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12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Worth a listen, 20 April 2003
By A Customer
The fashionable theory among most Numan fans now that Gary has regained a bit of credibility is that he produced no good stuff between 1984 and 1994. This is a complete fallacy. While it is true that none of the albums from this period rank with his great earlier efforts, there is plenty of good stuff to be found on them. Strange Charm was written at a time when, by his own admission, Numan was in something of a limbo regarding his life and career and it does suffer from a lack of direction. His attempts to create a "dark and dreamlike" sound don't really come off, but there's still plenty of interesting experimentation going on here. "My Breathing" is as anthemic as anything on his previous albums and the title track itself includes some of his most interesting and adventurous musical arrangements. "This is Love" is a genuinely heart-wrenching love song, full of desperation and pain, though it is, admittedly, somewhat depressing. Still, it charted, which is something we shouldn't forget - this album spawned another top thirty hit also, "I Can't Stop", which it has to be said is somewhat surprising, as it is the least imaginative of the songs here and tends only to annoy now. The instrumentals that round off the album are also among the finest of his carrer, full of the old Numan menace. An uneven album, certainly, and one that does at times show that Numan was confused about his future in the business, but by no means as bad as many would have you believe.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Probably more strange than charm., 27 April 2006
This album came at an awkward time indeed for Mr Numan. Radio support was gone. Slating press revues made a turn for the even worse: non existent. It seemed the whole media world was on a mission to erase him. No wonder Numan was well and truely out of fashion with everyone who either blindly followed what they read in the music weeklys, or who's ears couldn't reach past the (then at least) narrow tastebuds of daytime radio. Dark days and a real test of faith for the Numanoids.
On Strange Charm, Numan tackles a few of these issues head on and when he does, boy does it work. My Breathing has irresistible airy eastern atmospheric effects over a situation in which he describes he will "pick up the pieces" after the "assassination by the radio". "I can't stop for all your stories" he states on the soaring chorus of I can't stop. Fighting stuff and the power is transfered straight to the listener. He really bears his heart over the industrial minimalism of The Sleeproom, "this isn't evil,this is a sound", "this is uncertain,this is unsound...". Really haunting. As is the bonus ballad, Time to die, where he takes a glimpse at a possibly bleak future and references what it would be like with no more concerts or recordings: "no Exhibition, no screaming War Song, no Conversation, no more opinions here". But unfortunatly these are among the few of the albums highlights.
Elsewhere the struggle is all too evidently eating away at the creative juices. The all out attack of Unknown and Hostile is oversmothered by sax and girl vocals. I can't stop is overstretched into it's 5 min version and oversells its girl vocal at the price of the original single issues impact. He even forsakes a Numan principle by borrowing the Sharpe and Numan single New thing from London town, although it's disco throb has its merits, it sounds just a tad out of place. As for The Need, this really is the pits of bad disco/funk, not a thing to recommend here, the overbearing girl vocals and pointless sax say it all. The meshing of synths and rock guitars works for the title track Strange Charm, but is marred by its sameiness to other songs. By the time we reach the pretty piano based ballad, This is love, it's all been such hard work its hard to take it all in.
At least the 5 spine tingling bonus tracks here offer a breath of fresh air at the end and vindicate just what we all see in this man.
This is a piece of Numan history that was overshadowed by doubt, dwindling faith and preconceptions. How it sounds now to fresh ears I will never know. Probably more Strange than Charm.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
DISCOEY !!!!!!!, 18 Mar 2006
After his collaborations with keyboardist Bill Sharpe of Shakatak,Numan temporarily dropped his funk influences to record this very disco-influenced lp.There's some excellent if electronic industrial percussion job intertwined with the downright disco dance floor beats,lots of sax,
female backing vocals and the most welcome return of slick guitars to his work.Like most re-releases,the excellent choice of bonus tracks make the purchase worth the while.Superb ballads, intrumentals and 2 slow but crunching industrial songs,not unlike those he's making nowadays close the cd like a triumphant war cry.
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