Breathe (Midge Ure album)
| Breathe | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | March 1996 | |||
| Label | BMG | |||
| Producer | Richard Feldman | |||
| Midge Ure chronology | ||||
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Breathe, is the fourth solo album by former Ultravox frontman Midge Ure. The album was released 25 March 1996 in Continental Europe, 20 May in the U.K. and 18 June in the U.S. It was produced by the American producer Richard Feldman.[1][2]
Background[]
The recording of the album was already finished in early 1995, but the release was postponed by the record company.[3] The recording took place in various studios in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Dublin and in Ure's own studio in Bath. Ure first recorded four of the tracks with producer Julian Mendelsohn, but they were later re-recorded.[4]
In 1998 the single "Breathe" became a hit-single in several European countries, boosted by its use in a Swatch TV advert campaign, two years after its original release.[3] The single charted at No.1 both at the Italian and the Austrian charts, No.10 in Spain and No.12 in Germany.[5][6] "Guns And Arrows" and "Fields Of Fire" were also released as singles.
The album offer a rich mixture of musical influences inspired by Ure's own Scottish background. With The Chieftains Paddy Moloney on Uilleann pipes and Hothouse Flowers Liam Ó Maonlaí on Bodhrán, Didgeridoo and Gaelic vocals, tracks like "Fallen Angel", "Sinnerman" and "Live Forever" pulse with the organic vibrancy that Ure had long wanted to capture.
Ure called "Breathe":
"More of a Midge Ure album than any other album I´ve done." "In a way", he adds, "Breathe is a much more honest and open record".
Ure traces the origins of "Breathe" to a U.S. Tour he did with other songwriters in 1992. Once the other songwriters convinced him to try playing "Vienna" on acoustic guitar, Ure realized he could make music without the wealth of electronics or other musicians backing him up."That turned my whole perception of what I was doing musically".[7]
Ure said about the album in 2015:
"It was just another phase of discovery. To me, the important part of it was the quality of the songs, not just necessarily the instruments enhancing the songs." "You try to run a million miles from what you’re known for and it’s all part of the process of finding your own feet and trying to decide what you are and what you want to do. Part of that process would have been turning my back on the standard synthesis and rediscover my Scottish roots."[8]
The song "Live Forever" was inspired by Anne Rice book "Interview with the Vampire".[9]
Ure said in 2015:
" ‘Breathe’ was one of those albums where the record company, in their infinite wisdom, decided to A&R me after all these years! They wanted me to not use the same musicians, not to record in the same studios, not to produce the album myself… so they asked me to gather a whole bunch of songs which I did and I ended up with a producer I could work with, Richard Feldman who had done an album for the model and actress Milla Jovovich which was a great album. So I made ‘Breathe’, it was fantastic and I delivered the album, only to have it sit on a shelf for a year while BMG started sorting out their internal problems. It was a hideously frustrating process to go through, and when it finally came out, the first two years of its life, it was the worst selling record I’d ever made. So until Swatch came along and picked up the title track thanks to a fan in Italy, the album was an absolute disaster. But because of a TV commercial, it turned the entire thing round. It bounced all around Europe and was a big record eventually."
Track listing[]
1,5,10 & 11: written by Ure / 2 & 6: Ure, Feldman / 3: Ure, Feldman, Bazilian / 4: Ure, Feldman, Klein / 7 & 9: Ure, Mitchell / 8: Ure, Feldman, Shipley
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Breathe" | 4:28 |
| 2. | "Fields Of Fire" | 4:31 |
| 3. | "Fallen Angel" | 3:53 |
| 4. | "Free" | 4:42 |
| 5. | "Guns And Arrows" | 4:44 |
| 6. | "Lay My Body Down" | 3:58 |
| 7. | "Sinnerman" | 3:38 |
| 8. | "Live Forever" | 4:20 |
| 9. | "Trail Of Tears" | 3:38 |
| 10. | "May Your Good Lord" | 4:04 |
| 11. | "The Maker" | 4:45 |
Personnel[]
- Midge Ure - Vocals, acoustic guitar
- Soundcape Guitar (on tracks 5 and 11) – Robert Fripp
- Double Violin, Vocals (on track 8) – L.Shankar
- Mandolin, Melodica – Eric Bazilian
- Vocals (on track 5) – Sally Dworsky
- Uilleann Bagpipes – Paddy Moloney
- Backing Vocals – Jackie Sheridan, Kate Stephenson, Monalisa Young, Matthew Hager, Maxaynne Lewis
- Gaelic Vocals, Backing Vocals – Eleanor McEvoy
- Fiddle – Frank Gallagher
- Hurdy Gurdy, Harmonium – Ethan James
- Accordion – Frank McNamara, Pat Crowley
- Bodhrán, Didgeridoo, Vocals [Celtic] – Liam O'Maonlai
- Guitar – Dean Parks
- Bass Guitar – Larry Klein, Jeremy Meehan
- Drums – David Palmer, Andy Kravitz
- Cello – Ofra Harnoy
- Celtic Harp – Noreen O'Donoghue
- Percussion - Mike Fisher, Iki Levy
- Programming, Keyboards, Percussion – Richard Feldman
- Keyboards - Charles Judge, Jamie Muhulrick
References[]
- ^ Extreme Voice Fanzine
- ^ "allmusic". 2021-08-01.
- ^ Jump up to: a b "Interview".
- ^ "Extreme Voice Fanzine 14".
- ^ "Chart".
- ^ "homeland".
- ^ Blond, Susan (April 19, 1996). "Midge Ures Breathe Catches Celtic Folk Spirit". Breathe Press Kit.
- ^ "Midge Ure Interview".
- ^ Midge Ure Backstage Lockdown Club. Patreon. 2021-03-06
- Liner Notes
External links[]
- 1996 albums
- Midge Ure albums