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Showing posts with label Gary Numan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Gary Numan. Show all posts

Sunday, 16 March 2025

Gary Numan - Berserker (1984) (1999 Cleopatra US CD reissue)

Berserker is the sixth solo studio album by the English new wave musician Gary Numan, released on 9 November 1984, it was his first album to be released under Numan's own record label, Numa Records.

Gary Numan's recording contract with his previous record label Beggars Banquet had ended with the release of 1983's studio album, Warriors. 
Disillusioned with record companies, Numan decided to create his own record label, Numa Records, to give himself full control over his recordings, production and marketing. Numan was now free to take his music into a harder direction without interference.
Berserker presented a harder synth, hi-NRG-inspired rock sound than Numan's previous studio albums, with an abundant use of sampling and the distinctive sound of the PPG Wave synthesiser. 
It developed on the electro-funk sound of Warriors, marking a change from the prominent fretless bass on his previous three studio albums but retaining the female backing vocals and occasional saxophone.

Lyrically, the album has a haunting, dystopian theme:

The Berserker album doesn't have a central character or a story as such. I was writing about being something, or part of something, fictional. Something that was dreadful, powerful, unstoppable. Something almost alien from what you're used to which is coming your way. I was trying to create a feeling of only half-guessed-at menace. The songs had bits which were specific to me but they were mostly weird fictional stuff about being cold, playing games with people, using people in very unpleasant ways, without ever saying what they were, exactly.

The poignant track "A Child with the Ghost" was Numan's tribute to his friend and former bassist Paul Gardiner, who died in February 1984 from a heroin overdose. 
The track was also covered by the duo Tik and Tok on their studio album Intolerance (which featured Numan) the same year. The industrial undertones of the Berserker album would be more fully explored on Numan's next studio album, The Fury (1985).
Numan appeared on the cover (and throughout the subsequent tour) as a white-skinned, white-clad "Iceman" with blue makeup and hair. 
The album was named after a series of science-fiction novels by Fred Saberhagen, which Numan had read at school.
The title track was released as a single in October 1984, but only made it to No. 32 on the UK Singles Chart; his lowest-charting single at that time, alongside "Sister Surprise" from the preceding studio album Warriors. 
The album was released one month later, but only managed No. 45 on the UK Albums Chart, making it Numan's first studio album to miss the UK top 30. In chart terms, Berserker was outperformed by The Plan, an archival compilation album of early Numan material released by his former record label Beggars Banquet in September 1984 that reached No. 29. "My Dying Machine" was released as the second and final single off Berserker in December of the same year and peaked at No. 66.


Track listing

1.  Berserker - 5:52
2.  This Is New Love - 6:19
3.  The Secret - 5:55
4.  My Dying Machine - 5:37
5.  Cold Warning - 6:01
6.  Pump It Up - 4:45
7.  The God Film - 4:42
8.  A Child with the Ghost - 4:04
9.  The Hunter - 4:32
10.  Empty Bed, Empty Heart - 3:12
11.  Here Am I - 5:46
12.  She Cries - 6:01
13.  Rumour - 2:50
14.  This Ship Comes Apart - 4:01

  • "Rumour", although a Numan solo track for the Berserker sessions, was also the B-side to the "London Times" single with Radio Heart in 1987.
  • "She Cries", a B-side on the "My Dying Machine" single, was a remixed demo from the I, Assassin (1982) album sessions.
  • "A Child with the Ghost" was also recorded by Tik and Tok, appearing on their studio Intolerance (1984).
  • "Pump It Up" was also recorded by Caroline Munro as "Pump Me Up" and released as a single on Numan's Numa label.

Musicians


Notes
Released: 9 November 1984 
Recorded: 1984 Studio Rock City Studios (Shepperton) 
Genre: Industrial rock, Synth-pop 
Length: 1:08:57
Producer: Gary Numan 

Label - Numa

Friday, 19 February 2016

Gary Numan - The Pleasure Principle (1979)

Gary Anthony James Webb, better known professionally as Gary Numan (born 8 March 1958), is an English singer, songwriter, musician and record producer. Born in Hammersmith, London, he first entered the music industry as the lead singer of the new wave band Tubeway Army.

The Pleasure Principle is the third studio album (and debut album under his own name) by British musician Gary Numan. Released about six months after Replicas (which was still under the name Tubeway Army) in 1979, The Pleasure Principle also went to number 1 in the United Kingdom.
The most popular of all the Gary Numan albums is undeniably 1979's The Pleasure Principle. The reasons are simple -- there is not a single weak moment on the disc, it contains his sole U.S. (number one worldwide) hit, "Cars," and new drummer Cedric Sharpley adds a whole new dimension with his powerful percussion work. The Pleasure Principle is also one of the first Gary Numan albums to feature true ensemble playing, especially heard within the airtight, killer groove of "Metal" (one of Numan's all-time best tracks). Starting things off with the atmospheric instrumental "Airlane," the quality of the songs gets stronger and stronger as the album progresses -- "Films," "M.E.," "Observer," "Conversation," the aforementioned "Cars," and the U.K. Top Ten hit "Complex" all show Numan in top form.
Numan completely abandoned guitars on the album. This change, coupled with frequent use of synthetic percussion, produced the most purely electronic and robotic sound of his career. In addition to the Minimoog synthesizer employed on his previous album, Numan made liberal use of the Polymoog keyboard, particularly its distinctive "Vox Humana" preset. Other production tricks included copious amounts of flanging, phasing and reverb, plus the unusual move of including solo viola and violin parts in the arrangements. Numan was also influenced by Kraftwerk; the track "Cars" had the same musical "glides" as "Autobahn" and both songs used the same synthesizers.
Notable tracks included "Airlane", the lead-off instrumental; "Metal", sung from the perspective of an android longing to be human (covered by Nine Inch Nails on Things Falling Apart and Afrika Bambaataa on Dark Matter Moving at the Speed of Light, and used as backing for Planet Funk's "Who Said"); "Films", acknowledged by Bambaataa as an important influence on the U.S. hip hop scene; "M.E.", told from the perspective of the last machine on Earth (later used as backing for Basement Jaxx’s "Where’s Your Head At?"); the electronic ballad "Complex", a UK number 6 single; and "Cars", a worldwide synthpop hit

Track listing

01.  "Airlane" - 3:18
02.  "Metal" - 3:32
03.  "Complex" - 3:12
04.  "Films" - 4:09
05.  "M.E." - 5:37
06.  "Tracks" - 2:51
07.  "Observer" - 2:53
08.  "Conversation" - 7:36
09.  "Cars" - 3:58
10.  "Engineers" - 4:01

All songs written by Gary Numan, except where noted.

Credits
Gary Numan – vocals, keyboards (Minimoog, Polymoog, ARP Odyssey), synthetic percussion
Paul Gardiner – bass
Chris Payne – keyboards (Minimoog, Polymoog, piano), viola
Cedric Sharpley – drums, percussion
Billy Currie – fadeout violin on "Tracks" and "Conversation"
Garry Robson – backing vocals on "Conversation"
Producer - Gary Numan

Companies, etc.
Recorded At – Marcus Recording Studios
Mastered At – Strawberry Mastering
Published By – Beggars Banquet Music Ltd.
Published By – Andrew Heath Music Ltd.
Marketed By – WEA Records Ltd.
Distributed By – WEA Records Ltd.
Phonographic Copyright (p) – Beggars Banquet
Copyright (c) – Beggars Banquet Recordings
Printed By – Garrod & Lofthouse

Notes
Released: 7 September 1979
Recorded: Mid-1979, Marcus Music AB, London, United Kingdom
Genre:  New wave, synthpop
Length: 41:07
© 1979

Label - Beggars Banquet Records