URE, MIDGE - Fragile (Sealed) (CD)

The Scottish musician Midge Ure has an eventful biography. With Thin Lizzy he swung the electric guitar, with Ultravox and Visage he produced electronic sounds and for Live Aid and follow-up projects he played the organizer together with Bob Geldof. His solo career started with the hit "If I Was". "Fragile" is now the first full-fledged solo album in a good ten years. Unexpectedly soft he comes across in the wonderfully shimmering opener "I Survived". "Are We Connected" is exciting electro rock of the best kind. The songs are pervaded by a fine sophisticated electro veil, which keeps them away from too much proximity to the main band Ultravox, but of course a bass sequencer thunders through the song frame on "Become". On "Dark Dark Night" Moby contributes keyboards, although it's just this dark piece that reminds of best Ultravox moments. Ure goes beyond his usual cosmos with a Spanish guitar intro on the instrumental "Wire And Wood" and the fine title track, which together with the Mellotron clouds passes as a spherical melodic prog. A wonderfully elegiac album for late hours