Numan can be heard breaking into laughter during the show's closing
number, "Are 'Friends' Electric?" This was because members of the
support act, the music group Hohokam, put on women's clothing and broke
onto the stage during the song's performance. One of the pranksters
lifted his bra cup and "flashed" Numan, causing Numan to laugh. [source]
White Noise was recorded on December 11, 1984 and released a little less than four months later. It's a very good live record.
Volume three contains the added descriptive subtitle, Unreleased Recordings. This one was released on black and blue vinyl. I have the latter, once again. It contains six tracks.
The Monday Troop
Crime Of Passion
The Life Machine
A Game Called Echo
Random
Oceans
This is everything anyone needs to know about The Plan:
The Plan is an archival compilation album of early demo recordings by British new wave band Tubeway Army (the band name originally used by Gary Numan), released in 1984.
While the demos on The Plan were originally recorded in 1977 and 1978, they remained unreleased until September 1984 when Numan's former label, Beggars Banquet Records, issued them a year after Numan left the label. In the intervening seven years since recording the demos, Numan's career had scaled great heights of commercial success and then waned. His most successful material had been similar in basic form and structure to the demos on The Plan, but had showcased a new synthesizer-based instrumentation instead of his previous punk rock sound.
In the album's liner notes, Numan states that these songs were deliberately written and recorded in the then-popular punk rock style with the express aim of securing a record deal. Some of the songs on the album (such as "Friends," "Something's in the House" and "My Shadow in Vain") formed the basis for songs that would eventually be released on Tubeway Army's debut album in 1978, subsequently rearranged and augmented with the synthesizer-based rock sound which would become the Tubeway Army/Numan trademark.
The Plan went on to do moderately well, reaching #29 on the UK album chart. Two months after The Plan's release, Numan issued Berserker, his first album through his own record label, Numa Records. Chart-wise, The Plan outperformed Berserker, the latter reaching #45 on the UK album chart.
All CD releases of The Plan include a wealth of bonus tracks, such as Tubeway Army's debut single "That's Too Bad" and an early version of the Tubeway Army album track "The Life Machine."[source]
My copy is a picture disc, which might compromise the sound somewhat.
The catalogue number is NUMA 1001, reflecting the creation of his new record label. I gather he wanted more creative control. This was a difficult record to find in Canada, since it was not released domestically. So, I managed to find an import, this being the 1st UK pressing.
Two versions of Berserker, the title track from Gary Numan's sixth record Berserker, are accompanied here on this UK 12" single by Empty Bed, Empty Heart.
Bill Nelson shows up in this record, and from what I have heard, he and Numan did not get along. Despite the bad press that this record got, there are some strong moments, like the title track, which is pretty good. Overall, I would say this: too much saxophone. I would say that this is one of his weaker records.
In March of 1983, Numan (or his record company - I really have no idea) released this UK-only six-track collection, which turned out to be volume one of three. Oddly, Discogs lists this as a compilation, while the four-track volume two and the six-track volume three are listed in the category of Singles and EPs. Who cares, right?
This collection contains:
That's Too Bad
Oh! Didn't I Say
Do You Need The Service?
Bombers
O.D. Receiver
Blue Eyes
I have the black vinyl version, from 1983. A yellow vinyl version came out in 1985. I like these tunes very much.
In the first sentence of Allmusic's review of I, Assassin, the reviewer states: "After the spare and lengthy reflections and dislocated experiments of his excellent Dance album..." [source] Huh? Allmusic gave Dance two out of five stars. How does two stars equal excellent? This is what happens when you have a mix of reviewers, all with different opinions. No wonder we often disagree with reviewers. They often disagree with themselves.
I would say that this record is better than some reviewers would have you believe. Frankly, I think it's because of Numan's change in direction, and I think that threw some people and maybe they were disappointed by the change. I think it can be said that this record is the last good Numan record, for a while. The record opens really strongly, with White Boys And Heroes, which is a really great track. The change of direction plays out most obviously in The 1930's Rust, with all of that finger snapping and the harmonica. And yet, I still like it, perhaps because we still have that odd Numan voice that I really like. Who can blame him for trying new things?
The last tune, We Take Mystery to Bed, is a fine closer. Again, I like this record, but not as much as the previous stuff. I think part of the reason this LP might not shine is because of the really awesome stuff that preceded it.
Music For Chameleons appears on I, Assassin. This UK 12 inch single contains an extended version of that track, plus Noise Noise and Bridge? What Bridge? That's all you need to know.
Dance, Gary Numan's fifth LP, was released on September 4, 1981. This record came out some months after Numan said that he was retiring from touring, and yet he persisted. I recall that The Who made a similar promise once or twice.
I love this record but I know that some people don't. Just the opening track, Slowcar to China is worth the price of the record. Of course, I am a fan of ambient music and especially of Brian Eno. I think that one of the things that people either love or hate about Gary is his voice. Personally, I love it, but I can see how others might not.
Nash the Slash (originally from FM) is on this record, as well as Mick Karn (of Japan) and Roger Taylor (of Queen).
The two halves of Living Ornaments were released separately in 1981, and then as a double LP, also in 1981. The 1979 set was recorded on at the Hammersmith Odeon on September 28th, 1979. The 1980 set was recorded at the same venue on September 16th, 1980. Despite his threats, Numan did not retire from touring, which is a good thing, though I have never managed to see him live. As an aside, I thin that concert tickets are way too expensive now.
And what if God's dead?
We must have done something wrong
I wouldn't be the first to say that Telekon ends Numan's classic phase, just as it ends his Machine Trilogy. The Canadian pressing includes the single I Die: You Die, omitted from the original pressing. That means that one track (Sleep by Windows) is cut from the Canadian version. I can live with that. That track and We Are Glass were released between TPP and Telekon as singles.
There are guitars on this record. Numan didn't get a big hit from this record, and so he has been forced to live with the label "one-hit wonder," which I think unfair.
Numan retired from touring after this record, though it didn't stick. I'd place this record in my top three Gary Numan LPs. It's fabulous.Oddly, Robert Palmer recorded a cover version of I Dream of Wires.
This UK 12" contains three tracks; Complex, Me! I Disconnect from You (Live Version), and Bombers (Live Version). Complex is simply an awesome piece of music. The cover on my copy is a bit rough, but it plays very well.
The Pleasure Principle, released just five months after Replicas, was Numan's big breakthrough. I think Cars is one of those songs that everyone has heard. But, that track is just the tip of the iceberg. There is a lot of depth to this record with lots of great tunes. This is the first of his record to be released under his name, rather than Tubeway Army.
The Pleasure Principle was the first Gary Numan record I ever heard, and I owe that, oddly, to my weird brother. His usual choice of music was either things like John Denver, Barry Manilow, or Elvis and the disco queens. I still have no idea how he ended up buying this record, but I assume it was because of the track, Cars, which isn't even the best track on the LP (M.E., Metal, and Films are all better, if you ask me).
I am not dissing Cars. I think it has suffered from over-playing and I wish everyone could clear the slate and go back and listen to it for the first time. If we were able to do that, I think we would all agree that it is fabulous, even if the lyrics are not deep or groundbreaking.
Two things to note: Numan got a new drummer with this record and there are no guitars at all on the record, apart from the bass. I think he was trying to make a point, and he did it. This might well be his best record.
Depending on which version you have, this record is either credited as Gary Numan + Tubeway Army or simply as Tubeway Army. Mine -- a Canadian pressing -- is the former, probably because it was re-released after Cars had become a big hit in North America, and the record company wanted to ensure that Gary's name was front and centre. Discogs, of course, does what you would expect by now.
Replicas was originally released on April 4, 1979 in the UK, and forms the first part of what Numan calls his Machine Trilogy, which includes The Pleasure Principle and Telekon. There is a real sense of machinery and technology in this record.
I saw him turn on
Like a machine in the park
Saying 'please come with me'
But you've been there before
The transition to synthesizers is well underway here, though there are guitars in the mix. The spacey Numan character, which reminds me a bit of what Bowie attempted on Ziggy Stardust, is in force on tunes like Praying to Aliens. The record contains one of Numan's biggest hits, and a favourite of mine, Are Friends Electric? That's just a fantastic track, easily making it onto any top 25 list of my favourite songs of all time.
There is some suggestive sexual identity content in Praying to Aliens:
Now only boys
That love only boys
...
"Do you ever think of women?"
They broke him down
Into a torn old queen
Down in the Park has to be the most surprising track on the record for me, because it has a very slow pace and it isn't what I would have viewed as a single, though it was the first single from this record. Also, the lyrics are rather dystopian and probably depressing:
Down in the park where the machmen meet
The machines and play 'Kill-by-numbers'
Down in the park with a friend called 'Five'
I was in a car crash or was it the war?
Well, I've never been quite the same
Little white lies like I was there
Come to Zom-Zom's, a place to eat
Like it was built in one day
You can watch the humans try to run
Oh, look, there's a rape machine
I'd go outside if it looked the other way
You wouldn't believe the things they do
Down in the park where the chant is death, death, death
Until' the sun cries mornin'
Down in the park with friends of mine
We are not lovers, we are not romantics
We are here to serve you
A different face but the words never change
I think that song could be made into a movie. Replicas is better than the first record, and it's one of my favourite records from Gary Numan. I'd put this LP in the top three.
So, that's a truly awful photo. Not enough light :(
Station boys keep their hands on steel
Tubeway days now seem quite unreal
It's always so close but never quite arrives
- Listen to the Sirens, Gary Numan
Gary Numan's birth name, according to Wikipedia, is Gary Anthony James Webb. He was born in 1958. I'll take both of these statements as true.
The first pressing of this LP was released on November 24, 1978 in an edition of 5000 copies on blue vinyl and it was just called Tubeway Army, with no mention of Gary Numan on the front cover. Numan was listed on the back cover along with Paul Gardiner and Jess Lidyard. Not surprisingly, copies of this record are now very expensive.
Repressings came out in in 1979 (after the success of Replicas, the second Tubeway Army record), and 1981, and subsequently with different covers, some of which had First Album printed on them while others did not. I have the repressed 1981 edition with a white jacket and First Album printed on the cover. In typical Discogs fashion, that release is listed, not as a self-titled record called Tubeway Army, but as: "Tubeway Army Featuring Gary Numan – First Album." WTF!
I guess one could argue that the record label intended First Album to be the title of the reissue, but I have to believe that it was intended simply as a clue to the record shoppers that this was the first album and that Tubeway Army included the now-famous Gary Numan. I have a hard time believing that the intention was to entitle the record First Album. Beyond the cosmetic differences, the contents are identical.
Gary is, without question, one of the pioneers of synth pop. As Allmusic writes: "his dark, paranoid vision, theatrically icy alien persona, and clinical, robotic sound were echoed strongly in the work of many goth rock and (especially) industrial artists to come." [source] I can agree with that, and it is interesting to note that he is good friends with Trent Reznor, and Reznor has cited him as an influence.
Interestingly, Numan began his career in punk music, and some of these early tunes are collected on the LP The Plan, released in 1984. In the film I Dream of Wires,
Numan discusses his chance encounter with a Moog synthesizer, which led
to a new direction in his music, though it should be mentioned that
there is lots of guitar on this record as it is really still in the punk
realm with mostly guitar, bass, and drums, but with some keyboards.
This debut record is quite amazing, though I will confess that I heard the record after I heard Cars, from ThePleasure Principle. I think Allmusic gets it right:
"Numan & the Tubeway Army were one of the first new wave/punk bands (along with Kraftwerk and Devo) to successfully fuse robotic synthesizers with rock & roll. Gary Numan's guitar riffing is more prominent here than on any other of his albums, which gives the tunes a splendid Ziggy Stardust feel at times." [source]
And, it's not just the music. As others have noted, there is a science fiction dystopian element in his lyrics. On this record, there are themes that might have offended back in the day. The track Friends is about male prostitution and Every Day I Die focuses on teenage masturbation:
The problems of need
I need you
Obscene dreams in
Rusty beds
No one came here
Tonight
I pulled on me
I need to
I unstick pages and read
I look at pictures of you
I smell the lust in my hands
Everyday I die
Her favorite trick
Was to suck me inside
Oh so very
Art nouveau
Completely false
Feelings of love I don't
No one knows, but that died
Years ago
I unstick pages and read
I look at pictures of you
I smell the lust in my hands
Everyday I die
The record is uneven, with side one being better than side two, but this is a fascinating record.
