‘Gary Numan – premier hits (arkive)’.
Due to surface shortly for the first time on vinyl the re-release of ‘premier hits’ marks the start of a re-issue campaign that will see returns to wax of iconic sets ‘replicas’, ‘pleasure principle’ and ‘telekon’ later this year (to coincide with a handful of brief appearances wherein he will be playing the albums in their entirety live – dates / venues below), the latter incidentally always a personal favourite around our gaff. The double album set pretty much includes all the singles from 78 to 83 from the early Tubeway platters ‘bombers’ and ‘that’s too bad’ right through to ‘sister surprise’ ripped from the ‘Warriors’ full length, it covers the first flourishes of Numan’s creative peak (before the grey patch wilderness years and his return to form and critical re-assessment / acclaim in the mid 90’s) and features one of the most influential melodic signatures in modern times – ‘Cars’. The set is bolstered by four additional cuts ‘me, I disconnect from you’, ‘we are so fragile’, ‘films’ and ‘metal’.
Numan dates –
Wednesday 21 October – The Forum, London – performing Replicas
Thursday 22 October – The Forum, London – performing The Pleasure Principle
Friday 23 October – The Forum, London – performing Telekon
Saturday 24 October – Manchester Academy
In addition whilst having a rummage through you tube world we upended this little curio – an extended interview / documentary charting the rise / fall and rise again of Mr Webb.