Thanks for the review, your take is really perceptive. This is definitely a period where Numan was lost and trying to imitate something or other to get back in the charts - the fact the album only has 8 tracks and New Thing was actually written by Bill Sharpe as a follow-up single to Change Your Mind, tells you all you need to know about how much he was struggling for ideas. You picked up on all the best tracks and it's interesting how they're mostly the ones with no girl vocals and sax on - but My Breathing and The Sleeproom are definitely classics, probably his last classics. What's clear with Strange Charm is that he was too afraid to just be himself, bonus tracks/B-sides Survival, Faces and Time To Die are all excellent. Had they been swapped for the crass girl vocal/sax tracks you would have had a very unusual and unique Bladerunner-style concept LP, but so be it - a lost opportunity. In my view, Numan didn't make anything interesting after Strange Charm - apart from his classic early albums, the only other LP that really stands out as being uniquely Numan is Berserker.
Thanks again for the recommendation. I really enjoyed it. I like Gary Numan so much that even if I find one or two good songs out of 8 , I am very happy to have found those 2. So thank you. I am very calculated with my music discovery and I spend a lot of time with a new-2-me release. So it takes me some time to get around to stuff plus re-learn and revisit all the music I have,. I have around 20,000 physical releases. And I purposely leave things unheard by even artists that I love, so I always have something to discover new by tem. I call them my "rainy day finds'. I probably have 400-500 items still sealed. Some as old as 30 years still sealed. I heard Beserker is a nice return to form by Numan. I will probably do his older ones which I know then go back to Fury and then to Beserker. Thanks again for the recommendation. Hopefully you like some of the other bands I do. I assume you like John Foxx if you like Gary Numan.
@@ElectricCafe-45 Yeah, I love John Foxx, especially Metamatic and The Garden, will watch your review when I find time. The Fury is a bit like Strange Charm, girl vocals and saxaphone all over it and a bit of a mess. A few tracks stand out though. Berserker was straight after Warriors and in retrospect some consider it right up there with his best. Female vocals toned down, nice cold and icy feel. Uniquely Numan, you'll definitely like it.
thing is in the UK numans pop star career was over, he was trying to get it back, buy it back almost with his own record label, endless picture discs, limited editions to try and buy a hit but ultimately things had moved on, pet shop boys, erasure, DM were all doing slicker better made music... that said the live shows from this era were great, the 'fury' tour being very impressive...
My Breathing is one of the best tracks he's ever produced, incidentally Ade Orange was co-producer for this track. The rest of the album is a mixed bag and forgettable.
Thanks for the review, your take is really perceptive. This is definitely a period where Numan was lost and trying to imitate something or other to get back in the charts - the fact the album only has 8 tracks and New Thing was actually written by Bill Sharpe as a follow-up single to Change Your Mind, tells you all you need to know about how much he was struggling for ideas. You picked up on all the best tracks and it's interesting how they're mostly the ones with no girl vocals and sax on - but My Breathing and The Sleeproom are definitely classics, probably his last classics. What's clear with Strange Charm is that he was too afraid to just be himself, bonus tracks/B-sides Survival, Faces and Time To Die are all excellent. Had they been swapped for the crass girl vocal/sax tracks you would have had a very unusual and unique Bladerunner-style concept LP, but so be it - a lost opportunity. In my view, Numan didn't make anything interesting after Strange Charm - apart from his classic early albums, the only other LP that really stands out as being uniquely Numan is Berserker.
Thanks again for the recommendation. I really enjoyed it. I like Gary Numan so much that even if I find one or two good songs out of 8 , I am very happy to have found those 2. So thank you. I am very calculated with my music discovery and I spend a lot of time with a new-2-me release. So it takes me some time to get around to stuff plus re-learn and revisit all the music I have,. I have around 20,000 physical releases. And I purposely leave things unheard by even artists that I love, so I always have something to discover new by tem. I call them my "rainy day finds'. I probably have 400-500 items still sealed. Some as old as 30 years still sealed. I heard Beserker is a nice return to form by Numan. I will probably do his older ones which I know then go back to Fury and then to Beserker. Thanks again for the recommendation. Hopefully you like some of the other bands I do. I assume you like John Foxx if you like Gary Numan.
@@ElectricCafe-45 Yeah, I love John Foxx, especially Metamatic and The Garden, will watch your review when I find time. The Fury is a bit like Strange Charm, girl vocals and saxaphone all over it and a bit of a mess. A few tracks stand out though. Berserker was straight after Warriors and in retrospect some consider it right up there with his best. Female vocals toned down, nice cold and icy feel. Uniquely Numan, you'll definitely like it.
Nice. Can't wait to hear it. Thanks! Metamatic and The Garden are definitely his best 2 I agree.
thing is in the UK numans pop star career was over, he was trying to get it back, buy it back almost with his own record label, endless picture discs, limited editions to try and buy a hit but ultimately things had moved on, pet shop boys, erasure, DM were all doing slicker better made music... that said the live shows from this era were great, the 'fury' tour being very impressive...
Thanks for the comment. Ya, I kind of got that feeling from the direction and things he was trying.
My Breathing is one of the best tracks he's ever produced, incidentally Ade Orange was co-producer for this track. The rest of the album is a mixed bag and forgettable.
Thanks for your comment. My Breathing is really cool. Almost has like a darkwave sound to it. Very cool