Now here's where it gets tricky..
Exile (1998) is an obvious continuation of the new Numan era and a pretty good one. "Dominion Day" is sharp and catchy and one of the best Numan album openers ever. But taking apart the rest of it, I have mixed feelings. "Dark" was great but seemed like too much of a rewrite of "Desire" (or maybe that was the point? a-la "Metal/Moral".) Also, the religious (or anti) overtones, for me anyway, were shifting the focus away from the music. I appreciate the messages within, however I must ask, was this album more Gemma then Gary? I just looked at the song title "An Alien Cure" and for selfish reasons, wish that was the title track.
Pure (2000) There are some stunning moments on this one, and some banal ones. The Numan-Sulpher wall of sound was born and I was mostly digging it. "Listen To My Voice" is a fantastic track. A lot of the ideas though didn't sound very fresh. They seemed more about Numan emulating his favorite newer acts. I also thought the artwork was disapointing. As a fan, I was started to feel like Numan had been in this "image" for too long.
Hybrid (2003) I think this was a great idea. Looking at past music in a way other then simply remixing shows Numan was ahead of the curve (see "mash-ups"). This also seems to continue Numan's melting fear of collaboration. Most of this was very interesting and very well-produced. "Crazier" was a powerhouse.
Jagged Halo (2005) The title scares me, but the early versions of the songs sound good. However it comes out, the Numanoid in me will selfishly pick on what I don't like about it, but I'll still like it anyway.
― ZionTrain, Wednesday, 4 May 2005 19:03 (eighteen years ago) link
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 4 May 2005 19:05 (eighteen years ago) link
― ZionTrain, Wednesday, 4 May 2005 19:29 (eighteen years ago) link
Hybrid isn't sufficiently Numanesque for my taste as it has the input of many other producers, but it's satisfyingly big and chunky.
I really want to see more synths and more evil. I especially think that Numan works best with a live band and synths played live. I do believe, however, that those days are over, for cost reasons as much as anything else.
'Jagged Halo' - sounds like more electro rock goth shape throwing to me, which is fine as any Numan is good Numan.
― moley (moley), Thursday, 5 May 2005 02:13 (eighteen years ago) link
http://thequietus.com/articles/10910-gary-numan-favourite-albums
There are some really dubious choices here but Numan's explanations are pretty good. The story about Japan stranding him and getting picked up by Queen is amazing!
― frogbs, Thursday, 6 December 2012 18:28 (eleven years ago) link
I like the Ultravox write-up. Good to see him giving them the credit they deserve for shaping his early career.
― my father will guide me up the stairs to bed (anagram), Thursday, 6 December 2012 19:06 (eleven years ago) link
I've read a few Numan interviews and it's astonishing how he basically refuses to give himself any credit or respond with anything other than bewilderment that people look up to him. Definitely one of the most open dudes in the music biz.
― frogbs, Thursday, 6 December 2012 19:13 (eleven years ago) link
Cutest Quietus 13 ever? I love that he had to go asking his wife and his old friends what his favorite albums were. Also this is v charming:
This was '93 and I'd just done an album called Machine And Soul which is the shittest album I've ever made! By quite a margin! I was in a right state thinking, 'Oh, this is so shit!' I didn't know what I was doing, I had no direction, there wasn't anything I wanted to sing about, my career was going down the toilet, I couldn't sell albums and fucking fair enough if you're going to put out shit like that!
― my other pug is a stillsuit (Jon Lewis), Thursday, 6 December 2012 19:28 (eleven years ago) link
I concur, I may not be into his music from the last 30 years but I'll always respect him for giving props to John Foxx and Bill Nelson!
― Gerald McBoing-Boing, Thursday, 6 December 2012 19:58 (eleven years ago) link
this was my favorite part:
I once went to Japan with the band Japan – I was meant to be doing a guest thing with them – and they blew me out and they didn't have the guts to tell me. I went all the way to fucking Japan, yeah, and they'd fucking legged it! I found myself in Tokyo on my own. Japan had fucked off and had left me behind – wankers! – and I noticed that Queen were playing at the Budokan. So I went to the gig and I didn't try to get in on the guest list; I went and bought a ticket. I was in the crowd and some security man and came and got me, 'cause I was quite famous in Japan at the time, and he said, 'You really don't want to be sitting out here. Come backstage' because everyone was standing up and I didn't realise it was because of me!
― frogbs, Thursday, 6 December 2012 20:12 (eleven years ago) link
The ensuing scene with Freddie and the Big Mac was my fave part.
― my other pug is a stillsuit (Jon Lewis), Thursday, 6 December 2012 20:15 (eleven years ago) link
so...new album Splinter coming out soon, it's quite good isn't it?
― frogbs, Wednesday, 9 October 2013 16:41 (ten years ago) link
I really like it. I still wish he'd gone for the one-last-push/"riff monster" that he's been promising for years but I'm actually quite taken with the more personal instrospective ballad-y songs.
― Doran, Wednesday, 9 October 2013 18:41 (ten years ago) link
I like Splinter a lot... I'd say equally as much as Pure and Sacrifice, and definitely more than Jagged (and the latest NIN album, for that matter!)
― Dog Man Star took a suck on a pill... (Turrican), Thursday, 17 October 2013 22:17 (ten years ago) link
I wrote a review for it:
http://thequietus.com/articles/13630-gary-numan-splinter-review
My conclusion - pretty much his best since the early days. On my 10th or so listen I definitely prefer this to his other modern albums - the fact that there's some variety this time makes a huge difference.
― frogbs, Friday, 18 October 2013 00:26 (ten years ago) link
So er... I guess there was an animated film from 2008 called From Inside (based on a graphic novel) that did the festival rounds with a temporary music score. The movie has now been "finalized" with a new score by Numan. With a soundtrack release about to come out on Lakeshore Records.
― Gar Tooth (Jon Lewis), Monday, 22 September 2014 16:03 (nine years ago) link
new live album out this month. lots of stuff from Splinter, some tracks from Dead Son Rising (which I hadn't heard before!), one from Pure, plus an assortment of his 79-81 hits. it's a good one!!
― frogbs, Monday, 7 March 2016 20:38 (eight years ago) link
He should have a new album out this year too, hopefully!
― // 166,000 W A N K E R S // LOVE (Turrican), Monday, 7 March 2016 21:07 (eight years ago) link
I'll believe it when I see it..
― frogbs, Monday, 7 March 2016 21:37 (eight years ago) link
Yeah, me too, although he's been funding it through PledgeMusic and been giving fans regular video updates on how the album's progressing.
― // 166,000 W A N K E R S // LOVE (Turrican), Monday, 7 March 2016 21:40 (eight years ago) link
Uh, interesting choice of attire to launch the UK tour for your new record, Gary...
― ...so music and chicken have become intertwined (Turrican), Sunday, 23 April 2017 19:06 (seven years ago) link
FINISH HIM!!!!
― frogbs, Monday, 24 April 2017 13:00 (seven years ago) link
Hahahaha! Yeah, it does have a Scorpion/Sub Zero vibe to it!
― ...so music and chicken have become intertwined (Turrican), Monday, 24 April 2017 15:14 (seven years ago) link
omg that typography though
― a landlocked exclave (mh), Monday, 24 April 2017 15:21 (seven years ago) link
So, this is coming out in a couple of weeks...
― more Allegro-like (Turrican), Friday, 1 September 2017 15:53 (six years ago) link
So, Savage (Songs from a Broken World) is out now... has anyone heard it yet?
― more Allegro-like (Turrican), Saturday, 16 September 2017 09:25 (six years ago) link
Bloody awful. Basically the same complaints about organised religion over NIN-esque lite industrial backdrops as he's been mining for a while. There are a few bright spots but not many. I really was willing myself to like it but couldn't.
― Dan.S., Sunday, 17 September 2017 22:03 (six years ago) link
What if you liked his last albUm though
― frogbs, Sunday, 17 September 2017 22:10 (six years ago) link
If you liked Splinter you'll probably like Savage - it's essentially Splinter II.
But at the same time I do wish he'd shake things up a bit at this stage, but he's probably frightened if he tries to do so it'll be badly received by his current fanbase.
― more Allegro-like (Turrican), Monday, 18 September 2017 06:35 (six years ago) link
I liked Splinter an awful lot but somehow it felt more varied. There's something vulnerable about a song called Lost that isn't present on this album. There's a feeling on tracks like Splinter and My Last Day that he's branching out and even the crunchier industrial rock tracks are more punchy and concise. It's sequenced better for the most part too so it's not just a series of identical "quiet verse - explosive chorus" exercises
― Dan.S., Monday, 18 September 2017 22:03 (six years ago) link
#2 on the UK album chart apparently.
― more Allegro-like (Turrican), Friday, 22 September 2017 19:23 (six years ago) link
The Quietus review calling out the use of the word "Savage" next to a photo of Numan in Middle Eastern garb is kinda funny to me, I doubt it ever occurred to Numan that people might find the cover offensive
I guess it's high time to actually spin this, huh
― frogbs, Friday, 22 September 2017 19:34 (six years ago) link
When the artwork was first revealed I seem to remember a lot of "FFS Gary, what are you doing!?" type of comments.
Numan apparently burst into tears when he heard the album reached #2... someone was clearly around to take a picture of this moment and post it on Facebook...
― more Allegro-like (Turrican), Saturday, 23 September 2017 09:14 (six years ago) link
But, now that this has happened, I guess if anyone's hoping for any change in approach, I don't think it's gonna happen now!
― more Allegro-like (Turrican), Saturday, 23 September 2017 09:16 (six years ago) link
After spending more time with Savage, I do think it's a good record and I prefer it to Exile and Jagged, but it is Splinter-but-not-as-good.
Numan has a habit of doing this, so I shouldn't be surprised...
Exile was Sacrifice part 2, Jagged was Pure part 2 etc.
― more Allegro-like (Turrican), Tuesday, 3 October 2017 06:09 (six years ago) link
don't stop there - I always thought Pleasure Principle and Telekon, Dance and I, Assassin, and Warriors and Berserker went together. arguably the two Tubeway Army albums as well.
― frogbs, Tuesday, 3 October 2017 13:36 (six years ago) link
You could make a case for Outland being a less good version of Metal Rhythm, too. Metal Rhythm is the most underrated of Numan's wilderness years, IMO.
― more Allegro-like (Turrican), Tuesday, 3 October 2017 16:42 (six years ago) link
Anyway, if 2013 was the year of many old school synth acts putting out surprisingly stellar albums, then 2017 has pretty much been the year where a lot of them have followed up those records with good, listenable but not-as-good albums.
― more Allegro-like (Turrican), Tuesday, 3 October 2017 16:45 (six years ago) link
Savage is turning out to be an album of two halves for me... I'm finding the back half to be a little on the weak side.
― more Allegro-like (Turrican), Friday, 6 October 2017 23:25 (six years ago) link
I didn't know he had 3 daughters!! Good on him. Been listening to Pure on and off and there are a few songs about the miscarriage of his son. Now that I have one of my own it's pretty moving, particularly "Little Invitro".
― frogbs, Friday, 20 October 2017 03:34 (six years ago) link
Pure > Sacrifice > Splinter > Savage > Dead Son Rising > Exile > Jagged
Now do something else, Gary!
― Le Baton Rose (Turrican), Monday, 20 May 2019 18:58 (four years ago) link
by the sounds of this new song...nope
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-RxebQuFgJY
still, can't ding him too hard for finding something that works for him
― frogbs, Monday, 11 January 2021 19:39 (three years ago) link
latest album is very much in the vein of the last one. I find it hard to rate this stuff since it's plenty impressive on a technical level but there's definitely an element of "heard this all before" which his shitty mid-80s albums didn't have. I'm guessing after a few listens where I can actually pick the songs apart I'll grow to like it more.
― frogbs, Wednesday, 16 June 2021 19:35 (two years ago) link