(RCA Victor)
From a once supreme but brief standing in the UK charts, to mild MTV rotation, to a seesaw dance with solo obscurity, Midge Ure can probably ignore pop vacillations and focus instead on keeping his common thread of passion intact. In the 80's Ure gave the synth outfit Ultravox the unquestionable polish and skills (voice, tunesmanship, guitar) the band needed to avoid becoming a post-Roxy electronic curio. Together they glided to the fore of the wispy New Romantic fad that tread all over punks' Doc Martens sensibilities like much well oiled Italian shoe leather.
Now Ure has shed most if not all of the silk and circuitry and headed for more heather laden ground. From the title track opener and onwards, Ure has assumed the mature pop artist posture. The songs on Breathe are meant to be majestic, passion drenched affairs that might pass as film soundscapes in a pinch, more scored than sequence. Accordions, mandolins, fiddles, and even one Uilleann Pipe wielding Paddy Moloney make the register. Organic? Quite, but not quite unplugged either. Robert Fripp, for instance, unsheathes his Soundscape Guitar to noodle all synth-like and ambient in the backdrop of "Guns and Arrows."
It's almost as if Ure is taking a cue from Sting by choosing to disavow the 4/4 roots that brought him hither. Granted, Ure's Ultravox was never a gritty, backbeat ensemble, but they certainly were able to shift into fourth gear whenever need be. But all of the hurdy gurdy celtic leanings of Breathe don't serve to blur any waning strength in songwriting. The songs (some done in collaboration with accomplished bass man and ex-Mr. Joni Mitchell Larry Klein) are solid bits of work that prove UreUs remains a strong hand at crafting tunes that resonate just as clearly as his lush vocals. The only sizeable dig that can be made here is that these Ure inlays a good number of these quite respectable songs with some fairly heavy handed Christian outpourings. While the Ultravox text stretched the ethereal to the saccharine, Breathe's potential as a second wind triumph for Ure is thrown off kilter by the lyrical content. Something that was mildly hinted at as far back as Quartet's solemn "Hymn" and apparently approved of by the time his solo hit "Dear God" took off, now belabours the strength of this material and would probably send all but the severely dedicated packing.
