Time is tight, folks, so let's get started straightaway with a wonderful electro-acoustic ballad from The Pleasure Principle, the lad's first album attributed to Gary Numan instead of Tubeway Army.

This is "Complex"...

From Gary's next album, Telekon, one of my favourites of his, "I Dream Of Wires", a GN composition also done by Robert Palmer...

I had trouble logging in I was laughing so hard when I saw this thread.

I`m still having trouble posting links (I think it has something to do with my popup blocker, I don`t know, since I`m not that computer
savvy. I keep getting the error message.) So until I figure things out (by the year 2525) I`ll have to mention tracks that I like.
The title track fromTelekon is one of my favorites. And of course I Die: You Die.

Very nice too. Telekon for me is a very dark album - not much upbeat stuff on it, except perhaps "Remind Me To Smile", although the title isn't particularly upbeat.

RLA, if you ever wanted any of your choices linked just say the word. In the meantime here's "Stories" from his next album (after his so-called farewell concerts), Dance, complete with Bogart-style hat.

Oh, and I found this great interview with the lad from 1979, when "AFE" and "Cars" had made him a megastar overnight. After seeing it, it's hard to understand how the media could ever have accused him of being arrogant...

Gary hasn't a good word these days for the promo video of "Complex" that rounds off the interview - he said in a series on the '70s that it just makes him look like a tosser (well, he used another word but this is a respectable board so I'll refrain from using it... )

I noticed on the sites that you posted most of them are from his albums that have been remastered.
I have enjoyed hearing them all again very much!
I was wondering if any albums from I, Assasisin onwards have also been remastered and posted on Youtube this way?
It takes me back to when Gary Numan was the soundtrack of my college years.

He seems more quiet and sweet than arrogant. Maybe the media got that idea about him because he`d tell it like it is
at times (which I understand because I can be the same way when I`m annoyed about something).

BTW, feel free to post any tunes that I mention at anytime just in case anyone else wants to hear them.
Maybe we can convert people into Numanoids and take over the world---or something.

Right. Numan wanted to move away from the punk rock scene he despised, where groups literally spat on their audiences, and give the public the star they were waiting for. I think the media wanted him to act like a star - a sort of Mr Show Business - and Numan, who wanted to be himself and say what was on his mind - wasn't about to play their game. And they didn't like that. I don't know about the US media but in the UK they treated him like dirt, really underhand stuff... Including Nick Kent, who wrote some important early articles on BW and the BB (another connection! ). They certainly had to eat humble pie when the likes of Beck, Marilyn Manson, Nine Inch Nails and Africa Bambaataa cited him as a major influence. (And look at all the recent records that sample his stuff.)

I want to see spotlessly clean plates, guys...

I have the remastered version of Warriors, which is where "My Car Slides I and II" come from (as bonus tracks). Great all the way through...

I'll post "We Take A Mystery" later in the day.

From what I understand the UK press is notorious for vilifying about anyone and everyone.  The press in the US was much kinder to him, but as all things go, he was seen somewhat as a novelty then he wasn`t commercial enough and they moved onto something else.  As with most things the media in the US likes things dumbed down because that is what they think the masses understand (and sadly I do think that is true to some extent) and Gary Numan was just too 'complex' for them with his more advanced ideas both lyrically and musically. (Sounds like the same dilemma BW found himself in with the later BB stuff.)
I came across a news item from a news site called 'The Quietus' at www.thequietus.com (I`m still having trouble posting links.  The message I keep getting is something about not having all the files, whatever that means. So I haven`t a clue as to what I am doing wrong, or what the computer needs, etc. )  It`s about Gary Numan and Trent Reznor collaborating!  It`s dated Sept. 23, 2009.  How cool is that?   I hope you will be able to find it.

I'll have a look for that later (bit busy now). In the meantime as promised: We Take A Mystery.
This needs to be played loud...

Apparently Numan was so enamoured of Pino Paladino's bass-playing on I, Assassin that he gave it a prominent place in the mix, more or less up front. Sounds great in the instrumental break towards the end...

Viper gave me to understand that "Cars" was really the only thing of his that made it in the States, especially on the West Coast. Evidently, the car-based lifestyle struck a major chord there.

I'd say he was a megastar in the first few years up to his "farewell concerts". After that his stardom gradually unravelled, so that by the time Warriors left the charts, he'd basically became a cult figure with a fanatical fan base though some of the changes he went through were complex (haha) or odd enough to drive a lot of the fans away. It's really only recently (from Sacrifice onwards) that he's moved back into the mainstream with a more industrial though still easily identifiable sound, bringing back many of those lost fans and, for the first time in a quarter century, attracting new ones.

One of my favorites off of the album! I have an EP of this track with an extended version and an early version. (On vinyl, of course ) Also
on this EP is a track called The Image Is. Even though it`s 12" the speed is 45 rpm.

Really? No kiddding?
So that`s why the Beach Boys were so popular!!
Beaches and 'cars`! (snark)

I used to belong to a Gary Numan fan club in the mid 1980s and they were based on the East Coast, so I think he had more appreciation
there. Being from the Midwest and living in it most of my life, well, the less said about musical tastes the better. Thankfully I now live
in a community that is more appreciative of cultural diversity.

"Cars", yup! I'm on the East Coast now... and have way too much junk in the garage!

Junk? Is that what they call junk on the East Coast?

You mean this one? It's lovely - and a new one on me.

Another of one of my old rides that consumes too much fossil fuel. This '57 TBird is not very green at all!

That`s the one!

BTW, Viper, your 'junk'. Sweet!!

And here's some more junk...

This, I've been reading, was a ray of light in an otherwise dark and frustrating period of Gary's career. It's the first and most successful of several singles he made with Shakatak's Bill Sharpe (I'm hearing this in full for the first time), "Change Your Mind"...

Isn't YouTube wonderful?!

Oh no! It`s Gary Numan in the dark alley with the Beatles now! Numan would whoop---ah, better not go there.

YouTube will be great in helping me catch up on all of the Numan stuff I missed out on, which is about everything from Warriors on, so your
efforts are very much appreciated, and I thank you!

This is a rarity that vanished without trace, "Like A Refugee". Recorded with an Italian percussion group, Dadadang, it was made to raise money for refugees of former Yugoslavia (this was 1994) but got no media coverage at all - a familiar story though particularly unfeeling this time round.

Back to more familiar territory, the majestic "The Iceman Comes", with Bill Nelson on guitar and Joe Hubbard on bass. Gary wanted Pino Paladino again for this album (he'd even paid him a year's retainer wage) but Paladino suddenly decided to go off touring with Paul Young or somebody and recommended his bass tutor instead!!

I'm reading Electric Pioneer for the second time now. Great book, and good for ideas for this thread.

Next up: the wilderness years.

I tried to find the book at the local library, but alas it does not exist, like most stuff on Gary Numan in this part of the
USA. Talk about being in the wilderness! I`ll have to take your word for it and rely on the links from Youtube that you
provide.
In the later years of his career did he not get a lot of (European, particularly the UK) media coverage? Of course, he got
none here. Were they just cold to the fact of the crisis going on in Europe at the time or was it personal against Gary himself?
I apoligize for asking such questions, but I`m pretty much in the dark concerning him after say 1984 and beyond.
Can`t find Praying to the Aliens either, except the song.

That track is really relaxing. I`ve had somewhat of a busy day and my 'good music barometer' tells me I could have easily gone to
sleep to it. (Muzak and country-western music keep me awake . Not good. )

On the contrary. Gnashing your teeth in your sleep could be life-threatening.

This is "A Child With The Ghost" from Berserker, Numan's follow-up album to Warriors and a major step en route for the wilderness.

It's dedicated to Paul Gardiner, who OD'ed on heroin in 1984 aged 25. Paul was Gary's bass player more or less from day one and accompanied him up until Numan's "farewell tour" in '81. He's been described as "a sensitive soul" and GN's autobiography suggests that Gardiner's unhappy marriage was, if not exactly a contributing factor, unhelpful to his condition.

Paul's bass-playing was essential to Gary's musical landscape in those early heady times. God, it's a quarter of a century since he passed away...

R.I.P. Paul Gardiner. It just doesn`t seem all that long ago. The years always seems shorter the older one gets.

What I`ve always like about Gary Numan is that each album 'sounds' different than the last. That`s why I like bands like U2, Beach Boys,
and the Beatles. They don`t churn out the same old drivel as before. Kudos to Brian Wilson for not wanting to stay in the past with just
surfing/cars/beach/music. Mainstream 'pop' music (both past and present) doesn`t do a whole lot for me. Living in America that is mostly
what we seem to be forced-fed and it`s all because of money, money, money. Too bad that it seems to be the case in about
every aspect of life anymore.

Too true.

This is still from his "doldrum years". From the album Strange Charm, it's "The Need"...

I'm not really keen on live stuff - by anyone - but Gary's shows were great visually, it seems. Perhaps it's interesting to pursue that path next.

"Walking With Shadows"

Bit of a jump forward here. This is from his last album but one, Pure. Great bell at the end.

Great early live vid of Gary singing "Me! I Disconnect From You" during the Touring Principle 1979.

Numan was known for his extravagant shows in the early years. He felt he owed it to his fans to give them the best night out ever. Not a bad attitude for someone accused of being arrogant. More live clips to come, to be sure...

It's true what one of the YouTube comments points out:

How many artists have had a number one 45 and LP, both of which they wrote themselves and on which they played all the instruments except drums and bass, when they were still only 21???? Quite a feat, n'est-ce pas?

Instead of replying to your three posts individually, I`ll just do it all in one.

Walking With Shadows was very Goth in tone. I could hear a lot of what possibly influenced Trent Reznor in that one. Loved the
photo, too. Was that the album cover?
I always liked his album covers. Off-beat things tend to attract me more and the first album cover of his that I saw was for
The Pleasure Principle and how it was influenced by the painting by Rene Magritte, so of course I had to find a book on
all of his artwork and found it just right to my tastes (along with Dali).

I bought a CD recently titled Here In My Car, the Best of 1984-1998. Some of the tracks are reworkings of his earlier stuff
(Down in the Park, Metal, I Die: You Die, Me! I Disconnect From You, Cars, and Are 'Friends' Electric?) just to name a few and
some I hadn`t heard before, (A Question of Faith, The Hunter, Deadliner, Magic, Stormtrooper in Drag, Dominion Day, Dark, and
Dead Heaven). All of it is basically new to me and that makes it a real treat, so keep 'em coming!

It was. Pure is considered his best album in years, perhaps decades. That may be true, although I have a slight preference for the one before it, Exile, with its bed of chugging industrial rhythms. "Dominion Day" and "Dead Heaven" are from it.

Love the early Surrealists. They were all batty of course. Dali is a great favourite of mine. And Giorgio de Chirico, a precursor of the movement who did some truly amazing stuff (see my signature) for a few years before turning his back on it and going all reactionary and academic.

Interesting. I shall see what my book has to say about it. Talking of "AFE", there's a great pre-mega-stardom live performance on the BBC show The Old Grey Whistle Test which I shall dig up in the near future.

Lastly: I Just happened across this really extensive interview with Mr N. It also sheds light on the sense of tragedy that infuses the Pure album...

The Armchair Guide isn't very taken with Numan comps in general. It seems his various former labels flood the market with them from time to time. As for this one, the author only says that the liner notes fail to mention that most of it is live. It looks an interesting selection though.

The studio version of "Stormtrooper In Drag" was actually released as a Paul Gardiner single, who played guitar on it (Numan took over the bass duties and sang it). Perhaps Gary's name instead of Paul's (with all due respect) would have got it across to the general public. As it is, it didn't do too well (49 on the UK charts, according to Wikipedia)...

Oh, and there's this, as promised...

And here it is again, a UK number one in 2002 as sampled by The Sugababes. Whether one approves or not (and I do), it's a testimony to the massive revival of interest in GN...

If you can post anything from Exile that would be great since I haven`t heard that album at all.

Maybe we`re all a little bit batty if we like this stuff!

I`ll comment on the interview when I finish it. This week is rather busy since I`ll be gone this weekend, but I won`t forget!

When I listened to the CD, I liked it, even though when I bought it I wasn`t quite certain what it exactly was. I was
desperate for some Gary Numan! It had been so long, I was turning into a Ninja.

Thanks for the footage from 'The Old Grey Whistle Test'. It is a program I have heard of but only seen in bits and pieces of bands
that I like since we don`t get it here in the States.

I liked their sampling of the song, but was not that impressed with the video.

Well we both know that 99.999999999999999999% of all videos are an insult to the intelligence. Trouble is, almost anything from the singles charts since the '80s will be accompanied on Youtube by a video.

This morning I dropped my LP of Replicas onto the turntable with debonair abandon and waited for the opening synth line of "MIDFY". Unfortunately it only came out of one speaker which leads me to believe that my turntable is every bit as [naughty word deleted] as yours.

On a more optimistic intelligent note, this is "Prophecy" from Exile. Love it when the additional percussion kicks in at 2.20...

At least earlier videos had 'some' imagination. Anymore every time they show one is has nothing by undulating dancing
people in it. Ho hum.

Sorry about your turntable. If I knew where to send flowers.......

From what I`ve read of the interview so far, it`s cool Gary`s into Enya. No one would really expect that. However, some people
don`t seem to understand that his shows are just that, an act and it`s called creativity. I lost a good friend all those years ago because
she thought I was getting into dark heavy stuff. To me it was expanding my imagination. Right now, yeah, I`m into horror movies and
all that because of Halloween, but it gets lighter when you move towards the more joyous holidays doesn`t it? And I counterbalance it
by listening to the Beach Boys ( I put some CDs on and hit the 'random' button and just enjoy the fun). Later on I made friends
that were into Gary Numan and 'got it' so everything worked out okay. Just goes to show a person is not what you think they are
and that`s cool.

BTW you can type #%$@! for any 'naughty' word. When the mood strikes me I can outdo a dockworker, but it`s not ladylike---not as if
that ever stopped me.

There are two amazing videos of great tracks that for me epitomize two extremes in early vids:

"Unfinished Sympathy" (Massive Attack)
and
"Sledgehammer" (Peter Gabriel)

The first is done using a single sequence shot, the second is utterly, outrageously OTT - brilliant!!!!


Back to topic...

I was playing this this morning: "Music For Chameleons", with some more great Pino Paladino basswork up front...

Time to go to the OT Zone (for a bit). Unfinished Sympathy reminds me of the technique Alfred Hitchcock used in the movie
Rope, where he shot scenes in takes of several minutes long without cuts, etc.

I haven`t seen the video for Sledgehammer in ages! Not since MTV 'used' to play videos instead of the !%$#& they show now.

Have you ever heard of the band Shriekback? Check out their video for Nemesis.
BTW I`ve given up on posting links, can`t seem to get it to work.

The ultimate in that respect has to be the film Russian Ark - one 96-minute take - no cuts!!!!


Allow me. Interesting vid. I believe Shriekback included Barry Andrews from XTC who also played keys with Robert Fripp (another of my heroes) in The League of Gentlemen.

You are correct, sir! (Looked it up in Wikipedia.)
The album is great too. I have it on vinyl.

I`ll have to see if I can find this one on DVD.

Back to topic, although I love all these diversions...

This is "This Is New Love" from Berserker, the album after Warriors...

This is one of my favourite tracks from Dance, "A Subway Called You".

So much of Numan's music has a nocturnal feel to it. Certainly everything from Replicas to I, Assassin. Only The Pleasure Principle seems to break the pattern...

Out of all of his albums Dance is very, how can I put it--Bladerunner-esque musically. I know that lyrically he has
referenced Philip K. Dick novels. (One of my favorite authors, BTW. I have most of his books.) On the Replicas album
there is a line in Praying to the Aliens 'a random pol`check' which is right out of the Dick novel Flow My Tears, the
Policeman Said. In the interview he said Replicas was very science-fiction.
Also in the interview he mentioned he read Tolkien`s The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, which are books that
are very near and dear to me.

It was great to hear this track again. (I got Dance on vinyl. )

Another BB connection. If I'm correct it was Nick Kent's articles on the BB that drew Andrew into the fold. This is what Kent wrote about GN. It's typical of the verbal diarrhoea spouted at Numan by the UK press in the megastar years and thereafter:

"Listen, Gaz, I don't want to rehash all the old criticisms you've awkwardly cringed away from whilst scurrying off all the way to the bank. In fact I imagine you're a fairly genuine sort of bloke who genuinely considers your music to be complete evocation of a vision of a future devoid of passion, warmth, and all purpose humanity. Unfortunately, like your detractors, I view your music as being wretchedly one-dimensional, crass, sci-fi drivel that would be merely a harmless ear sore were it not for the fact that a) your synth-obsessed bombast spotlights every negative aspect inherent in the very concept and practical appliance of contemporary technology in direct relationship to music and b] your puerile sub-Diamond Dogs scenarios are - unwittingly - a highly pernicious influence on impressionable types who, if they take this pompous garbage as seriously as you evidently do, are under certain highly dodgy delusions regarding their cultural bearings, simple human values, and life 'as she is lived' in general ... your whining vocals, the empty gestures, the numbing bombast, it's unhealthy stuff, Gazza."

Get a life, Kent.

"Get a life" says it all. He sounds more like he`s trying to impress people with all the multisyllabic words
that he knows instead of finding something constructive to say. All that negativity comes back, what goes
around comes around, you know. Karma!