Beggars Banquet
Speaking of Gary Numan, Beggars Banquet completes theirremaster/reissue project this month with the final two albums Numanreleased originally on Beggars back in the 1980s. Originally releasedin 1982, 'I, Assassin' continues on themes Numan began the previousyear with his 'Dance' album. Fashionably, Numan was still dressing likea 1930s gangster (a makeover after he got sick of looking like a StarWars extra), while musically, the rhythm section is easily mistakablefor the lineup on the prior year's 'Dance,' which featured Japan's MickKarn on bass and Queen's Roger Taylor on drums. While this top 10 UKalbum was preceeded by three UK top-twenty singles, "White Boys andHeroes," "Music for Chameleons," and "We Take Mystery To Bed," the mosttimeless songs have got to be the side two openers, "This is My House,"with a simple yet hauntingly famous synth melody blanketing thefretless bass guitar mastery, driving drums and Numan's neuroticvocals, and the catchy title track. Perhaps it's because these are theonly songs on the original eight-song album which are -not- litteredwith the electronic drum sound exploited for years by Prince and theRevolution (you'd know it if you heard it). Seven bonus tracks gracethe reissue, including both early versions and B-sides.
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For 1983's 'Warriors,' Numan underwent another image reconstruction,stealing both the outfit and the backdrop of Mad Max from 'The RoadWarrior.' (Click here to judge for yourself!)Ironically enough, this album has got to have been his woosiest todate. The rhythmic drive from the powerful drums was erradicated:either lowered in the mix or completely removed in some cases. Inaddition, female vocals were added, guitars were reintroduced in theform of undeniable wishy washiness and saxophone was more prominent.Perhaps this was partially to blame on the production by Bill Nelson (AFlock of Seagulls, Be Bop Deluxe, David Sylvian), but even the lyricsreflected a young Numan (only 25 at the time) who was already jaded andcynical, now probably near the point of exhaustion after eightsuccessful albums in the course of five years. On earlier albums, Numanwould assume a fantasy persona, the subjects of the songs on 'Warriors'sound more like they're from a man who's been completely trapped,caged, and is not in control of his own world. This can be seen fromsome of the first few minutes of the album as the first words out ofGary's mouth are "I fall down, no control somehow, no help now, myfavour slides." It's unsurprising that in his own life, he was goingthrough a number of struggles and by the end of the year, he hadsevered ties with Beggars Banquet. Mastered from the original tapes,the reissue of this disc features all the B-sides from 1983, along witha single version of "Sister Surprise," and the full-length version of"Warriors," along with the previously unreleased, "Nameless andForgotten," a fate he seemed to have been sealing with this record.samples:
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