A Review of "The Best Of Gary Numan 1984-1992" by Riana Pfefferkorn
(who gave it 8.5 out of 10)
August 15th 1997


In random order (is that an oxymoron?).

"Berserker" - I have recently fallen in love with this song. I heard the White Noise version and it absolutely blew me away. I was therefore quite excited to hear the original, and I find it to be slightly lacking in the two areas which really made the WN version for me. The bassline which booms so wonderfully on WN isn't as powerful here; and four notes played on guitar on WN, with a desperate and intense effect, seem to be played on keyboard here and also lack the power the riff has on WN. I still listened to this version on repeat for well over an hour one time.

"I Can't Stop" - extremely catchy. Different from the Peck Slip version, which I heard first; theirs is scarier. I love the way the chorus goes - I can just picture a lineup of Numanoids onstage somewhere, performing this one, and each gets one syllable to sing. Heh. A very fun song, much more upbeat in sound than the Peck Slip cover. You just have to sing along to it.

"Are 'Friends' Electric" live - fun! Very enthusiastic drums. It's kinda stuttery with the "dah-dah DA, dah-dah DA," not smooth. The vocals are the same way, well-enunciated. "But are 'friends' electric?" is mixed better than the other two live versions I've heard - it struck me the first time I listened to it, very nice loud crowd there. Overall, the drums and the mix are great and I really like this version. I think I like the White Noise version better though 'cos it's even MORE fun.

"I Still Remember" - very sober, what with the piano and all the sax. The vocals are also somber. Solid drum-beat, interesting synth effects. Female vocals are well-used; all too often he's let female backup vox overshadow his own (not good). A bit slow but a fair song.

"Child with the Ghost" - I know this from New Anger; it's extremely touching. Whenever a Numanoid dies, this ought to be played at the wake. The female vocals are used extremely well here, in the tradition of Kate Bush on Peter Gabriel's "Don't Give Up." A song which deserves to be on two separate albums, and quintessential listening.

"Machine and Soul" - a good song for live performances. Also fun in the Shadow Man video. Perhaps a bit too standard though, not unique. "She likes rock, MTV sex machines" is a cool lyric. Perhaps too much guitar - I know this was The Kipper Album. As said, good for live performances, like on Dream Corrosion. A fun song, typical of the early '90s, what I remember of them.

"Time to Die" - I like it a lot. The interesting synth effects and sober, echoey vocals create a picture in my mind of Roy Batty in the rain, reminiscing to Rick Deckard. (I suppose it helps that I love Blade Runner and know how close to that scene's dialogue the lyrics are.) A good song, I like how spare it is; it ends rather abruptly.

"Empty Bed, Empty Heart" - good synth start, it sounds vaguely Celtic or something to me somehow in its pattern, but I think it would benefit if the synth line followed the vocals less closely - it tends to follow them note-by-note. It would be bouncy if it were a bit quicker, but that would ruin the somberness. Interesting sound to the synth anyway. Good sax as usual. I guess that's John... he's great.

"America" - boom! goes the beginning. I know this from New Anger also. That album is way too heavy on the female vox. It's not that innovative a song. Very typical of the '89-'92 period, what I've heard of it. This compilation is good for collecting the best of that epoch though. Forgettable aside from the poppy chorus, which one tends to remember more than the rest of a song, by any artist. Apparently this is live - I don't recall the crowd noise and "Star Spangled Banner" bit at the end of the studio version. I suppose the playing thereof is meant sarcastically - America, America, Gary shed his grace on thee.

"Your Fascination" - I like that metallic sound - but the rough female vocals come in again. I suppose it's a given. I like Gary's vocals. The female vox are really rather good on this one, especially on "for now, now, now." I remember this video - I'm sorry, but I don't think of Gary Numan as some guy rebuffing seduction. Maybe it's just me. I've never known just why Gary used the three-note NBC (TV network) theme though. It's funny really. I wonder if he even knows. The female singer and Gary have a strong rapport going between them; they're working well together. A very catchy song. "Every little girl is welcome here" - I like that line (I would). Abrupt ending.

"This Disease" - awesome beginning! Sounds like the THX system demo in a movie theater. Pop-pop-pop. Very clipped. Again, rather standard fare - weird Latin percussion bit under the meandering sax - that's probably what gives this song its individuality. Descending synth - sounds like a spider dropping, or something rolling down stairs. It sounds rather "layered" to me when the female vox, keyboards, drums, sax, and other percussion are all going on at once. Another quick ending.

"My Dying Machine" - I like right away. Zip zap. The video for this, from the Berserker concert video, is incredible. I like the vocals and the lyrics, vaguely menacing as usual. I love the drum pattern, how driving and intense it is, although it's very close to the pattern from "Berserker." The synth and keyboard effects carpet-bomb the listener as the beat goes on. The ubiquitous female vocals are used appropriately. Fade-out ending: refreshing.

"Strange Charm" - phreeow, it sounds odd. The "bang-bang" in the background sounds rather urgent. Echoey vocals - neat. The synth is all over the place. Background vox take a very familiar pattern - "dah-dah dah-dah, dah dah dah-dah." Now where he's speaking all fast and the background vox just punctuate it - that's cool-sounding. The guitar screams over the melee - that sounds interesting, reminds me of "Wake Up! Time to Die" by Pop Will Eat Itself (though this song predates the PWEI song). I think the song maybe goes on a bit too long. I like "My Breathing" better, but this is also a good song, and not as omnipresent on compilations as "My Breathing" is.

"Miracles" - A bit sappy from the outset maybe. Rather echoey... kind of a nice song I guess... is this a "ballad"? I kinda like the little tinkling thing. Here comes the sax again. Perhaps the sax comes into play a bit too often. It's always a bit melancholy, you know? And not all the songs it's featured on require melancholy. Definitely a rather sappy song - I can picture it played in a dentist's waiting room on the "soft rock" station. That's an awful thing to say. It's not a bad song, it's lovely, but a bit soft is all! Nice trailing ending.

"London Times" - very happy! Quite a change from "Miracles," but then again I AM listening on Shuffle. :-) When I was listening to this for the first time, it occurred to me that this song is MADE to be the music during a bit of a movie from the '80s where female characters, Americans, go shopping in London. They prance through Piccadilly Circus, toss their big hair, swing their bags, there's shots of them trying on dresses and hats and they're always all smiles. A stock shot or two of Big Ben and the girls walking by a fountain and Harrod's or something. This song SCREAMS to be used like that. I like it anyway.

"The Skin Game" - a long one (6:18), and the last one. I notice that many of the songs on here are fairly long. Definitely a change from the earliest Tubeway Army days of short fast songs. This song has that "scattered" quality like in "Strange Charm" - a zillion notes. Hmm... fooling about with turntables. Very old school. Vocals are a bit rushed; the chorus sounds familiar, I can't place it though... it's neat in its way. I don't think Gary Numan should be allowed to do that "record scratching" DJ thing. The chorus doesn't even sound like Gary's in it hardly. Another song where the chorus is the only really memorable bit. Too much guitar and background vox - the synth is like the sound equivalent of rain. It just spatters all around you. Some of the crashing drum effects remind me of Seal's "Crazy." "Tearin' it up - I'm living on empty..."