Scarred [Live]

Gary Numan | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (December 31, 2020)
• Original Release Date: 2001
• Number of Discs: 2
• Format: Live
• Label: Eagle Records (Fontana)
• ASIN: B000088E65
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Recorded as part of the 2000 Pure tour, Scarred marks Gary Numan's 25th year as a recording artist. He's certainly been through a lot since Tubeway Army put out That's Too Bad in 1978. Initially hailed as the king of electro, he fell spectacularly from grace then, years later, having been cited as an influence by everyone from Afrika Bambaataa to Trent Reznor, managed to claw his way back up the ladder. Like Pure, Scarred is heavier than Numan's early material; clattering drums, pounding dance beats, grinding samples, filthy guitar, and menacing bass lend it an industrial roar. But Numan isn't limited to an all-out attack. "Little Invitro" is fraught and delicate before rising to its grungy crescendo, while "Dance" is sweet and forlorn. Of course, the hits are here, too, though "Cars" is delivered so jauntily it loses its sense of melancholic isolation. But that's a minor disappointment given the otherwise high quality of this electro feast. --Dominic Wills

Product Description

Full Title - Scarred Live At Brixton Academy. This album was recorded at Numan's live show at Brixton Academy on the Pure Tour in October 2000. It includes seven tracks from the 'Pure' album alongside Numan classics including, 'Are 'Friends' Electric?', 'Cars', 'Me, I Disconnect From You', & 'Down In The Park'. The U.S. edition includes three bonus videos, 'Pure', 'Rip', & 'Cars' (Live). Eagle Records. 2003.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Gary Numan, In the building where they make us grow., July 16, 2003

By 

Keith Rose .... (Lexington KY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Scarred (Audio CD)

Gary Numan has become a pioneer in the electronic world, influencing rocksters and Synthpopsters, EBM-sters and Industrialites. After having heard boring regular live album after boring live album, I purchased Scarred. It's perfect I tell you, perfect. The album is packed with so many treats that its incredible. The only thing lacking is the seemingly monotonous tonal structure, too industrialish, but at any rate it is filled by powerhouse songs like 'Metal' and the ever so wonderful 'Little Invitro' to make the air around you quiver with sorrow. I have not heard a live album better than this even though the vocals are a bit more present than what they should be. I say buy it now or get slapped.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Possibly the best live Numan ever?, February 26, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Scarred (Audio CD)

OK, OK, I know we Numanoids aren't exactly the most objective of reviewers. But that all aside, WOW. This is a truly great live album, and I can easily see myself listening to it time and again in the future.

It's hard to choose Gary's most admirable attribute. I suppose the glue that holds his vast catalog together is the unfailing excellence of his songwriting. Even though most of us 'Mercans think only of "Cars" as his songwriting peak, Numan's written literally scores of excellent tunes, many of which easily live up to and surpass that high mark.

This live set is a thoughtful culling of some of his best and most offbeat. Oldies like "Films" and "This Wreckage" receive an updated re-tooling here, though the focus is on his superlative recent three studio albums. Gary's pushed himself to a true artistic renaissance lately, and the intensity and accuracy of his voice in concert has absolutely never been better. While Gary doesn't seem fully engaged on some of his live albums (The Skin Game comes to mind first), he really rips it up on Scarred.

The best part of the album is the gorgeous pair of songs at the end. "Dance," the discarded title track to his 1981 studio album is perhaps Gary's most achingly desperate lyric, with a melody that I haven't been able to get out of my head since its first release in 1999. Following this up with the plaintive and powerful "Tracks," he closes the record with a blast of his greatest power: subtlety.

I can't recommend this album enough to the Numan fan. Even if you're only coming to hear "Cars," though, you're sure to be impressed with Numan's mastery of the dark electronic/metal hybrid that he's been working on during the past decade or so.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Smokin' Live Set from Gary Numan, April 28, 2004

By 

Paul Allaer (Cincinnati) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Scarred (Audio CD)

I had the good fortune of seeing Gary Numan twice on his "Pure" world tour in 2000-01. I only recently found out that there was a live album from that tour, and immediately ordered it, sound unheard. I was not disappointed! Gary Numan's critically acclaimed 'comeback' album Pure cast him in a somewhat new daylight, with lots more guitars and even darker sounds than we were ever used from him.

"Scarred" (2 CDs, 21 tracks, 97 min.) brings the complete London Brixton Academy show from October 2000. The set starts off with a sizzling "Pure". While it is followed by the familiar "Me I Disconnect From You", the majority of the songs after that focus on the Pure album, with gems like "Rip", "I Can't Breathe", "Prayer for the Unborn" and "Listen To My Voice", but also a great "Angel Wars" (from the Exile album). "Down in the Park" is recast and sounds greater than ever, as is "Replicas" (check out that stomping intro!). The obligatory "Cars" is here of course, but it truly is not one of the better songs on here. Numan has moved on from "Cars" and he is (and we are) the better for it. The 'new' Gary Numan brings us an overall sound that's somewhere in between of NIN's industrial rock and Depeche Mode era-"Songs of Faith and Devotion" (another synth band that discovered guitars, but Numan brings yet more guitars), and it just works great. It's telling that the CD cover shows Numan with a guitar, as if to convery that this is not the same ol', same ol'.

I also have the 1979 "Living Ornaments" live album of Gary Numan, and both that album and "Scarred" show Gary Numan at his very best. If you can accept the fact that 21 years after "Living Ornaments" Numan is not just about "Cars", you are in for a treat. Strongly recommended!