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12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Numan - The Prodigal Son Returns, 16 Feb 2003
Gary Numan is electro/industrial's prodigal son. As an originator - sorely understated and often misunderstood - in the late 70's new wave of 'futurism', he harnessed newly discovered synths to misanthropic, bad new world guitar songs and created a dark new breed of music.But Numan became a whipping boy for a press and a public unwilling or unable to take to this 'serious' music. It didn't bubble and fizz, it seethed and spat. Beyond his brief flash of novelty, Numan's chart -scaling days were always going to be numbered. And that's as it should be, because early eighties Numan produced black, self-facing music that was the polar opposite of the disco-friendly, sing-along-songs beloved of the masses. Sadly for Numan his brief flash of fame begat a compulsion for more chart success and for more than a decade afterwards he progressively lost his identity in successive attempts to regain the glory years. In essence, he sold out. But for a handful of loyal fans he very nearly sank without trace. But come 1994 and Numan had reached a crux point - he realised he hated what he was doing, that he needed to return to his creative roots. Sacrifice - a menacing, anti-religion, synth and drumloop return to form was the result. With Sacrifice Numan had unearthed again the light that had made him shine in the first place. He was weird. He was strange. He was not sing-along, radio-friendly and most importantly he was no longer trying to be. Sacrifice was a revelation, and it bought Numan a renewed kudos and respect that it's follow-ups, Exile and Pure, built upon. Numan was there at the beginning of electronic rock, and he is here now at the forefront of the genre no less vital than 25 years ago. The son has returned. So to Hybrid, a remix and rework album to celebrate those 25 years and guess what? No mid-eighties or early nineties filler songs, just the best of the early work and the current music but brought together as a cohesive whole, fitting together seamlessly and employing current sounds and production techniques that prove Numan is never one to rest on his laurels. He always tries to sound that bit better than the last release and with Hybrid his music takes him beyond his contemporaries once again. His collaborators are testament to the status of the man. Flood, Andy Gray, Alan Moulder, Curve - legendary musicians themselves - while newcomers Sulpher and Rico give further credence to Numan's now established basis in Nu-Industrail. You'll have heard most of these songs before, but never like this. No longer is Numan the fey, softly spoken robo-boy. These days he is a dark messiah, sheathed in feedback, sawtooth electronics and dismembered guitar noise. But underneath the samples, grooves and power-chords lies the heart of Numan's continued success. He can write a damned fine song. The three new tracks are worthy additions to the repertoire. Hybrid is the bastard child of Pure, with ominous undertones and look-over-your shoulder, horror movie uneasiness. The Rico/Numan track Crazier looks set to become a new Numan anthem with it's brain-latching melody and stormtrooping chorus, but the star of the piece is the Andy Gray/Numan co-write Ancients whose harmonised strings, almost subliminal bass and half-song, half-whispered lyrics drag you in and hold you captive. Hear this song once and you will live with it forever. Hear this album and, I assure you, your world will be a fuller, if slightly less comfortable, place.
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