21-09-2017, 11:22
GARY NUMAN – Savage (Songs From a Broken World)
![[Image: 220px-Savage_sfabw_cover.jpg]](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/c/c0/Savage_sfabw_cover.jpg/220px-Savage_sfabw_cover.jpg)
Well well! I haven’t kept up with Gary Numan at all and now I’m wondering why, except I suspect his present brand of industrial dystopian angst might only be digestible in smallish chunks (for me at any rate). The album title is a dead giveaway!! Lol!
He still has that distinctive sound, there is no mistaking who this is, and what’s he’s done here is actually quite interesting, despite, (or maybe because of) the dire post-apocalyptic content; he is a sonic experimenter after all, and he’s reasonably relevant (although I’m beginning to dislike that description) - doesn’t sound like a new wave hangover – well, maybe just a bit, lol! And I’m sure he doesn’t give a rat’s about what anyone thinks anyway (except David Bowie, and I quote “… who once had him thrown off the set of Kenny Everett's TV Christmas Special. Numan had already filmed his song for the programme and was hanging around to see Bowie film his. "Before then I thought he was a god," he recalls. "I used to get into fights at school protecting his name. Then, all of a sudden, this bloke I'd adored for years was throwing me out of a building because he hated me so much. It really upset me at the time, especially when I thought of how many thumps I'd taken for him. I can only imagine he was going through an insecure patch. At the time I was outselling him about four to one.") I think they may have patched things up at some point as Numan has since voiced his continued admiration and respect for the late Mr Jones.
Having listened to the whole album twice now, and in digestive retrospect, I find that for my ears, the gothic rock/industrial aspect of this current sound is too heavy and samey after a while – extended doom laden steam punk distortion and big beats is not much my thing. I make it to the sixth of ten tracks and by then have had quite enough – but I’m also not sorry I listened!
If you want something loud, insistent and strangely compelling (for a while), this is the business – it’s dark, and definitely not background music, has anti-establishment written all over it, and I’m sure people are gonna love it.
Well well! I haven’t kept up with Gary Numan at all and now I’m wondering why, except I suspect his present brand of industrial dystopian angst might only be digestible in smallish chunks (for me at any rate). The album title is a dead giveaway!! Lol!
He still has that distinctive sound, there is no mistaking who this is, and what’s he’s done here is actually quite interesting, despite, (or maybe because of) the dire post-apocalyptic content; he is a sonic experimenter after all, and he’s reasonably relevant (although I’m beginning to dislike that description) - doesn’t sound like a new wave hangover – well, maybe just a bit, lol! And I’m sure he doesn’t give a rat’s about what anyone thinks anyway (except David Bowie, and I quote “… who once had him thrown off the set of Kenny Everett's TV Christmas Special. Numan had already filmed his song for the programme and was hanging around to see Bowie film his. "Before then I thought he was a god," he recalls. "I used to get into fights at school protecting his name. Then, all of a sudden, this bloke I'd adored for years was throwing me out of a building because he hated me so much. It really upset me at the time, especially when I thought of how many thumps I'd taken for him. I can only imagine he was going through an insecure patch. At the time I was outselling him about four to one.") I think they may have patched things up at some point as Numan has since voiced his continued admiration and respect for the late Mr Jones.
Having listened to the whole album twice now, and in digestive retrospect, I find that for my ears, the gothic rock/industrial aspect of this current sound is too heavy and samey after a while – extended doom laden steam punk distortion and big beats is not much my thing. I make it to the sixth of ten tracks and by then have had quite enough – but I’m also not sorry I listened!
If you want something loud, insistent and strangely compelling (for a while), this is the business – it’s dark, and definitely not background music, has anti-establishment written all over it, and I’m sure people are gonna love it.
"The surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that it has never tried to contact us." ~ Bill Watterson