Gary Numan - Machine + Soul - 1992
Dammit, dammit, dammit.
I'm gonna listen to this all the way through because that's the task I have presented myself. But...well, let's just let Gary speak for the record:
"I convinced myself [that Machine and Soul] was all right, that it was a 'clever' mix of funk, pop, rock and electronics. I almost convinced myself that I liked it. Not long after it was released though, I had to admit, only to myself for a while, that it was not what I'd hoped. There was nothing wrong with it as such, it just doesn't have much of me on it - not playing-wise, but emotionally. It is the most 'non-Numan' Numan album I've ever made, for my style, sound and character are completely missing. Whatever people think about my music, it's always been very personal. So, at a time when I was experiencing extreme lows in my career and private life, the last thing I felt like making was a shiny, polished pop record. But that's what I'd done."
He went on: "Nothing was right...That music, those clothes, that haircut. Imagine falling off a ship in the ocean, knowing if you stop swimming you're finished. That's what I was doing then. I was trying not to die."
There ya have it. Rendered anonymous on his own record. By himself! It's your own fucking label, Gary Numan!
Crap.
Wanna be funk. Soulless soul music. What is this guy thinking?
But you haven't really experienced bad music until you've heard Gary Numan try to RAP on "Poison". Seriously.
And, you gotta believe me when I say, he does a cover of Prince's "U Got the Look". And it's bad.
And just look at that cover. Gary looks so...sad. Like he's trying to tell you not to buy this record. "Look, I'm trapped in here but you don't have to be. You can save your money. See all that negative space on this cover? That's what the inside of the record feels like. Save yourself. Buy a Nine Inch Nails record. Seriously. Those guys are good. I'm...I'm just gonna sit her and stare at my...ooh, shiny buttons!"
Gary just spent so much energy on trying to create a mutant hybrid of Machine music and soul music. (Hence the title) After so many years, here's hoping he got the hint and gave it up.
Grade: D
ASide: Machine and Soul
BlindSide:
DownSide: Generator, The Skin Game, Poison, Emotion...let's face it. This record is bad.
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