in praise of ... <i>telekon</i> by gary numan

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'cause this friggin' place is crawling with numanoids goddammit!

http://image.allmusic.com/00/amg/cov200/dre000/e030/e030737q96v.jpg

― Eisbär (llamasfur), Tuesday, 2 December 2003 23:35 (twenty-one years ago)

besides which, (1) we've already had a thread asking folks to choose b/w replicas and the pleasure principle; (2) lotsa folks love telekon at least as much, if not more, than the aforementioned numan records; (c) telekon will attract both the casual and the hardcore to make comments; and (d) i love reading the comments of hardcore numanoids like colin, patrick, and ned!

carry on!

― Eisbär (llamasfur), Tuesday, 2 December 2003 23:37 (twenty-one years ago)

Yes, but I'm feeling bleh and sick and can only squint at this and nod approvingly right now. Maybe after a nap.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 2 December 2003 23:39 (twenty-one years ago)

"I DIE: YOU DIE"! (pronounced: "Aye Dai, Hayouy Dai!")

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Tuesday, 2 December 2003 23:52 (twenty-one years ago)

Had Numan really retired like the first time he said he would, everybody would be hailing this record as a fine, fine career closer. "Please Push No More" makes me shiver. It's also curious how Numan purposefully did NOT put the Telekon era singles on the album itself (corrected via the reissues of course).

But as for committing to his retirement, of course... NO! He had to come back and retire multiple times, release several lackluster albums thereafter (though I've heard good things about "Dance", which I haven't heard yet), and then do something embarrassing involving a plane.

― donut bitch (donut), Tuesday, 2 December 2003 23:52 (twenty-one years ago)

In fact, this may be the second most negative Raggett All-Music guide review ever.

― donut bitch (donut), Tuesday, 2 December 2003 23:55 (twenty-one years ago)

you MUST get dance, DB! if only for "cry, the clock said" which IMNSHO is one of the best songs numan ever recorded.

― Eisbär (llamasfur), Tuesday, 2 December 2003 23:55 (twenty-one years ago)

berserker has a classic cover, though!

http://image.allmusic.com/00/amg/cov200/drd400/d446/d44646vg702.jpg

that much one cannot deny.

― Eisbär (llamasfur), Tuesday, 2 December 2003 23:56 (twenty-one years ago)

Fine, fine.. I'll give "Dance" a chance next time I see it.

Ur, well if you define "classic" as "half ass attempt at Klaus Nomi-ing it"

Back to Telekon, "Remind Me To Smile" SHOULD have been a single. And it was odd how "This Wreckage" was chosen instead. Though granted, "This Wreckage" pretty much predicted the general feel of NIN's "The Downward Spiral" at times.

― donut bitch (donut), Tuesday, 2 December 2003 23:58 (twenty-one years ago)

If this were a Telekon era POO: "We Are Glass", easily

― donut bitch (donut), Wednesday, 3 December 2003 00:00 (twenty-one years ago)

"i dream of wires" is prob. my favorite telekon song (or maybe "remind me to smile" depending on my mood). IDOW is about as close to spelling out what early numan was all about as any song he did then (well, maybe "are 'friends' electric," but that's replicas not telekon).

― Eisbär (llamasfur), Wednesday, 3 December 2003 00:01 (twenty-one years ago)

DB, that Berzerker review was nothing compared to what I did here. And Dance really is fantastically good.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 3 December 2003 00:13 (twenty-one years ago)

this is one of the funniest things ned has ever written anywhere (including his carcass reviews):

Perhaps the most jawdropping effort was a cover of Prince's brilliant duet with Sheena Easton, "U Got the Look," arguably single-handedly responsible for Prince wanting to change his name in sheer terror at the result.

and i intend on hearing this monstrosity before i die!

― Eisbär (llamasfur), Wednesday, 3 December 2003 00:14 (twenty-one years ago)

As for all the various things so far about Telekon, yes to all of them. Uh, yeah. "I Die: You Die" over "We Are Glass" for that brilliant chorus (and the way the song starts with the words 'This is NOT love.').

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 3 December 2003 00:15 (twenty-one years ago)

it's especially galling b/c (a) prince was a big numan fan himself; and (b) early numan had enough of a strongly-rhythmic/drily-funky feel to it that one would think that he could pull off a prince cover w/t much embarrassment to himself.

― Eisbär (llamasfur), Wednesday, 3 December 2003 00:16 (twenty-one years ago)

First time I heard Telekon (bought on used LP) I put it on the turntable and played me some Jet Set Radio Future. The effect was astounding.

― nate detritus (natedetritus), Wednesday, 3 December 2003 00:23 (twenty-one years ago)

:-)

Then there's Numan's worst official cover art (not counting all those slew of compilations that he usually has nothing to do with):

http://image.allmusic.com/00/amg/cov200/drf000/f092/f09229eqn7y.jpg

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 3 December 2003 00:26 (twenty-one years ago)

Hahaha. Where's his left hand reaching?

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Wednesday, 3 December 2003 00:28 (twenty-one years ago)

"Shit, horse escaped the barn"

― nate detritus (natedetritus), Wednesday, 3 December 2003 00:34 (twenty-one years ago)

It wouldn't exactly be "U Got The Look", it would be "Hayoooo Gawt Thea Looohoouk!"

― donut bitch (donut), Wednesday, 3 December 2003 00:37 (twenty-one years ago)

Oooh boy I love these threads.

― colin s barrow (colin s barrow), Wednesday, 3 December 2003 00:39 (twenty-one years ago)

Raggett, those are grebt reviews. Did you ever review 'Dance'? I remember that the only review of that record was a slag-off - but it had the effect of making me really, really want to hear the album. I'm glad I did!

― colin s barrow (colin s barrow), Wednesday, 3 December 2003 00:42 (twenty-one years ago)

I asked to review it but they decided to keep John Bush's review. John's a solid writer but I wish he hadn't done that one. ;-)

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 3 December 2003 00:43 (twenty-one years ago)

it's especially galling b/c (a) prince was a big numan fan himself; and (b) early numan had enough of a strongly-rhythmic/drily-funky feel to it that one would think that he could pull off a prince cover w/t much embarrassment to himself.
-- Eisbär (llamasfu...) (webmail), December 3rd, 2003. (llamasfur)

Not without Pino or Mick playing bass! Gary's voice & fretless bass were a great combo.

― colin s barrow (colin s barrow), Wednesday, 3 December 2003 00:54 (twenty-one years ago)

Anyway, Telekon: biggest buildup to the drums on a first song on any album ever?

― colin s barrow (colin s barrow), Wednesday, 3 December 2003 02:37 (twenty-one years ago)

Yah, Telekon is just fine. Not quite up to the level of Replicas, but for me Replicas is easily one of the best ten New Wave synth albums (especially in the Replicas / The Plan 2CD two-fer reissue). The awful Beserker was the beginning of a Numan dark age every bit as awful as those post-Born-Again Sabbath records. And gack, the man's catalog has now had so many dodgy compilations crapped all over it that it's hard to imagine anybody making sense of it without serious research.

― ara, Wednesday, 3 December 2003 14:58 (twenty-one years ago)

two weeks pass...

you know, i've been so busy that i never gave my reasons for praising telekon. i will do so, by day's end.

apropos to nothing, i listened to berserker for the first time in years -- when i heard the intros to "the secret" and "pump it up," i was rolling on the floor w/ laughter. which i don't think is the effect mr. numan intended wr2 either of those songs (neither is "bridge? what bridge?" type intentional ha-ha-ha funny). "the secret" is interesting inasmuch as it sounds like numan kidnapped zappa's contemporaneous band (circa Steve Vai and Scott Thunes) and hypnotized them into playing a bad imitation of a bowie song.

― Eisbär (llamasfur), Thursday, 18 December 2003 15:34 (twenty-one years ago)

Telekon is fantastic, and contains one of the all-time silliest Numan lyrics:

"Tell you a secret I'm sure to fall
My dog runs AWOL I blame you all"

― Nemo (JND), Thursday, 18 December 2003 16:29 (twenty-one years ago)

one month passes...

Of course I had this back in the day, but dumped it with so many new wave records (how many posts of mine begin this way). I've been wanting to hear it, but for some reason haven't been able to find it anywhere - what happend to the hundreds of copies that used to litter the dollar bins? Anyway, finally got my copy of it from eBay (sealed LP for $3.99 yay) and it's better than I remember it, possibly his best record. It's really well-recorded too. And Numan always looked kind of absurd, but I actually like the back-cover shot of him. But the front cover always struck me funny; why is he looking slightly off to the side? It's weird. And his pronunciation is always amusing too; if it weren't for the lyric sheet I'd never know what he was saying on the chorus of "I'm an Agent."

Dance is a good album too, but this thread isn't about that one.

Finally, my first post 3 years ago on ILM was to poke fun at Numan. Now that I've not only gotten into all sorts of chart pop that I would have blanched at years ago, but re-embraced my inner new-wave dork, things really have come full-circle. Yay?

― Sean (Sean), Thursday, 22 January 2004 02:34 (twenty-one years ago)

Also, I remember my younger brother commenting, after hearing part of this album, "it sounds like this guy has a lot of nightmares", which I thought was in interesting reaction.

― Sean (Sean), Thursday, 22 January 2004 02:52 (twenty-one years ago)

Yay?

Yay. :-)

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 22 January 2004 02:53 (twenty-one years ago)

one year passes...

that's true - 'Controversy' in the production style of 'I Assassin', the record that (I am told) most influenced Prince, woulda sounded just fine.

― thee music mole, Tuesday, 22 February 2005 08:17 (twenty years ago)

three months pass...

Telekon Celebrates It's 25th Anniversary In 2005...

Why Isn't Gary Doing Special Shows Where He Plays The Album In It's Entirety!?

The thing is still a masterpiece.

― ZionTrain (ZionTrain), Tuesday, 7 June 2005 16:03 (twenty years ago)

Telekon Celebrates It's 25th Anniversary In 2005...

Why Isn't Gary Doing Special Shows Where He Plays The Album In It's Entirety!?

The thing is CLASSIC.

― ZionTrain (ZionTrain), Tuesday, 7 June 2005 16:04 (twenty years ago)

three years pass...

"please push no more," which seems to get little attention from many numanoids, is one of the most melancholy songs imaginable ;_;

― Eisbaer, Saturday, 2 August 2008 22:53 (seventeen years ago)

four years pass...

"I'll tell you when you're going down": http://nobilliards.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/gary-numan-telekon.html

― Here he is with the classic "Poème Électronique." Good track (Marcello Carlin), Sunday, 27 January 2013 13:32 (twelve years ago)

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in praise of ... telekon by gary numan