Midge Ure – Rewind: the Greatest Hits Tour
Back in the late 70s and much of the 80s Midge Ure, as well as being one of the most dapper, moustached frontmen of the time, proved himself a talented musician and songwriter and, as a member of Ultravox, enjoyed a slew of top 40 hits including the hit single Vienna (notoriously kept off the number spot by Joe Dolce's 'Shaddup You Face').
This DVD, filmed in 2001 at London's Shepherd's Bush, features a setlist comprising tracks taken from the whole of Midge Ure's career including Visage's 'Fade To Grey'.
Visually this is extremely well shot, and the sound quality is impressive thoughout. Unfortunately, the clarity of the sound makes it unforgiving of mistakes/sloppy playing, both of which Midge is guilty of in this concert. Musically his backing band are tight, but it often seems that Midge is having trouble singing and playing guitar at the same time with one or the other suffering whenever he's called upon to do both simultaneously.
Highlight of the concert is a duet with Russell Watson on 'Vienna', whilst grand finale 'Dancing With Tears In My Eyes' is a rocky affair but is a noisy disappointment when compared with the synth-laden original.
Of the extras on this disc, the four acoustic tracks featuring Midge performing solo are impressive, the interviews are mildly interesting and give some insight into the hits and their inception, and the promo videos are fairly forgettable, low budget affairs and serve to show just how good older tracks like 'The Voice', 'Vienna' and 'Dancing...' are.
For fans only.