Customer Reviews

Berserker

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

General knowledge of Gary Numan by the average listener is either based in his success in the late 70's and early 80's with his trademark wall of analouge sound made up of warm, heavy, thick sounds from Moogs and other such synths, paired up with a drone, dead pan vocal that sounded as mechanical as the music it accompanied. If not that, then the resurgance of interest that accompanied his 1997 album 'Exile' where tribute albums were launched and prominent acts such as Trent Reznor and Marylon Manson name checked him as a crucial ingrediant to they're own creative process.

Berserker, as a complte work is astounding. And held against even the best known acts of the time, This is an extremely mature album for a 24 year old to write. The title track could be released today and sound as fresh as it did then. It's a very well constructed piece that burns from the first chord, then completley slows up, expands, and then takes off again. I first heard this track in 1992 and it was the only song in a long time that actually had me smiling from ear to ear as I left my cd player on 'repeat' for nearly an hour.

As for the rest of the disc, "This is New Love" is something you just have to hear from yourself. It's both cohesive and experimental at the same time, quite likely my favorite cut, and trust me, you have never heard anything quite like it. The 30 second clip you can hear on here does no justice.

Other Highlights are "Cold Warning" That fuses violin and thick synths in an impressive mixture and "My Dying Machine" which musically is on rails and doesn't deviate much from it's frame, but still very driving and a nice rush. Lastly, the beautifully haunting "A CHild with the Ghost". Outside of the beatles "A day in the life", Bushs' "Letting the cables sleep" and Nine inch nails "Hurt", this is the most beautiful song I've ever heard. That song alone justifies having "Berserker" in your musical arsenal. Berserker is atmosphere over flash and one of those rare gems that actually create a mood rather than something that's mindless and over in 3 minutes. This album, good or bad, will leave an impression and THAT is the true mark of a great piece of work.

There are 3 versions avalible of this release, 2 of which feature bonus tracks ( b sides from relevant singles ) and gives you the whole package of recordings from these sessions. There is also, avalible from Numans own web site, an extended version that features longer versions of 6 of the 9 original tracks. Sadly no b sides but the extra 2 minutes of these songs your ears will thank you for.

Though Numan is clearly not for everyone, neither are any artists who really are innovative and are usually given acceptance once the rest of the world catches up with them.

Yes it has to be Berserker. This was his last truly great album and i will be very unpopular with many of his fans i know. Following on from the excellent "Warriors" and "I,Assassin" of the previous years this was his masterpeice.

I have an eternal argument with a colleague at work on when was his finest hour. He thinks it is the 1980 "Telekon" - and there were some outstanding tracks like "I Dream Of Wires" and "Remind Me To Smile". But for sheer completeness it has to be Berserker. I think you have to appreciate also that Numan's popularity was on the wane in 1984. The singles released from Berserker did not set the charts on fire and appearance with Leo Sayer did little to enhance his talent.Also, his friend Paul Gardiner who played bass with the Tubeway Army died of a heroin overdose close to the Berserker sessions. This bereavement had a massive effect on the album - alienation, angst and atheism abound.

Yet out of this comes outstanding music. From the blistering title track to the end he is on top form. The complete fusion of electronic bass,synthesizer funk, and cracking percussion. Outstanding tracks are "This Is New Love" (all of 8.45 minutes long), "The Secret"(why this track was never released as a single beggars belief),"Pump It Up" and "The Child With The Ghost".

This album was before Numan consumed his music with heavier basslines which snuffed out his synthesizer genius of earlier work. Later work did not have that certain "Je ne sais quoi" you could say. Here he achieved a balance which was nearly there on Warriors but superbly defined on Berserker.

I have every one of Gary Numan's studio albums, so that should warn the reader about my bias regarding this artist. There are so many high points during his career that it is difficult to single out one effort as his best, but Beserker is unique among his outings. There is an impressive wall of sound from the title track, which invites the listener with the beguiling "Do you want to come with me now." A chorus of innocent-sounding women intone that they question everything, and indeed Numan creates an interesting tension between lyrics that express alienation and self-doubt with music that is precise and virtuosic.

"This is New Love" is spectacular. Frankly, it's hard to describe, very driving, stick bass and numerous changes of instrumentation and rhythm. The bass line of "The Secret" recalls earlier, mechanistic Numan rhythms, and the song features a soaring electric guitar line. The words are compelling here: "We'll show you religion, we'll show you a new God, we'll show you the secret of love." By the end of the song, the secret revealed is that of fear.

"My Dying Machine" is the culminating point of the album, and feature some of my favorite Numan lyrics: "No more questions, no more answers, all that is left is the fear. Why give orders? Why give speeches? Give me a reason to die. I've no plan to run. I've no plan to hide." And this is embedded in one of his best dance songs ever. Just delightful, and again that devious interplay of celebratory melody and dark themes, but in this song, optimism seems to gain the upper hand.

"Cold Warning" presents a stark contrast to the complex percussion of "My Dying Machine," opening with a lonely-sounding fiddle. It is another very danceable tune, less manic and much darker. "Pump it Up" provides a lighter relief, a lively and fun song. "The God Film" is a slower interlude that leads to "A Child with the Ghost," a mournful and atmospheric elegy. The original vinyl album ended with "The Hunter," an excellent rocker. Just as the record opened appropriately with an invitation, this song bids the listener farewell: "Now I know it's all over." The CD re-release includes five bonus tracks, some of which are excellent. "Empty Bed, Empty Heart" is a bluesy, slow complaint, nice and atmospheric. "Here Am I" is also a very deliberately paced song, much better than the first bonus track, even if it is not related thematically to "Beserker." "She Cries" is a real gem, reminiscent of the mood and sound from "Dance." "Rumour" is also excellent, even if the sound is a bit distorted. It's worth some fuzziness to hear another example of Numan when he's moving and lyrical. The last bonus track is a bit of a throw-away, but who's complaining after such a great collection of songs?

This CD is an all-time favorite of mine. I had always thought Gary Numan was a one hit wonder with "Cars;" and to many of the uninitiated, he is. Back in the early 90's I happened to see he had actually put out several albums of material since his early 80's heyday. That piqued my curiosity, so I thought I'd take the chance on his "New Anger" album. This had a bonus track called "A Child With the Ghost" that just floored me. What a hauntingly beautiful tune that was. I figured if the rest of his output measured up to this song, I'd have to give it a try.

I decided to buy the album that had "Child With the Ghost" to see if it was any good. That album, "Berserker," turned out to be a fairly hard to get import at the time, but I managed to get my hands on a copy. Thus my obsession with Gary's music began.

"Berserker," released in 1984, is very keyboard-heavy, but I feel that it stands above most of the material from that era in its continuity. This is simply a great album from beginning to end; there's not a dull moment on it. The exceptionally strong songs are "Child With A Ghost," "The Secret" (this has become my favorite), "Cold Warning," "My Dying Machine" and "The God Film".

Gary Numan does not deserve the One Hit Wonder label. He's consistently put out quality material, scoring hits in his native England for the past three decades. This album is further proof that there is indeed quality music out there -- you just have to occasionally dig for it!

Cranking out a new album, a new image, and a tour just about every year for a decade and a half or so, Numan came up with Berserker in '84.

The white and blue makeup of the cover, and the blasting white light of the stage show perfectly convey the sound on this album---a cold, clinical, but machine-pop sound. The lyrics are dark (on paper) but hide beneath the shiny surface of fat bass, and a lot of electronics. The Numan sythns are all here, but surrounded by heavy, cold production and the elements that Numan was obsessed with in the mid-80s---sax solos, female backing vocals, and a dirty, strip-club sound. I think he gets it just right on this album.

The classic voice is also distorted and sometimes buried in the machines, but somehow it still works. The album seriously grew on me, and if you like early Numan and his effortless synth rock hooks, this album is a good progression (before he perhaps took it too far and lost it).

Songs like Pump It Up almost have no right being as catchy as they are, with the cheesy background vocals, the sax (why was he obsessed with sax solos so much?) The cold, hard drums of Cold Warning or This Is New Love are combined with a funky slap-bass sound and are catchy, if very 80s. The title track is awesome, featuring more guitar work than the other tracks, and a menacing sound that resembles an 80s dystopian future flick. (Blade Runner seems to be a big influence on his mid-80s albums, complete with sample on the next album, The Fury). This Is New Love sounds like the perfect strip club sound (the lyrics appropriate as well). My Dying Machine is a dancy, hypnotic number. Cold Warning combines deep, electronic bass, a cello(!), and booming synths that create a slower hypnotic effect and more of the menace that sits under the pop tunes. The Secret sounds like he and Bowie swapped some tapes around the same time.

The album has a dark lyrical tone; songs allude to "cold love", "need without feeling", "boys of passion", and a dark, tempting force akin to prostitution of some sorts, all wrapped up in that shiny, deceivingly poppy machine sound. Love is a force that feeds distant, needy action. (Don't you love describing pop album themes?)

This is not the extended version; instead it contains the b-sides from the singles. Apparently, this is tough to find, a shame. The Numan box set version has the b-sides (no extended mixes). There is at least one real gem in the b-sides. Here Am I should have been on the album---who said it's not consistent with the other songs? It's perfect. It's slow, sliding, menacing, and deceptive (lyrics vs. music). A fat, Playboy At Night sound that perhaps sums up the cover the best. And to show the man's a genius, there's a cello AND a sax solo.

The hooks and the synths and his unmistakable voice are here, but heavily augmented by 80s production that still holds up well. This is before he over-obsessed with that Prince/Janet Jackson/sax obsession/horn hits/too many cheesy backing vocals/Bobby Brown/bad white funk sound took over on every other song for a number of albums. While he's approaching it here for sure, it somehow stays together.

By 1984, Gary Numan had said goodbye to his old record company and created his own, Numa. He had high hopes for it, and this initial release should have been massive. Yet with little or no support from the radio, 'Berserker' must have become something of a financial liability, which is a shame. Massive drum and percussion, a uniform feel of cold emptiness, a confident vocal style, and the major introduction of female backing singers create an album that knocked his last two efforts ('Warriors' and 'I, Assassin') into a cocked hat. All the tracks are very good, and the bonus songs make this package well worth buying. But surely the greatest track, and one of Gary Numan's greatest ever singles has to be the criminally underrated title track. Listen to the extended version. You'll see what I mean.

"Berserker" presents Gary Numan as a porcelain-skinned, vibrant blue-haired alien who is consumed by paranoia and icy, detached emotions. His mechanical, angular sounds of "The Pleasure Principle" and "Telekon" are revisited here, but fat, warm bass lines smooth out the edges into a sleek, clinical sound which adds much to the mysterious image he presents. This is very much a concept album, and all of the songs are cohesive and represent an artist with integrity to spare, even though the critics and the BBC wouldn't give this project the time of day. Luckily, the "Berserker" tour was captured 'live' on the "White Noise" LP, which is also a shimmering example of Gary Numan's unique aesthetic approach to pop music. "Berserker" is in a world of its own, and stands out as a serious stab at creating a cold image to offset the fake sunshine of the pop world in 1984. Here in 1999, "Berserker" is as fresh and interesting as it was on the shelves fourteen years ago.

This is a weird little package, including neither the Berserker nor the original Strange Charm albums. What we have here instead is a CD compilation of some great Numa-years songs (also available by itself) and a PAL DVD of the Berserker Live from London concert video. I've read elsewhere that it's region-free, but my Sony Dream System says it's restricted, while it plays fine in my US Lite-On player, which I didn't realize was multiregion or multiformat. In the US, just beware it's PAL. Most computers should play it fine, though.

It's a great bargain, though a bit alien to anyone who's not a hardcore Numanoid. The classic Atco/Beggars Banquet songs in the track listing are all live versions, and the rest hits some unusual album picks and B-sides.

The real reason to buy this one, though, is that video. Shot while Gary was rocking the blue hair/white skin image, it's an 11-song concert culled mostly from the love-it-or-hate it Berserker album. The video quality is shockingly good, though the sound isn't nearly of the caliber heard on the White Noise double-disc album from the same concert.

This show is a pretty impressive feat to behold. We've got the classic Numan lighted panels and band on risers. The man's dedication to paint himself white and dye his still-new hairplugs bright blue was pretty remarkable, and I have no idea how he doesn't sweat it all off by the end of the show. The band is pretty darned tight, though I have to admit I'm not much of a fan of backup vocalist Karen Taylor (she's no Tessa Niles or Tracey Ackerman), and she looks awfully uncomfortable on her upstage center perch. It's nice not to have "Cars" included in the setlist.

It's pretty cool overall, and a great deal for the price. I'm happy to have it in my (silly big) Numan collection.

This 1984 Numan effort is strong. I would go to say that it it his last great album of the eighties, despite the fact that it had no airplay, back then or now, in clubs or radio here in the States. It has some very danceable and catchy tracks that havnt been discovered by DJs yet, surprisingly. I'm glad that it is being released on CD domestically. It was close to IMPOSSIBLE to find it on vinyl, much less CD. This is a very atmospheric, dark-tinged pop album that could be considered The fully realized, New-Wave Numan Album. His previous album "Warriors" was in the right direction but ended up way too "saxophony/sugary" sounding. The Fury, his next album after this one went even further in that direction, and although there were some good tracks on that one, it was sadly the beginning of the decline of the pale one in the eighties. after releasing the dissapointing Strange Charm and the dismal next three albums, He finally regained his feet on "Sacrifice" in 1994 which I feel is his strongest album of the nineties. Hear the last great Numan Album of the Eighties. Buy Berserker.

I am an absolute Gary Numan fan!! I'm even re-buying things I already have just for the little bonus tracks or extra features. I own this album (twice), the CD and every single 12" remix from this album I've had the good fortune to find (some more than one copy). Nothing else he has produced has had the same effect on me as this album. It's been twenty years and still this stuff is GREAT!!

I find Gary Numan in general to be very different from most other 80's music. It seems he was following his own path. It's only because other bands followed in his footsteps that much of the 80's sounds like Gary Numan. Opulence abounds on this album. The viola on "Cold Warning" is insanely emotional. Drum machines and live drummers on the same song give incredible percussion while a long list of guest artists and vocalists pepper almost every song with new and different vocal and instrumental themes. He really brought all the talent together for this album. "Berserker" starts the album off right. It gets the pulse racing and the mind reeling.

Everything he learned prior to this album all comes together to create an absolute masterpiece. There are other good songs on other albums, but none of them can compare to the non-stop hit parade that is "Berserker".