Customer Reviews

Random: Gary Numan Tribute

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

 

 

while gary numan certainly had his place in my coming of age, i was never one of his rabid fans. perhaps that's why i find this tribute so refreshing and fun.

saint etienne's "stormtrooper in drag" is worth the price of admission alone. this is the happiest dance song i've heard in a very long time. the chorus is infectious. you'll be humming it for days.

towering inferno's "metal" has a certain ethereal shoegazing quality and borderlines on experimental. it's painful and lush.

dubstar's "everyday i die" is pure jangle manna. heartbreak never felt so delicious.

dave clarke's ironic "cars" cover (essentially a remix of the original) brings the compliation full circle to the present, offering gary his 15 minutes of retro-fame in all it's overproduced glory.

like all tributes, this one is filled with its share of duds. biggest disappointment is no cover of "cry, the clock said," my fav numan track. overall, though, i recommend this to numan purists and the curious alike.

Hey, I'm a die-hard Numan fan. I always found that his poetry outstrips his music by miles. Somehow many of these covers reveal the desperate longing, the awful alienation and the feelings of worthlessness that are intrinsic to Gary's early works. I listen to both "Random" CDs over and over. I grew up with Gary, working the streets for drugs, questioning my sexuality and reality of emotions. Here is all the anger and disillusionment that he sang lay bare for another generation.

This is one of the best tribute albums of the year. The Magnetic Fields' cover of "I Die You Die" is original, as are the _many_ versions of "Are Friends Electric". Great for any Numan fan, as well as a fans of industrial dance music as a genre.

Apart from the laughable Republica version of and the fair PWIS & good Orb remixes this record has little to offer. Go back to the classic Numan like 'replicas' unless you have a fav band that you must collect all remixes by...

'Random' is an extremely eclectic selection of covers, re-interpretations and outright eviscerations of a bunch of classic old Numan tracks. It's downright surreal hearing Numan's songs being sung by other people, and the thought that there are at least 26 people in the record industry who like him is scary. Eclectic is the word - with a couple of exceptions, none of the covers are approached from the obvious direction, and the experimental approach is often interesting, although not particularly satisfying. On the rare occasions when the bands are faithful to the originals, it works - both the tracks with 'Die' in the name are recognisable whilst being identifiably new - the Magnetic Fields, in particular, invest their chosen tune with an odd air of restrained menace not present in the original. Most of the time, however, it seems to fall flat, and as the unpredictability becomes predictable you start to wish that the bands simply played the songs. Some of the groups are clearly having a great time - Earl Brutus interrupt 'M.E.' for a burst of Queen-esque soloing, and Bis augment 'We are so Fragile' with reggae - but that doesn't automatically mean that the end result is listenable, and the covers of 'Cars', 'Jo the Waiter' and 'Metal' might as well be other songs entirely. 'Films', on the other hand, is too faithful - it's some people rapping over the top of the original, something which you can recreate at home with a microphone and record player. Others, such as Towering Inferno's 'M.E.' are frustrating, in that you can see what the band were trying to do. Matt Sharp and Damon Albarn's version of the rare 'We Have a Technical', on the other hand, is extremely faithful but dull.

Still, it's nice to see old, seemingly-defunct bands such as EMF, Jesus Jones and Pop Will Eat Itself back again, though. Some of the band choices are useless, though - Republica smell of wet leaves, An Pierle clearly wants to be Tori Amos, but isn't, and whilst Kenickie gave good interview, they were rubbish, really.

All in all, it's a mixed bag - you'll probably listen to it at least once, for the novelty value alone.

It is nice to know that so many of the bands of today (or at least a few years ago) were so influenced by Gary Numan that they took the time to pay homage to the electronic pioneer on this tribute CD. Some of this time may have been wasted, though, as many of these covers are awful. The best covers are on the first CD. The tracks I prefer are the ones that stray from the original just enough to give the song the unique sound of the performing band, but not so far that it makes the song unrecognizable or agonizing to listen to. Many of the latter are found on the second CD, which I find to be almost worthless. The best covers are St. Etienne's "Stormtrooper in Drag," "I Can't Stop" by Peck Slip, "She's Got Claws" by Posh, and you will never listen to "Poetry and Power" the same way again when you hear Gravity Kill's hard rockin' version of the B-side. But 5 or 6 good songs on a 26-track double CD is not saying much. What's more, the packaging on this CD is dreadful. The track listing is almost illegible. All in all, Random is not very impressive.

I must confess to being a massive Numan fan in my teens.

Now I've grown up, (well almost), I bought this album out curiosity, and I must say it has been one of the most pleasant surprises of this year.

If you're a Numan fan (or even if you aren't) go out and get it and put a smile on your face ...

2 discs of covers, most of which really don't work. Stick to Numan's originals unless it's cheap and / or you are a total collector of ALL things Numan. Strictly AVERAGE on all levels. Some of the sound quality is awful too.

I have been a Numan fan since Replicas. I could only listen to a few tracks on this tribute more than once. (Poetry and Power is the best track IMHO, We are Glass, I Die You Die, Are Friends Electric). Made me realize how good Numan's arrangements are. The atmosphere on most of the tracks is lost, as is any instrumental complexity. Get Numan originals.

I found this CD during a drought of Numan material, and found it to be quite entertaining. The banjos on 'I Die: You Die' alone are almost worth the price of the CD.