C/D: Gary Numan "Dance"

But it had style and a mood. And you got to appreciate the risk he took on the cover artwork and the brillant title. I remember reading a music critic saying it was the most "undanceable set of songs ever put to vinyl" Hmmm.. don't you think that MIGHT have been the point?

"Crash" was this album's swirl of chaos point that sprinkled much of Gazza's early records. ("I'm An Agent", "Cars", "Remind Me To Smile", "My Shadow In Vain" etc..)
All that aside, Queen's Roger Taylor played on it for pete's sake!

The Jury's In: CLASSIC

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=58671&item=4704540276&rd=1&ssPageName=WDVW#ebayphotohosting

In particular I think of the Intros on "Confession", "Soul Protection" and "The Skin Game"

zt

Synth: Hmmmmmmwwwwwooooooooooowububububububububuwooooop!
Numan: Woooaah!
(Song starts)

Another one of the many things I like about that song is the MENTAL viola solo. And at the end when the marbles-in-a-cup-of-water drum machine is running,with the synth hovering DEEP behind it, and Numan says 'OK', and the synth, given permission to fly by the great man himself soars upwards.

Classic in my opinion, but it was not always so.

I got into early Gary Numan through my dad, who was a fan in the late '70s/early '80s when he was in his teens and even saw him on the Telekon tour - his music (and that of OMD, Blancmange, Depeche Mode etc.) was always playing around the house so I naturally got into the synth stuff from a very early age.

So, at the age of about 16 I was at a car boot sale and I came across a copy of "Dance" on vinyl. I was already more than familiar with "Replicas", "The Pleasure Principle" and "Telekon" and loved them, and it was going cheap, so naturally I handed over my money and took it home.

The first listen was met with a feeling of confusion. Bear in mind at this point I'd never heard a Japan record in my life, so I wasn't quite used to the unique fretless bass stylings of Mick Karn (RIP) at this juncture. I remember thinking while Side One was playing that all the trademark Numan melody was there, but I just couldn't get over this wobbly bass seemingly sliding all over the tracks at random, and I missed the powerful percussion from Ced Sharpley (yes, I know he's on the record, but not as much) that was part of the character of "The Pleasure Principle" and "Telekon" - I didn't even get to Side Two, I ended up filing it away.

However, there was something about the record that compelled me to listen to it further, so on a nightly basis I'd get out the headphones, but the record on the record player and just lie back and LISTEN. Then suddenly, it just clicked in a big way, and I realised he'd put all of the more "song" songs on Side Two. The songs, the synthesiser sounds, the fretless bass and saxophones just all suddenly came together for me, and now I find the record compeletely indispensable. It's now my favourite ever Gary Numan album, not to mention one of my favourite records of all time.

I listened to Japan's stuff for the first time about a couple of years after discovering "Dance", and I remember being taken aback at just how much more CONTROLLED Karn was on bass with his original band compared to how he is on "Dance". I got into a couple of their tracks, but I've never got into any Japan album as much as I have with this album. Truly superb - much underrated, and even more undeservingly maligned.

This is a strange album IMO, he knocked out largely the same thing considerably better on "I, Assassin" though.

Also think "Warriors" works in some way, but that's the end.

Berserker is better than Warriors and I, Assassin as is his most recent album Jagged.

If you like the sound of harsh, metallic samples, maybe....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RlhQ3iC54QM

Listen to the gated reverb on these drums. Makes In The Air Tonight reminiscent of Ricardo Villalobos.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iX4P5BNedqs&NR=1

And you got to appreciate the risk he took on the cover artwork

Pretty sure the hat thing was to cover up his fresh hairplugs?

Dance is great. The CD reissue I've got has Stormtrooper in Drag on it so even more classic.

I couldn't agree when people say that "I, Assassin" is the same thing as "Dance" - absolutely no way. Really, the only similarity between the albums is that Gary has hired a highly talented bass player.

"Dance" is much more moodier, thoughtful, isn't meant to be danced to and is more of an 'album', whereas "I, Assassin" is a more danceable collection of more accessible songs. As a headphones experience alone, "Dance" wins in my opinion.

"I, Assassin" is his last good album, though - I loathe "Warriors", and I never liked anything he did after he left Beggars.

They sound roughly the same way. But, sure, "I, Assassin" is more song oriented, which is also an important reason why it's better IMO.

Sure, if that's what you prefer. After all, it was the lack of obvious songs on Side One that caused me to be confused about this record at first. I'm so pleased I didn't let that deter me, though.

"I, Assassin" is his last good album, though

I'll rep for Sacrifice, at least it seemed great to me in '95

I'll have to give "Sacrifice" another listen - all of those post-'comeback' albums ("Sacrifice", "Exile", "Pure", "Jagged") seem to all blend into one for me.

Inspired by a listen to "She's Got Claws" and reading posts, I wonder: after "Cars" how much of Numan's output was readily available at Record Bar or Camelot or something in the early eighties, especially after his American popularity ebbed? Seems to me he came just a bit too early to enjoy post-New Wave/New Pop exposure on MTV.

Sheesh, it wasn't even that easy to get hold of his stuff in Britain in the early eighties! I know as I was a big fan at the time. After he got dumped by Beggars in 1983 he formed his own label which he now readily admits was a bad career move in terms of his lack of visibility and so on. Of course, the fact that he was making ever more uninspired albums didn't exactly help matters either.

I've got a soft spot for even the supposedly bad 80s stuff now. Berserker gets a spin round my house once a year. I'll rep for Dance and I, Assassin. Warriors and The Fury are... OK with the odd good song but marred by awful guitarists and even worse backing singers. But then, after The Fury, things get really fucking bad very quickly.

I'll have to give "Sacrifice" another listen - all of those post-'comeback' albums ("Sacrifice", "Exile", "Pure", "Jagged") seem to all blend into one for me.

― Turrican, Tuesday, September 6, 2011 2:22 PM (2 years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Well, it's fair to say that Sacrifice and Pure grew on me. Exile and Jagged less so. The new one, Splinter, is doing it for me too!

I've got a soft spot for even the supposedly bad 80s stuff now. Berserker gets a spin round my house once a year. I'll rep for Dance and I, Assassin. Warriors and The Fury are... OK with the odd good song but marred by awful guitarists and even worse backing singers. But then, after The Fury, things get really fucking bad very quickly.

― Doran, Saturday, October 19, 2013 5:52 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

'The Secret' (from Berserker) is a good example of how I feel about Numan's songwriting at this stage of this career. The chorus of that track is so powerful, so anthemic and so well-written and comes across as featuring all the ingredients of being part of a big hit single - it's a great melody, very powerful. But then he takes this killer chorus and surrounds it with just the most uninspired guff.

I have no idea why this is, but Warriors seems to be steadily growing on me. I've loathed this album for years, but all of a sudden I keep finding myself in the mood to listen to it a fair bit recently.

Man, why he put out 'She's Got Claws' as the sole single from Dance when he had tracks like 'Boys Like Me' and 'Stories' on here, I'll never know. Also, some of the additional stuff he had around this time was great... 'Face To Face', 'Exhibition' and the incredibly beautiful title track (which really should have made it onto the album itself)

Numan's one of those artists for which the bonus tracks are essential, as he had an odd habit of leaving the best stuff off his albums completely - "Bombers" from the first one, a handful of tunes on Replicas, plus confusingly enough both singles from Telekon (and on a similar note not releasing "Remind Me To Smile" as a single was baffling).

I think his rationale for the singles not appearing on albums was that fans would have bought the singles anyway so he didn't want to put songs on the albums that they would already own on 45. I bought both those singles off Telekon and I was certainly quite happy that they weren't also on the album.

(and on a similar note not releasing "Remind Me To Smile" as a single was baffling).

― Maggie killed Quagmire (collest baby ever) (frogbs), Wednesday, August 20, 2014 12:19 PM (10 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Yeah, completely agree. It definitely would have made more sense than 'This Wreckage', which works fantastically as an album opener but a very strange choice of single!

So I had some things to say

http://thequietus.com/articles/23814-gary-numan-dance-review-reissue

Yes!!! *clicks*

That was a good read - it's about time there was an article on this record.

Steve Malins's liner notes and Numan's own thoughts give some perspective on what he was doing at the time, but its real context seems to have only emerged over time (thus my comparisons to acts like the Pumpkins and Kanye, and I could easily name others -- how do you choose to expand the palette, and what do you do, and what's driving it?).

I'm delighted there's going to be a double vinyl reissue of this, pretty much because the record company obviously feel the record is worth reissuing again.

Numan himself still rates Dance (and I, Assassin too) and considers Warriors to be the first of his "patchy years" ...

Warriors is definitely clunk-mode beginning.

if it's double I assume that means it's got the bonus tracks - could never understand why the title cut never made it, it's excellent

not much for I, Assassin, but this record is fairly classic. I think your write up is pretty on the mark

Warriors for sure is a clunker, but I think he redeemed himself fairly well on Berserker. I mean it's not a great record but it's worth saving, some really great individual tracks. I kinda like Strange Charm too but it's kind of a race to the bottom from there

Warriors title track is pretty good but I honestly can't remember much else from that album.

Excellent analysis of Dance, Ned. Thanks!

xpost -- Yeah, the tracklisting is the 1999 remastered CD, with one bonus: an unedited cut of "Moral" (not that drastically different).

And thanks to you both! It was kinda nice getting a compliment from Malins about it, I have to say.

Haha, I liked this (in response to the Quietus tweet about the piece and the mutual appreciation Numan/Kanye society).

Nope.
Numan is an Innovator
West just thinks he is

— Geoff Barrow (@jetfury) January 16, 2018

Dance, Berserker and The Fury are the three great 'lost' Numan albums imo. (I wish I'd put out an LP that had sold as many copies as Dance.)

^^There is no end to the surprising artists who will rep for The Nume. Prince being a fan is still the one that makes me feel like I've woken up in a parallel universe.

I liked the Berzerker tracks that ended up on the White Noise album which documented the tour — seemed far more hard edged there.

yep but it's missing "Child and the Ghost", which IMO is one of the most resonant and haunting tunes he ever did, a tribute to an old Tubeway Army bandmate who'd passed

agree w/ Dorans picks except swap out The Fury for Strange Charm

I like Strange Charm as well tbh.

A Child With The Ghost is great but other than that it's slim pickings on Berserker. I feel the same way about all the albums from Warriors to Strange Charm. For someone like me who had been a fanatical Numanoid since 1979, the whole period was painful to witness.

Paging Ned! The Nume just called your piece "rather beautifully written and thoughtful" on twitter.

The only Numan LP from 1984-1993 that I can listen to in full is Metal Rhythm

Prince being a fan is still the one that makes me feel like I've woken up in a parallel universe.

'We Take Mystery (to Bed)' is very Prince-like!

Yeah, he clearly loved Prince but his attempts to sound like him are... an acquired taste imo.

Well, in the case of 'We Take Mystery' it's difficult to tell who influenced who... I, Assassin and 1999 both came out in the same year! But yeah, his late '80s attempts at a Prince-like sound are definitely an acquired taste, and his Prince covers are just... yeah, don't go there.

Paging Ned! The Nume just called your piece "rather beautifully written and thoughtful" on twitter.

So I saw! Quite remarkable.