Gary Numan: I, Assassin (1982)

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.