'Warriors' was the last album that Gary Numan recorded for Beggars Banquet Records, leaving the label to form his own, which he named Numa. The first album released on Numa was 1984's 'Berserker', which was notable for being his first foray into music computers and samplers, such as the PPG Wave, and the album was accompanied by a new blue-and-white visual image, including Numan himself with blue hair. When the title track was released as a single it reached the UK top 40, but despite this the album divided critics and fans, and commercially it was his least successful release to that point. A collaboration with Bill Sharpe of Shakatak as Sharpe & Numan was more successful, and in March 1985 their single 'Change Your Mind' reached No. 17 on the UK chart, although further singles were very sporadic throughout the late 80's, with an album finally appearing in 1989. Late in 1985 Numan released the live album 'White Noise', recorded during the Berserker Tour, and both the album and an accompanying live EP reached the UK Top 30. Numan's next album was released the same year, and 'The Fury' charted slightly higher than 'Berserker', breaking into the top 30, and once again heralded a change of image, this time featuring Numan in a white suit and red bow tie. Three singles were released from it, with 'Your Fascination', 'Call Out The Dogs' and 'Miracles' all reaching the top 50 on the UK charts. In 1986 he scored two further top 30 hits with 'This Is Love' in April and 'I Can't Stop' in June, but the accompanying album 'Strange Charm' only spent two weeks on the album chart, peaking at No. 59. In November 1986 a version of the song 'I Still Remember' from the previous album was released as a charity single and stalled at No. 74. In 1991 he ventured into film-scoring by co-composing the music for 'The Unborn' with Michael R. Smith, and he continued to released albums, but by 1994 he'd decided to stop attempting to crack the pop market and concentrate instead on exploring more personal themes, including his vocal atheism, resulting in a harsher, more industrial direction with his songwriting on the album 'Sacrifice', on which, for the first time, he played almost all the instruments himself. The move was critically well-received, as his harder and darker sound emerged just as Numan-influenced bands like Nine Inch Nails were enjoying their first rush of fame. He continues to write and record to this day, and in 2016 he was one of several collaborators on Jean-Michel Jarre's album 'Electronica 2: The Heart Of Noise', with the track 'Here For You' being co-written by Jarre and Numan. For this final collection of rare b-sides and out-takes we cover the years from the release of the 'Berserker' album and singles in 1984, through to the last album where he was still aiming for the charts, with 'Strange Charm' in 1986. As an indication of just how influential Numan was in the evolution of electronic music in the 70's and 80's, in 2017 he received an Ivor Novello Inspiration Award from the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers, and Authors, and so I hope that this series of posts shows exactly why that was awarded to him.
Track listing
01 Nameless And Forgotten (out-take 1983)
02 Empty Bed, Empty Heart (b-side of 'Berserker' 1984)
03 Here Am I (b-side of 'My Dying Machine' 1984)
04 She Cries (b-side of 'My Dying Machine' 1984)
05 Rumour (out-take 1984)
06 The Fear (b-side of 'Miracles' 1985)
07 This Ship Comes Apart (b-side of 'Call Out The Dogs' 1985)
08 No Shelter (b-side of 'Call Out The Dogs' 1985)
09 We Need It (b-side of 'Your Fascination' 1985)
10 Anthem (b-side of 'Your Fascination' 1985)
11 Time To Die (bonus track on cassette version of 'Strange Charm' 1986)
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