ROCK SCHOOL - Series 2 - Episode 3 (part 1 of 3)

YouTube via tomstimemachine. sent my way via khoral

"Taking over from where the first series left off, the second set of ROCKSCHOOL television programs focuses its attention on new technology and its implications for the musicians of the day.

Synthesisers, samplers, sequencers and drum machines are all covered, as are electronic drum systems, computer hardware and software (remember this is 1987 - so this is for retro-heads only) and synthesisers for guitar and bass. There are also tips on how to make the most of the human voice, and on songwriting and arrangement.

This series was shown on TV in the UK during 1987.

EPISODE THREE

EIGHTIES SYNTHPOP
CLIP OF THE YELLOW MAGIC ORCHESTRA IN 1979, CLIP OF BRONSKI BEAT.

SO ! - HOW DO YOU MAKE UP THESE SINGLE NOTE MELODIES ?
MAJOR AND MINOR SCALES, TRIADS, CHORDS, CHORD INVERSIONS AND TWO-HANDED KEYBOARD PLAYING.

THE VOCALS
CLIP FROM JAMES BROWN, MIDGE URE ON VOCAL TECHNIQUE AND GRAHAM BONNETT ON LOOKING AFTER YOUR VOICE, CLIP FROM EURYTHMICS."

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The Synth Pistols on YouTube

Ultravox was one of my favorite bands growing up in the 80s. They are actually one of the bands that inspired me into getting a synth. Why is the title of the post The Synth Pistols? Well, Malcolm McLaren originally asked lead singer Midge Ure (Ultravox) to front The Sex Pistols, but he turned it down. John Lydon stepped in and the rest is history. Makes you wonder how things could have turned out. It's also fascinating to think Malcom McLaren was responsible for Buffalo Gals. Back then these genres of music never seemed to mix.

Here's a video of Rich Kids, Midge Ure's band prior to Ultravox featuring Glen Matlock of the Sex Pistols. No synths, just some context.

Now for some "live" synth goodness:

Sleepwalk (some dry humping synth action by Billy Currie)
Vienna (I think Midge might have been the only straight man to dress like that)

And of course some Electroclash before Electroclash - Fade to Grey by Visage. Move over Fischerspooner, Visage "taught the killing game first." Visage was another side project of Midge's along with Steve Strange on vocals (he's the guy in the video). Midge didn't sing much in Visage although you can hear him in the background on some tracks, particularly at the end of "In the Year 2525." Another bit of trivia: Billy Currie of Ultravox (THE synth player of Ultravox) actually played with Gary Numan during the transition from John Foxx to Midge Ure fronting Ultravox. Billy is actually in the video for Numan's Cars. You can find more history on Ultravox here.

Title link takes you to an Ultravox search on YouTube.

Udpate via Fred in the comments:

"Never mind the Midge Ure Ultravox, go for the real thing - the John Foxx Ultravox. 'Ha Ha Ha' (their 2nd album, 1977) is very 70's London punk with lots of wild ARP Odessy and great guitar playing by Sevie Shears who afterwards disappeared from history. 'Systems of Romance' (3rd album, 1978) is one of those records that not very many people bought but everyone who did started a band - very influential to later cyber punk and electro-industrial artists. Recorded by Conny Plank at his studio. This is rock music by killer robots - cold, hard and relentless. The first three songs are like the shock wave from an atomic bomb. One of my favorite records ever. The harsh futuristic vibe coming off this record is unsurpassed to this day (I'm still searching) and seems more prophetic than ever. John Foxxs' first album 'Metamatic' (1980) is also great and highly recomended to Kraftwerk Fans. I used to wander around Vancouver with these albums blasting out of my Toshiba ghetto blaster back in the day."

I never got around to fully checking out John Foxx's Ultravox. I just check Yahoo! Unlimited but they don't have it yet. However the do have John Foxx's Dislocated released just last year in 2005. I'm listening to it as I type this and... it's really friggin good. Hope he does more like this soon.

BTW, title link takes you to all Ultravox on YouTube including John Foxx.

ROCK SCHOOL Series 2

You might want to bookmark this one to come back to as you have time. I have posted videos from the Rock School series in the past, but this is currently the most comprehensive set if not the complete series - eight episodes broken up into twenty four videos. I opted to create eight playlists for the eight episodes so you can read the description for each under each set of three videos. This one in via willy who sent in Series 2 - Episode 5 (part 3 of 3) with Bill Bruford explaining his simmons drums. I figured I'd put the whole series up. Videos below.


YouTube Uploaded by tomstimemachine on Jul 14, 2008

"Taking over from where the first series left off, the second set of ROCKSCHOOL television programs focuses its attention on new technology and its implications for the musicians of the day.

Synthesisers, samplers, sequencers and drum machines are all covered, as are electronic drum systems, computer hardware and software (remember this is 1987 - so this is for retro-heads only) and synthesisers for guitar and bass. There are also tips on how to make the most of the human voice, and on songwriting and arrangement.

This series was shown on TV in the UK during 1987.

EPISODE ONE

KEYBOARDS
THE ACOUSTIC PIANO WITH THE COMMUNARDS ON "BREADLINE BRITAIN" AND HERBIE HANCOCK.

HISTORY OF THE SYNTHESISER
TOUCH SENSITIVITY, MODULAR SYNTHS, MINI MOOG, CLIP OF JAN HAMMER AND THE MAHAVISHNU ORCHESTRA IN 1972, CLIP OF RICK WAKEMAN, POLYPHONIC SYNTHS, MELLOTRON, TONY BANKS, SYNTHS WITH MEMORY SUCH AS THE PROPHET FIVE, CLIP OF JAPAN ON THE "OLD GREY WHISTLE TEST", RACK-MOUNTED EFFECTS.

HOW DOES A SYNTH WORK ?
WAVEFORMS, OSCILLATORS, HOW TO CREATE A SOUND, WHAT TO PLAY - CLIP OF THOMAS DOLBY."

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Midge Ure's Minimoog

I put up a post on this video of Midge (Ultravox) talking about the Minimoog back in August. What I didn't notice was the green led readout above the Mixer section or the rectangle on the left (picture below). Anyone know what these are?

Previous Midge Ure posts

via Kris on AH.

Science Topics with Synths, Ultravox & Depeche Mode's Correct Pronunciation

science now-synths.m4v

YouTube Uploaded by zackdagoba on Jun 30, 2011

"see http://myblogitsfullofstars.blogspot.com/ for more"

Synths starting with Alan Townsend of Roland and the SH-101 at 1:40. Ultravox at 3:20 with Billy Currie on Arp Odyssey and Midge Ure on PPG at 4:00 followed by Warren Cann on LinnDrum and PPG again. Midge Ure on Minimoog at 4:59. Note the mod on the MIDI previously posted here. That excerpt of the video was posted here. And of course you can spot the Yamaha CS80 captured in the default image for the video.

The following covers some of the same but appears to be a compilation with a whole lot more. Depeche Mode comes in at 22:10 with a Yamaha CS5 followed by a Roland Jupiter-4 at 23:09. Moog Prodigy to the left of the Jupiter-4 at 23:20. Also listen for the correct pronunciation of Depeche Mode right after 23:20. See if you can guess it before watching.

Found Objects Television 2 from Found Objects on Vimeo.

"FO-TV Broadcast Two June 2011. Compiled by Unmann-Wittering. "

Tomorrow's World on sampling and MIDI with Midge Ure.MPG

Published on Mar 2, 2012 crgn

"From a very old VHS (1986/7?). The reasons I just had to upload it were: a) it has to be the inspiration for Look Around You's Synthesizer Patel; b) Midge Ure demonstrates the keytar by playing Stairway! There's a big jump in the middle as this is a cut-and-shut job."

via McDingo in the comments of this post on the 80s Stepp DG1 guitar synthesizer.

Midge Ure: "Melodyne is black magic!"

YouTube Uploaded by CelemonySoftware on May 24, 2011

"Midge Ure became famous with Ultravox ("Vienna", "Dancing With Tears In My Eyes") and as a solo singer ("If I Was"), but he has also worked as a producer and songwriter for artists such as Thin Lizzy, Visage and of course Band Aid. In this video, he talks about the reunion of Ultravox, their first album in 26 years, and the use of the Melodyne software in his work.

For more artist talks go to www.celemony.com/id/artists"

Visage 'Fade to Grey' Explained

video by Christopher Payne

"An account by one of the original writers (Chris Payne) about how it was written and recorded"

Interesting bit on U2's New Years Day starting at 10:33.

And Midge Ure on the track:

Midge Ure on Fade To Grey
video by woschinski

And the song:


This one is in via Douglas.

Midge Ure Talks MOOG on YouTube

Midge Ure of Ultravox. Love the accent and how he pronounces Moog. He talks about how they still used old synths at the time and at about 15 years old the Mini is somewhat of an antique. He states that you can't get synths like this anymore. Little did he know the Voyager would be coming. Pretty cool. The Minimoog provided the bass for Vienna. via Frederic. YouTube via playthatbeat.

Ultravox Live Aid

YouTube via Indio70. "The 2 songs that were edited out off the official DVD... here they are again enjoy."

Ultravox performing Reap the Wild Wind followed by One Day at Live Aid 1985. One Day is definitely the stronger performance. It's almost like they are just warming up with Reap the Wild Wind. The performance gets even better below. Be sure to catch Vienna. Billy whips out the violin. In the video above: Midge on E-Mu Emulator II and Billy on a Yamaha DX7 and Kurzweil K250.

I remember staying up until the wee hours of the night/morning to catch this live when it was first aired. I forget if they aired all four songs in the US but I definitely remember Vienna and at least one other. If you remember, feel free to comment.

BTW, Midge Ure was the co-organizer behind Live Aid, but for whatever reason I only remember seeing Bob Geldof receiving most of the limelight. I always wondered about that. Probably because Geldof was the main organizer and he was a bit more known in the states? Who knows...


"Here is the 2 other songs from Live Aid -85. These made it on the DVD. Classic Ultravox moment. Don't forget 2 view the other part, with the 2 songs that was cut out of the final DVD."

Dancing With Tears in My Eyes followed by Vienna. Chris Cross on PPG Wave 2.2. I also think I see an Oberheim DX drum machine next to the Emulator in this one. Billy on DX7, MIDIBoard and Violin. Midge on the Emulator.

Anyone know what was used for the drum effect in the original recording of Vienna? I always loved that particular sound.

For more posts on Ultravox click here, be sure to scroll for some of the more interesting posts.

Update: be sure to check out the comments for more including an update on the synths used.

Ultravox on Beeb schools prog 1983 (smaller file)

YouTube via lieutenant030.

ARP Odyssey, PPG Wave 2.?, LinnDrum, Minimoog. Note the user created wavetable of Midge Ure's voice on the PPG. Also see this post for a special note on the mini. The August link takes you to a post back in August of 2006 when I originally posted the Minimoog portion of this video.
"Smaller file than 1st upload for low bandwisth users. This has been edited from the Schools programme "Science Topics" broadcast in 1983. This episode was title "Electronics In Action" and contains footage of the band performing on the Oxford Road Show in 1982, tinkering with Lament in the studio and Midge demo-ing antique synth!"

Ultravox - The Thin Wall 1981

YouTube Uploaded by memorylane1980s on Jan 1, 2011

"Good qualiyty video, best on here. Very rare, I recorded this from Top Of The Pops in 1981..Classic. .British New Wave rock band. They were one of the primary exponents of the British electronic pop music movement of the early 1980s. The band was particularly associated with the New Romantic and New Wave movements. Until 1979, the frontman of Ultravox was John Foxx who left the band to embark on a solo career. Following Foxx's departure, Midge Ure took over as lead singer, guitarist and frontman, and he helped to steer the band to commercial success. Ure left the band in 1987 after establishing a solo career and the group disbanded for a while. A new line-up, led by sole original bandmember Billy Currie, was formed in 1992,.."

via Steve Turnidge of Synthwerks on Facebook.

"If I was" - on Elka Preludio 22L

Published on Jun 2, 2014 organfairy·424 videos

"'If I was' was a hit for Scottish artist Midge Ure in 1985. Here I play it on an Elka Preludio 22L that has been modified from a typical 1970's home organ to a portable instrument - or at least somewhat portable :-)"

Yamaha SS-30 Vintage Analogue String Synthesiser SN 1731

Note: Auction links are affiliate links for which the site may be compensated.

via this auction

"This fully wood-cased beast is a classic String-Synth of the seventies from Yamaha. It is "multi-phonic" as it uses a divide-down, electric organ type of architechture for its tone generation. There are two tones for each note so it's probably fair to say it's dual-oscillator, and it can create some really lush timbres. It's richer sounding than the ARP Solina String Synth. It has an individual VCA envelope for each key. The four-octave keyboard is not velocity sensitive, and the synth offers just a few controls above the keyboard for choosing preset sounds, and modest tweaking (no filters, LFOs, etc). It has been used by Utravox & Midge Ure."

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Synth Spotting with Visage in 2013

Visage - New Romantics, The Blitz Club and the New Album HEARTS AND KNIVES. EPK from March 2013

Published on Apr 3, 2013 therealvisage·5 videos

Additional videos below.

"A Video introduction to Visage, The Blitz Club (the cauldron of 1980s style and fashion) and the new Visage album and line up. More info on www.visage.cc

Founding fathers of the New Romantics and pioneers of the 80s sound Visage, return with a new album "Hearts And Knives" May 2013. Visage began in 1978 when Steve Strange and Blitz Club partner-in-crime Rusty Egan joined forces with Midge Ure to create a futuristic, synthesizer-led group where style and fashion were matched by experimental but accessible music. The group was soon Magazine and Billy Currie. They recorded their first single Tar with Martin Rushent at his Genetic Studio in 1978 (shortly to become the birthplace of the Human League Dare album). Their breakthrough track "Fade To Grey" became a European hit and reached number 1 in 8 countries in 1980. As the public face of the band Steve Strange shot to stardom throughout Europe and beyond.

Steve Strange has been through his own share of highs and lows in the past 29 years. His emergence as a fashion and style icon of the 80s and beyond is one of the many highs. Steve had always believed that Visage had not yet reached its endpoint. Slowly the circumstances and pieces started falling into place to enable a new album to come to fruition. Firstly Steve reconnected with Steve Barnacle (a Visage band member from the 1984 Visage album "Beatboy") and began writing songs once more. This was augmented when ex Ultravox guitarist Robin Simon joined into the equation bringing not only a large slice of shared musical DNA (that "Visage sound") to the project but also his own distinctive style and ethereal musicianship. Lauren Duvall joined adding not only her sultry vocal ability but also a slice of the classic Visage glamour. Secondly the environment and interest in 80's fashion, style and music continues on unabated. The phone continues to ring for shows, television, news and exhibitions.

More info on www.visage.cc"

Additional videos: Two from the early days of Visage and the new single below. Fade To Grey was one of the first tracks that sparked my love for synths.

Visage - Fade To Grey

Published on Mar 7, 2013 therealvisage·5 videos

Original music video for the Visage hit "Fade To Grey"

Visage - Visage

Published on Mar 7, 2013 therealvisage·5 videos

"Original video for Visage, by the band Visage."

And the first new track:

Visage - Shameless Fashion

Published on Apr 9, 2013 therealvisage·5 videos

Synth Talk with Richard Burgess of Landscape

LANDSCAPE: 'European Man'

Uploaded on Jan 19, 2008
Landscape's 'European Man', featuring Barbie Wilde.

Pea Hicks who runs Optigan.com and the MC-8 blog, has a great post up on Richard Burgess and the use of the Roland MC-8 Micro-Composer.  The following are a couple of excerpts and videos for reference.  Along with synth talk there are some interesting historical bits on the time including the origin of the New Romantic label and scene.  Richard Burgess worked with Rusty Egan who in turn was in Visage, a band consisting of him Billy Currie and Midge Ure of Ultravox, John McGeoch of Magazine, Siouxsie &  PIL (Johnny Rotten of The Sex Pistols), and others.  Lot's of cross collaboration at the time.  If interested you can start with Visage on wikipedia and click through the names.  The post-punk New Romantic followed by New Wave movement brought synthesis to many.  In Pea Hicks' interview you'll find a great audio snip with some geeky synth talk on setting values for the MC-8 - this is in an actual track.

"Pea: I’m sure to you it probably seems like a head-scratcher why anyone in this day and age would voluntarily subject himself to the hassles of dealing with ancient sync dilemmas, but for me that’s part of the fun and also it’s a way of working that inevitably produces some idiosyncratic results that you wouldn’t get by doing things the “easy way.” I’m definitely after that metronomic Human League type groove.

Richard: I think the machine definitely influences the result so I don’t see it as odd to want to use the MC8. I have thought about it myself.The same thing applies to analogue sequencers. Like I said, we synched the MC8 to the CR78 by programming a square wave to come out of the mulitplex outputs and then we adjusted the level through a console until it ran the CR78. Most of those old drum machines run on simple square waves with no flags. Getting them to run in the same time is less of a problem than getting them to start at the right time. I used the MC8 in preference to later machines because of the timing. I found early Cubase to be shaky (it’s fine now) and SMPTE Track from Hybrid Arts was very sensitive to processor load. I always liked the timing of the Linn 9000 and I still have mine. I don’t know about the DMX but the 808 should lock tight – it’s only one machine later than the CR78 if I recall correctly."

And on Shock's Angel Face:

"Richard: Oh yes, that was all me. Rusty Egan brought the group and the song and I programmed everything in my home studio and recorded it at Mayfair Studios in South Moulton St. with John Hudson engineering. It was the System 100Ms with the 10x gate modification on the bass line for sure. I did all their recordings and I wrote the rest of the songs with various members and Rusty."

Shock - ANGEL FACE - Shock

Visage Twist with the Roland XP50 and JP-08

Published on Jul 28, 2019 JMPSynth

"Loosely based on a favourite classic; Fade to Grey by Midge Ure/Visage, a track recorded using mainly the Roland XP50 and JP-08 synths."

Eric Clapton and Phil Collins - Behind the Mask

YouTube via MeanAuntie

OK, I'm stretching it with this one, but this is truly bizarre. YMO's Behind the Mask with Eric Clapton and others. For reference see these posts. Spot the synths.
"Prince's Trust circa '87 - Clapton, Collins, Midge Ure, various others... Behind the Mask"

Update via tim in the comments:
"Clapton's cover came about because of Greg Philliganes being his keyboardist at the time. He did a version on his 1984 album Pulse, with uncredited backing vocals and added lyrics by Michael Jackson. And I think Jackson had considered doing it on Thriller after Quincy Jones pointed out the original to him."

And some fascinating info from the AH list:
"I don't think anyone's spoken up about lyricist or how that song got to Clapton;-)

Okay. First off Yellow Magic Orchestra was meant to be a more or less one-off concept project in Japan (1978) it was meant to be as if Martin Denny's music was played by Kraftwerk. In other words taking the West's notion of inauthentic but cool "Oriental" music and give it the edge of modern technology (the impression Westerners had of Japan).

A&M Records liked what they heard, moderately remixed it to their tastes and YMO were ready to tour and promote the album. They did a lot of promotion in LA, then swung by NYC, London and Paris. The year was 1979. Back in Japan they were doing well though not chart topping. They eventually did gain real chart success in Japan. Their success was more moderate in the US though their use of video games and electronic beats was influential. They took 1982 off for Sakamoto to work on "Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence" and then reformed in 1983 with the understanding that they'd disband at the end of the year. They really did want to go their own ways but it was a great marketing tool to really make them iconic in Japan. They reformed 10 years later for a one-off album and concert.

They started to work together again on and off in the 2000s. They have a show next weekend in London. Definitely a one off thing. I guess they were asked nicely by Massive Attack to do a show. They aren't promoting anything new or doing more shows. I sort of wish I could go.

As for gear, it's ironic that they played maybe 90% American synths. Early on - lots of Moog Modular. Later on lots of Prophet. Always: Arp Odyssey. They do sound very different in 1983 versus 1978.

Okay now for the weird part of the Clapton story -- Michael Jackson took an interest in high tech music in the early 80s. He was trying to get Kraftwerk to work with him but nothing came of it. What did happen was YMO's song "Behind the Mask" originally only had "chorus" vocals so he wrote new lead lyrics and kept the chorus. I assume he wrote the song for himself to sing, but he had lots of (all original) material then so it was offered to Clapton. It did quite well in terms of Clapton's career. Sakamoto, who wrote the melody (Chris Mosdel did the chorus lyrics) liked the new lyrics and the then prestige of Michael Jackson' additions. There is a mid 80s EP of Sakamoto's solo band doing it. He was trying to do a more contemporary R&B sound back then (not intended to be ironic). YMO's label commissioned Human League to do a remix version in the early 90s, instead (apparently) they did a cover version.

nick
http://technopop.info"

How does a synthesizer make sounds?

video upload by Are Sounds Electrik?

Midge Ure of Ultravox clip previously posted here.

Yamaha SS-30 analog string synthesizer

Note: Auction links are affiliate links for which the site may be compensated.

via this auction

"If you want classic analog strings ,this is what the Yamaha SS-30 excels at.All this machine does is make superlative string sounds - there's no Brass or Organ settings here. If you won't take my word for it , just look at the following Youtube link of Ultravox's 1982 Monument tour where two Yamaha SS-30s were used by Billy Currie and Midge Ure. [video here] This synth is all over the first 3 post-Foxx albums - Vienna , Rage in Eden and Quartet.Opening chords on The Voice , Reap the Wild Wind, Vienna,Hymn Also used a lot by John Foxx on Metamatic

This synth totally blows away the Moog Opus 3 , Korg Delta , Roland RS-09 , RS-202 and it's only competitor is the Roland RS-505 Many people looking at this auction will also have Peter Forrest's excellent A to Z of analog synths book and i would urge you to read his review of the SS-30:- "played in a realistic manner,sounds very good.Even without the Orchestra modulation on,it sounds very good.And through a classy hall room reverb setting it sounds very,very good.It just goes to show that it's better to do one thing well,than three things to a so-so standard" i think this was a little dig at the Moog Opus and Korg Delta and some of Yamaha's own SK range. The real beauty of this machine is the phasey string sounds which come from Detuning the oscillators and swithching on the ensemble mode. The Decay is fully variable and the whole thing is built like a tank and weighs a ton.."

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