Book Review - If I Was by Midge Ure

Book Review - If I Was by Midge Ure - Beware Spoilers

I have had this book for some considerable time and much to my eternal shame it has taken me forever to get around to reading it and then it seems to have taken me forever to read it.  I bought the book when it came out, in fact I literally bought off the man himself, I went along to the local book store when he was doing a singing and signing session, and I even asked him a question about his inspirations in the Q and A session.  So this is my treasured signed copy of the book.   Below are some photos of the event itself.

Here I also perhaps have to explain that Midge is one of my favourites and can chart his musical career against much of my own life.  From his early days in Slik when I was a 9 or 10 year old just getting into music, through the Rich Kids (vinyl records in the loft somewhere!!) and onto Visage and Ultravox (who I have seen several times now over the past 25 years or so) and then into his solo career where I have seen him several times again, more often than not at The Stables, Wavendon just outside MK.  So, of course I felt I knew quite a lot about him but there were many parts of this book which came as quite a surprise if not a revelation.  Dotted through this review are some pictures of Midge at his concerts or when I've met him afterwards.

The first part of the book, Midge's childhood and the early bands including Salvation and Slik, I found the hardest to read, whilst it was broadly chronological as autobiographies tend to be, I felt at times it jumped about a little and I found some of it difficult to follow.  Midge grew up, the middle child of 3 in a poor tenement district of Glasgow, a loving and caring family, but also a bigoted one, as Midge felt the impact of the religious divide in Glasgow, being warned by his mother to beware of Catholic girls.

Once he began talking about Visage, Ultravox and Band Aid it became a little easier for me to keep track of, it was interesting to read his perspective of being at the centre of Band Aid and Live Aid as those events are still so important to people of my generation, it was our time to change the world. 

Midge clearly enjoyed his time in Ultravox to the fullest extent enjoying the wine, women and song, but my goodness those Japanese groupies are a revelation!!  It is also evident that he still felt very strongly about the break up of Ultravox (the book written before they reformed a couple of  years ago), and the shame he felt for his behaviour in the sacking of Warren Cann from the band.  He reflected that they looked for the easiest target which was Warren rather than addressing the real problems in the band, at the point of his writing the book Midge had not seen or spoken to Warren Cann in the intervening years.  He didn't really explore his relationship with Billy Currie which was a difficult one I understand and that may be a minor complaint against the book.

This is a serious book and he is also extremely frank about his lacklustre ability to manage his finances and his knack of getting the time just ever so wrong on so many occasions when it came to buying and selling, be it property or motor cars and bikes.  There is some humour such as the time he recalls the thatched cottage he had bought for his parents burning down for the second time and the police coming to his door to tell him to be greeted by him, not enquiring about his parents but exclaiming " Bloody hell, not again!".


The book really lights up for me when he tells of his life post Ultravox, the solo career, the struggles with record companies, the dwindling chart success and radio airplay, and his own battles to come to terms with that.  It is ironic that at a time in his life when he had found his greatest personal happiness with his new partner and growing family - he is the father of four daughters, all of whom he clearly adores and dotes upon - he was at his least successful professionally.  That lack of professional success is what eventually drew him into the very severe alcohol problems from which he has battled and is in recovery, but as with any alcoholic it is a daily struggle.

From reading the book I think what he ultimately realised is that he is a very fine songwriter, regardless of whether he has the chart success and airplay to match, and he is not the only one, I can think of my own beloved Ian McNabb as another supremely talented songwriter who has never found the solo success that he truly deserves.  But Midge Ure has survived the alcoholism, the financial problems and is surely one of our most well respected songwriters.  He is a workaholic, perhaps partly due to his Scottish Protestant upbringing, and is out there writing, producing and performing on a very regular basis and I for one am very grateful that he is.

Ciao

Sue
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Reading challenge 15/16 - currently reading The Hunger by Carol Drinkwater (not on my list but one of Jamie's books but it's about Ireland so will interest me!!)