Telekon

Gary Numan's follow-up to the flawless The Pleasure Principle was 1980's Telekon. Although it was another mega-hit back home in Blighty (his third consecutive number one album), Numan could not follow up his massive new wave hit "Cars" in the United States, where he was unjustly slapped with the one-hit-wonder tag. Telekon would also turn out to be the last true classic Numan album, as monetary problems and an unfocused attempt to try different musical forms (as well as a short-lived retirement) would steer him away from his original vision. Although Telekon was indeed a strong album, it could have been even stronger if it included the U.K. Top Ten singles "I Die: You Die" and "We Are Glass" (both were recorded during the Telekon sessions). Numan experimented with funk for the first time in his career ("Remind Me to Smile"), but there were still plenty of chilling synth excursions to keep the Numan faithful satisfied; "This Wreckage," "The Aircrash Bureau," "I'm an Agent," and "I Dream of Wires" are all choice cuts. The 1998 Beggars Banquet re-release eventually did include both the U.K. singles, as well as several other rarities, including a bare "piano version" of "Down in the Park."

Principles Of Pleasure - Re-Upped

I have never knowingly worried about sharing Gary Numan with my fellow travellers so I think I may-have to consider sharing more of his work on these very pages. To begin the process, only 10 years after it's release, the remastered 30th anniversary double CD edition.

The most popular of all the Gary Numan albums is undeniably 1979's The Pleasure Principle. The reasons are simple; there is not a single weak moment on the disc, it contains his worldwide No. 1 hit, "Cars," and new drummer Cedric Sharpley adds a whole new dimension with his powerful percussion work. The Pleasure Principle is also one of the first Gary Numan albums to feature true ensemble playing, especially heard within the airtight, killer groove of "Metal" (one of Numan's all-time best tracks). Starting things off with the atmospheric instrumental "Airlane," the quality of the songs gets stronger and stronger as the album progresses; "Films," "M.E.," "Observer," "Conversation," the aforementioned "Cars," and the U.K. Top Ten hit "Complex" all show Numan in top form. If you had to own just one Gary Numan album, The Pleasure Principle would be it.

After the runaway success of Tubeway Army’s ‘Are Friends Electric?’, Gary Numan went the whole hog and created a purely electronic debut solo album, ditching any traces of his punk past and cementing his place as one of England’s newest genuine superstars (a status that proved to be short lived, in hindsight) with the commercial success of ‘The Pleasure Principle’ and its most memorable single, ‘Cars’ - both of which topped the contemporaneous UK album and single charts, respectively.
It’s almost unavoidable when reviewing this 1979 outing, not to start with ‘Cars’ - such is its iconic, classic status. It’s about as perfect and memorable as a pop song could be, with every detail being a polished and catchy affair. Consider the ‘moogy’ beat, the glorious wave of synth, the sprightly bridge, or perhaps simply, Numan’s waling-like-a-banshee vocals, singing a typically paranoid of tale of a protagonist who feels “safest of all” in the shelter of his automobile; it all combines to form about as thrilling and satisfying a 4 minute pop cocktail could ever hope to be.
The record also boasts another classic, in the robotic, electro-pop brilliance taking the form of track number five; ‘M.E.’. Featuring a tune that’s not quite as sublime as the propulsive glory of ‘Cars’, yet still insanely catchy and memorable; ‘M.E.’s status and recognisability was boosted when its melody was heavily sampled by Basement Jaxx for their nonsensical hit ‘Where’s Your Head At?’, years later. It’s driving, robotic force and nervous synth backing proved to be the perfect infectious backdrop to Numan’s familiar paranoid and alienated lyrics: “Now it’s over, but there’s no-one left to see / And there’s no-one left to die / There’s only me”.
‘The Pleasure Principle’ wouldn’t be as revered as it is, if all that was worthwhile was the aforementioned couple of hits, something which the rest of the track list fortunately solidifies. Numan was an early fan of the original Ultravox line-up, whose punks with synthesisers aesthetic, coupled with singer/songwriter John Foxxs’ seeming fascination with machines and technology, rubbed off on an impressionable young Numan who would attend several of the group’s gigs around the London area. Tracks like the grinding, icy-cold ‘Metal’, and the, quite literally mechanical, ‘Engineers’, bares’ witness to this influence especially well, but the album has a predilection for robotic beats and frosty synth flitters in general.
The overall tone of the album, being as frozen, machine-like, and paranoid as it is, may wane on some listeners towards the end, and the fact that the album is a tad samey in places surely doesn’t help in its defence. Take ‘Tracks’ for example - it just doesn’t deviate enough from the areas explored on the first half of the album to seem a worthwhile excursion; and elsewhere a few other niggles are present, with 'Observer' sounding dangerously similar to 'Cars' at times, and 'Conversation' dragging its ‘blurgy’ melody on for too long. Still, they are only minor niggles, and for the most part, said tracks are still very enjoyable, just less so than more distinctive numbers like the nervous, blur of 'Airlane', or the menacingly grim 'Films'.
‘The Pleasure Principle’ is one of the most important and iconic electronic albums of its time, and fortunately, for all the right reasons. Arriving at the tail-end of 1979, the record helped blueprint the way for swathes of other young British groups who were bored of punk and were looking to experiment with new-fangled synthesisers as tools for making pop music. As it turned out, few did it better, with ‘Cars’ becoming a serious chart presence on both sides of the Atlantic, the album reaching number one in the UK, and Numan himself failing to scale the lofty heights he reached here, ever again, with a series of increasingly disappointing albums leading him down a steady slope to cult-status, rather than maintaining the sheer commercial superstardom he managed here. 37 years on, tracks like 'Cars', 'Metal' and 'M.E.' are still blisteringly good, and Numan’s icon has swelled immeasurably since his solo debut, with a mass of covers and remixes of his most memorable songs, and references of influence by the likes of artists such as Nine Inch Nails’ Trent Reznor. In short, ‘The Pleasure Principle’ is a fantastic listen, and nothing less than essential to fans of electronic music at any level, despite one or two minor niggles.

Do You Dream Of Electric Sheep?

Can it really be almost 40 years since Gary Numan led Tubeway Army over the top, out of the trenches and into the no-man's land of post-punk electronica? Apparently it can. Numan played everything, bar bass and drums, on Replicas only recruiting his Army when he was ready to advance into touring. The shock and awe generated by the second single from this album (Are 'Friends' Electric?) was only reinforced by his part-robot, part-Bowie-as-alien image. Rapidly accumulating sufficient technology and self-confidence to eventually go solo, Numan went on to blitz the album charts and invade stadiums around the world for half the next decade.

Replicas was the second album by the band, Tubeway Army, though by this point it was Numan who was the focus; going solo following the success of this album. He helped spearhead the liberation of synthesiser music from hideous mistreatment in the gulag of deadly serious progressive rock. Using early Ultravox and Bowie and Eno's Low as his touchstones he achieved commercial recognition while maintaining the icy dislocation, key to the sci-fi 'machine' phase of the Ashford boy's career. Filled with songs that would withstand the ravages of time and remain in Numan's setlist for years such as Me! I Disconnect From You and Down In The Park, the album, amazingly, still sounds fresh today.

A lot of this has to do with the current trend of all things analog and old-style. The fat, warm synth tones are employed (along with early drum machines - another cool modern trope) to great effect here, allowing Numan's bleat to ride simple yet effective tunes. Numan's dystopian vision was responsible for a host of Marilyn Mansun-type sins. Yet that would be like blaming Black Sabbath for all the rubbish metal that followed in their wake. And like Sabbath the original material is still as doomily brilliant as ever. Replicas may not be the most sophisticated end of electronica, but its very simplicity makes it as timeless as hell. Numan’s career underwent a nosedive in the '80s yet it appears that after years of being the butt of so many jokes, Gary is having the last laugh.