Visage
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Visage
<tr style="text-align: center;"><td colspan="3"> Visage logo </td></tr>
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| Background information
<tr><td>Origin</td><td colspan="2">London, England</td></tr><tr><td>Genre(s)</td><td colspan="2">New Romantic, Electronic</td></tr><tr><td>Years active</td><td colspan="2">1978–1984, 2004 - present</td></tr><tr><td style="padding-right: 1em;">Label(s)</td><td colspan="2">Polydor Records</td></tr><tr><th style="background: #b0c4de;" colspan="3">Members</th></tr><tr><td style="text-align: center;" colspan="3">Steve Strange |
Visage was a New Romantic ensemble that began life in 1978, mainly to provide some danceable music to be played on Steve Strange's and Rusty Egan's Billy's London nightclub. Strange commented about the meaning of the ensemble's name: "The meaning of Visage, apart from being French for face, is that the Vis is for the visual side of the band... and the Age is the new age in dance music. That's how I see it."[1]
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[edit] History
[edit] First incarnation (1978-1984)
Initially, the ensemble was comprised of Steve Strange, Rusty Egan and Midge Ure. Ure and Egan began working with Strange after the demise of their power pop band "Rich Kids". The trio recorded a demo which included a cover of the Zager and Evans hit "In the Year 2525". Ultravox's multi-instrumentalist Billy Currie, and the core of post-punk band Magazine — bassist Barry Adamson, guitarist John McGeoch, and keyboardist Dave Formula joined the studio-only ensemble later. Visage signed to Radar Records and released their first single, "Tar" in September 1979. The following year saw the release of their self-titled debut album, which sold extremely well and raised the ensemble's popularity mainly because of the single "Fade to Grey." The single quickly became a huge club hit, went to number one in 21 countries and marked an imminent commercial breakthrough for electronic music and the whole New Romantic movement, for which the first Visage album became a kind of soundtrack.
After the Top 40 hits, "Mind Of A Toy" and "Visage" Strange struggled to reunite the ensemble again to record the second album because of their success with their respective bands (Ure and Currie with Ultravox, Formula and Adamson in Magazine and McGeoch in Siouxsie and the Banshees); but in the autumn of 1981 all musicians sans McGeoch went to the studio again and recorded "The Anvil". Those album sessions had Strange and Ure debating on which musical direction the album would focus on[citation needed], which resulted in an excellent, but somewhat fractured album. This album was released in March, 1982 and was met with little less fanfare than their first outing, though its singles fared well in the charts. Midge Ure left the ensemble after the recording of this album because of his differences with Strange regarding the music style and the growing compromises with his main band, Ultravox. The ensemble, without Ure and Adamson and with the addition of bassist Steve Barnacle recorded the single "Pleasure Boys", which was released in October of that year. Their final album "Beat Boy" was released almost two years later, in September, 1984 due to some problems with the music publishers[citation needed], and Steve Strange's decision to make Visage a live band instead an albums-only project[citation needed], decision that left him working only with drummer Rusty Egan and a trio of unproven musicians. Dave Formula and Billy Currie, the last two members of the ensemble left due to differences in musical style between them and drummer Rusty Egan; the changes in the lineup and the inability of new musicians to create better music than the first two albums made this third one, "Beat Boy" a very disappointing record both in sales and critics. Beat Boy's two singles ("Love Glove" and "Beat Boy") were the ensemble's biggest failures in the charts. A "Bassheads" remix of "Fade to Grey" was a UK Top 40 hit during the early 1990s.
[edit] Second incarnation (2004-)
Steve Strange reappeared in the music scene in 2002, after several years fighting with his heroin addiction. Strange performed several Visage songs on the "Here and Now Xmas Tour" — a revival of 1980s musicians. Some time after the performance; and noting he still had a fanbase, Steve decided to relaunch what he calls a "mark II" of the band with people from several electronic bands and projects: Steven Young, Sandrine Gouriou and Rosie Harris from Seize and Ross Tregenza from Jetstream Lovers/Goteki. After the announcement of the formation of the new lineup, the plans of reworking old material, releasing a new record and remixing songs for the likes of Kelly Osbourne have yet to be realised (as of October 2006). The long-deleted "Visage Videos" VHS have been re-released in DVD in Summer, 2006. Steve Strange recorded the first Visage's "mark II" original composition, named "In the Dark" as part of electronic music duo Punx Soundcheck's debut double album "When Machines Ruled the World". The album was released in Europe in Summer 2006.
[edit] Discography
For a complete list of albums, EPs, singles and videos see Visage discography.
[edit] Website
[edit] Media
This section includes music samples of several of Visage's B-sides:
- Composed by Steve Strange, Midge Ure, Billy Currie, John McGeoch, Rusty Egan, Dave Formula and Barry Adamson, this song is the B-side of single "Tar" of September 1979. This song has not been released on any digital format, and is one of Visage's most rare compositions.
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- Composed by Steve Strange, Midge Ure, Billy Currie, John McGeoch, Rusty Egan and Dave Formula, this song is the B-side of single "Visage" of July 1981. This song has been released in digital format in the first pressings of "The Damned Don't Cry" compilation in place of the song "The Steps" by mistake.
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- Composed by Steve Strange, Midge Ure, Billy Currie, Rusty Egan and Dave Formula, this song is the B-side of single "The Damned Don't Cry" of January 1982. This song has not been available on any digital format. It was supposed to be part of the compilation "Master Series", but another track by an unknown band was put in its place by mistake.
- Composed by Steve Strange, Midge Ure, Billy Currie, Rusty Egan and Dave Formula, this song is the B-side of single "Night Train" of June 1982. This song has not been available on any digital format and is one of Visage's most rare compositions.
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[edit] External links and references
- Quote in BBC's article on Steve Strange
- Article on Visage's history
- Discogs' Visage UK discography
- Complete fan-made Visage discography
| Visage |
|---|
| Steve Strange | Midge Ure | Rusty Egan Billy Currie | Dave Formula | Barry Adamson | Steven Young | Sandrine Gouriou | Rosie Harris | Ross Tregenza |
| Visage discography |
| Studio albums and extended plays: Visage | The Anvil | Beat Boy |
| Compilations: The Best of Visage | Master Series | The Damned Don't Cry |
| Singles: Tar | Fade to Grey | Mind Of A Toy | Visage | The Damned Don't Cry | Night Train | Pleasure Boys | Love Glove | Beat Boy |
| Related articles |
| Ultravox | Magazine |
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