(MusicPortal.com) (05/13/05)

Edited By Michael Bennett

LONDON, UK - On July 4th, all three of Electronic music pioneer GARY NUMAN's "Living Ornaments" live albums will be officially released by Beggars Banquet Records.

"Living Ornaments '79" and "Living Ornaments '81" had previously been available only via mail order and specialty product sources.

In 1981, Gary Numan released a box set of two live albums, entitled "Living Ornaments '79 and '80," which charted in the UK at #2, and also -- with the albums sold individually -- charted at #47 and #39, respectively.

In the late 1990's, the multi-track tapes to the 1979 show were located and remixed to expand the original 10-track vinyl release to a double CD of the entire concert.

Similarly, one of the complete Wembley "farewell" shows from 1981 was also released as a double CD.

Diehard Gary Numan fans have always demanded a complete show from the "Teletour" of 1980, the "machine-music" period when Numan was at the peak of his commercial success.

Unfortunately, the multi-tracks for the 1980 show have never been located, and the show never reissued in its entirety.

However, recently a recording of a complete "Teletour" show -- a live reference mix made by the sound crew -- was discovered which, with some sonic tweaking, is of major release quality.

The performances at the previously unknown UK show even eclipse those on the official release, and include rare outings for the tracks 'Telekon' and 'Stories,' which have never been available on a Gary Numan live album.

"Living Ornaments '80" has thus now also become a double CD, featuring the original 10 tracks from the vinyl release, newly remastered from the mixing tapes, plus the newly discovered complete show, which comprise a total of 29 tracks in all.

At the end of the 1970s, Gary Numan, a 20-year old ex-punk from West London was virtually alone in seeing the possibility of a "synthesizer star."

In late 1978, Beggars Banquet released Tubeway Army's self-titled debut, mixing Electronic music with post-Punk guitar and solid, no-frills drumming by Numan's uncle Jess Lidyard.

He immediately created a fresh Garage Electronic style, but by the time the album came out, he was already back in the studio.

Numan recorded the follow-up, "Replicas," in three days at Gooseberry Studios in London, utilizing a stark synthetic sound for most of the tracks.

The album's first single, 'Down In The Park,' announced this radical change of direction but no one believed that the alienated, rhythmical drone of the follow-up 'Are Friends Electric?' would elbow its way to the number one slot.

Within weeks, Gary Numan was posing on Top Of The Pops in harsh white light, bringing a touch of showbiz camp to the clipped, motoric repetitiveness of the song.

From that moment, Numan was simultaneously branded both "hero" and "villain."

When the 'Cars' single and "The Pleasure Principle" album both exploded onto the charts in the Fall of 1979, Gary Numan had put together a complete package of song, promo video and aloof stage image, which would act as a catalyst on a new wave of suburban "no-hopers" who would break through a year or two later.

Human League, Depeche Mode and Orchestral Manouevers In The Dark all benefited from Numan's success.

Nevertheless, his detractors continued to attack him as "pretentious" and "bombastic."

This was somewhat unfair, as his mixture of neon-tubed futuristic chic and pansticked android posing were born out of a strange combination of shyness and a passionate commitment to showmanship.

Over the next two years, Gary Numan scored more hits with 'We Are Glass' and 'I Die You Die,' as well as a third successive number one album, "Telekon" which featured an increasingly opulent sound built out of synthesizers, piano, strings and guitar.

Then he announced his intention to give up live performances, and made a melodramatic exit with three lavish Wembley Arena shows in 1981.

Those farewell shows effectively ended his reign as a multi-million selling Pop star, after which he took time out to enjoy the rags-to-riches trappings of money, Ferraris, sponsored racing cars, and, even his own airplane.

On his 1981 album, "Dance," Gary Numan explored sparser, more ambient textures, but for all his idealism about creating a completely fresh sound album by album, the press weren't ready to encourage a millionaire in a Humphrey Bogart-styled garb, his latest "image."

The gangster headwear partly acted as a way of covering scars from a recent hair transplant, and the sight of Oxfam-suited clones wandering down the High Street was too much for the cynics to take.

His last albums for Beggars Banquet, I, Assassin ('82) and Warriors ('83) adopted fluid funk styles and he had more chart success with 'We Take Mystery', 'Music For Chameleons' and 'Warriors.'

Although most casual observers knew little about Gary Numan's new releases, they were certainly aware of his activities away from the Pop scene.

In particular, his adventures as a pilot.

A much publicized around-the-world solo flight in his own plane was initially aborted when Numan was arrested in India on suspicion of spying.

Although he eventually achieved his ambition, the newspapers had lost interest and his return was hardly acknowledged.

He did, however, make the news after he made an emergency landing on a road due to engine failure.

His bad luck continued when he was charged with carrying an offensive weapon after queuing up at a hamburger stand with a bat.

The next decade witnessed a gradual decline in Gary Numan's sales as he preached to the converted, releasing a new album on his own label every year, touring every Fall.

Musically, the likes of "Berserker," "The Fury," "Strange Charm," "Automatic" with Bill Sharpe from Shakatak, "Metal Rhythm" and "Outland" -- the latter released through IRS Records -- combined bright, forward looking Pop music with bizarre songwriting, vocal and production habits which can make a song seem original and entertaining one day and infuriatingly cultish the next.

Although they continued to chart in or just outside the top 40, the albums had more affinity with the Glam-slamming Funk of American artists like Prince than the British music scene.

When 1992's "Machine And Soul" album followed the usual pattern and stalled at #42, Gary Numan believed he'd reached an all-time low.

Yet only three years later, the musical climate start to change in his favor for the first time in over a decade.

This cultural backlip was signaled by his best album in years, 1994's "Sacrifice," while several covers of Numan's songs were performed both live and on record by Beck, Weezer, Smashing Pumpkins, Shampoo, Marilyn Manson and the Foo Fighters, who covered the song 'Down In The Park' on an "X-Files" album.

In 1995, Carling Premier lager was advertised with 'Cars' as its musical backdrop, kicking off a chart revival which pushed the song back into the Top 20.

A Gary Numan greatest hits compilation also peaked at 21 in the Spring of 1996.

Numan supported Pulp at V96 that same year and wrote "Exile," a return to the electronic chill of his earlier work.

1997 was one of Gary Numan's busiest years to date as he released "Exile," toured the UK, had the excellent "Random" tribute album released, and published his autobiography.

Maybe all that activity will help Numan become a little better understood in the future.

His idiosyncratic songs deserve a fresh listen, but hopefully free from any teeth grinding critical angst or ridiculous claims from his obsessive fanbase.

Gary Numan's story is of an imperfect, and at times improbable, Pop star who has fulfilled an entertainer's primary role of never being boring.

A Pop tale of fame, dreams, lightshows, guns, art, trash, girls, money, Moog synthesizers, science fiction, introspection, ego, alter egos, paranoia, cult status and Max Factor 28 panstick.

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