He's got me again. For the past 18 years or so I have continued to buy Gary Numan albums only to be dismayed that with each new album the music shifts ever more towards the industrial and to the sound favoured by the bands which he inspired and influenced back in the day. Now it appears to be Numan himself who increasingly emulates those bands, Nine Inch Nails perhaps being the most obvious example.
However, it wasn't always this way and once again Numan has announced a 3 night residency at The Forum in London over which he will play each of his number 1 albums, 'Replicas', 'The Pleasure Principle' and 'Telecon'. Previously since 2006 he has toured all of the albums again, all of which tours I attended.
Personally I was an avid Numan fan, a Numanoid as we were them termed, since first hearing 'Are Friend's Electric?' in the Royal Oak pub, just outside of Burgess Hill, one Sunday lunch time in 1979. It wasn't until the following year that I was able to buy the blank cassettes on which to record the first two albums (but remember 'Home taping is killing music' - don't do it kids!). It wasn't until 1981 that I was able to afford the albums themselves.
I remained a big fan until about 1986, after which he very much lost his way. It is those three albums however, released in 1979 and 1980, that for me encapsulate what Gary Numan was all about. In the space of 72 hours this October I will relive about 80% of my total musical interest throughout my teenage years. More importantly, it means that my daughter, Ramona, will get to see him run through 'The Pleasure Principle' (her favourite album), an opportunity denied to her in 2009 - her brother did see him play it in Cambridge (one of the three gigs uploaded today), a fact that is still a bone of contention 6 years on.
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