NUMAN V OLDMAN

THE CONTRIBUTORS

John Earls has spent an inordinate amount of

THE MAN MACHINE

THE MAKING OF A SYNTH POP ICON

NEW BEFORE NUMAN

Brian Eno was one of the artists whose

FEUD! BOWIE VS NUMAN

© Getty Bowie kept a close eye on

army dreamer

GARY WEBB’S PUNKED-UP TRIO WERE ALWAYS UP AGAINST IT, BUT HAVING CUT HIS TEETH IN THOSE GRITTY CLIMES CLAWING AROUND FOR A SOLID IDENTITY, AND THANKS TO A SERENDIPITOUS FIND IN THE STUDIO, A COMPLETE METAMORPHOSIS WAS JUST AROUND THE CORNER…

TUBEWAY ARMY: TRACK BY TRACK

1 LISTEN TO THE SIRENS Starting out

ARMY SURPLUS

Tubeway Army’s first two singles

REPLICAS TUBEWAY ARMY

CLASSIC ALBUM

THE SONGS

© Getty 1 ME! I DISCONNECT FROM YOU

REPLICANTS

Covers and reinterpretations of Are ‘Friends’ Electric?

THE PLEASURE PRINCIPLE GARY NUMAN

CLASSIC ALBUM

THE SONGS

© Getty 1 AIRLANE The atmospheric instrumental

THE PLAYERS

GARY NUMAN Born Gary Webb, this electro

THE VIDEOS

CARS Director Derek Burbidge (whose video credits

YOU ARE IN MY VISION

AFTER LANDING ON PLANET SYNTH-POP IN STYLE, GARY NUMAN AND TUBEWAY ARMY WERE AT THE APEX OF THEIR FAME AND FLYING HIGH IN POP’S FIRMAMENT. CLASSIC POP SPEAKS TO LEGENDARY VIOLINIST AND KEYBOARD PLAYER BILLY CURRIE ABOUT THE BAND’S FIRST ICONIC NATIONWIDE TOUR IN 1979…

TOURING TUBEWAY’S RANK AND FILE

Billy Currie: Ultravox’s classical-trained musician was famously a

TOTP BOY

After several years of trying to crack it,

TELEKON GARY NUMAN

CLASSIC ALBUM

THE SONGS

© Getty 1 THIS WRECKAGE Numan’s interest

THE VIDEOS

WE ARE GLASS Lots of lasers, claps and

MEN ON WIRE

Celebrity Numanoid Robert Palmer © Getty Robert Palmer

AI FRIENDS ELECTRIC?

TO MARK OUR CELEBRATION OF HIS WORK, GARY NUMAN AGREED TO GIVE CLASSIC POP THE FIRST IN-DEPTH PREVIEW OF HIS NEW ALBUM. THE NEW RECORD, NUMAN’S 20TH, WILL INVESTIGATE AI. HOW DOES SUCH A TECHNOLOGICAL PIONEER FEEL ABOUT ITS IMPACT ON MUSIC? IS HE STILL FASCINATED BY TECHNOLOGY? AND WHEN DOES HE ACTUALLY GET TO CELEBRATE HIS ACHIEVEMENTS? WE JOINED NUMAN OVER ZOOM AT HIS HOME IN CALIFORNIA AS HE WENT DEEP ON HIS CAREER…

DRIVEN BY CARS

Gary Numan has learned to accept the role

RUINING A NOVEL

Earlier this year, Gary Numan tried to finally

JAGGER EDGE

© Getty Before the pandemic, Gary Numan had

DANCE GARY NUMAN

CLASSIC ALBUM

THE SONGS

© Getty 1 SLOWCAR TO CHINA An

THE VIDEOS

SHE S GOT CLAWS The promo for Dance

NO FRETS

A YOUNG PINO PALLADINO LENT HIS FRETLESS BASS WORK TO I, ASSASSIN , INADVERTENTLY CREATING A BOLD SIGNATURE SOUND AND KICKSTARTING A CAREER THAT’S SEEN HIM PERFORM WITH EVERYONE FROM ADELE TO THE WHO…

I, ASSASSIN: TRACK-BY-TRACK

1 WHITE BOYS AND HEROES Droning synths

JOE HUBBARD: PASSING THE BATON

Joe Hubbard, another virtuoso fretless bassist, who performed

WARRIORS GARY NUMAN

ALBUM INSIGHT

“I’M DROWNING. I’M DYING. I’M STANDING ON MY OWN TWO FEET, BUT I’M DYING.”

THE MID-1980S STARTED TO SEE NUMAN’S SUCCESS DIP FROM A CRAZILY-SUCCESSFUL START TO THE LOWEST OF LOWS IN THE EARLY 90S. HERE WE TRACE THE REASONS WHY THIS HAPPENED AND RE-EXAMINE SOME OF HIS WORST RELEASES TO FIND A LOT OF LIGHT IN THE DARKEST OF TIMES…

THE WILDERNESS YEARS COMPILATION TAPE

© Getty You’re trying to persuade someone of

MACHINE + SOUL: WAS IT REALLY THAT BAD?

With Numan’s 1992 low point, it’s a continuation

SACRIFICE GARY NUMAN

NUMAN’S REBIRTH ALBUM HAS SINCE BECOME A CULT CLASSIC; THE RESET BUTTON THAT REVIVED HIS CAREER, AND SET HIM BACK ON A TRAJECTORY OF CREATIVITY AND CRITICAL REAPPRAISAL…

EXILE GARY NUMAN

INSPIRED BY THE BRUTAL SOUNDS OF INDUSTRIAL ROCK AND HARNESSING THEMES OF RELIGION AND MORALITY, NUMAN’S 13TH LONG-PLAYER WOULD PORTRAY A MURKY DYSTOPIAN VISION

IT WAS AN INCREDIBLE RIDE

AN 11-YEAR MEMBER OF GARY NUMAN’S BACKING BAND, A FOUNDING MEMBER OF DRAMATIS AND THE CO-WRITER OF VISAGE’S 1981 CLASSIC FADE TO GREY , IT’S FAIR TO SAY THAT CHRIS PAYNE IS SOMETHING OF A SYNTH-POP LEGEND. HE TALKS TO CLASSIC POP ABOUT HIS LONG CAREER AND HIS CONTINUING RELATIONSHIP WITH THE MAN-MACHINE…

FADE TO GREY

Payne was never deeply involved in the writing

NEW DRAMA

After the April 1981 shows at Wembley Arena,

PURE GARY NUMAN

WITH NO TOP 20 ALBUMS SINCE THE EARLY 90S AND SLIPPING FURTHER FROM THE SPOTLIGHT, IT WAS THANKS TO A BRAND NEW WAVE OF ROCK ARTISTS INFLUENCED BY HIS PAST GLORIES, THAT SAW NUMAN’S STAR BEGINNING TO RISE AGAIN…

JAGGED GARY NUMAN

WITH FAMOUS SUPPORTERS RALLYING AROUND HIM AND HIS PAST GLORIES SAMPLED FOR SEVERAL BIG CHARTERS, THE NEW MILLENNIUM SUGGESTED BETTER FORTUNES LAY AHEAD FOR GARY NUMAN…

DEAD SON RISING GARY NUMAN

WITH PREVIOUS ALBUM OFFCUTS AS A KICK-OFF POINT AND AN EXPERIMENTAL ETHOS, NUMAN CONCEIVED ONE OF THE MOST ECLECTIC RECORDS IN HIS ENTIRE CATALOGUE

SPLINTER (SONGS FROM A BROKEN MIND) GARY NUMAN

SEVENTEEN ALBUMS IN AND NUMAN LOOKED INWARD TO CREATE A HIGHLY PERSONAL RECORD THAT PUT HIM BACK INTO THE HIGHER ECHELONS OF THE CHARTS FOR THE FIRST TIME IN DECADES

PRODUCING GARY NUMAN

IN AN EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH THE GARY NUMAN PRODUCER, BEST FRIEND, SELF-CONFESSED STUDIO GEEK AND NUMANOID, ADE FENTON REVEALS WHAT IT’S LIKE WORKING WITH GARY AND PRODUCING HIS DAUGHTER RAVEN’S NEW MATERIAL – PLUS HE GIVES US DETAILS ABOUT A VAST RANGE OF NEW RELEASES AND ONE OR TWO TITBITS ABOUT A NEW NUMAN ALBUM…

THE COLLABORATION PROCESS

There have been various unreleased albums that saw the light of day in the end

WORKING WITH RAVEN NUMAN

Ade has also been tasked with producing Gary’s daughter Raven, whose album on BMG should be out later this year. He tells us more about this intriguing project.

SAVAGE (SONGS FROM A BROKEN WORLD) GARY NUMAN

SET IN A DESERT WORLD DESTROYED BY GLOBAL WARMING, GARY NUMAN’S 18TH STUDIO ALBUM WAS AN INTERNATIONAL SUCCESS AND WOULD GO ON TO BECOME HIS HIGHEST-CHARTING ALBUM SINCE ‘THE MACHINE TRILOGY’

TOP 4O TRACKS

IN 2017, NUMAN LISTED HIS OWN FAVOURITE TRACKS THAT INCLUDED SONGS FROM THE NORMAL, DONNA SUMMER, DEPECHE MODE, NEW ORDER, THE HUMAN LEAGUE AND NINE INCH NAILS. HERE, WE SIFT THROUGH HIS OWN MIGHTY CATALOGUE TO SETTLE ON 40 OF HIS FINEST CREATIONS…

EMERGENCY ON PLANET EARTH

GARY NUMAN NOT ONLY PREDICTED THE RISE OF SYNTHESIZERS, HE SEEMINGLY FORESAW THE IMPACT OF CORONAVIRUS WHILE WRITING HIS 19TH ALBUM, INTRUDER . IN EVERY SENSE A VISIONARY, IN THIS ARCHIVE INTERVIEW FROM 2021, HE TALKED TO CLASSIC POP OF WRITING ABOUT GLOBAL CATASTROPHE DURING A PANDEMIC, THE STRUGGLES TO SUSTAIN HIS CAREER REBIRTH AND THE TRUTH BEHIND HIS ATTACK ON SPOTIFY…

YOU SAY YOU WANT A (R)EVOLUTION?

Having completed his 18th album Savage , Gary

ANTI-SOCIAL MEDIA

Early publicity for Intruder suggested that a sequel

ME! I CONNECT WITH YOU

ASIDE FROM HIS WORK AS A SOLO ARTIST, GARY NUMAN HAS – OVER THE PAST 40PLUS YEARS – TEAMED UP WITH AN ARRAY OF OTHER TALENTS, TO BRING SOME THRILLING COLLABORATIONS TO THE WORLD’S STEREOS

RANDOM

One of the turning points in Numan’s career

ON STAGE COLLABORATIONS

© Getty There have been a number of

MY NAME IS RAVEN

GARY’S DAUGHTER RAVEN CHATS TO CLASSIC POP ABOUT THE INSPIRATION BEHIND HER MUSIC AND THE UNIQUE EXPERIENCES THAT GO ALONG WITH BEING A NUMAN, FROM CHILDHOOD PINK LIMOS AND MEETING KATY PERRY TO SUPPORTING HER DAD AT THE ELECTRIC BALLROOM AND HER THOUGHTS ON BEING A ‘NEPO BABY’…

RAVEN NUMAN’S SINGLES SO FAR

MY REFLECTION The first song Raven wrote at

WE HAVE A TECHNICAL

GARY NUMAN MIGHT WELL BE REGARDED AS A SYNTH PIONEER, BUT IT WAS MORE BY LUCK THAN JUDGEMENT THAT HE HAS ENDED UP WITH THIS ASSOCIATION WITH THE INSTRUMENT, AND HE ALSO TRIED TO SHAKE OFF THE IMAGE MID-CAREER, TO DISASTROUS EFFECT – WE SURVEY OVER FOUR DECADES OF NUMAN AND HIS SYNTHS…

TOP 20 GARY NUMAN B-SIDES

CLASSIC POP COUNTS DOWN SOME OF THE EPIC, EXPERIMENTAL AND DOWNRIGHT EERIE B-SIDES THAT HAVE BACKED UP SOME OF GARY NUMAN’S BIGGEST-SELLING SINGLES…

NUMAN WINS ANIVOR NOVELLO

Gary Numan has had his fair share of

GARY NUMAN

SPECIAL EDITION

WELCOME

The course of UK synth-pop could have looked

NOWMUSIC

www.nowmusic.com

TUBEWAY DAYS

www.tubewaydays.co.uk

CLASSIC POP

classicpopmag.com/newsletter

CLASSICPOPMAG

classicpopmag.com/jan2025