"a thousand things I want to say to you"

Also "Going Underground" was a good #1 (not as good as the Sugababes obv).

But was it as good as "Are Friends Electric?"

Haha no Ned it was NOT, Numan is a bazillion times better always!! But it is a Jam song I really really like, and a thing I liked about the Jam which I think Weller forgot is that the charts are fun as a BIG POP FITE!! (All other Jam #1s are terrible btw...)

I have a sincere question, but I know I'm not going to get a straight answer. Nonetheless, I'll ask it. Does Weller suck because of the bland AOR mush he's become? Since the Jam were some kind of (English) social phenomenon, I can't really hope to understand them from Mr. S's viewpoint, but really; didn't they have a pile of great singles? My answer: yes! So help me out here.

And speaking of Numan, didn't he end up as a more embarassing figure than Weller? I just don't get it.......

Does Weller suck because of the bland AOR mush he's become?

Oh hell yes. I love the Jam, own the box set and the two official live albums and all, think they're wonderful. But he just spectacularly lost it -- I'll allow for maybe a few Style Council songs here and there, but now he's a miserable wailing parody of himself. When I heard that he and Noel Gallagher had done a live-on-TV duet of "Talk Tonight," I thought, "Damn, how cool." Then I actually heard it, and jeez Louise does Weller just destroy the mood completely with his antics.

Numan was always seen as more embarassing because of his image, the publicity he gained away from music, the whole lingering 'synth=bad' thing. All the Britpop folks in the mid-nineties were seen more specifically as Weller's children than Numan's, for all that you had people like Pulp namechecking the latter. Now Ocean Colour Scene are consigned to the dustbin of history, "Are Friends Electric?" retops the charts in a way that sounds of the now, Basement Jaxx uses "M.E." for "Where's Your Head At?" and Numan has the last laugh.

Oh hell yes

Sucking now can't negate past success, though, can it? I mean, if we held everyone to that standard...

Weller was cuter than Numan, at the very least.

But he just spectacularly lost it
It depends. If we expect him to make the same classick musick as he produced with the Jam, I think, yes, he lost it. But I don't really set high standards (for him) simply because the Jam was gawdlike. I quite liked his debut solo record actually.

I like a phew jam rekkids as well. In phact, I even like a litle bit of his solo guff. EG many years ago, I saw this "Live @ Glastonbury" set, which did actually rock a bit. However, this air of workmanlike, humourlessness he does project pretty much all of the time is not at all appealing. The Style Council, dare I say, were absolutely bloody awful. AaAaAaAnd though well-ah looked a little bit cute w/his parted-curtains hairstyle some years ago, numan a la blond robot on kover of "replicas" = k-rowr

the jam were protected at the time by "social relevance" from how crummy and rubbish they could often actually be (their fans had a "moral" jump on others = "we are young so you are wrong"). Conversely Numan was kind of protected for the future by apparent silliness, so he never got locked into any bad "i am cool i have taste" spirals => Numan's never been afraid to look fantastically UNCOOL, and that works for him. He's a FAR better lyric writer than Weller (not hard), with a much more consistent pop ear (and of course a genius for titles). Weller's had completely inspired moments — the homoerotic video for "Long Hot Summer" — but they're far and few between, and he now seems terrified to go back out into any kind of territory where old errors and foolishness lurk (and the word for this = dad-rock haha). Plus for someone who so aggressively pimped himself off the New and the Now, he's so abjectly floored by the actual shape of the present. (I think Numan's sexier too, esp. since he relaxed a bit...)

The real question is: Is Numan bettah than Bowie? I say YES.

Weller was cuter than Numan, at the very least.

I've just about had it with your prejudice against balding men, mister!

I don't know, though. Weller was too lanky in his prime, and Numan too pasty...and his Road Warrior phase, oy!

The real question is: Is Numan bettah than Bowie? I say YES.

Mr. S can be an amusing writer, and I look forward to his defense of this statement.

Personal to Michael Daddino: there is no such thing as too lanky.

http://image.allmusic.com/00/amg/cov200/drd400/d472/d4 7288k8r1n.jpg
Mark S' dictionary obviously has a misprint. Sexy?!? Ek! Next you'll admit fancing Gallagher's eyebrow(s).

fancying naturellement.

Numan actually looks less objectionable here than elsewhere... but sexy?? Ye gods.

I kinda wondah wot kommandments would be lasered on there.

I enjoyed Numan's last Industrial/ electro rock album - Pure - released in Autumn 2000 it has a strong full on cinematic production.

By the way there is another Gary Numan compilation on the way:

Gary Numan - Exposure: The Best of Gary Numan 1977-2002

Label: Artful Released May 20th 2002.

There are too many Numan compilations already. Pure was all right but fairly repetitious. All this talk has made me want to dig out one of the live albums, though...

TRUE STORY: At [unnamed record shop] I heard the following conversation between STAFF members - "You don't know who Paul Weller is? What about the Jam?" "No" Speaker No. 2 was in their thirties and had a definite English accent. Yes future!

I have mixed feelings about them. I like a lot of the records, but I saw them on their first few tours and thought they sucked, except for a good soul cover or two each time. And he is an utter embarassment now, if that matters, and it doesn't. However, I find the bad influence more to his discredit, though still not much cos lots of good artistes have had a lousy influence, often through people misunderstanding what made them worthwhile.

Dance Billy dance!!!!!!!!!!!!!1