Fade to gray
| Fade to gray | |
|---|---|
| Visage | |
| publication | November 10, 1980 |
| length | 3:47 min. |
| Genre (s) | Synth pop |
| Author (s) | Billy Currie , Christopher Payne, Midge Ure |
| album | Visage |
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Chart positions Explanation of the data |
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Fade to Gray is a song by the British new romantic band Visage . Alongside Don't You Want Me from The Human League, the song is one of the most commercially successful British synth-pop singles . The single topped the charts in numerous countries, including Germany and Switzerland. When the Federal Association of the Phonographic Industry One was for the single gold record and in the British Phonographic Industry, a Silver registered record.
Emergence
The composition is by Billy Currie and Christopher Payne and was created during soundchecks of the Pleasure Principle Tour by Gary Numan in 1979. The piece, in which Cedric Sharpley was also involved in the composition, although he is not named as the author, was entitled Toot City at the time . It wasn't originally intended for Visage at all, but as a reminder of the tour. So Currie pushed for a recording and contacted producer Martin Rushent . The recording of the instrumental tracks of Currie, Payne and Sharpley took place the day after the tour ended at Rushent's Genetic Sound Studio in Berkshire. It was only later that Midge Ure wrote a text for the song, which Steve Strange was to sing as the front man of the project. In addition to Strange, Brigitte Arens of Belgian origin spoke the lines of French text at Mayfair Studios in Primrose Hill, London. The recording was supervised and mixed by John Hudson as sound engineer and produced by the band and Midge Ure. The B-side of the single is the instrumental The Steps .
occupation
- Steve Strange - vocals
- Brigitte Arens - French text
- Midge Ure - backing vocals
- Rusty Egan - backing vocals
- Billy Currie - synthesizer, violin
- Christopher Payne - synthesizer, viola
- Cedric Sharpley - drums, drum programming
Publication and chart successes
The single was released on November 10, 1980 by Polydor and rose to number 68 in the UK's top 75 on December 20, 1980. Fade to Gray stayed in the UK charts for 15 weeks and reached number eight on February 17, 1981. In Germany, the single appeared in the Media Control Charts on February 23, 1981, topped the charts for seven weeks and stayed in the charts for a total of 29 weeks. The single also took the lead in the Swiss charts; Fade to Gray reached number three in the Austrian charts .
A remix version by Visage and John Luongo with a length of 6:38 minutes was released in 1983 on the compilation Fade to Gray - The Singles Collection as a vinyl record. Numerous remix versions were released in 1993 to promote the compact disc of this compilation ( Fade to Gray - The Best of Visage ): The Bassheads (Desa Basshead and Nick Murphy), Andy Stephenson, Dave Ralph, Tim Wedge and Daryl Strickley remixed the recordings . The Bassheads 7 "Edit was able to place in the British Top 40.
reception
Stewart Mason said in his review on Allmusic : "Midge Ure and Billy Currie fashioned a minimalist, pulsating synth-pop sound seemingly influenced by the artsy likes of Cluster as well as Giorgio Moroder's electro-disco throb." (Midge Ure and Billy Currie form a minimalist, pulsating synthpop sound that seems to be influenced by both Cluster's artistic preferences and Giorgio Moroder's electro-disc rhythm.)
Dave Thompson wrote in his book Alternative Rock in 2000: " Fade to Gray remains a timeless classic." ( Fade to Gray remains a timeless classic.)
Dave Rimmer, author of Like Punk Never Happened , criticizes self-importance in his illustrated book The Look - New Romantics :
"A pop record with a disco feel, catchy chorus and a bit of French to make it sound 'European', it was well-dressed but superficial, all trousers and no mouth."
"A pop record with a disco feeling, a catchy chorus and a portion of French to make it sound 'European', it was well packaged, but superficial, just a big mouth."
Cover versions and music quotes
Fade to Gray was covered a lot . The list is therefore limited to a few artists.
- Ed Starink - Fade to Gray (1989)
- U 96 - I Wanna Be a Kennedy (1992)
- The Time Frequency - Fade to Gray (1994)
- Datura - Fade to Gray (1996 on the album Eternity )
- Mark 'Oh - Fade to Gray (1996)
- Gregorian - Fade to Gray (1999 on the Masters of Chant album )
- Nouvelle Vague - Fade to Gray (2006 on the album Bande à Part )
No cover version, but - depending on your point of view - a music quote or plagiarism is One Word by Kelly Osbourne . Linda Perry , the creator of One Word , has been sued by Billy Currie for copyright infringement. The strenuous process ended in a settlement and Perry agreed to pay part of the royalties to the creators of Fade to Gray .
Adam Clayton revealed in an interview to Irish journalist BP Fallon that trying to recreate the bass line from Fade to Gray inspired him to write the U2 single New Years Day .
Web links
- Fade to Gray at Allmusic (English)
- Music video on YouTube
Individual evidence
- ↑ Charts DE Charts AT CH Charts UK
- ↑ Gold / platinum database. In: musikindustrie.de. Retrieved September 1, 2011 (search term: Visage).
- ↑ Certified Awards Search. In: bpi.co.uk. Retrieved on September 14, 2014 (English, search term: Visage).
- ↑ Derek Langford: Numan Digest December 1995. In: webb.garynuman.info. December 1, 1995, accessed November 7, 2011 .
- ↑ Jus Forrest / Chi Ming Lai: The Chris Payne Interview. (No longer available online.) In: www.electricity-club.co.uk. October 25, 2011, archived from the original on December 23, 2011 ; accessed on November 7, 2011 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Stewart Mason: Fade To Gray. In: allmusic.com. Retrieved September 14, 2011 .
- ↑ Dave Thompson: Alternative Rock . Miller Freeman, San Francisco 2000, ISBN 0-87930-607-6 , pp. 698 .
- ↑ Dave Rimmer: The Look - New Romantics . Omnibus Press, London 2003, ISBN 0-7119-9396-3 , pp. 98 .
- ^ Covers of Fade to Gray on WhoSampled.com
- ↑ Cover versions and music quotes database. In: coverinfo.de. Retrieved September 15, 2011 (keyword: Fade to Gray).
- ↑ Kelly Osbourne's One Word sample of Visage's Fade to Gray. In: whosampled.com. Retrieved September 15, 2011 .
- ↑ Barry Egan: Attention baby, Adam is the proud father of a little boy. In: independent.ie. January 16, 2011, accessed September 15, 2011 .
