA and yeah, I thought it was bang out of order and offensive to the audience, as well as John and Louis. Sorry.

Anyway, I seem to have put my foot in it here, so I'll shut up.

Well put. I'm not against a drink or two, but I've had non-Foxx gigs in the past ruined by drunken morons. It amazes me that some people can't have a good time without beer. I go to a gig to enjoy the music. At a Simple Minds gig in 2006, I walked out - it was my best option (and not a cheap one!). Very sad. I wish some people would show the artist they claim to be a fan of, some respect.

Gem wrote: "but I chose to mention the ICA in particular because it was such a constrast with the Luminaire, a night where the crowd was, apparently, well able to have more than a few drinks and yet still remain totally pleasant and respectful."

That's because Luminaire has a clearly defined policy "You talk, you leave!"

lol well anyways, can we please hear more about this actual incident?
Did John refuse to continue a show until someone who'd shouted for "Vienna" was kicked out, or did he not?