Customer Reviews

Pleasure Principle (Reis)

5 star:		(37)
4 star:		(17)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

It's amazing how much emotion Gary Numan was able to evoke with an album so dominated by electronic instruments. Numan produced a number of great albums in his heyday (I'm not a big fan of his recent, dark material), but the Pleasure Principle--with its Magritte take-off cover--has best withstood the test of time for me. Replicas comes close, but I think this is Gary at his best.

Cars became a hit here and in the UK, but the rest of the cuts are every bit as strong. And there's a sensitivity on display behind the andriod cool that makes this music far more than the sum of its parts. Couple that with an excellent rhythm section, great keyboard textures, and first-rate arrangements, and you have an album that never seems to wear out its welcome.

Gary Numan's voice can tend to become grating on some of his albums, but not this one.

The Pleasure Principle, of course, is Gary Numan's most recognizable album because it features "Cars." Sadly, "Cars" is the only Numan track a lot of people know which is unfortunate because it is not even close to his best work. It is in the middle of the pack on this album alone. Every track off Pleasure Principle is classic! The opener "Airlane" is an instrumental but it is by no means a filler. It rocks and once those drums kick in, it takes the listener for a ride (Numan, not long after this album was released, earned his private pilot's license and traveled around the world). "Complex" and "Tracks" are beautiful. "Metal," having a very rough sound, is a fan favorite as is "Films" with the powerful, kick-butt drums. "M.E." is one of my all-time Numan favorites and "Engineers" is interesting for its, well, ingenuity and for its experimental, retro late 70s/early 80s sound. The only track I am not as crazy about is "Observer" because it sounds too much like "Cars." Still this album is classic and a must for fans of New Wave, synthesizer-driven music. The extra tracks on Pleasure Principle are not as intriguing as the ones on the other re-issues. "Random," "Oceans," and "Asylum" are all instrumentals. "Oceans" is the best of the three. It has a beautiful relaxing sound like the instrumental extras off Telekon. "Random" is a jolting rocker. "Asylum" is spooky. The live version of "Bombers" (B-side to the "Complex" single), I admit, is better than the original studio version. The live tracks come from Living Ornaments '79 which includes the peculiar "On Broadway." It is a very odd cover for Numan, although the keyboard part is pretty cool. I would rather not have that track on this CD but, whatever. I recommend all the Beggars Banquet Gary Numan re-issues. They each have several pages of text on the albums, photos from the original album and single covers, lyrics, and many extra tracks. Each disc also has a slice of the album cover on the spine so, together, they look terrific in the CD case.

This album has always been a favorite of mine. From the hit song Cars to the lesser known tracks this album has never grown tired for me. The bonus material is absolutely awesome. I particularly am enjoying the demo version of Cars.

The sonics/mastering are wonderful. I don't detect any hard limiting at all, nor do I hear any use of noise reduction or excessive EQing. Numan's vocals truly come to life in this remaster and it trounces previous CD issues. The sonics are much improved over the original CD issue of this album and I highly recommend you upgrade.

What could one say about The Pleasure Principle that hasn't been said by countless others?Without a doubt,this album is synthpop perfection.Cold and sarcastic in its construction,I would be hard pressed to think of an artist that had as much effect on synthpop and techno as Gary Numan.This is an album filled with lush rhythms,exacted lyrics and sardonic precision.I highly suggest playing this one late on a cold January night with an adequately primed lava lamp and an adult beverage or two to keep you company.This album is nothing short of genius and is one of the rare few outside of The Man Machine that can actually be played repeatedly without becoming redundant.Go out and buy a copy immediately.You won't be disappointed..

This is the album that got me into electronic music back in 1979 or 80 when I first heard the song 'Cars'...I had been hearing synths in music for years but nothing like this. This wasn't psychedelic or artsy...This song had an irresistable hook and a beat...it was freaky and it rocked.

On The Pleasure Principle, the music is simple(Numan credits the band for turning sounds into music)...the sound is still cold and emotionless like on Replicas, but more dancey. Gone are the elements of punk. There are no guitars on the album...Numan was out to show people that synthesisers could stand on their own.
The album opens up with 'Airlane' which features a driving beat and the trademark soaring Polymoog string sound that is on just about every song on the album. A great opener.
'Metal' follows and is just upbeat as 'Airlane' along with sci fi lyrics.
'Complex' is a personal favorite. A slow ballad featuring some freaky soaring synths and violin. I even detect a bit of emotion in Numans voice towards the end...
'Please keep them away...don't let them touch me'
'Films' is a song of paranoia with one of the coolest beats I've ever heard. Cedric Sharpley and Paul Gardiner made an exceptionally good rythm section.
'M.E.' It's about the last machine on a desolate earth and it's power source is dying. I like it although it drags on a bit long.
'Tracks' is probably my least favorite but it's still a lovely song.
'Observer' sounds a lot like Cars...but again the rythm section shines on this one.
'Conversation' features some nice violin/viola blended with the electronics. But like 'M.E.', it drags on a bit too long.
'Cars'...the hit.
'Engineers' - More sci fi lyrics and a marching style drumbeat with rythmic machine like sounds. A great song and probably one of Numan's most underrated.
There are also 7 extra songs on this re-release - B-sides and live tracks. Not bad for the price I'd say. The b-sides are all instrumental and they are interesting to say the least. The live tracks are amazing and are also available on Living Ornaments 79 cd. 'On Broadway' features an amazing synth solo by Billy Currie (Ultravox). You have to hear it to believe it.
This classic is a must have cd.

Its very simple. Before this album, there was nothing. Like a universe that explodes from a single sub-atomic particle, this album spawned everything that "synthesized" alternative rock has evolved into. You must put this album in perspective with the time it emerged to appreciate the pure elegance of this work. Completely synthesized (sans drums), melodic, dark, cold, androgenous masterpieces - all. Every Depeche Mode, Nine Inch Nails, (pick your favorite synth band and insert it here) owes its inspiration from this recording. Sure there was Brian Eno, David Bowie, OMD, and others - but nothing as fresh as "Cars", "Films", "Complex".....If you like Gary Numan, you must own this album.

synthetics and live strings mix up the atmosphere in this hard driving soundtrack for the replicants that roam this planet.

just in case one were to get melancholy about lifes challenges or weepy about love lost, gary numan sets one straight with the mantra: 'i'm still confusing love with need."

cars is a great track, but my personal favorite is METAL. "plug me in , turn me on, Now everything is MOVING...." at that moment, mr. numan sends everything in his mix into a flanger/phaser/replicantbooster and sends your listening space into orbit.....yesyesyes.

over twenty years old this cd is and it stands up to the smeared pap that passes for emuzik today. just a few moogs, a few guys who can play their instruments, no computers, and an active imagination is all one needs...tell that to listeners today!

"New Wave" was a woefully insufficient label for a loosely collected mass of musical acts during the time period between Fleetwood Mac's Rumours and Michael Jackson's Thriller, an album which singlehandedly and oh-so corporately sounded the death knell for originality on both MTV and FM radio. Unlike psychedelia, punk, or (heaven help us) grunge, there never seemed to be a coherently constructed philosophy behind what was being released by a vast array of almost-popular artists. But when you listen to The Pleasure Principle, you begin to realize that there was some seriously profound subtext at work amongst the better artists of the period, something beyond irony and WAY beyond satire that appealed, however momentarily, to a spectrum of vaguely disenfranchised adolescents and post-adolescents, people eager for music with the same relative intensity of punk, but channeled in a far more conceptual, aesthetic way. The Pleasure Principle, along with Devo's New Traditionalists and Talking Heads' Fear of Music, is an unheralded monument of the era.

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Yes, this is the one with "Cars".

All I need to say is that in 1980 I became a life-long Numan fan because of this album. New Wave/Electronic Rock can't get much better than this. The original material alone is worth the price of this remastered disc, but two of the three instrumental b-sides, Random and Oceans, are brilliant. The third, Asylum, is pretty good too; very haunting. The addition of some live, non-Pleasure Principle tracks makes this package well-worth the money.

Oh, and need I mention some of the other artists or bands who have covered Numan songs or were influenced by his music? All right then, we have Kurt Cobain, Foo Fighters, Marilyn Manson, Beck, Nine Inch Nails, Smashing Pumpkins, Hole, Republica, Jesus Jones, Fear Factory, EMF, and other rap/hip-hop artists, to name just a few.

Numan's sole association for some is still his 1979 hit Cars. It's a shame, because the album it hails from is an excellent record and holds up remarkably well all these years later.

This is a notable rock achievement---a rock album with no guitars. The synthesizers (Minimoog and Polymoog) are put through some guitar pedals and create some big, fat, fuzzy sounds that are pitched, distorted, swished, whatever. The bass and drums are `real', and Numan continues the sci-fi-robot-future-Phillip K Dick-inspired rock. As on Replicas, the hooks seem effortless.

There are a number of Numan classis in addition to Cars, some of them still regularly performed live. Films, for instance, is a funky, menacing number. Metal is a live staple, covered and remixed numerous times and still working. Conversation is another rambling, robot-inspired number with a long synth breakdown at the end, similar to Cars. M.E. is another dark and menacing number, now well-known for the Basement Jaxx use of the sample riff.

Many folks now acknowledge this as an important, influential album, yet Numan remains cult (if at all in the US). The Pleasure Principle is cohesive, the sound has aged incredibly well, and it's ahead of it's time for 1979--not bad for a kid. The remastered and reissued Beggar's Banquet discs are all excellent. The b-sides (three of them) are atmospheric and completely in line with the mood of the album--kind of dark, mechanical, but effortlessly catchy. The live tracks (four) are of excellent quality and come from the Living Ornaments series of live albums (also highly recommended). With a `distant' sound, warm synths, and dark lyrics, Numan was in his own world.