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Living Ornaments '79

Gary Numan - Living Ornaments '79 Audio CD

A fair review of the Gary Numan "Living Ornaments '79" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all Gary Numan reviews here, or go back to the Gary Numan tabs.

Band: Gary Numan
Title: Living Ornaments '79
Rating:

Release Date: 2005-08-08
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Intro 2: Airlane 3: Me! I Disconnect From You 4: Cars 5: M.E. 6: You Are in My Vision 7: Somethings in the House 8: Random 9: Everyday I Die 10: Conversation 11: We Are So Fragile 12: Down in the Park 13: Remind Me to Smile 14: Joy Circuit 15: Tracks 16: Are 'Friends' Electric? 17: We Are Glass 18: Bombers 19: Remember I Was Vapour 20: On Broadway 21: Dream Police 22: Films 23: Metal 24: Down in the Park 25: My Shadow in Vain 26: Are 'Friends' Electric? 27: Tracks

Defining Live Moment in New Wave
The "new romantic" sound from Bowie to Roxy Music had a subversive, edgy, gender bender quality that was only enhanced by the synth punk of early Ultravox! which was lost in the radio friendly decidely straight songs of groups like the Cars. As with any other music, post punk over time got watered down. However, before the wash out,Gary Numan picked up on the burgeoning new romantic, glam punk music and added synths to the sound of his band Tubeway Army with great success. As he became a known name and a solo artist with his release of "The Pleasure Principle", he decided to tour and "Living Ornaments '79" is a perfect snapshot of this. By the time, Gary Numan was a solo artist, his sound was more "clean" and not the same as Tubeway Army (there is a full concert on the end of the album "Tubeway Army" but its from when the band was still a typical punk group, there was no "Replicas" tour but a few tracks are available on "The BBC Sessions" and a video of "Are Friends Electric?" on one of the official "Old Grey Whistle Test Compilations" but no more than that)but live there is still a certain post punk edginess retained that would soon be lost and plenty of tracks from the Tubeway Army years that compliment his newer songs. This is a classic live performance overall and "The Touring Principle", I don't believe is a bootleg. A long while back, it was officially available on VHS and there is no reason not to release the full video of this concert (though its a bit tedious, he's standing in front of a monolithic cube the whole time). Worth it to hear Gary Numan before he was undersold as the one hit wonder behind the song "Cars".

You could tell from conversations...
This is the first one, covering a full 1979 show in London, and is an expanded edition of the original vinyl release. The Living Ornaments double-disc releases are invaluable documents of Numan's early live days.

First off, the quality on all three releases is excellent---79, 80, and 81. They each differ a bit, but as official live recordings they absolutely hold up and benefit from the remastering. My favorite sound would have to be the first show from the '80 version---a the mix is perfect, the sound crystal clear.

This was recorded during The Touring Principle and features tracks from the Tubeway Army album, Replicas, and The Pleasure Principle along with a few Telekon tracks snuck in as preview material. The sound is excellent: crisp, clear, with an even mix. Still very early in his career (even with two #1 hits) Numan kept the songs close to the album versions (the subsequent Living Ornaments releases feature more elaborate production for the tracks so there is a clear progression in style from the `79 to `81 releases). The trademark keyboards are fantastic--the sound holds up today far, far better than so many keyboard-driven bands that would appear in the coming decade. Numan, perhaps accidentally, really hit upon how to make good rock without up-front electric guitars. By putting the keyboards through guitar pedals, he created a unique, futuristic, and versatile group of sounds. The whole sci-fi / Phillip K. Dick-inspired material is set against a rich, unique sonic landscape. Conversation, in particular, rolls along at seven minutes without ever dragging, while shorter songs like Me! I Disconnect From You are like being stuck in a catchy, early Atari game with Kraftwerk attire, to use a trite music-review device. . .

For the Numan fan, all of the Living Ornaments releases are real gems and well worth buying. Fans of any artist would be lucky to get a slew of such releases. This version is one complete show, beginning to end, while 80 features parts of two shows and 81 again captures a complete show. Sound-wise, it's fantastic, hands down, rivaled only by the first portion of 80. Also, as imports, I have no idea how long these will be available or how accessible they will continue to be in the US. This is an artist who's been perfecting and mastering the live format for decades. Sadly, despite nearly 20 albums and a live album for most tours, he's still only known for `Cars'. Ridiculous.

Android Comes Alive
It's good to see Beggar's Banquet has reissued the entire concert. Living Ornaments is an amazing recording.
This was Gary Numan's first tour and he wanted to make a big impression and he succeeded, musically and visually. Numan certainly proved the synthesizer was an incredibly powerful instrument if desired. I can easily imagine the floor of the Hammersmith Odeon vibrating to the opening notes of 'Conversation', 'M. E. ' and of course 'Down In The Park'. The band play brilliantly. Drummer Cedric Sharpley and bassist Paul Gardiner made a great rhythm section. A good deal of the songs feature the signature synthesizer solos from Ultravox member Billy Currie who toured with Numan on the European half of the tour. One of the best synth solos I've ever heard is on the song On Broadway (the old R&B classic). Even though Numan's voice was emotionless on his studio albums, one can detect a bit more emotion in the vocals on Living Ornaments.
The visual impression Numan made you can get an idea from the cd cover. Two keyboard players on platforms, 20 foot high pillars of lights that looked as they were rotating and a huge pyramid of light over the drummer. The concert was filmed and released on video under the name Living Principle. It would be great if Beggars Banquet were to rerelease the concert video on DVD. There are bootleg versions available and well worth seeking out. .

INCREDIBLE LIVE ALBUM !!!!
The songs are welcome variations to those of the studio versions. And Gary's first. Richer in texture and less agressive,especially on the guitar parts,maybe approaching the style of the album they were presenting at the time �PLEASURE PRINCIPLE�. This was a bit of a letdown to my punk and heavy metal mentality,used as I am to live versions being faster and rawer,but this is another kind of music and I take it at face value,and it's EXCELLENT. Even �Bombers �is presented with nice arabian synth licks. The sound is incredibly dinamic,very bass heavy,and the Sharpley/Gardiner rhyhtm section is up front in the mix all along the 85'+. It's a bit synth-weak as I'd heard before I bought the record,but as good as live recordings got by late 70's.

One out of two aint bad
The double cd has the complete 79 show with tracks not found on the original LP. For Numan fans looking for "Living Ornaments 79/80 you're halfway there. Sadly this set does not have the 80 show(see track list). Still a must for the Numan fan(especially early GN). Hopefully someone will release the 80 show as well done as this.

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