GARY NUMAN (Pt.2): The Middle Years - Album Reviews - 80s  

Electronic Cafe: Episode 12 - Gary Numan - Part 2 (Inc. "Hot Stuff" ALBUM REVIEWS) - EDM Synth-wave - from Dance to Machine + Soul

Dance has always been my favourite Numan LP, largely for the outstanding bass playing throughout and more stripped back almost ambient feel of some of the tracks. Great atmosphere. I know it’s problematic for some fans, and even Numan himself. I think it’s a very elegant LP. I don’t have a problem with Sax solos either 😁

Generally a good and fair assessment. "She's Got Claws" must be one of the most over-ordered singles ever. I was a regular trawler of bargain bins in the 80s and you caould guarantee that you'd find a copy of it lurking in there , along with "Mule (Chany No2 )" by Beggar and Co ( retailers obviously thought their attempt to exploit the Spandau connection would pay off). I think "Dance" is a worthwhile listen nut therafter his output was generally pretty dismal.

The middle years albums are better than the absolute dross that's come out since Sacrifice.

the fury and strange charm are friggin' awesome. full, rich sound. bladerunner samples ! i love them.

The problem with Gary's music in the 80's, too many saxophone solos and female backing vocals.

I enjoyed both Dance and I assassin, they were VERY different from his machine music albums. Warriors was a good album but I knew that sister surprise was a mistake of a single. My preference would have been either I am Render or The rhythm of the evening. Berserker onwards the lack of Gary Numan became glaringly obvious. Lets not talk about machine and soul an album I did not buy at the time (the first one I didn't buy) Thank god for Gemma!

Thank you so much for supporting and loving my record ... and Gary Numan ofc :)

I think ‘I Assassin’ is one of Numan’s best albums, definitely in his top 5. Pino’s bass playing, the tight drum work (live) and the continued use of analog synths for the most part, gelled into some solid songs. In my mind the gap after that album until ‘Pure’ was the lost years. Yes some bright spots in there, but both nothing at the level of the 2 aforementioned albums…

In remember going to see Numan in the early 90's, he was still mainly synth based. Went to see him a year or so later and he'd transitioned into more guitar based stuff. My mate hated it and walked out. Have seen him since and he's amazing live.

Hi there! Please let me add my voice to those praising Dance, although my reasoning might seem odd to you. Like you guys, I love the first four albums. Numan was also my first gig, at the age of 15: I was spoiled for all future gigs by first seeing that amazing loon in bandages (sadly now passed) playing violin and synths on a bare, dark stage... and then the curtains opening on the astonishing set and performance of the Teletour. (And I can =admire= the more recent industrial material, without =liking= it anywhere near as much -- although I do largely agree with you about the interverning wilderness years, with the exception of Warriors. I was already also a Bill Nelson fan, and I can hear his influence all oveer the album (even the lead guitar sound), despite Numan hurriedly remixing it, and Bill taking his name off it. And the Warriors live show was excellent, too: the last of the really elaborate stage sets (and still using Nelson's guitar sound!). The first thing about Dance, though, is that it seemed such a brave creative departure, most obviously in variations of style and texture (from 'Slowcar. as the looong, slooow, reflective opening... to Roger Taylor joyfully clattering his way through 'Crash'), but also in an exposed, lyrical humanity and vulnerability (pretty much throughout) unheard (in my view) since 'Jo the Waiter'. Much as I loved (and still do) the earlier material, Dance seemed to me like an artist really maturing, with the courage to try a LOAD of new things, and to do so very well. My second reason, you might find a little controversial: to my ear, Dance is the only Numan album without a single turkey on it. Even given its very surprising range (especially given his general stylistic consistency beforehand), it successfully accomplishes everything it sets out to do. Every time I play it, even today, each track comes as a breath of fresh air, and I am actually sad (although still oddly satisfied!) when the album ends. Even on the ealier classics, I can always find something (up to entire tracks) that I hear as a misjudgment that I wish wasn't there, and (in a small way) that damages them for me. I can endure those segments, out of continuing admiration for the guy, plus nostalgia -- but with Dance, that never happens at all. I'm still a fan -- enough to have gone to London for that big Albert Hall gig five years ago -- but for me I doubt that the sheer novelty, range and musical success of Dance will ever be recaptured.

Well Replicant went straight on my Bandcamp wish list...luv Bandcamp and thanks for the recommendation Mark. 👍🏻🤗

I really enjoy "Dance" and play it regularly.

So glad I found you! Dance is my favorite Gary Numan album, but it’s a challenging listen. I didn’t like it for a long time, funnily enough. I’ve been doing Gary Numan reviews on my channel. Seems like there’s about 4 of us on YT who talk about Numan. We should have a round table discussion.

Very, very good!

Very good 👍. Have been listening to Fiat Lux newish CD. Very good

To be honest lads, after revisiting this period listening to this, i am bloody angry lol. What the hell was Gary thinking of!? I suffered all these back in the day. Jesus, this period was dog sh*t.

Gary is one of my favourite musicians, following him since 1979. The album Replicas original released by Tubeway Army was mindblowing beside Kraftwerk at that time. I prefer the 80s and later 90s Synthiepop area, since 2000s he became darker and guitar based, though some albums like Intruder are brilliant. By the way when reading the subitles you're writing Newman not Numan, I guess just a typo. Cheers from Germany.

Hi, I'm here thanks to certain Vaughn. :-) A bit of background... NIN is #1 music for me, Depeche mode is #2, best album ever is The Wall and best live is Roger Waters. So, as for Gary... even here behind "iron curtain" I knew the name, and that there were some "Cars", but even after NIN "Metal" I never cared to try his music. But, then I think RU-vid suggested me "The End of Things", and I kept watching with open mouth like "wait... this is Gary Numan...? he is this good, he can sing like this?" and then I tried Savage and The Fallen and they became absolute best album of the year for me, no hesitation there, amazing energy, sound, dynamics, lyrics, pain, honesty, everything hit strongly. So now I'm supporting his upcoming Intruder, watching every video from studio, but here's the thing... I still never tried his previous albums, like, Savage is so ****ing good that it's like I don't NEED anything else...? I'm weird, I know. Let's see after video part 3, thank you. :-) Note: For me music is too loud compared to spoken words in your videos, but somehow I have this feeling with most RU-vid content... (too sensitive something or I don't know)

bit of a late comer to your channel, top stuff so far...i also went to that brentwood gig 92ish and thought numan was finished.....he had lost me album wise, after i, assassin....and now numan's gigs are amazing.....the best gigs for me are his festival ones.....seeing non-numan fans reactions.....

Love she’s got claws video. Dance album image was arty. I purchased the trilby from Dunn & co. Staff in the shop vilified me because of my honesty why I wanted it, showing the album. Stuck up old bores. Track subway and night talk were my car scapes. And slow car and Cry the clock were my headphone favourites. It’s an experimental, forgotten album, including assigned, epic musicians and talent. I adore it.

I’m loving this series of reviews but the changes in audio levels between Mark audio (very quiet), Andy’s audio (about right) and the music clips (way too loud) is driving me nuts. I understand that each segment is recorded separately and on different set-ups, but ensuring the levels are normalised for playback would make a huge improvement to the overall quality of the show... content 10/10, production 5/10

Ha. You know when you guys have made it to the major league when everyone in the comments is a critic. And I’ll add to that. 😂 warriors is when I first got into Gary Numan and I still rate it as his best. Music is certainly subjective 😊

Being hooked to Gary's music from the start, a new album was awaited with excitement and first listening to "Dance" I got hooked immediately and kept on playing the "Slow car to China" / "Cry the clock said" side for hours. Sure it was a bit different (and disappointed for some) but its was some step froward. Dance is my Gary's favorite album and the one I've listen the most of all his albums, even today. Such a shame the eponym song wasn't part of the album. First listening "I Assassin" was a slight disappointment : more or less the same sound than "Dance" but less inventive/diverse, far from the haunting atmosphere of "Dance" and far from offering the same panel of iconic songs... as it was made of discarded songs previously written for Dance. "Warriors" didn't bring much confort. Except a couple of tracks, certainly the less rated (and played) album to me

We Take Mystery, Noise Noise, The Image Is, Music For Chameleons, This Is My House, A Child With The Ghost, God Only Knows, Call Out The Dogs, just a few middle years track that I'd rather listen to than ANYTHING from Sacrifice to Intruder. Numan's new music is one dimensional and lyrically complete nonsense, climate change ffs😂

for me everything up through Strange Charm was pretty solid, Pleasure principle my least favourite of that entire batch, the Prince covers were admittedly ill-advised, but even on his weakest albums there are still always great tracks. you lot are brutal! Dance through Berkserker is my favourite overall phase of his career, I like the new stuff, but the first batch of industrial albums sounded kind of all the same to me up until Savage, where he really found his feet in that genre, incorporating some of his classical motifs, interesting to hear him interpreting Reznor's interpretation of his own sounds. I like the new stuff, but boy do I miss the great bassists he once championed and gave great freedom to.

I'd take all his albums from the 80s and I'd even take the Machine and Soul single over anything from Sacrifice onwards. I can't stand his industrial sound. Although it's great to see him back on top. Looking forward to the Replicas/PP gigs coming up, and have been to the odd gig since he did the PP tour in 2010 but other than that, I've stopped going to his gigs. He needs to change his sound again and get rid of Ade Fenton...his sound his tired now

Change Your Mind was a great track until the intro was over, and then it suffered incredibly badly from an absolute lack of low end. As a DJ in the 80's, I could never play it due to the absolutely piss poor production. It sounded rubbish on a club system unless the bass was totally cranked up on the mixer. Exile, is an excellent album.

The "middle years?"...you mean the crap he's produced since Telekon? His first three albums are fantastic. Telekon was OK and the next two had a few good songs...but after that it was all downhill. He needs to get over his obsession with Reznor. He should dust off the instruments from 1980 and make a proper follow up to The Pleasure Principal.