Numan's 1979 Solo Debut on Vinyl LP!
Contains the Hit Song "Cars"!
"It must have been hard to determine exactly what Gary Numan represented back in 1979. On the cover of The Pleasure Principle, he is part androgynous Bowie alien, part Kraftwerk robot, and at least somewhat later Roxy Music Savile Row dandy. Sonically, the album represents musical elements of all those artists.
"Gary Numan had already tasted chart success with electro group Tubeway Army, scoring a surprise UK No. 1 with 'Are "Friends" Electric?' and topping the UK chart with its parent album, Replicas. On this solo debut Numan employs a quartet of keyboards, bass guitar, drums, and viola. Not unlike Japan's technopop power trio Yellow Magic Orchestra with strings thrown into the mix.
"It sounded revolutionary at the time to have the lead (and some rhythm) parts played on electronic keyboards, but Numan's take on electronica did not adhere strictly to the all-machine esthetic popularized by Kraftwerk or Depeche Mode. Rather, the album represented a sophisticated brand of new wave synth-rock driven by his dispassionate vocals and a symphonic wash of early synthesizer sounds, a clear inspiration to later synth-led groups such as The Human League and Soft Cell.
"'Cars' - an excursion into paranoia and loneliness driven by one of the most distinctive synth riffs in all electronica - gave Numan a well-deserved UK No. 1 single (and U.S. Top Ten) in September 1979. Elsewhere, whether in the economical, well-placed drum fills on 'Films' and 'Observer' or the precise basslines of 'Engineers' and stand-out 'Metal,' The Pleasure Principle manages to sound at once futuristic and oddly timeless in a postmodern world." -Yoshi Kato, 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die
Features
- Vinyl LP
- Standard Jacket
- 2016 Release
- Mastered from HD Digital 24/96 Transfers of Analog Tapes
- Made in Czech Republic
Selections
Side One:
- Airlane
- Metal
- Complex
- Films
- M.E.
Side Two:
- Tracks
- Observer
- Conversation
- Cars
- Engineers
