So, a second double CD from Numan in the space of a fortnight. Makes a change from the usual (by now) three year gap. Mind you, that's for new albums, and he's still on target for that. What about this filler then? What about this filler now?
Track numbers: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10 - 11 - 12 - 13 - 14 - 15 - 16 - 17 - 18 - 19
This is almost an instrumental although it has vocal samples from the track "Pure". It sounds quite interesting with some good use of sound effects and a decent beat. It's not a million miles away from the stuff on the Pure album, but I imagine it would make a good intro for a concert.
(Actually, that sounds
a bit like a recent Numan concert!)
Again, the music and rhythms sound OK. Nothing exciting, rather more
moody. The lyric and melody lines from the original song seem to have absolutely
nothing to do with the new bits at all. It sounds as if the two things were
slung together as an afterthought. Pointless. Dark was a very good
song...
The intro and first verse do little to build interest. Then there's a silly distorted guitar. Lyrically, it's very uninteresting. There's no real melody except for the chorus. Oh blimey! Now he's whispering again. He really ought to get that effing laryngitis sorted out. There are some good bits but quite why it has been chosen as a single is beyond me. Oh hang on! I've just realised! It's for money isn't it...
Starts like it's gonna really build into something quite good. Then a light piano with some distant sounding guitars, before more of that whispering. YIPES! Now he's shouting again. Actually, it seems to work well on this song and adds some atmosphere to it. A little bit more of the original tune and this would be quite good indeed.
Another one of those "here's a drum loop sample CD and a bass loop sample CD", sling a couple together and chuck in some grunge here and there... Now, what about lyrics? Oh just put these on, it doesn't really matter.
Apart from the synth lines sounding a bit different, maybe more
"metallic", some Japanese sounding bits and some thrashy guitar bits
towards the end, this is not much of a departure from the original. At least
it uses the actual tune then. At least it uses the actual tune now.
Numan's "singing" seems more detached from the song, as if it isn't
really part of it. I think this is true of a lot of his recent works, in fact
for most of the last ten years.
What's this? A bad version of Bridge What Bridge? Oh! Hahahahahahahaaaaaa! Actually it's not funny. What the hell has this got to do with the song it is supposed to represent? Sounds like someone had a track that no-one wanted and thought, "let's get Numan on it. Those suckers'll buy any old crap!"
A beefed up backing track with a more grungy sound and a slightly quicker tempo for the verses have failed to salvage this appaling song. It's still the worst thing he ever did. Why anyone would waste their time remixing this is beyond me. And it's 6 minutes 41 seconds long! Uuurgh.
Now I know this is just a p##stake. Its only salvagable quality
is that Numan's singing on it sounds like a reflection of how he feels about
performing it on TV all the time etc. Add to that the "Psycho-esque"
string section though and you actually end up with a damn fine version... especially
all that speaker distortion at the end.
ONLY JOKING! It is, of course, total crap.
Starts good with a nice string section and Numan's clear, strong, and rather sad sounding vocals. Of course this is soon wrecked by adding distortion to the voice. However, it has something of a good tune in there as well as "a nice little rhythm". This has the makings of a good song. Once again it seems let down by poor lyrics; "Some are this, some are that, some are the other" etc. I do like it but I would have preferred something that sounded a bit more finished. Best of the three new songs.
Doesn't sound an awful lot different to the original. the rhythm section seems to have been taken away i.e. drum and percussion loop, as does the bass line. To counterbalance this loss, the artists have put in other drum and bass patterns, but they don't achieve any improvement in the process. A lot of the time there is very little going on musically (particularly in the verses). The guitars are more gritty, but once again, in all, this devalues the song rather than adds to it.
I remember not being particularly impressed with this remix in its "original" form on the Tour Edition of Pure. Surprisingly, it seems a lot more enjoyable on this collection. Maybe because it's much shorter, it gets to the point a lot sooner. The point in this instance being those excellent synth parts that so remind me of stuff like Music For Chameleons. It could be down to the sheer class of the original still showing through despite the fact that it is done in quite a different style. Then again, it could just be a matter of the company it keeps on this collection...
This starts by making you think it's soon going to alter tempo
and really kick in with a strong, heavy update of this classic from Replicas.
Unfortunately, this doesn't happen. In fact the whole song sounds as if it was
recorded at the wrong speed and I still check my e-mail on a daily basis, fully
expecting a message from the record company announcing that there has been a
ghastly mistake and all copies of the CD should be returned to them
to be exchanged for the proper version, or even better, a full refund.
The heavy synth, which works so well on the previous track, serves almost no
purpose here, merely demonstrating that they can be used for evil as well as
good. A true example of falling to the dark side.
Good intro again. I like the new "send black angels for ya" vocals. Oh dear, the verse has that bloody stupid distortion effect all over Numan's voice. (How are we supposed to listen to it?) Much better in the chorus bits. The second verse is, if anything, worse than the first, as most of the music is removed. Really like the chorus parts though. I think this would be very good if it had proper singing in the verses and better synth sounds in the bridges.
Again, a lot of the rhythmic parts of this have been changed and no real tune is there either. He's still whispering of course. I wonder how long it will be before he gets bored of that. Long after me, obviously. After about four minutes of mind numbing mediocrity, some interest is introduced with the, by now almost predictable, addition of... some grungy guitar bits and strong shouting. I like this bit a lot, but it's only about a fifth of the whole thing.
This version, first released as an extra track on the Rip single, seems a fair attempt to update a 20 odd year old song. It still maintains the original's over all feel and tune, but adds some aggression to it and makes it seem a quicker tempo. I like this and can well imagine it would be better than the original at a concert.
How to make "Are 'Friends' Electric?" sound like "Rip"? Well I suppose it is hybrid. Lots of rhythm but almost no substance in the tune department, and for me that's what this song should be about. For all the relationship to the original that this bears, it might as well have had Numan's vocal track while the legendary Frank Sidebottom strums along on his banjo. Pathetic.
A heavier rhythm section at the expense of the synth line is once again in evidence here. O.K., the synths are still there this time but they seem swamped by the other stuff going on. The emphasis of the whole song has changed. It's not a bad version, but I think it has lost more than it has gained.
I like the vocals on this version and some bits of the instrumental
sections, but it suffers yet again from the lack of synth lines, particularly
in the verses. It just doesn't give you that "in yer face" wall of
sound that was created, rather simply on reflection, on the original. Once more,
this is not a bad version. I don't find it offensive but, at the same time,
I can't help but think "why bother?".
I remember liking the Foo Fighters' version of this some years ago and still
like the original song, despite getting really p##sed off with it live - especially
when he opened with it in 1997! God, I nearly walked out there and
then. I did enjoy the version on the Outland Tour though with that "Predator"
intro. I say enjoy, I mean tolerated...
So, on the whole this is a mixture of some interesting bits and some original bits. The sad thing is that the interesting bits aren't original and the original bits aren't very interesting. (Can you believe that Green from Scritti Politti would actually say something like that about "Berserker"?)
The new tracks are not bad but sound to me rushed and unfinished. Some of his songs that I really liked e.g. Torn and Dark, have been all but trashed, whilst others show some attempt at maintaining a decent tune.
The big question I find asking myself about this collection is that if I didn't already like Numan and the original versions of these songs, would I really like this album? The answer is sadly, no. I doubt that I would have given it more than a couple of listens and it certainly would not inspire me to go out and search for his back catalogue.
There are apparently many people who really have enjoyed this album, and good luck to them I say. We all have different tastes in many things, which is probably a valid enough reason to release a CD such as this. My own personal opinion can only have been heavily influenced by listening repeatedly to Numan for the last 24 years and enjoying the vast majority of his output. As such, you could say I am listening to it in a way that may be different to how someone else might do - I may have higher expectations.
As I have said before, this is only one person's opinion and should not be taken as an indication of whether or not to buy the CD. All I will say on that subject is this: If you are a long term fan who has liked the songs the way they were for many years but isn't too keen on the latest style of music that Numan seems into these days, you would be wise to try to get a listen to it before spending your money.