I am in touch with my inner android today. As I was grabbing CDs to take to work this morning I flitted over John Foxx's
Metamatic and those Ultravox reissues and settled on
Gary Numan. The day began with 1978's
Tubeway Army. Here is a powerful trio - Gary, bassist Paul Gardiner and drummer Jess Lidyard - who harness the energy of punk rock and tart it up with ominous synths. Gary's drone was unique and his lyrics were about isolation and sex and schizophrenia and technology.
Listen To The Sirens opens the album with muscular riffs and futurist ideas.
Every Day I Die is an atmospheric ode to masturbation. The seeds had been planted for an interesting musical adventure. I then moved on to 1979's
The Pleasure Principle...
Best known for it's mega hit single
Cars, this album fully embraces the synthesizer and dumps the Tubeway Army name. Sure, it still rocks, but the synth rules. Instrumental opener
Airlane is a chugging epic, all soaring synths and a melody reminiscent of Gary's electro-rock peers Ultravox. It's followed by
Metal, where the synths and science fiction continue to dominate. These tracks still sound good to me, despite the fact that they are nearly 30 years old!
I am in touch with my inner android today. As I was grabbing CDs to take to work this morning I flitted over John Foxx's Metamatic and those Ultravox reissues and settled on Gary Numan. The day began with 1978's Tubeway Army. Here is a powerful trio - Gary, bassist Paul Gardiner and drummer Jess Lidyard - who harness the energy of punk rock and tart it up with ominous synths. Gary's drone was unique and his lyrics were about isolation and sex and schizophrenia and technology. Listen To The Sirens opens the album with muscular riffs and futurist ideas. Every Day I Die is an atmospheric ode to masturbation. The seeds had been planted for an interesting musical adventure. I then moved on to 1979's The Pleasure Principle...
Best known for it's mega hit single Cars, this album fully embraces the synthesizer and dumps the Tubeway Army name. Sure, it still rocks, but the synth rules. Instrumental opener Airlane is a chugging epic, all soaring synths and a melody reminiscent of Gary's electro-rock peers Ultravox. It's followed by Metal, where the synths and science fiction continue to dominate. These tracks still sound good to me, despite the fact that they are nearly 30 years old!
1 comment:
Ah, this brings back memories of being in the Gary Numan Fanclub around 1980. Replicas still gets played quite often.. Timeless
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