Gary Numan : Living Ornaments 1979

One of the founding fathers of synth pop, Gary Numan's influence extends far beyond his lone American hit, "Cars," which still stands as one of the defining new wave singles.

That seminal track helped usher in the synth pop era on both sides of the Atlantic, especially his native U.K., where he was a genuine pop star and consistent hitmaker during the early '80s.

Numan was born Gary Anthony James Webb on March 8, 1958, in the west London section of Hammersmith.

Inspired by the amateurism of the punk movement, he joined a punk group called " the Lasers " in 1976. The following year , he and bassist Paul Gardiner split off to form a new group, dubbed " Tubeway Army ", with drummer Bob Simmonds .

When Beggars Banquet rolled out its reissue program for Numan in the late '90s, the limited edition Living Ornaments '79 album got a thorough clean-up and expansion for CD, but the tapes for Living Ornaments '80 couldn't be located for a similar job. The upshot was the appearance of this previously unavailable recording  which turned out to be a good thing, since Living Ornaments '81 easily ranks as Numan's best live album, as well as arguably being one of the best live rock albums ever.

High praise, perhaps, but the two-hour document ( DVD ) of what at the time was billed as Numan's final

show (like what happened with his hero David Bowie, it was a bit of a premature claim) in front of a packed, obsessive London crowd at Wembley Arena starts off great and doesn't stop. Numan's core band of the time had both the ability and the power to readily translate and often cleverly reinterpret the music, whether exquisitely delicate to brutally thrashing, to stadium-scale heights, while Numan himself, in his own uniquely quiveringly-voiced way, matched them just right.

Label : Beggars Banquet Bega 24 (K 58295)
Format : Vinyl Album
Country : UK
Released : 1979
Genre : Electronic, Rock
Style : Electro, New Wave, Pop Rock, Synth-pop

Tracklist

Side one

   1. Airlane – 3:12
   2. Cars – 3:20
   3. We Are So Fragile – 2:33
   4. Films – 3:45
   5. Something's in the House – 4:08

Side two

   6. My Shadow in Vain – 2:50
   7. Conversation – 7:45
   8. The Dream Police – 4:12
   9. Metal – 3:25

FLAC  Size  :  234  MB