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The year two thousand was the year that brought us the Pure album.
During this time Gary Numan was also indulging in his love of flying, taking part in aerobic displays and his well documented round the world flight that almost ended in disaster.
In 1992 he met the girl fan he was to marry ... Read review
A review by docpov on Pure - Gary Numan July 14th, 2004
Author's product rating:
Originality
Groundbreaking
Lyrics
Thought-provoking
Quality and consistency of tracks
Flawless
How does it compare to the artist's other releases
Outstanding
Value for Money
Advantages:
A classic rock anthem
Disadvantages:
Maybe not for electric Numan fans
Recommend to potential buyers:
yes
Full review
The turn of the millennium brought about a rebirth of the king of eighties synth. After a dire early decade in the nineties in which Gary Numan Albums more or less disappeared into obscurity, he returns not only with an excellent new album but a new style. A style that in my opinion his voice is far more suited to. Gone are the overpowering synth’s of the eighties to be replaced by rocking guitars backed by synth and drum machine that seem much more at home than out on their own.
A brief history of the Numan
Gary Anthony James Webb AKA Gary Numan first burst onto the music scene way back in 1978 with Tubeway Army on the album of the same name, and then Replicas from which the classic Are Friends Electric single was taken. This was recently covered by the Sugarbabes with their smash hit Freak Like Me. Shortly after this, Cars was released as Gary Numan’s first solo single. A remix of this was used some time ago on the American Express adverts. His first solo album Pleasure Principle followed a classic album and one of my all time favourites. Telekon brought in the 1980’s and was followed by seven more albums over the next decade. The 1990'’ brought four more albums culminating in the highly acclaimed Exile in 1997. The year two thousand was the year that brought us the Pure album. During this time Gary Numan was also indulging in his love of flying, taking part in aerobic displays and his well documented round the world flight that almost ended in disaster. In 1992 he met the girl fan he was to marry in 1997. And so to Gary Numan’s latest offering.
Pure
And so twenty-two years after his debut Gary Numan comes back to hit the listening public squarely between the eyes with a classic. Pure reintroduces heavy guitar’s to Gary Numan’s music, going back too early the Tubeway Army style. Numan also seems to have taken influences from collaborations he had with Fear Factory and Trent Reznor of Nine-Inch Nails, giving this album a much heavier, rockier sound. The introduction of heavy industrial sounds adds to the heavy feel of this masterpiece. As soon as the album starts with the title track the industrial feel immediately as it starts with long low industrial sounds being joined by keyboards and eventually the guitars hit in with an almighty crash that sets the tone for the rest of the album. Walking in Shadow follows along the same musical theme but at a slower pace with Numan’s vocals have a slow and almost of a hypnotic flow to them. Rip starts with rasping whispered lyrics from Numan before he does let rip, the song follows this pattern with rasping verses interrupted by raging choruses against a backing of thrashing guitars and bass line. Doesn’t really sound much like a description of a Gary Numan track does it? One perfect lie brings us back a bit more to the Numan we know and love, much more melodic more synth and quieter guitar. After Rip it is a fitting track to bring the listener back to ground, it doesn’t last long though My Jesus brings us yet another twist in our journey of sound. This one has almost ballad like qualities at the start hardened by industrial sound effects building into a crescendo of chorus before smoothly descending back to ballad level again in a pattern that is repeated in many of the songs on the album.
Fallen is a strange one, by far the shortest song at just over two and a half minutes. It acts like an interlude. It is musically repetitive and the whispered lyrics are almost unintelligible.
So to what could be called the second act. It doesn’t come in with the now expected bang but with the more melodic Listen to my voice. The religious references continue in this song as they did in the first half with this song talking about heroes and Angels. A prayer for the unborn continues in the same vein and I think is the strongest track vocally on the whole album. After the respite of the last two tracks Torn hits us, it starts innocently enough with quiet almost chanted lyrics backed by a drum and guitar beat. It keeps you in suspense as to when it is going to explode, and then when it doesn’t you are left wondering why not. Little invitro is my personal favourite song on the album, having personal connotations to me. It is a sad song talking about the loss of a child. It starts quiet and melodic and remains so until near the end when we are hit by a smashing almost angry avalanche of guitars. Pure finishes with I Can’t Breathe and we are hit by thrashing guitars mixed in with quiet piano sections. It certainly finishes the album with a bang.
The whole album is a mixture of sounds from quiet passages to thrashing guitars, in fact it is has such a range of sounds that it shouldn’t work, but it does very well. Lyrically Numan talks about religion, mentally deranged people and I think some of the rest of it may be personal to himself.
So that’s Pure, an album that has propelled Gary Numan into the mighty halls of top class rock music. A bit of an overstatement? I don’t think so because in my opinion this is a classic album that should get the recognition it deserves.
The Info bit.
Lyrics by Gary Numan. Produced by Gary Numan and Sulpher Pure is still available on Eagle records at Amazon price £7.97 and at most good music stores
If only if only Miracles happened everyday If only if only I could believe in something
Advantages: Some stunning tracks, it's an incredible effort considering where he came from Disadvantages: A few dull moments, but I still can't wait for the next one
...just rehash the NIN formula. Pure has more synth tunes and less guitar noise – I suppose if you really wanted to you could call it New Romantic Industrial. And then of course you have NuNuman’s voice, it’s a voice that you could very easily call ‘unique’ and you’ll probably be wondering just how well it’s transferred to his new career. Well, quite well – at times he verges on sounding like a demented ... ...bad thing. Instead it gives Pure a, well, a ‘unique’ sound.
* Pure *
Opening with a quiet synth melody before some industrial sounding distorted drums come crashing in for a moment, then a moments quietness and then the song sets off, propelled along by chugging guitars. The best moments of the song though are the short quiet sections that come before the chorus and give the whole song a huge sense of building up. Top stuff, NIN and ...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Advantages: Just a fantastic album. Sheer quality. Disadvantages: none.
Last year Pure saw Eighties King, Gary Numan, make a triumphant entry into the new millennium. No retro- eighties stylings here, rather a full circle of influences taking him to a new place. 15 years ago Numan was inspiring the likes of Trent Resnor, Burton C Bell, and a whole raft of other people, who then spun off into the dark 'n' heavy hinterland, well away from the shiny pop world Numan had started out in. The turn of the century spun the wheel ... ...in collaboration with the guys of Industrial-metal behemoths Fear Factory to produce the truly stunning cover of Cars. If you've seen the adverts for American Express Blue card recently - you've heard the beginning of that cover version. Halloween 1999 he made a guest appearance at Fear Factory's gig to perform it live at the Brixton Academy - and to someone who saw him do that, it sounds a lot like he went home that night and started writing Pure. ...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Advantages: Big and Bassy Disadvantages: the font is awful
...At around 1999, GaryNuman said that he was going to make a series of 'dark' albums and he has delivered on that promise, Sacrifice, Exile, Pure, Jagged. Each album got progressivly darker each time.
In many cases, Numan likes to write an album like a story, the first lyrics are "Here is my small black box..." which is a good indication what is going to happen, dark moody bass lines and the drum machine in the background.
He has kept elements from previous albums for example, the bit of quiet singing and then plenty of loud harsh rhythm kicking in for a short while. But somehow he has made this album quite a unique sound with the help of Ade Fenton.
One slight down side is that nearly every song has a atmospheric intro which, to the new Numan fan amongst you, might like but does makes all the songs sound very familiar to each...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
...intensely calming and relaxing.
Where the Streets Have No Name
This is a song that never fails to get you thinking along with Bono, to get you thinking about just being free and going out there and doing your thing. But when it’s over you do of course make a cup of tea and sit on your arse. Oh, well. Features probably U2’s best riff.
I Will Follow
Ah, it’s GaryNuman again. For a single off a debut album it’s remarkable accomplished, it’s immediate and is a pure anthem. Somebody in the background says “1-2-3-4” and we’re straight into another classic riff. Sees Bono revealing his true neediness.
The Unforgettable Fire
One of their stranger moments, this doesn’t follow the path of most other U2 songs. There’s a lot going on, there’s a different sound in...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
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