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Post by vortex on Apr 16, 2010 9:02:41 GMT
Firstly my apologies to those who either do not know or do not care who Numan is, stop reading.
Well Gazza has just completed another gig and 3 new songs have been premiered, phone videoed and youtubed. Once again my endless optimism for a Numan renaissance has been cruelly put to death. No new songs of any worth are to come this year... and that made me reconsider the back catalogue.
What's the one album which has almost nothing in common with anything before or since and just so happens to be hailed as a masterpiece. Telekon!
It seems to me to exist in isolation whilst everything else can be measured as progression, regression or desperation ie the same riffs/ideas/vocals with changed instrumentation.
I could go on with this thesis but what do you think? Was the masterpiece a construct of the "band" not Numan? Why were none of the musical themes ever visited again? (at least not by Numan)
yours
not a NLB
Vortex
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Post by MrArkadin on Apr 16, 2010 9:46:45 GMT
Have to disagree there. For me it's Dance. It not only stands far above anything he'll ever do, but for me above almost anyone else. Seriously this is my desert island disc - I can listen to it on repeat and never get bored. I will go further (and sound a bit pretentious) and say this is actually a piece of art. God at least we can discuss this like adults. I could call you and Numan a worthles cunt if that makes it feel more like an AFENet discussion.  |
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Post by Dubsounds on Apr 16, 2010 13:19:59 GMT
I'd rather you didn't Ant  What a question! You're both right. Although Assassin was a progression from Dance, it's kind of a mish-mash of old ideas really. Dance was incredibly brave at that time and lost him a lot of fans that year. Being there in the thick of it, I noticed this was the point when a lot of our Numo gang moved on and many of the black jumpsuits and red streaks never returned. Only a minority went to Dunn & Co to buy a trilby and a double breasted suit. Telekon was more of a logical extension of the themes and imagery of the 1979 albums. Yes it sticks out because of its maturity and the collaboration of the talent he had in his band can't be denied. That said, it was taken to our hearts with relative ease at the time and didn't freak anyone out by being too different. Just better. I appear to be part of the Numan ended at Wembley brigade. I like things he did after that but most of the albums since Dance only have a couple of tracks at the most that I like from each one. I'm not interested at all in what he does now and I'm not waiting for him to rekindle my teenage fascination with him either. I rarely play his music to be honest and if I do it will usually be the big four. |
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Post by Polymoog Lover on Apr 16, 2010 15:20:50 GMT
Telekon was a masterpiece. It was so ahead of its time in that it was a loving blend of dark Numan themes with very melancholy sounds. During a time where we could dance if we wanted to, some chose to listen instead.
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Post by MrArkadin on Apr 16, 2010 21:44:36 GMT
I'm firmly part of the Numan ended at Wembley brigade. Easy there, you're in the same camp as KinC or whatever his name is. I don't agree personally with that assessment, however at least you don't spend the rest of your life bitching as if Numan has personally let you down by not following the musical direction you want. NLB is a worthwhile description here. |
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Post by martymoog on Apr 16, 2010 22:08:57 GMT
I'll reply later when I'm sober  |
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Post by vortex on Apr 16, 2010 23:52:24 GMT
God at least we can discuss this like adults. I could call you and Numan a worthles cunt if that makes it feel more like an AFENet discussion. ;D Actually I have had my cunt valued at a local antiques roadshow. It is apparently worth threpence Yes I'd forgotten Dance when I posted and I think its fair to include it in the Telekon era musically if not image wise. Of course some of dance was already written by the Wembley concerts. I agree its a very hypnotic and deep album but I could never bring myself to enjoy "My brothers time" and I'm a bit iffy about "subway" I think Dance represented the last grown up album. It really is remarkably sophisticated compared with what was to come. Warriors still makes me cringe in terms of the image and it was that plagiarised image itself that destroyed the credibility of the album for many critics. By the way I did buy a Fedora and double breasted suit and could be seen sporting it at various nightclubs for a couple of years Never wore me Mum's brooch though |
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Post by Dubsounds on Apr 17, 2010 0:29:33 GMT
Easy there, you're in the same camp as KinC or whatever his name is. I don't agree personally with that assessment... Just my personal opinion borne out of my own tastes in music. It has fuck all to do with anyone else Ant, whether Nick agrees or you disagree. I don't run with any crowd as well you know ;D |
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Post by MrArkadin on Apr 17, 2010 13:19:53 GMT
Just my personal opinion borne out of my own tastes in music. It has fuck all to do with anyone else Ant, whether Nick agrees or you disagree. I don't run with any crowd as well you know ;D Oh yes I know, and I know that you know that I know. Or something. At least you don't waste your life on some forum hating all the time - jeez there's enough negativity in the world without spending time spewing on a forum dedicated to someone you hate.  I have pictures to prove I did the trilby thing in a genuine 1940s suit (even smelled of mothballs). I shall dig them out for your amusement. Back to vortex: you forgot Dance? 20 lashes my boy. Subway is genius and My Brother's Time takes getting into (it was my least favourite track for years - well apart from I Am Render) but now I love it. All the B-Sides etc. make it an amazing package on CD. I mean how good is Exhibition? PS. Yes I love Telekon too, but it's just a brilliant album, whereas Dance is a piece of art. |
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Post by Tokyohunter on Apr 17, 2010 14:48:41 GMT
I too would say Dance is the last Numan album before started to dissolve into what would latter become the low point of Machine and Soul. It would be hard to choose as even Dance has tracks that show progressive links, I always felt You Are You Are was a "child" of I Die:You Die. I still can't get my head around how all the albums up to at least Dance for example sound so clear and vibrant, well engineered/mastered etc, and then fast forward to Outland/Machine And Soul/Sacrifice. Just why did they sound so bad from a recording point of view? ( I did actually think Sacrifice had some good tracks). As for now, I went to the last 3 album related concerts for Telekon/Replicas/Pleasure Principle... Picking the Pleasure Principle gig for example as it's the most recent and I think clear example... After the PP part of the gig ended what followed was to my ears why I don't see Numan live other than to these old album tours. Even the visuals had such a different vibe , PP - insprational- eye candy art etc, then after,fairly depressing imagery, Numan's more focussed up front theme of religion, which I think is not his forte in writing, Personally I think he was best writing about either relationships,fame or early on his SF influenced ideas. I doubt he would do Dance live, but he would be more likely to do the original white tubeway army album instead, that would be interesting.I would like to see Dance live it's just not going to happen, too many real musicians on that recording. I'm just glad John Foxx is still going especially with what is coming in the June show as he represents that period for me now.I still do play the old Numan from time to time but there's just so much more (new) music out there.... and then we can also do our own too |
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Post by Minimoog on Apr 19, 2010 21:14:56 GMT
Actually I have had my cunt valued at a local antiques roadshow. It is apparently worth threpence That's a penny more than they usually go for. |
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Post by mattjessup on Apr 22, 2010 8:40:22 GMT
Dance,......for me, one of the ultimate "chillout Albums" i used to put it on when i got home from gigs @ about 2,,,3am, grab a cuppaT crash in my fav chair and drift away into oblivion,
and the 1st 4 albums, well it was replicas i had first, but tubeway army, rep, TPP n Telekon, the sound of numan that knocked me sideways as a teenager, i was hooked, and telkon remains to this day as one of my favourite numan albums, ive had virtually 30 years good music and memories thanks to gary numan, ..his new stuff, i really dont care, the man is married with kids, and the wrong side of 50, i would think that somewhere in his mind are the plans for retirement,, i personally feel we will be waving goodbye for the last time in the not to distant future, take the memories and run folks, and remember the good times, i think this chapter is soon to close,
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Post by mattjessup on Apr 22, 2010 8:48:44 GMT
I have pictures to prove I did the trilby thing in a genuine 1940s suit (even smelled of mothballs). i also did the trilby n suit, the hat came from dunn & co £17 the suit from some charity shop, £5.00 and yes, it smelled of mothballs. i also still have my red belt harness i wore to wembley, sad i know, but i just cant bring myself to bin it, partly i think because it was made by my now passed on father, |
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Post by mattjessup on Apr 22, 2010 14:50:16 GMT
I mean how good is Exhibition? Exhibition, i rate that alongside "Metal," .... Numan at his best ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D |
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Post by martymoog on Apr 25, 2010 18:18:23 GMT
Exhibition ? Brlliant. so few of us left |
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Post by nervejam on Apr 28, 2010 15:09:44 GMT
Still a Numanoid. Just.
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Post by vortex on Apr 29, 2010 7:12:12 GMT
Got my Micromusic DVD today. To be fair I haven't had chance to blast the sound though anything other than TV speakers.
For the record
TV = Panasonic full HD 50" plasma
DVD player = Xbox
No upscaling
I am a little disappointed by the video artifacts visible on the above system. The blurring on the vertical bars of the side stage light panels ( PP tour) is frankly crap.
Memory is a fickle judge but I'm not sure there is any improvement from the Laserdisc version which found its way onto fan circulated DVD's over the previous years.
Still at least I'm now legit. It serves my ageing memory but it won't convince any new fans. Perhaps the Directors cut is still to come.
I just wish there had'net been the pre release hype
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