In Praise Of Gary Numan's "I'm An Agent"

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The chaos. The crunching guitar chords. The soaring moog lines.
The closeout viola solo. And of course, on vocals, Numan:Machine

― ZionTrain (ZionTrain), Tuesday, 10 May 2005 23:30 (twenty-one years ago)

What the fuck, are you reading my mind? I'm listening to Telekon right now! Are you in my head? WHO ARE YOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOUUUUU?

Great song on a great album, yes. Also, Kenickie's cover's great.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 10 May 2005 23:32 (twenty-one years ago)

Though the song from the album that's been in my head these last couple of days has been "I Dream of Wires."

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 10 May 2005 23:33 (twenty-one years ago)

NED HE'S IN YOUR HOUSE

― s1ocki (slutsky), Tuesday, 10 May 2005 23:37 (twenty-one years ago)

that ghost story where the babysitter gets the threatening phone calls and calls the cops and gets the calls traced and omg the killer is IN THE HOUSE would receive a wonderfully modern update if the killer was blogging from inside the house, not calling

― s1ocki (slutsky), Tuesday, 10 May 2005 23:39 (twenty-one years ago)

In that case he's gonna get my headcold so I suggest he leave immediately.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 10 May 2005 23:39 (twenty-one years ago)

Gotta love that Kenickie cover.

― Michael F Gill (Michael F Gill), Tuesday, 10 May 2005 23:52 (twenty-one years ago)

The Aircrash Bureau:

"My dog goes AWOL
I blame you all"

hey maybe Telekon was his best album after all?

― moley (moley), Wednesday, 11 May 2005 00:00 (twenty-one years ago)

Hang on, that lyric was from the title track. It's all blurring in my mind.

― moley (moley), Wednesday, 11 May 2005 00:01 (twenty-one years ago)

For those who require a soundtrack to this thread:

http://www.mp3miracle.com/GaryNuman/IMAnAgent/

― moley (moley), Wednesday, 11 May 2005 00:05 (twenty-one years ago)

Haha the old pick down the guitar string thing...

― moley (moley), Wednesday, 11 May 2005 00:06 (twenty-one years ago)

...and the spooky viola solo at the outro that sounds like a small crying monster.

― moley (moley), Wednesday, 11 May 2005 00:08 (twenty-one years ago)

Oh, this is good. Trouble is, my copy of Telekon is a cassette tape from 1980 and the sound is pretty terrible. I really need to get a new one. "Metal" has always been my favorite Gary Numan song, though..

― daria g (daria g), Wednesday, 11 May 2005 02:42 (twenty-one years ago)

For fucks sake, my head is killing me. Curse you NED!

― ZionTrain (ZionTrain), Wednesday, 11 May 2005 03:03 (twenty-one years ago)

Oh, this is good. Trouble is, my copy of Telekon is a cassette tape from 1980 and the sound is pretty terrible.

you MUST get the cd IMMEDIATELY!

re the thread topic -- hmmm, "i'm an agent" is actually my least favorite song on telekon. that would be a toss-up b/w "i dream of wires," "i die: you die," or "remind me to smile." w/ "the aircrash bureau" as the sleeper-track.

― Eisbär (llamasfur), Wednesday, 11 May 2005 03:15 (twenty-one years ago)

I Dream of Wires is the one for me, i think. Sweet memories of listening to this album as a teenager in my room...

― moley (moley), Wednesday, 11 May 2005 03:28 (twenty-one years ago)

"Metal" has always been my favorite Gary Numan song, though..
-- daria g

How timely would it be for him to return to that sound? Anyone who says this approach to electronic pop music is fully explored is pulling our legs.

― moley (moley), Wednesday, 11 May 2005 03:30 (twenty-one years ago)

Oh, I'd love more songs like that. I've only heard a couple of his records plus Replicas.. With Numan, "Metal" is one of those instances where I love one song to the point that I'm always waiting for something else the artist does to just blow me away like that, and it never quite gets that good again. I had this problem discovering Throwing Muses with "Bright Yellow Gun."

― daria g (daria g), Wednesday, 11 May 2005 03:36 (twenty-one years ago)

"metal" is pretty f'ng great -- if we're talking about pleasure principle, my pick would be "m.e." which shoulda been a hit here in the states (i agree w/ donut on that one -- though i'd wish it was the LONG version).

― Eisbär (llamasfur), Wednesday, 11 May 2005 04:01 (twenty-one years ago)

two weeks pass...

the part of this song i can never get enough of is the bridge at 2:36 where the guitar solo shimmies and shakes underneath the moody moog lines and quasi-disco drums.

any guitarists here know how numan got that "wet" sound on his early records. one of my fav guitar sounds ever.

anyone else play in this style?

― ZionTrain (ZionTrain), Saturday, 28 May 2005 21:08 (twenty-one years ago)

Secret to "I Dream Of Wires"==the stutter funk guitar at 2:35.

ZionTrain, I think it's b/c they're slightly phased. Funny, actually, that such a keyboard guy would have so many great guitar moments.

― Naive Teen Idol (Naive Teen Idol), Saturday, 28 May 2005 22:49 (twenty-one years ago)

He seemed a kbd guy by choice tho

― A Viking of Some Note (Andrew Thames), Sunday, 29 May 2005 15:57 (twenty-one years ago)

imagine if numan never found that moog in the corner of the studio.. numan might have gone down as a footnote of the washed out punky rocker tpye.

― ZionTrain (ZionTrain), Tuesday, 31 May 2005 00:21 (twenty-one years ago)

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