This guy just does not get the respect he deserves.

Gary Numan is probably one of the most underrated artists in his genre ever to live - it seems totally unfair to me. His "heyday" stuff is brilliant, utterly untouchable, yet back then he was a figure of ridicule in the press and called a freak because of his whole "androgynous robot" thing, yet 5 years later when other artists start emulating him in the 80s they are pioneers of pop and new wave.

Now, Gary is pursuing his own love and is making some stellar albums all over again after his rough patch. Critics are citing it has some of his best work yet, but he's still totally ignored. I feel sorry for poor old Gary.

Anyways, the point of this thread is that I want all of you to give him a listen. He really is great he my opinion. If you know the old stuff, try some new. If you don't know him at all; try some old and new.
The old is electro/new wave
The new is goth electro.

www.myspace.com/garynuman - quite a good selection of songs; but he's missed some stellar traks out.

"A Dark Place" is off his new album, Jagged, it's quite a good song - give it a listen. I personally think it goes on for too long.

"Haunted" is again off his new album, again, average. There's better on the album.

"Cars" who doesn't know this? - from his heyday. Fucking ace.

"Crazier" my current favourite track of one of his little-known newer albums, Hyrbid.

I think actually that this myspace clearly illustrates how far he's come as an artist, and how he's developped. Cars contrasted against Crazier is like 2 totally different artists, both of whom are great.

I recommend you download something as well. I recommend the Telekon album for those looking for the old stuff, or those new to Numan and not into goth electro. I recommend Hybrid to those who want the new, or are familiar with old Numan.


Thanks for reading. :-p
[Edited 1/9/07 3:51am]

i like 'exile' a lot, but all his new stuff after that sounds a bit too aggro for me, like he's trying too hard to channel NIN (even though, yeah yeah, i know, NIN is influenced by gary).

i read his autobio and he seems like a pretty nice guy. i could have really done without the in-depth description of what it's like to get hair plugs , but other than that, it was a good read.

Anx said:

Oh no, he shamelessly rips of NIN - everyone knows that. Gary inspired NIN, then The Downward Spiral inspired Gaz.
He's a really, really nice guy - so relaxed; someone who's just totally happy to do what they want to do, will ignore critics and fans as long as he's pleased, and I like that in him. He hates playing his old stuff live, as Prince says, but unlike Prince, because he's happy to do his own thing, he just doesn't play the hits, whereas Prince does because he worries about losing the adoration and thus his ego massagers.

I actually don't like Exile. I love Sacrifice, the pre-exile first ever "finding my new sound" goth album, and I think Exile was a development of that, and a precursor to Pure. I find that Exile sounds very flat and dull; it's mainly the drums that I don't like. Pure and Hybrid are my favourite new gary albums, and I knw Pure is very aggro, but have you heard Hybrid? It's still aggressive, but in a dance/trance way - not goth rock.

Spookymuffin said:

i have hybrid. isn't it another remix/re-jiggering album of his old hits? it's that two-disc thingie, right? i listened to it a couple of times and then just felt like i got suckered into buying yet another rehash greatest hits collection. maybe i didn't listen closely enough.

Anx said:

It's weird - that's why it's a hybrid. There are re-jiggerings in there, there are dance remixes, and there is new material.

It's like:

20% new material.
20% dance remixes, which are so different from the originals they might as well be new material.
60% re-jiggerings, 30% of which I think are genuinely good.

Listen more closely, perhaps - it's a bit of a weird album, and you definitely have to be in the mood for it, but I actually think that his re-jiggering's (apart from Cars and Are "friends" electric?) were really cool, and almost like whole new songs. Crazier's an awesome track too.

"Absolution" is my favorite Gary Numan track, I think... such an awesome song.

I like Numan.

My fave song from him would probably be either "Down In The Park," "Me! I Disconnect From You" or "Cars." I like how isolated the first two feel.

The Pleasure Principle as a whole really feels retrofuturist to me. Like a clunky, dying robot lamenting the end of sunlight. I really like all the colors it produces.

And, yep, I dig '82's "I Die: You Die."

Mara said:

Good choices. Have you heard "I'm an Agent"? I prefer the Telekon album to TPP and Replicas.

NorthernLad said:

Nice choice!

Spookymuffin said:

Yep. I've been meaning to dig deeper into Numan's catalogue. I wouldn't mind if Living Ornaments '81 happened upon my stereo. Heard "Metal" from that and was really into it. I need to take a moment and just get a lot of his old stuff.

Mara said:

You wouldn't mind, eh?

I've always thought that Prince's 1999 album had a major Gary Numan influence. Prince uses the synths on 1999 very similarly to Gary Numan. Listen to "Cars" by Gary and then "Automatic" by Prince (or really most of the 1999 album) and you'll hear the similarity.

Spookymuffin said:

I'll check it out.
I only know 2 songs,Cars and Are friends electric(I was so crazy about this song and was happy the live version came out years later-is also better)
but I will always remember this guy,those 2 songs made such an impact on me.

I rememeber looking at his discography once and thinking I might be interested in some of his music (I mean "Cars" is killer but that's all I really know) but it just seems like something I don't want to invest to much time or money into. Does anyone have a good collection they would recommend or even one full album.

Gary Numan is awesome. I like industrial music with cockney accents then, innit.

"Down In The Park" is my favorite. I taught myself to play it on synth once.

Favourites are

Down in the Park
Metal
We have a technical
Call out the dogs

I also like "M.E." - Basement Jaxx sampled this for "Where's Your Head At".

VinnyM27 said:

Get the Telekon album from 1980.