Numan also experimented with acoustic percussion sounds, drum machines and reintroduced the guitar, stretching himself and his band (still Cedric Sharpley, Paul Gardiner and Chris Payne, but now fattened by Rrussell Bell on guitar and violin, who joined in time for the 1979 British tour, and Billy Currie's replacement Denis Haines) with some of the most imaginative arrangements of his career. Sounds' John Gill, an articulate but vociferous critic conceded, "Telekon sees Numan fleshing out his sound, perhaps a little belatedly. Back in the mix unusual things are beginning to happen, new levels of interest, new layers of sound, both formal and free." As the American magazine Rolling Stone put it - "this is beautiful music."

The results were melancholy but strangely soothing, a very mature record for a 22-year-old, who was already obsessed with age and the transience of fame. "Telekon is extremely dark and introspective in places," he explains, "and the whole album has a very doomy, almost oppressive feel to it. This was my first new album after the success, so, rather than fantasising about life as a pop star, I now wrote about it from a position of real knowledge. The reality that I found myself in was a thousand times worse than I had ever imagined. I felt battered. Scarred inside and out, I was struggling to keep it all together. The album is a clear example of a young man whose dream had turned swiftly into a nightmare, trying to make sense of it all."

- excerpted from the liner notes by Steve Malins