Customer Reviews

Pure

5 star:		(38)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

I've been a Gary Numan fan since 1979 and, frankly, it hasn't been easy. From the mid-1980s to the mid-1990s, his albums have been a little hard to swallow, usually containing one or two fantastic songs mixed with tunes that range from "just miss" to "absolutely embarrassing." Then, something happened. In 1994, Numan stopped writing songs geared towards getting radio airplay and started writing stuff he wanted to hear. The first evidence of this newfound confidence was 1994's SACRIFICE, an absolutely dark, brooding album. It was the kind of music I'd been longing to hear him make since 1982. Numan followed SACRIFICE with EXILE, an even angrier album.

2000's PURE turns down the anger, but turns up just about everything else. Numan's characteristic synthesizers have teamed up with guitar power chords, a new vocal style, the return of real drums and a use of distorted sound samples and electro-noise that recalls both the best of the Tubeway Army days and the more modern industrial sounds of Nine Inch Nails and Marilyn Manson.

Numan sings with a confidence I've not heard him sing with before. By allowing his emotions to ooze into his delivery, he absolutely boils over with both power and delicacy in his vocals.

Gary Numan has created an album that can be held up to all those that have wondered what long-time fans have seen in him all this time. It is this: PURE.

Having been a Numan fan since 'Are Friends Electric?' in '79, I've witnessed all the highs (Pleasure Principle, Replicas, Berserker) and lows (Warriors, Machine & Soul) in Gary's album career. From Telekon onwards, his lyrics have tended to over-fixate on the turbulence of his own career, but his wife Gemma appears to have opened a whole new chapter in his life, entirely for the better. On previous albums, 'Exile' and 'Sacrifice' a welcome new musical and lyrical direction was explored, but it's only with the triumphant new album 'Pure', that things have really come together. Kicking off with the huge electronic bombast of the title track, it's clear that Gary has finally reached the musical plateau that he's been aiming for all these years. I challenge anyone to get the riff from this song out of their head after a couple of listens, and it's also (as far as I'm aware) the first time Gary has used the word 'bitch' in any of his lyrics! 'Walking with Shadows' is dark, brooding and lyrically unsettling; 'All they need is one tortured soul', ostensibly about the thoughts of someone in a coma. 'Rip', the obvious choice for a single, uses menacing, whispered lyrics to lead into a crashing chorus, building to a huge muscular synth work-out and breathless ending. This track alone is worth the album price. 'One Perfect Lie', my personal favourite, is a moving tribute to Gary's pet dog, with a lyric just as fitting for anyone experiencing the loss of a loved one. 'I kneel down by your grave, torn and guilty', may not be a radio-friendly lyric, but conveys more than a million shallow pop songs ever could. The mighty 'My Jesus' is a huge slice of dark energy, ostensibly tapping into the thoughts of a potential serial killer; 'the screams will guide you to me'. Powered by a huge synth riff, the track demands repeated listens. 'Fallen', a near instrumental with whispered backward lyrics is superb, but too short. Another few minutes of this would be just the tonic!

'Listen to my Voice' starts off innocuously enough, but rapidly builds to a chorus seething with malevolence; 'They will send angels, send black angels for you.' 'A Prayer for the Unborn', the first of two tracks about Gary and Gemma's baby girl, who sadly did not survive, must surely rank as one of his most incisive and bitter lyrics, directed at a god who could allow such a small life to be extinguished before it had begun; 'You were glorious, but you were somewhere else.' 'Torn' is another enormous slab of darkness and disturbance, bristling with menace, and is followed by the heartbreaking 'Little Invitro'. Having recently become father to a baby girl, I can entirely empathise with Gary's feelings of anger, guilt and loss, laid bare in a lyric that is almost too painful to listen to. The album exits with the huge 'I Can't Breathe', a track which, the listener should be warned, has several false endings. Overall, the album is the first by any artist in over 10 years that I can thoroughly recommend in it's entirety. The whole thing is a masterpiece of Gary's trademark lyrics of alienation, yet harnessed to themes that anyone can identify with, and featuring marvellously dark instrumentation, a tribute to the skills of both Gary and his band. If you've ever liked anything by Numan, give this a listen, likewise if you're a fan of the dark music of Nine Inch Nails, Ministry or Marilyn Manson. If Hootie & The Blowfish are more your bag, I suggest you try somwhere else.

Excellent!!!!!

Anytime I have ever brought up to people... that they should pick up "EXILE" or "PURE", they laugh and make jokes about the song "Cars". Well... clear your mind of the 80's or that song for a moment here. This is not the same Gary Numan. "PURE" is a continuation of his previous work, "EXILE". There is no denying that elements of this album sound like NIN, or even DM. That's not a bad thing either. Numan's voice is low, dark and alluring. He draws you into this dark, gothic setting, and never lets up. The music is a bit more up to date, edgier and mature than "Exile". There are more crunching guitars woven in with brooding synths. My favorite track is "My Jesus". Other stand out tracks include "Pure", "R.I.P.", "Listen To My Voice" and "A Prayer For The Unborn". I believe Numan and his wife lost their first unborn child during the making of this album. His anger towards religion, and his sadness of loss are reflected here. This is a serious album, that works on so many levels.

Gary Numan's discography offers much variety, which is one of the reasons he is my favorite musical artist of all time! His musical styles, for the most part, come in triplets: The punk era (Tubeway Army, and The Plan with its belated 1984 release), the New Wave electronic era for which he is most known (Replicas, Pleasure Principle, Telekon), the "maturity of sound" era--for lack of a better label (Dance, I, Assassin, Warriors), the techno-dance era (Berserker, The Fury, Strange Charm), the Janet Jackson era (Metal Rhythm, Outland, Machine and Soul), and the dark, religious era (Sacrifice, Exile)...which brings us to Pure.

Like Telekon and Machine & Soul, which took the musical style of their respective "eras" to its extreme, Pure takes the dark, religious era to another level. While several tracks are cut from the Sacrifice/Exile cloth ("Pure," "Walking in the Shadows"), this latest release offers more variety in sound than the previous two albums. "Rip," "I Can't Breath," and the latter part of "Fallen" offers creepy vocals I've never heard from Numan before! They don't even sound like Numan. They sound more like something off a Marilyn Manson album! The chorus of "Rip" and "My Jesus" sounds more like the lead singer of Offspring than Gary Numan!! Coupled with a haunting piano, this music represents the darkest and heaviest sound Numan has heretofore written!

My favorite track is "A Prayer for the Unborn," that sounds more like the Numan I'm used to. It's a slow song with a catchy guitar riff at the end. "Listen to My Voice" also sounds more like the familiar Numan. The chorus reminds me a little bit of Depeche Mode's "Enjoy the Silence." "Little Invitro" is a heartbreaking ballad about Numan's wife's miscarriage. It ends with a blaring guitar riff that some find inappropriate, but I think makes the song tremendously powerful.

If you expect the Numan of "Cars" on this CD, you will probably be disappointed. Numan has grown so much musically since the 1979 monster hit. If, however, you are a fan of the dark/industrial music of Nine Inch Nails and Marilyn Manson (both Trent Reznor and Manson cite Numan as an influence), than this CD is right up your alley! Numan has managed to evolve his musical styles continuously throughout his career and has kept up with current trends. For that, he should be respected and admired as one of the best musicians and song writers of the last twenty-plus years.

I listened to Gary Numan back in college, during the late seventies, early eighties--loved his work then, but love it even more now. For a long time, I forgot about his work, but then heard Cars on the radio and found myself wanting to hear it again. Then I happened to catch a video of "Pure" and totally found myself entranced. His new work has evolved into a dark, industrial-goth futuristic fusion. Numan had this potential years ago, I can hear it in his earlier work when I listen to it now, and I can see how he's grown into what he's creating now. As to the connection to NIN--I love NIN's music, but while I see similarities between the two, I also see quite a few differences. NIN feels more carnal, while Numan feels more cerebral. I'm glad I rediscovered Gary Numan's music, because it's extremely inspiring in terms of creativity and I listen to it when I'm writing.

Yasmine Galenorn (Author, Artist, Poet)

I fell in love with gary numan(his music, that is)ever since I heard reznor's cover of "metal" ,and then I heard "down in the park" cover by marilyn manson. so I began to listen to gary's old stuff(replicas, cars, etc.). but when I heard the song "pure" I freaked out and almost hit the floor. if I could give numan (in general) more than five stars, I,d give him his galaxy!(that was kind of corny, oh well).

Before writing this review I thought I'd get a feel for what other people felt about the record as well. If there's one thing I've discovered about Numan's music is you either love it or hate it. Funny that those who hate it with vehemence, when asked to review it, have NO idea what they're talking about in commentary. Not a big surprise there. Then again, that's why the NME has readers.

Anyway, was there a point to that? Yes. If someone slags this record, ignore them. If it's a decent critique on production or content, then fine as well.

The thing about Gary's path he's been on since "Sacrifice" is it can be appealing to anyone. It's lush, heavy, driving guitar-ish, and actually "about" something. You have pieces like "Pure" and "Walking With Shadows" that could work well for total immersion or simply background music, but then you have a tracks like "Prayer For The Unborn" and "Little Invitro", songs inspired by the premature passing of he and his wife's unborn child. You'd have to be one cold-hearted SOB to listen to those pieces and not be moved.

Gary takes more flak than anyone in the industry. Yet he is so kind and gentle to those who approach him. he treats his fans with courtesy even when they don't give him the same in return. A true artist, and a good soul. People have been ruined by far less.

Give the record a shot. I believe you'll enjoy it.

.... Popped it into my computer's CD drive when I got home, slipped my headphones on...and prepared myself to listen.

Needless to say, I'm almost done listening through it, and I'm not disappointed.

A darkened landscape of sound is presented by sparse backing instruments. Numan himself is color to this background of night, going from the monotoned verses of "Pure" and turning it on full blast at the chorus. Even his merest whisper is enough to intrigue the mind ("I Can't Breathe" is almost fully done in whispers...).

The lyrics, like the sound itself, are darkly mysterious and ultimately beautiful in the way that night is beautiful. Well-written, with that sense of despair that may be popular in the groups of today, but certainly not faked, unlike said groups. "Little Invitro" vies for position as one of the most beautiful songs I've ever heard, and the guitar riff at the end only adds to the song's atmosphere, as it tears at the heartstrings.

Older Numan fans, beware. This is not the exact same man who made "Cars" a mega-hit, even though there's a trace of that poppish sound still apparent. Time and evolution has been kind to us all, even those of us who haven't heard what brought Gary Numan to the dance in the first place.

May it continue to be kind.

I happened upon this new Numan CD quite by accident, and as I placed it into my CD player, I remember thinking "Yeah...what is Gary Numan gonna do for me all these years later, after masterpieces like "Replicas" and "Telekon" " - especially since his latest albums have all been imports that most old fans, I included, didn't even know existed. Well, what a surprise! Dark and compelling, mixing the best elements of Nine Inch Nails, Marilyn Manson, and, especially (!) Depeche Mode. While you might initially think that Numan sounds a little TOO close to the styles of those artists, remember that it was he who really did pioneer this dark, electronic mood-pop back in the late 70's, so I'm prepared to give him a break for re-appropriating his own sound in 2000. (And then there's his always-haunting vocals, to really set him apart from the pretenders!) Not since I first sat down with "Replicas" when it came out in 1979 have I been so blown away with a Numan album. A welcome return to somebody like myself who had all but given him up for dead.

In 1994, Gary Numan released an album that would forever redifine his music. It was called Sacrifice and was a wonderful album. Then in 1997, he topped it. His sound grew extremely dark and his lyrics became dark and twisted as well. It was called Exile and it made me begin to listen to Numan. To me it was one of the greatest album i had ever heard. I never thought it could get better. But then Pure came out and i was blown away once again. WHen i first heard about this album, i doubted that it would be better then exile. But to my delight it was. Way better. Numan has once again used his musical genius to create something that is sleek, dark and fantastic. The difference this time around is that Numan has taken a more industrial tone in his music. This album is much heavier and uses more distorted guitars. It sounds a little like Nine Inch Nails "the Downard Spiral". The first song"Pure" starts off with a haunting piano chord, then quickly turns into a fast paced industrial romp that will have the listener hooked immediatly. The Lyrics seem to be told from a killers point of view as he is about to defile a victim and makes the victim question his or her belief system. Next song after that is "walking With Shadows" This song is more calm. It goes with a strong yet not too heavy sound until it gets to the chorus which is when it, still calm, blasts from all directions. Next song is "Rip". THis is probably the most darkest and most menacing song i have ever heard. It stays with a dark repeating rythm until it reaches the chorus. Thats when all instruments come at you at once. Numan sings in a sinister whisper thoughout most of the song except the chorus. Next is "One Perfect Lie" This song is not as dark as the previous and is the first emotional song. It's hooks will really catch you by supirse. It is a great song. Next is My Jesus, one of the best songs. This song starts off with some keyboard solos, then Numan singing, then builds onto the powerful chorus which can blast you away instantly. Next is "Fallen". This song is a short instrumental but works very well as Numan manages to make it sound sinister. Next is "listen to my voice". This song remains pretty quick throughout and has an excellent chorus. "Prayer for the Unborn" is next. This song is not as fast paced but is enough to keep you hooked and toward the end it becomes heavy with distorted guitars and makes the song perfect. Next up is "Torn". This song is also fast and has a chorus which sounds distant. It is a cool effect. The next song a beautiful one called "Little Invitro" Numan wrote it in memeory of his wife's miscarraiged child. The lyrics are striaght form the heart on this one and the music is soft just as they way it should be up until the end where it unexpectadly smashes the listener with a plethora of guitars. This song is one of the highest points on the album. The last song is "I can't breathe" A strong and heavy industrial romp straight through. Perfect way to close this album. The lyrics take many shots at religion. But they are not just meant for shock value. Numan writes them with enough dignity so they dont get cheesy. They are extremely well written. To any Nine Inch Nails or Marilyn Manson fan, or any fan of heavy industrial music, I strongly recommend this album. I can easily call it the best album of the year. It is one of the best albums ever written in my opinion. I can't wait to see what Numan will do next. But for right now this album will surely do. It is a Pure masterpiece. Pun intended.