Tubeway Army – are ‘friends’ electric? Beggars Banquet BEG 18 1979 UK
That this still sounds fresh to me even today is testament to the impact it had when it was originally released. There has been much talk about Numan appropriating this or that from various places, but nobody did this like he did this.
I had a load of singles once upon a time but I gave them away when I was 16 and moved to a new town, that is a regret I have as I can’t remember now what half of them were, but each one was so carefully chosen as they cost all the money I had.
Exile is the thirteenth solo studio album by Gary Numan, released in October 1997 by Eagle Records. I have difficulty with this, namely that it was 21 bloody years ago, I can’t reconcile with this timespan at all, ten I could accept, but 21, it seems so damn long ago. I was still, just, in my twenty’s. I bought it a couple of years ago and I have only just looked to see what year it was released, hence my difficulty coming to terms with it being 1997.
Its release continued a critical upswing in Numan’s career which had begun three years earlier with the release of Sacrifice. This album is loosely conceptual, based on God and the Devil being two sides of the same coin, not denying God, but questioning whether God is entirely a force for good. Shorty after the release of the album Numan was quoted as saying: “Personally, I don’t believe in God at all, but if I’m wrong and there is a God, what kind of god would it be who would give us the world we live in?”
The opening track, Dominion Day, is basically gothic/industrial rock and everything that follows is in the same tone. It’s a mine that he has been digging from the late 90’s until today, and very successfully at times. The track describes a man’s nightmare becoming reality as Christ returns to Earth in scenes reminiscent of the Book of Revelations.
Dark explores Numan’s premise of an incestuous relationship between God and the Devil. The track was widely used for movie trailers before actually appearing in one, Alex Proyas’ Dark City.
Dead Heaven is a different telling of biblical tales with Mary not being revered by the three wise men, but ravaged and Absolution muses on the consequences of unquestioning faith.
Thought I saw love Sacrificed Mary under three wise men Thought I saw the Virgin look at me and cry
Exile received some very positive reviews at the time of release but wasn’t a chart success, though the accompanying tour was very well attended. Some fans who had been put off by Sacrifice’s (The previous release) anti-religious undertones were further alienated by the subject matter and lyrics of Exile. The website remindmetosmile.com (now defunct) changed from a tribute page to one openly critical of Numan for being “so bold that he feels he can mock God and feel good about it“. Numan’s response was:
“This sort of reaction always amazes me. Here you have people that genuinely believe that God created this entire bloody universe in just six days, without anybody’s help, and yet they seem to think that He needs their help to deal with little me. If God was bothered about me, He would deal with me“.
I find the reaction of the fans rather odd as, if you go all the way back to Replicas in 1979 the guy is singing, in Down In The Park, about rape machines, which those who were complaining about being mean to God, were presumably absolutely fine about.
You can watch the humans Trying to run Oh look there’s a rape machine I’d go outside if he’d look the other way
There are several youtube videos of the Exile tour but the quality is bloody awful so I won’t share them here, go seek them out if they are of interest.
The album, a double on 180g Grey vinyl was selling for £8 in the now defunct local record store, I still think it was a bargain as it is full of really good songs, not very cheerful songs it’s true, but still good. I wouldn’t put it on at a party unless I wanted everybody to get on a bit of a downer and leave. Also, it didn’t originally receive a vinyl release, there was a pressing in 2008 and the one I have is 2012. Originally it was CD or cassette only.
This and the previous album were very much the beginning of Numan’s upward trajectory although he would not reach the superstar status of his early years he has carved out a place for himself in modern music by not relying on those early releases and insisting on always moving forward by releasing new material and touring it. Recently there have been full album tours, which has been in vogue of late, but he has said himself that sometimes you have to give the people what they want, but he is still putting new music out there and stands or falls by it.
Sunday afternoons are a good time to spin a few 45’s, starting with this one:
Tricky ft PJ Harvey – Broken Homes (B-Side)
Gary Numan – I Die You Die
The Sisters of Mercy – Temple of Love (1992)
The Dickies – Banana Splits
Talking Heads – Once In A lifetime
Depeche Mode – Just Can’t Get Enough
Blondie – Dreaming
The Tubes – White Punks On Dope
The Raconteurs – Steady As She goes
Sinead O’Connor – Jump In The River (B- Side)
The Cure – The Exploding Boy (B-Side)
David Bowie – Cracked Actor – (B-Side)
Echo & The Bunnymen – The Killing Moon
Martha & The Muffins – Echo Beach
Black Uhuru – The Great Train Robbery
Spiritualized – Soul On Fire
Bjork & David Arnold – Play Dead
Siouxsie & The Banshees – Christine
John Foxx – Underpass
Mogwai -Party In The Dark
Lena Lovich – Joan
Catatonia _ Game On
David Bowie – DJ
Killing Joke – Sanity
P.I.L. – Rise
Prince – When Doves Cry
The Smiths – The Boy With The Thorn In His Side
It was nice to see Gary Newman on the Old Grey Whistle Test anniversary thing the other night. Still out there, still releasing new music. Here is the performance from what was, overall, a rather brilliant Tv experience, the BBC should bring it back, it was always the best music show on telly and there’s bugger all worth watching nowadays. MTV killed music television.
I signed up to the Pledge music campaign for this album, and it was late, but to be honest the deadline that was set for completion wasn’t very realistic so that was expected. Numan did a lot of bits and pieces for the ‘Access Pass’ bit with regular updates and videos, which is good as this is supposed to be the added value bit and a lot of artists don’t really seem to bother with it as much as they should, Zola Blood being an example, a few messages over the period of a year and that was about it. Numan really did fulfill his side of the bargain with his access pass involvement.
I signed up for the double vinyl in a gatefold sleeve and that is what I got, along with a badge and a postcard that I wasn’t expecting, which was a small but nice addition.
I saw Numan, with Dave (Hi Dave) earlier this year and heard a lot of the tracks live before they were released, and they sounded really good in a small venue, however, there is a slight sense of sameiness (that can’t be an actual word) about the album when you listen to it through from start to finish, a lot of which is to do with the repeated use of sounds, particularly the deeper bassy bits (apologies if that was a bit technical there).
The single, ‘My Name is Ruin’ is a highlight in this set, and was undoubtedly the correct choice as lead single from the album. It features Persia Numan on backing vocals and this works really well, it’s pretty catchy as well and bears repeated listening. To be honest, there aren’t any bad tracks on the album and it does feal like a logical extension from the last album ‘Splintered: Songs from a broken mind’ which looked inward, with ‘Songs from a broken world’ looking outward.
“My Name Is Ruin”
When they called me broken, I knew
When they called me evil, I knew
When they called me ruin, I knew
I would always find my way to you
When I beg forgiveness, they knew
When I beg for mercy, they knew
When I beg for nothing, they knew
I would always find my way to you
My name is ruin, my name is vengeance
My name is no one, no one is calling
My name is ruin, my name is heartbreak
My name is loving, but sorrows and darkness
My name is ruin, my name is evil
My name’s a war song, I sing you a new one
My name is ruin, my name is broken
My name is shameless, I’ll tear you wide open
When I called you poison, you knew
When I called you shameful, you knew
When I called you a liar, you knew
I would always find my way to you
I’ll show you ruin, I’ll show you vengeance
I’ll show you no one, and no one is calling
I’ll show you ruin, I’ll show you heartbreak
I’ll show you loving, and sorrow and darkness
I’ll show you ruin, I’ll show you evil
I’ll sing you a war song, I’ll sing you a new one
I’ll show you ruin, I’ll show you broken
I’ll show you shameless, I’ll tear you wide open
Tracklist
A1
Ghost Nation
A2
Bed Of Thorns
A3
My Name Is Ruin
B1
The End Of Things
B2
And It All Began With You
B3
When The World Comes Apart
C1
Mercy
C2
What God Intended
C3
If I Said
D1
Pray For The Pain You Serve
D2
Broken
D3
Cold
The main concept of the album is of an environmental dystopia brought about by global warming, and that seems quite on the money right now. However, even though I know that there was no offence intended by the cover art, apparently some folk have taken offence to it, with Numan in seemingly Bedouin garb alongside the word Savage. It is not the best cover ever.
There do appear to be three more singles from the album, but only one video has been made, for the fourth single, which is ‘When the world comes apart’, which isn’t anywhere near as good a video as for the first single.
I think a certain amount of credit has to go to Numan, who, unlike many other bands/artists who first came under the spotlight at the end of the 70’s and the begining of the 80’s, he has not rested on his laurels, living off past glories and producing nothing new. He has regularly produced new music and for a very long time refused to play many of the old tracks for which he was best known. This changed in recent years as he has now toured the old albums, ‘The Pleasure Principle’ and ‘Telekon’ in particular, but while still creating new music. I believe he has become more comfortable with the old tracks and sees them as less of an issue as, while he prefers to keep looking forward, you can’t deny the past.
You can go back as far as 1997 and find really good albums that were mostly overlooked, ‘Exile’ for example, is an excellent album that explores the concept that God and the Devil are different sides of the same coin. ‘Pure’ from 2000, another excellent album, as was the last release, ‘Splinter’.
For a few of his earlier albums Numan has taken the general concepts and themes from stories he has written, but which are seemingly never published, and turned them into songs, the first of which was ‘Replicas’ and I suspect that we have a similar method here. I’m pretty sure that ‘My Name Is Ruin’ is about a father hunting down his daughter who, in the dystopian future setting of the album, has been abducted.
Following the album’s release, it was revealed that, in spite of it being predominantly recorded with electronic instruments, it had been excluded from Billboard’s dance/electronic music chart, with an executive from Billboard advising BMG that “Sonically, the Numan album just does not fit in” with Billboard’s perception of electronic dance music. The Billboard dance/electronic chart’s number one position for September 15 was held by Calvin Harris, whose album, Funk Wav Bounces Vol. 1, sold approximately 600 fewer copies than Savage. So. fuck Billboard I say. More importantly, it reached Number 2 in the UK album charts, kept of the top spot by the Foo Fighters with ‘Fire & Gold’ and reached Number 1 in the UK indie chart.
Because I can, here is ‘My Name is Ruin’ again, this time from the gig that Dave and I were at in Leamington Spa.
I am going to give this album an 8.3, which is a pretty decent rating I think, a little more variety (at least as far as my ears are concerned) and it would have been rated a bit higher, but like all new albums, sometimes these things take time to bed in and it could be revised either way in the future.
Last week I bought a job lot of 50 7” singles for £22.00, which is £0.44 per single. Which sounds pretty cheap, although the other way to look at it is that I didn’t want all of them so I paid much more per item for the ones I actually wanted. I suspect the latter is closest to the truth although I did listen to a few of them that I didn’t think I wanted but am now quite happy that I got them.
As I previously mentioned I saw Gary Numan again a couple of weekends ago and, because I seem to enjoy punishing myself, I did yet another list. These lists are hard and I will want to change it as soon as I publish it, but a line has to be drawn somewhere so here goes.
There are many reasons for the inclusions and exclusions, and where they appear in the list, and all of those reasons are mine, so I have no doubt that somebody will see something as glaringly omitted or ridiculously included. Please feel to question the list, I’ll probably agree with you to be honest as this is one of the most difficult I’ve done, partly due to the number of tracks and both the difference in quality (Mid Period Numan is difficult for me) and the difference in styles.
POS.
TITLE
ALBUM/YEAR
50
Bombers
(Tubeway Army – 1978)
49
Listen To The Sirens
(Tubeway Army – 1978)
48
I Dream of Wires
(Telekon – 1980)
47
She’s Got Claws
(Dance – 1981)
46
What God Intended
(Savage (Songs from a Broken World) – 2017)
45
White Boys And Heroes
(I, Assasin – 1982)
44
Telekon
(Telekon – 1980)
43
Music for Chameleons
(I, Assasin – 1982)
42
I, Assassin
(I, Assasin – 1982)
41
Pray
(Sacrifice – 1994)
40
Dark
(Exile – 1997)
39
Pray For The Pain You Serve
(Savage (Songs from a Broken World) – 2017)
38
Ghost Nation
(Savage (Songs from a Broken World) – 2017)
37
Dominion Day
(Exile – 1997)
36
It Must Have Been Years
(Replicas – 1979)
35
This Wreckage
(Telekon – 1980)
34
Remember I Was Vapour
(Telekon – 1980)
33
We Take Mystery (To Bed)
(I, Assasin – 1982)
32
Praying to the Aliens
(Replicas – 1979)
31
Rip
(Pure – 2000)
30
Absolution
(Exile – 1997)
29
Dead Heaven
(Exile – 1997)
28
A Prayer for the Unborn
(Pure – 2000)
27
Splinter
(Splinter (Songs from a Broken Mind) – 2013)
26
Mercy
(Savage (Songs from a Broken World) – 2017)
25
When the Sky Bleeds, He Will Come
(Dead Son Rising – 2011)
24
Dead Sun Rising
(Dead Son Rising – 2011)
23
Jagged
(Jagged – 2006)
22
My Name Is Ruin
(Savage (Songs from a Broken World) – 2017)
21
Haunted
(Jagged – 2006)
20
We are Glass
(Single – 1980)
19
In a Dark Place
(Jagged – 2006)
18
Here in the Black
(Splinter (Songs from a Broken Mind) – 2013)
17
Complex
(The Pleasure Principle – 1979)
16
We’re the Unforgiven
(Splinter (Songs from a Broken Mind) – 2013)
15
Halo
(Jagged – 2006)
14
M.E.
(The Pleasure Principle – 1979)
13
Airlane
(The Pleasure Principle – 1979)
12
I Am Dust
(Splinter (Songs from a Broken Mind) – 2013)
11
Metal
(The Pleasure Principle – 1979)
10
Everything Comes Down to This
(Splinter (Songs from a Broken Mind) – 2013)
9
Love Hurt Bleed
(Splinter (Songs from a Broken Mind) – 2013)
8
I Die: You Die
(Single – 1980)
7
Me! I Disconnect from You
(Replicas – 1979)
6
Films
(The Pleasure Principle – 1979)
5
Engineers
(The Pleasure Principle – 1979)
4
Down in the Park
(Replicas – 1979)
3
Pure
(Pure – 2000)
2
Cars
(The Pleasure Principle – 1979)
1
Are ‘Friends’ Electric?
(Replicas – 1979)
Here is my Top 10
You may well be asking yourself how on earth ‘Pure’ ended up where it did? Well, it was the song that I first heard after a long hiatus that made me first think that Numan had more to offer and wasn’t just a late 70’s, early 80’s pop star living off old hits.
Good gig last night, Dave enjoyed it and loved the venue. It was a mix of new and old numbers, the encore being ‘down in the park’ and ‘are friends electric’ which went down well.
The new single was good and Numans daughter, Persia, came on to sing as she does on the single. It was a nice moment, some of which is in the short video below that I took on my phone. (Edit – Couldn’t upload mine so here is a much better one from youtube (Edit 2 – Playlist of 5 tracks from the night))
There were some songs from the new album, so I didn’t know those, but they sounded pretty good, which bodes well for the upcoming album release. I had a look at the merchandise and there was a triple album called ‘Obsessive’, I saw the price and enquired no further, £80 for a three record set is more than I was ever going to pay.
Setlist
Everything Comes Down to This
Films
Bed of Thorns
Metal
Ghost Nation
Jagged
We’re the Unforgiven
Mercy
A Prayer for the Unborn
Here in the Black
My Name is Ruin
(Performed with his daughter Persia)
Cars
Pray for the Pain You Serve
Love Hurt Bleed
Gary Numan at the Assembly in Leamington tonight with my friend Dave. It’s the second time I’ve seen him there but I really had to twists Dave’s arm to get him to come, I think it was the threat of nipple clamps that finally made him give in and agree to come. He’s never been to the venue, and it’s a great venue, so even if that’s all he gets out of it then that’s enough, but Numan puts on a great`at show and might surprise him.
There’ll be no seats tonight and it’s not actually as clean as it looks, those carpets on either side are so sticky with beer you can hardly lift your feet at times.
Anyway, here’s the video of the single from the new album, which I backed on Pledge music or whatever it’s called so I should have a copy as soon as it’s available.
Max Richter – Songs From Before
Future Sound Of London – Environments 6.5
Bjork – Bastards
Mike Oldfield – Platimnum
Vangelis – Spiral
Bob Marley – Exodus
Isaac Hayes – Joy
Isaac Hayes – Shaft
Isaac Hayes – Hot Buttered Soul
Gary Numan – The Pleasure Principle
Can – Tago Mago
Vangelis – Invisible Connections
Vangelis – Albedo 0.39 Kyle Dixon & Michael Stein – Stranger Things Vol. 1
I had a sudden impulse to but some 7” singles. I’m not entirely sure what brought this on other than a few items on an ebay search filter for ‘LP’ sneaking through and capturing my attention. I have had little or no interest in 7” singles since I was about 16, when they were the only affordable way of buying music. I had no means of income so what little I was able to scrounge up would rarely be enough for an album so it was only singles that were really in my price range. I did manage to obtain a few albums, but not that many really, I think around that time I had about 20 or 30 at most which probably took me years to accumulate.
So I saw this bundle of 80 singles which worked out at £0.375 each and thought I’d pop a bid on them, expecting to be outbid, but you never know, perhaps nobody else wanted them. Which is exactly what happened, my opening bid was the only one. So what did I buy for the princely sum of, near enough, 3 for a £1?
Well, obviously there were some items that I wasn’t that interested in but these were outweighed by those that were of interest, and some of those that weren’t of interest might very well be, once I’ve had a listen to them.
Here is a list of what is on its way to me next week with a few comments:
1) Siouxsie And The Banshees – 1980 – “Christine” – pic sleeve
– I had this one when it came out and really liked the lyric in particular – “Christine, the strawberry girl,Christine, banana split lady, Now she’s in purple, Now she’s the turtle, Disintegrating, Christine, Christine” – I’m not saying they make any sense, but I do like them. 2) Siouxsie And The Banshees – 1985 – “Cities In Dust” – pic sleeve
3) Transvision Vamp – 1989 – “Baby I Don’t Care” – pic sleeve
4) The Toy Dolls – 1984 – “Nellie The Elephant” – pic sleeve
– This was played all the time at a place I used to work, I would hear it every single day. I’m not sure if I hate it or not.
5) Captain Sensible – 1983 – “Glad It’s All Over” – pic sleeve
6) Atomic Rooster – 1970 – “Tomorrow Night” – plain sleeve
7) Various – 1994 – “Nasty Vinyl Sucks” EP (Germany) – pic sleeve
8) Kenny Everett – 1983 – “Snot Rap” (Sid Snot) – pic sleeve
– I definitely hate this
9) The Vapors – 1980 – “Turning Japanese” – pic sleeve
– I never had this single but it’s a great little song and reminds me very much of 1980 when it was released.
10) The Stranglers – 1985 – “Let Me Down Easy” – pic sleeve
11) The Stranglers – 1981 – “Golden Brown” – pic sleeve
– Well I love the Stranglers and have several of their albums so this is a bonus really
12) Bow Wow Wow – 1982 – “I Want Candy” – pic sleeve
– Not my favourite of theirs, that would be either ‘Wild in the country’ or ‘C30,C60,C90” but in the early eighties I very much had a thing for Annabella Lwin, which is reason enough to have it.
13) The Ramones – 1980 – “Baby I Love You” – pic sleeve
– Speaks for itself, it’s the Ramones, how could I not want it?
14) Ian Dury and The Blockheads – 1979 – “Reasons To Be Cheerful part 3” – pic sleeve
15) Ian Dury and The Blockheads – 1978 – “Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick” – Pic sleeve
– I had both of these at the time, although the former I had on 12” rather than 7”, no idea what happened to it but I’m glad to have it again. The Barney Bubbles covers are brilliant as well.
16) XTC – 1979 – “Making Plans For Nigel” – plain sleeve
– Had this as well, and I’m getting more and more into XTC of late, more than I was back in the 70’s and 80’s, I don’t think I appreciated what they were about at the time.
17) The Jam – 1982 – “Beat Surrender” – pic sleeve
18) The Jam – 1977 – “All Around The World” – plain sleeve
– Nice to have
19) Tubeway Army – 1979 – “Are Friends Electric?” – pic sleeve
20) Gary Numan – 1987 – “Cars (‘E’ Reg Model)” – pic sleeve
21) Gary Numan – 1980 – “We Are Glass” – plain sleeve
– Also Nice to have
22) Nick Lowe – 1978 – “Little Hitler” – pic sleeve
23) Nick Lowe – 1978 – “Cruel To Be Kind” – plain sleeve
24) Nick Lowe – 1978 – “I Love The Sound Of Breaking Glass” – plain sleeve
– I always rather liked Nick Lowe, I think because he was on Stiff Records, and so was Ian Dury. The only one of these I didn’t know was ‘Little Hitler’, which I just listened to and I think it’s the weaker of the three, but it was an expression one doesn’t hear so much anymore, so that’s interesting. There can’t be many singles that reference Hitler in the title.
25) Squeeze – 1978 – “Goodbye Girl” – pic sleeve
26) Squeeze – 1979 – “Cool For Cats” – pic sleeve
27) Squeeze – 1981 – “Labelled With Love” – plain sleeve
28) Squeeze – 1981 – “Is That Love” – pic sleeve
– I liked Squeeze and had a pink 7” version of ‘Cool For Cats’, I may have had ‘Up the Junction’ as well, but, much like XTC, I didn’t really appreciate how good they were as songwriters.
29) Elvis Costello & The Attractions – 1981 – “Good Year For The Roses” – plain sleeve
30) Elvis Costello & The Attractions – 1978 – “Radio Radio” – plain sleeve
31) Elvis Costello & The Attractions – 1979 – “Oliver’s Army” – pic sleeve
32) Elvis Costello – 1980 – 4 track EP “New Amsterdam” – pic sleeve
33) Elvis Costello – 1989 – “Veronica” – pic sleeve
34) Elvis Costello & George Jones – 1979 – “Stranger In The House” – pic sleeve
– Happy to have these Elvis Costello singles, his early period is what I favour most.
35) Toyah – 1983 – “Rebel Run” – pic sleeve
36) Toyah – 1981 – “I Want To Be Free” – pic sleeve
37) Toyah – 1981 – “Thunder In The Mountains” – pic sleeve
38) Toyah – 1981 – 4 track EP – “Four From Toyah” – pic sleeve
39) Toyah – 1981 – 4 track EP – “Four More From Toyah” – pic sleeve (with free flexi disc)
40) Toyah – 1982 – “Brave New World” – pic sleeve
– I had a single by Toyah titled ‘IEYA’, which I thought was great, and still do, but it’s not in this lot, which is a shame. I did see her performing on a Top Of The Pops repeat the other week, I think it was ‘ I Wanna Be Free’, it was awful.
41) Adam And The Ants – 1980 – “Kings Of The Wild Frontier” – pic sleeve
42) Adam And The Ants – 1978 – “Deutscher Girls” – pic sleeve
43) Adam And The Ants – 1980 – “Car Trouble” – pic sleeve
44) Adam And The Ants – 1980 – “Ant Music” – pic sleeve
45) Adam And The Ants – 1978 – “Young Parisians” – pic sleeve
46) Adam And The Ants – 1980 – “Dog Eat Dog” – pic sleeve
47) Adam And The Ants – 1981 – “Stand & Deliver” – pic sleeve
48) Adam And The Ants – 1981 – “Prince Charming” – gatefold pic sleeve
49) Adam And The Ants – 1982 – “Goody Two Shoes” – fold out poster sleeve
50) Adam Ant – 1982 – “Friend Or Foe” – pic sleeve
– I’ve written before about Adam and The Ants, in particular ‘Kings of the Wild Frontier”, which you can read about here: https://wordpress.com/stats/day/verian.wordpress.com if you’d like to. I think their/his early work in particular is rather underrated.
51) The Boomtown Rats – 1977 – “Mary Of The 4th Form” – pic sleeve
52) The Boomtown Rats – 1977 – “Looking After No.1” – plain sleeve
53) The Boomtown Rats – 1980 – “Banana Republic” – pic sleeve
54) The Boomtown Rats – 1978 – “Like Clockwork” – company sleeve
55) The Boomtown Rats – 1978 – “Rat Trap” – pic sleeve
56) The Boomtown Rats – 1979 – “I Don’t Like Mondays” – company sleeve
– There was a point where I really liked the Boomtown Rats, probably shortly before ‘I don’t like Mondays’ became a mega hit but I remember being disappointed at some point and thinking that their song quality control was somewhat lacking. Maybe I expected hit after hit and, when that didn’t happen, became disillusioned with them, but these singles are probably the best of them, so that’s good.
57) The Police – 1981 – “Spirits In The Material World” – (Italy) pic sleeve
58) The Police – 1978 – “So Lonely” – pic sleeve
59) The Police – 1986 – “Don’t Stand So Close To Me ’86” – pic sleeve
60) The Police – 1979 – “Walking On The Moon” – company sleeve
61) The Police – 1980 – “Don’t Stand So Close To Me” – company sleeve
62) The Police – 1980 – “De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da” – pic sleeve
63) The Police – 1981 – “Invisible Sun” – pic sleeve
64) The Police – 1981 – “Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic” – company sleeve
65) The Police – 1980 – “The Beds Too Big Without You” – pic sleeve (blue vinyl)
66) The Police – 1983 – “King Of Pain” – pic sleeve
67) Sting – 1991 – “Mad About You” – pic sleeve
68) Sting – 1993 – “Seven Days” – pic sleeve
– I loved The Police and had all the singles that were released from the first two albums, and ‘Fall Out’, which was their first single (although I may have had the 1979 re-issue rather than the 1977 original). I didn’t dislike their next albums, I just wasn’t as keen on them as the first two and I’m still not. If they had any kind of edge, I think it was lost on ‘Zenyatta Mondatta’ and everything that followed it.
69) Blondie – 1978 – “Heart Of Glass” – company sleeve
70) Blondie – 1978 – “Sunday Girl” – pic sleeve
71) Blondie – 1979 – “Dreaming” – pic sleeve
72) Blondie – 1979 – “Union City Blue” – pic sleeve
73) Blondie – 1980 – “Atomic” – company sleeve
74) Blondie – 1980 – “Call Me” – pic sleeve
75) Blondie – 1980 – “The Tide Is High” – pic sleeve
– Love, love, love Blondie. From the first moment I heard ‘Denis’ I’ve loved them, which would have been 1978 I guess. I still rate ‘Parallel Lines’ as one of the very best albums ever made.
76) Kraftwerk – 1974 – “Autobahn” – company sleeve
– Good to have
77) Viva Youth – 1985 – “Fight Back (anti heroin song)” – pic sleeve (France)
78) Sting with Eric Clapton – 1992 – “It’s Probably Me” – pic sleeve
79) Fluffy – 1996 – “Nothing” – pic sleeve
80) The Baby’s – 1977 – “Isn’t It Time” – plain sleeve
– These last 4, no idea, other than that I will probably hate the Sting & Eric Clapton single.
As you can see from the following pictures, they aren’t perfect copies, but I don’t mind at all, it’s more about finding something I’d lost than anything else, and for not a lot of money, which is great. I’m really looking forward to them arriving so that I can have a 7” Single session, should be fun.
What is there to look forward to on the album release front in 2016? Well, there will be loads, but these are the ones I’m most interested in, should they actually happen.
David Bowie – Black Star
This is only a couple of days away, 8th January, and I’m hoping that it is amazing. I’m a fan of later period Bowie, ‘Heathen’ in particular, which was released 14 years ago! But ‘Reality’ is also good. I did wonder if there was to be anything else, then ‘The Next Day’ appeared in 2013. Which, overall was good, with “Where Are We Now?” being the stand out track for me.
‘Blackstar’ has already received favourable pre-release reviews with a score of 84 at Metacritic. I like both the ‘Blackstar’ Single and ‘Lazarus’, which are, sonically, adjacent to ‘The Next Day’. Here is the track listing:
1.”Blackstar”
2.”‘Tis a Pity She Was a Whore”
3.”Lazarus”
4.”Sue (Or in a Season of Crime)”
5.”Girl Loves Me”
6.”Dollar Days”
7.”I Can’t Give Everything Away”
PJ Harvey – As Yet Untitled
PJ Harvey recently wrote and recorded a new album at Somerset House in London in front of members of the public who were able to watch Harvey during 45-minute intervals as she and her band recorded. Harvey has claimed that she thinks the experiment will “help tap into a different level of consciousness”.
I loved the last two albums and don’t mind at all that from one album to the next you don’t know what you’re going to get, that’s part of her appeal I think.
Possible Track Names (Written on a blackboard at Somerset House)
‘River Anacostia’
‘Homo Sappy Blues’
‘Medicinals’
‘Imagine This’
‘Chain Of Keys’
‘The Ministry Of Defence’
‘Near The Memorials To Vietnam & Lincoln’
‘The Boy’
‘A Dog Called Money’
‘A Line In The Sand’
‘The Ministry Of Social Affairs’
‘Dollar Dollar’
‘The Age Of The Dollar’
‘I’ll Be Waiting’
‘The Community Of Hope’
‘The Orange Monkey’
‘The Wheel’
‘Guilty’
Radiohead – As Yet Untitled
Radiohead spent the month of September holed up in the studio working on their ninth studio album. It appears the sessions were a success, as guitarist Jonny Greenwood has told a Russian radio station that the band has all but finished the record.
“We have finished recording of the new album but we keep reevaluating the work we’ve done,” Greenwood told Russia’s Silver Radio (via Reddit). “We hope we’ll get it right soon, and after that we’ll start planning the next year’s tour.”
The above is not quite true, Greenwood has clarified his comments on Twitter. He said lots of material has been recorded and “the band is about to go through it all to see if it’s any good.” Additionally, he said the band hopes to tour, but no plans have been confirmed.
I’d love a new Radiohead album but am happy to wait if it means getting the absolute best they can do than otherwise, just to fulfil a contractual obligation or other pressures to put something out.
M.I.A. -Matahdatah
I don’t know much about this other than it is apparently being released this year and it’s called ‘Matahdatah’ but I’ve been a big fan of M.I.A since her first release and have really liked almost everything she’s ever put out. I thought it great that she got more press than Madonna for the Super bowl half-time show.
Bonobo – As Yet Untitled
A new release, the follow up to The North Borders, should be out on Ninja Tunes this year. I do hope so as I have a couple on vinyl and play them rather more often than I thought I would.
The other I play quite a lot is the 2000 release of ‘Animal Magic’, which may be 16 years old now, but it still sounds current to me and I’d recommend it to just about anybody.
Primal Scream – Chaosmosis
This should happen in March as it’s been created using Pledge Music. I think I will sign up for a vinyl copy after pay day. I’ve been on the lookout for a vinyl ‘Screamadelica’, but the re-issue, when I’ve come across it, is £25 which just seems a bit on the pricey side to me.
It doesn’t come up that often on ebay, not at a reasonable price anyway, it’s quite often more expensive than just buying a brand new copy, especially when you factor in postage and packaging.
Gary Numan – As Yet Untitled
Another Pledge music campaign, but I’ve already signed up for this one and have been following progress with the included Access Pass. This includes posts from Numan, videos of songs as they are being written/recorded, photographs and suchlike. So far so good and if it is finished by the end of the year then another Numan vinyl to add to the many I already have.
Is there anything else on the horizon that I should be looking out for?
Gary Numan I Die You Die: 3 Minutes 48 Seconds: 1980
Well I’ve been waiting for a place to fit Gary Numan in to this mix tape and I think this is probably the best place. I could have gone Side 1 after or before Kraftwerk, but it seemed too obvious. So here we are, from Numan’s second (or 4th depending on how you are counting) studio album and a number 6 single in the UK, back when you had to sell crap loads to get into the charts.
Yesterday I signed up to Pledge Music to pre-order the Gary Numan album that will be released in about a years time. I went for the double vinyl, with extra track, which comes with a download code, so the best of both really. You also receive an access pass for updates on album progress. Below is the launch video which explains how it will all work. It was £33 all in, which is, admittedly, steep for a vinyl, but the extras even that out I think and it’s about right for what I’d be willing to pay. CD or just download is cheaper of course.
I am an incompletist, this is clear to me, this is very similar to a completist, but without the need to get absolutely everything. What I have is the need to get a lot, but not all. This is evidenced but my previous desire to get a couple of Gary Numan/Tubeway Army albums on vinyl, namely ‘The Pleasure Principle’ and ‘Replicas’. What happened next is a manifestation of my incompletism, which may very well be an ilness. I went a bit obsessive. It’s calmed down a bit now, but it isn’t over. So this is what I ended up getting, remember, I started out wanting two:
Now, I’ve spoken before about how Numan somehow never manages to be cool and there has been ridicule over the years, however, he has put out some great albums over the last few years that, sadly, have been mostly ignored. Take ‘Pure’ as an example, it really is some of the best music he’s ever done (mine is a double in red vinyl, lovely thing) which goes back as far as 2000. Have a listen, it’s really very good:
Ok, maybe this will work better:
Gary Numan – Guitar, Keyboards, Programming, vocals
Richard Beasley – drums
Steve Harris – Guitar
Rob Holliday – Guitar, Keyboards
Monti – Drums, Keyboards, Programming
The album received mixed reviews, from rather scathing to warm, which is a shame, but there seem to have been sections of the media that have never taken to Numan. Jumping back a little further, there is ‘Exile’, which is worth having just for the track ‘Dead Heaven’, one of my favourites, but the whole album is good.
Gary Numan – vocals, producer, keyboards, guitar, engineer, mixing
Mike Smith – keyboards
Rob Harris – guitar
Here is Numan the one time I’ve seen him live back in 2011, two of the musicians didn’t turn up but they carried on regardless, was a good gig.
Chances are I’ll pick up a few more, bound to happen really.
The press in the late 70’s and early 80’s never really took to Gary Numan, in fact, they bloody well hated him. It’s difficult to be sure quite why they did, but he was so vilified that they didn’t seem to rest until they had indoctrinated the record buying public into believing that it was actually wrong to like him, wrong to like his music, and, eventually, when he was at his lowest commercial and creative ebb, they ignored him. In many ways, this was worse as, in their opinion, he was not doing anything that was even worthy of comment. It was their vilification that was partially responsible for the reduction in quality of his output, they got what they wanted.
It is not unfair to say that ‘Middle Period’ Numan is at very best, patchy, although Numan himself is rather more scathing about his own releases from this period. I remember a guy in Didcot, when I was nearing the end of my school life, who was a Numanoid. He wore make up and a Numanesque boiler suit, he really did look a total dick. Despite this, it was good that he had his own thing, sort of. So many of us at that time were somewhat lacking in identity, drifting from one thing to the other whilst trying to like the same things as our friends liked. It took guts to walk through the park past a group of lads who were laughing at him in his ridiculous clothes (and they were ridiculous, in that setting), so fair play to him.
So what’s in the bag? Back to the beginning (almost, as this is the second album), to 1979, ‘Tubeway Army’ and ‘Replicas’.
Obviously this has ‘Are Friends Electric?’, the breakthrough song and the one, along with ‘Cars’ that is most often referenced and best remembered, but this is not one of those albums that has the big hit and a load of filler.
“Me! I Disconnect from You” – 3:23
“Are ‘Friends’ Electric?” – 5:25
“The Machman” – 3:08
“Praying to the Aliens” – 4:00
“Down in the Park” – 4:24
“You Are in My Vision” – 3:15
“Replicas” – 5:01
“It Must Have Been Years” – 4:02
“When the Machines Rock” – 3:15
“I Nearly Married a Human” – 6:31
Of the above the two other stand out tracks for me are the opener, ‘Me! I Disconnect from You’ and, with what must surely be some of the darkest lyrics of the time, ‘Down in the Park’:
Down in the park where the machmen meet The machines are playing ‘Kill-by-numbers’ Down in the park with a friend called ‘Five’
I was in a car crash or was it the war? Well, I’ve never been quite the same Little white lies like I was there
Come to Zom-Zom’s, a place to eat Like it was built in one day You can watch the humans try to run
Oh, look, there’s a rape machine I’d go outside if it looks the other way You wouldn’t believe the things they do
Down in the park where the chant is death, death, death Until’ the sun cries mornin’ Down in the park with friends of mine
We are not lovers, we are not romantics We are here to serve you A different face but the words never change
Apparently Numan took short stories that he had written and turned them into songs, or based songs on them. Which is where this one came from and explains the theme of the album as a whole.
All the other tracks stand up in their own right and create a really solid album where everything has its place and is in it’s place. By design or accident it is a fabulously constructed album, which could even be considered one of the dreaded ‘concept’ albums, and part of this concept is the coldness of it, the distance and the space, perhaps the sense that the narrator in the songs is always outside looking in.
I’ve rambled on enough, have a listen (the first 10 tracks are what’s on the vinyl).
Back at the tail end of 2011 I went to see Gary Numan at The Assembly in Leamington Spa. It wasn’t until over half way through that it was announced that two of the band hadn’t turned up, I hadn’t really noticed the absence, so they’d done a pretty good job. There’s a video below from that gig that somebody took and below that is the set list for that night.
This is only a couple of days away, 8th January, and I’m hoping that it is amazing. I’m a fan of later period Bowie, ‘Heathen’ in particular, which was released 14 years ago! But ‘Reality’ is also good. I did wonder if there was to be anything else, then ‘The Next Day’ appeared in 2013. Which, overall was good, with “Where Are We Now?” being the stand out track for me.
PJ Harvey recently wrote and recorded a new album at Somerset House in London in front of members of the public who were able to watch Harvey during 45-minute intervals as she and her band recorded. Harvey has claimed that she thinks the experiment will “help tap into a different level of consciousness”.
Radiohead spent the month of September holed up in the studio working on their ninth studio album. It appears the sessions were a success, as guitarist Jonny Greenwood has told a Russian radio station that the band has all but finished the record.
I don’t know much about this other than it is apparently being released this year and it’s called ‘Matahdatah’ but I’ve been a big fan of M.I.A since her first release and have really liked almost everything she’s ever put out. I thought it great that she got more press than Madonna for the Super bowl half-time show.
A new release, the follow up to The North Borders, should be out on Ninja Tunes this year. I do hope so as I have a couple on vinyl and play them rather more often than I thought I would.
This should happen in March as it’s been created using Pledge Music. I think I will sign up for a vinyl copy after pay day. I’ve been on the lookout for a vinyl ‘Screamadelica’, but the re-issue, when I’ve come across it, is £25 which just seems a bit on the pricey side to me.
Another Pledge music campaign, but I’ve already signed up for this one and have been following progress with the included Access Pass. This includes posts from Numan, videos of songs as they are being written/recorded, photographs and suchlike. So far so good and if it is finished by the end of the year then another Numan vinyl to add to the many I already have.
