Gary Numan - Time To Die (1986)

'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) 

Gary Numan - Noise Noise (1983)

With his former backing band of Chris Payne (keyboards, viola), Russell Bell (guitar), and Ced Sharpley (drums) now reformed as Dramatis, Gary Numan contributed vocals to their 1981 hit 'Love Needs No Disguise' from the album 'For Future Reference', and he also lent his vocals to the first single released by his long-term bassist Paul Gardiner, with 'Stormtrooper In Drag' making the UK charts the same year. Numan's own career, however, had begun to experience a gradual decline, and he was eclipsed commercially by former support act Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, as well as by the Human League, Duran Duran, and Depeche Mode, and although each album also saw a new image, none of these captured the public's imagination to nearly the same extent as the lonely android of 1979. The follow-up to 'Dance' appeared in 1982, but 'I, Assassin' fared less well, and despite producing the top 10 hit 'We Take Mystery (To Bed)', plus two other top 20 singles, the album peaked at No. 8 and left the charts after a six-week run. The heavily percussive funk style of the album did make several tracks from the album, such as the 12" version of 'Music For Chameleons' and a special remix of 'White Boys And Heroes', unexpected successes in the American club scene, and so 18 months after Numan's farewell concerts in April 1981 he embarked on a US tour. 1983's 'Warriors' further developed Numan's jazz-influenced style, and featured contributions from Bill Nelson, but the musicians fell out during recording, and so Nelson chose to be uncredited as co-producer. The album performed less well than 'I, Assassin', peaking at No. 12, but it did produce two hit singles, including the top 20 title-track. This second collection of b-sides and out-takes covers the flips of the singles released from 'I, Assassin' and 'Warriors', including an exclusive mix of both parts of 'My Car Slides', as well as a couple of interesting out-takes.  

Track Listing

01 Dance (out-take 1981)
02 Noise Noise (b-side of 'Music For Chameleons' 1982)
03 Bridge? What Bridge? (b-side of 'Music For Chameleons' 1982)
04 The Image Is (b-side of 'We Take Mystery (To Bed)')
05 War Games (b-side of 'White Boys And Heroes' 1982)
06 Glitter And Ash (b-side of 'White Boys And Heroes' 1982)
07 This House Is Cold (out-take 1982)
08 My Car Slides (Parts 1 & 2) (b-side of 'Warriors' 1983)
09 Poetry And Power (b-side of 'Sister Surprise' 1983)
10 Face To Face (Letters) (b-side of 'Sister Surprise' 1983)

Gary Numan - Exhibition (1981)

Following the release of Tubeway Army's second album 'Replicas' in 1979, Gary Numan was already busy recording his next album with a new backing band, and when he was invited to record a John Peel session he opted to premiere four new songs instead of promoting the Tubeway Army release. The first fruits of his labours was the single 'Cars', and this first solo effort reached No. 1 in the UK charts, as well as finding success in North American, spending two weeks at No. 1 on the Canadian RPM charts, and reaching No. 9 in the U.S. charts. His debut solo album was also released in 1979, and 'The Pleasure Principle' equaled the success of 'Cars', reaching No. 1 in the UK, and a sell-out tour quickly followed. In contrast to Tubeway Army's music, 'The Pleasure Principle' was a rock album with no guitars, instead using synthesisers fed through guitar effects pedals to achieve a distorted, phased, metallic tone. The second single from the album was 'Complex', which didn't quite match the success of 'Cars', but achieved a respectable No. 6 on the UK Singles Chart. In 1980 Numan released the singles 'We Are Glass' and 'I Die: You Die', reaching No. 5 and No. 6. in the UK singles chart, and he then topped the album charts for a third time with 'Telekon', but when 'This Wreckage' was lifted from the album in December, it only scraped into the top 20. 'Telekon' was his final studio album that he retrospectively termed the "machine" section of his career, reintroducing guitars to his music and featuring a wider range of synthesisers. The same year he embarked on his second major tour with an even more elaborate stage show than the previous year, but then unexpectedly announced his retirement from touring with a series of sell-out concerts at Wembley Arena in April 1981. A live two album set from the 1979 and 1980 tours released at this time reached No. 2 in the UK charts, and they were also released individually as 'Living Ornaments '79' and 'Living Ornaments '80', charting separately in their own right. Departing from the pure electro-pop that he had been associated with, Numan began experimenting with jazz, funk, and ethereal and rhythmic pop, and his first album showcasing this change in style was 'Dance', which came out in 1981, and which charted at No. 3 on the UK charts. The album produced one hit single in 'She's Got Claws', and featured several distinguished guest players, such as Japan's Mick Karn on bass guitar and saxophone and Rob Dean on guitar, Roger Mason of Models on keyboards, and Queen's Roger Taylor on drums. For this first of three collections of b-sides and out-takes we look at the non-album tracks which appeared on those first seven solo singles, emphasising the difference between his solo work and the Tubeway Army period, most notably on the b-side of 'We Are Glass', 'Trois Gymnopedies (First Movement)', and the piano version of 'Down In The Park'. 

Track listing

01 Asylum (b-side of 'Cars' 1979)

02 Random (out-take 1979)

03 Bombers (Live) (b-side of 'Complex' 1979) 

04 Oceans (out-take 1979)

05 We Are Glass (single 1980)

06 Trois Gymnopedies (First Movement) (b-side of 'We Are Glass')

07 I Die: You Die (single 1980)

08 Down In The Park (Piano Version) (b-side of 'I Die: You Die')

09 On Broadway (b-side of 'Remember I Was Vapour' 1980)

10 A Game Called Echo (out-take 1980)

11 Photograph (b-side of 'This Wreckage' 1980)

12 I Sing Rain (b-side of 'She's Got Claws' 1981)

13 Exhibition (b-side of 'She's Got Claws' 1981)

Tubeway Army - Do You Need The Service? (1979)

Gary Anthony James Webb had fronted London band Mean Street in 1976 when he was just 18, and they saw their song 'Bunch Of Stiffs' appear on the 'Live At The Vortex' compilation album, after which he left the band and auditioned as lead guitarist for The Lasers, where he met bass-player Paul Gardiner. The Lasers soon became Tubeway Army when Webb's uncle Jess Lidyard joined on drums, and the band gave them selves suitably sci-fi names, with Webb rechristening himself 'Valerian', Gardiner was 'Scarlett', and Lidyard became 'Rael'. Webb was a prolific songwriter, and through playing gigs on the punk scene, and also recording some demos (later released on CD as 'The Plan') they managed to secure a record deal with the independent Beggars Banquet label, releasing two guitar-heavy, punk-style singles in the first half of 1978. During this time the band went through some line-up changes, changing drummers, and briefly adding a second guitarist, but due to musical differences Webb (now renamed Gary Numan) and Gardiner split with them as they wanted to move away from punk rock. As Numan was unhappy with playing on the often violent London punk scene, they became a studio-only band, quickly recording the 'Tubeway Army' album, and while it was still largely guitar/bass/drums-based, the album saw Numan's first tentative use of the Minimoog synthesizer, which he had come across by accident in the recording studio during the album sessions. Lyrically the record touched on dystopian and sci-fi themes similar to those employed by authors J. G. Ballard and Philip K. Dick, of whom Numan was a fan, and keen to distance his music from punk rock he wanted to drop the Tubeway Army name and release the album under his own stage name, but this idea was rejected by Beggars Banquet, and so 'Tubeway Army' was released in November 1978. 

Despite selling out the initial pressing of 5000 copies it didn't enter the album charts, and no singles were lifted from it, but undeterred, Numan took Tubeway Army back into the studio to record their follow-up album 'Replicas'. The result was more synth and science fiction oriented than the last album, and although the first single from the album, 'Down In The Park', failed to chart, it would prove an enduring cult track in the years to come. In early 1979 they were invited to record a session for the John Peel show, and this exposure might well have helped their next single 'Are 'Friends' Electric?' to reach the No. 1 spot on the UK singles chart. By this time the band included Chris Payne, Paul Gardiner, drummer Cedric Sharpley, and Ultravox keyboardist Billy Currie, and they gave memorable performances on both Top Of The Pops and The Old Grey Whistle Test, appearing dressed all in black and playing in a near-motionless manner, earning them comparisons to a band of androids. While all this was happening for the band, Numan was already busy recording his next album with a new backing band, and at the peak of their success, he opted to premiere four new songs in a John Peel session in June 1979 rather than promoting the current album, and so the Tubeway Army group name was dropped. While they will forever be remembered for that huge hit single (and deservedly so, as it is a classic), they were an innovative band for the period, integrating new wave synths into their punk-rock sound, and by listening to this collection of singles, b-sides, radio sessions and out-takes you can actually hear the transition from all-out punk rock to what would become Numan's signature electronic direction when he started his solo career.   

Track listing

01 That's Too Bad (single 1978)
02 Oh! Didn't I Say (b-side of 'That's Too Bad')
03 Bombers (single 1978)
04 Blue Eyes (b-side of 'Bombers')
05 O.D. Receiver (b-side of 'Bombers')
06 Do You Need The Service? (b-side of 'Down In The Park' 1979)
07 We Are So Fragile (b-side of 'Are 'Friends' Electric?' 1979)
08 Films (John Peel Session 1979)
09 Airlane (John Peel Session 1979)
10 Conversation (John Peel Session 1979)
11 Only A Downstat (out-take 1979)
12 We Have A Technical (out-take 1979)
13 The Crazies (out-take 1979)