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Gary Numan - Machine + Soul Audio CD

A fair review of the Gary Numan "Machine + Soul" 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.

Gary Numan Band: Gary Numan
Title: Machine + Soul
Rating:
Release Date: 1999-05-25
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Machine and Soul 2: Generator 3: Skin Game 4: Poison 5: I Wonder 6: Emotion 7: Cry 8: U Got the Look 9: Love Isolation 10: Hanoi [Emotion B-Side][*] 11: In a Glasshouse [Emotion B-Side][*] 12: Wonder Eye [Demo Version of I Wonder][*] 13: Cry Baby [Demo Version of Cry][*] 14: Hauntings [Machine and Soul B-Side][*] 15: 1999 [Machine and Soul B-Side][*] 16: Dark Mountain [The Skin Game B-Side][*]

Hmmmm
A beautiful, unusual ballad. I like very much love isolation. It feels like is talking to a ghost, not to a lost woman. He must have been very on the edge, very depressed then. It shows. Hanoi and the hauntings got a very very dark feel to them. I like this album cause of some tracks and in my opinion, this is far better than Outland.


...............Numans Best...........................
The re-issue of Machine and Soul in 99 is what fans have been waiting for!!!You cannot go wrong here!!!Mysterious industrial,dance funk with
Numa doing what he doe's best,going deep in to the unknown via his feelings,with his own take on the early 90s sound captured!!!In my opinion this is his best record ever,rather he realizes it or not. . . . .
.


GOOD,FUN FUNK !!!!
Production is VERY low budget (just keyboards and guitar with female backsinging) the songs are more Prince influenced than ever before with a cover of You Got The Look I actually find better than the original. Maybe not the best of all of Gary's white funk albums but the most entertaining and fun of them all in my humble opinion. Not a weak track on the whole cd as oppossed to earlier efforts. The bonus tracks are numerous and mainly b sides of the single versions and demo versions far better and rockier than those of the actual lp are included. Several gorgeous ballads and a couple of instumentals,in Gary's minimalistic trademark approach,round up an already attractive package at 74' + .
I HAD to knock a star off what would have been a 5 stars rating because of the sound. Muddy upper treble and Gary's voice sounding like it had been recorded through a brick wall and the midrange and female singing are unpleasantly strident .
A special mention for 1999 (another Prince cover ) ;if you think the squeaky keyboard programmed ?wind section?did'nt work well on The Fury,this one sounds like a couple of out of tune car horns. Prince allegedly changed his name after these covers (naw,just kiddin'! )
A must for Numan completist and people who,like me,enjoy his white funk period.


machine and soul
not a weak song on it. a bloody good album. up there with warriors. it all came together on this album. choiceof singles not to my liking or the punters.
buy it , it won't dissapoint.


Funky and fun
How about just taking a record at face value? I think this is a great collection of songs, regardless of the fact that the songs are culled from a rather dysfunctional 18 month period of Numan's career. I think that the professional and amateur reviewers just spend too much time on occasion trying to place a given work within a larger context. So what? I never knew that. All I hear is the music, and "Machine and Soul" is a real rocker. The themes developed revolve around a fairly jaundiced view of love as corruption in a technological, industrial age. "Generator" has an interesting, funky sound that features a chanted "Hey, hey, hey. " In this song there are wonderful, atmospheric interludes, which tell of delights to come on this disc. The song ends with a sample from "2001: A Space Odyssey. "

"The Skin Game" is spectacular, with a great chorus that sings: "One more question: Am I in danger?" "Poison" is a relief after this energetic introduction, with a shoop-dee-shoo beat, very quirky and fun. I should mention that the production values are, as usual, sky-high. The recording is crystal clear. It's just great stereo.

"I wonder" is a gorgeous Numan ballad, heart on the sleeve stuff, beautifully atmospheric. The follow-up is "Emotion," another driving song with an original beat. "Cry" is another flawless rocker that features nice chimes in the percussion. "U Got the Look" has a reverberant band accompaniment, a grand sound. Numan sings: "I never saw a girl who looked so tough. " The song is a great deal of fun, very much tongue in cheek. "Love isolation," a very low-key meditation on love lost,brings the original album to a close.

The twenty minutes of bonus material are great. The first is a grim, atmospheric piece that features a monstrous sounding voice and echoing glissandi. This piece, "Hanoi," seems to blend into the next, "Dark Mountain," where the echoing atmospherics continue. "The Hauntings" is more of the same, so these three pieces give the impression of being a larger-scale composition.

Numan's cover of "1999" is a good change from the contemplative pieces, lively and competent. "Cry Baby" is a welcome reprise of "Cry," a bit less frantic with a more deliberate beat. "Wonder Eye" is a slower version of the lovely "I Wonder," bringing the disk full circle essentially.

In short, I cannot imagine that Numan fans would be disappointed.


You can see a complete list of all Gary Numan discography, or go back to the Gary Numan tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.

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