The Pleasure Principle (album)

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Untitled
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic [1]
Robert Christgau(B)[2]
Mojo[3]

The Pleasure Principle is the third studio album, and debut album under his own name, by electronic music pioneer Gary Numan, released in 1979. Released the same year as Replicas (under the name Tubeway Army), The Pleasure Principle also went to number 1 in the United Kingdom and paved the way to chart success for a string of synthpop acts such as Ultravox, The Human League, Depeche Mode and Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark.

Structure and release

Numan completely abandoned guitars on the album. This change, coupled with frequent use of synthetic percussion, produced the most purely electronic and robotic sound of his career. In addition to the Minimoog synthesizer employed on his previous album, Numan made liberal use of the Polymoog keyboard, particularly its distinctive "Vox Humana" preset. Other production tricks included copious amounts of flanging, phasing and reverb, plus the unusual move of including solo viola and violin parts in the arrangements. Gary Numan was also influenced by Kraftwerk; the track "Cars" has the same musical "glides" as "Autobahn" and both used the same synthesizers.

Notable tracks included "Airlane", the lead-off instrumental; "Metal", sung from the perspective of an android longing to be human (covered by Nine Inch Nails on Things Falling Apart, Afrika Bambaataa on Dark Matter Moving at the Speed of Light and used as backing for Planet Funk's "Who Said"); "Films", acknowledged by Bambaataa as an important influence on the U.S. hip hop scene; "M.E.", told by the last machine on Earth (later used as backing for Basement Jaxx’s "Where’s Your Head At?"); the electronic ballad "Complex", a UK number 6 single; and "Cars", a worldwide synthpop hit recently covered by Fear Factory and sampled for Armand Van Helden’s "Koochy". "Cars" reached number 9 in the U.S. and even climbed to number 1 in Canada,[4] helping make The Pleasure Principle Numan's strongest stateside showing, but lack of a strong commercial follow up meant he was tagged [by whom?] a one-hit wonder there.[citation needed]

Numan toured throughout the world in support of the album with a huge stage set including banks of neon lights and twin pyramids which moved across the stage via radio control. The live show was captured on record as Living Ornaments ’79 and on video as The Touring Principle. The support act on the UK leg of the tour was Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark. An expanded version of Living Ornaments '79 was issued on CD in 2005, and the final show of The Touring Principle was captured on the CD Engineers (released exclusively through Numan's official website) in 2008.

Of the bonus tracks currently available on CD, "Random" and "Oceans" were instrumental outtakes from The Pleasure Principle sessions, originally issued on vinyl with other previously unreleased tracks in 1985; "Asylum" was the instrumental flip of the "Cars" vinyl single; the live versions of "Me! I Disconnect From You" and "Bombers" made up the B-side of "Complex", having been recorded on tour and lately made available in their original context on the expanded Living Ornaments '79 CD, along with "Remember I Was Vapour" and "On Broadway". The latter two tracks first saw the light of day as a promotional single shipped with early pressings of the album Telekon in 1980; Numan's unlikely version of the classic "On Broadway" was dominated by a characteristic synthesizer solo by then-former (and soon-to-be-again) Ultravox band member Billy Currie.

There was a special gig dedicated to the album scheduled at Manchester Academy in November 2009, similar to Numan's previous tours for Replicas and Telekon.

Track listing

All songs are written by Gary Numan, except where noted.

  1. "Airlane" - 3:18
  2. "Metal" - 3:32
  3. "Complex" - 3:12
  4. "Films" - 4:09
  5. "M.E." - 5:37
  6. "Tracks" - 2:51
  7. "Observer" - 2:53
  8. "Conversation" - 7:36
  9. "Cars" - 3:58
  10. "Engineers" - 4:01

CD bonus tracks

  1. "Random" (Demo) - 3:49
  2. "Oceans" (Demo) - 3:03
  3. "Asylum" (B-Side of Cars) - 2:31
  4. "Me! I Disconnect From You" (Live) - 3:06
  5. "Bombers" (Live) - 5:46
  6. "Remember I Was Vapour" (Live)* - 4:46
  7. "On Broadway" (Live) (Jerry Leiber, Mike Stoller, Barry Mann, Cynthia Weil) - 4:48

Track listing (30th Anniversary Edition)

To coincide with The Pleasure Principle 30th Anniversary Tour, a special edition of the album was released on September 21, 2009.[5]

Disc One

  1. "Airlane"
  2. "Metal"
  3. "Complex"
  4. "Films"
  5. "M.E."
  6. "Tracks"
  7. "Observer"
  8. "Conversations"
  9. "Cars"
  10. "Engineers"

Disc Two'

  1. "Airlane (Demo Version)"
  2. "Metal (Demo Version)"
  3. "Complex (Demo Version)"
  4. "Films (Demo Version)"
  5. "M.E. (Demo Version)"
  6. "Tracks (Demo Version)"
  7. "Observer (Demo Version)"
  8. "Conversation (Demo Version 2)"
  9. "Cars (Demo Version)"
  10. "Engineers (Demo Version)"
  11. "Random (2009 Remaster)"
  12. "Oceans (2009 Remaster)"
  13. "Asylum (2009 Remaster)"
  14. "Photograph (2009 Remaster)"
  15. "Gymnopedies No. 1 (Demo Version)"
  16. "Conversation (Demo Version 1)"
  17. "M.E. (Out Take Mix)"

Disc Three (Bonus tracks only available on the 3CD version available from the Numan website)

  1. "Down in the Park (The Live EPs - 1980)"
  2. "On Broadway (The Live EPs - 1980)"
  3. "Every Day I Die (The Live EPs - 1980)"
  4. "Remember I Was Vapour (The Live EPs - 1980)"
  5. "Bombers (The Live EPs - 1980)"
  6. "Me! I Disconnect From You (The Live EPs - 1979)"
  7. "Conversation (The Live EPs - 1979)"
  8. "Metal (The Live EPs - 1979)"
  9. "Down in the Park (The Live EPs - 1979)"
  10. "Airlane (Living Ornaments '79)"
  11. "Cars (Living Ornaments '79)"
  12. "We Are So Fragile (Living Ornaments '79)"
  13. "Films (Living Ornaments '79)"
  14. "Something's In The House (Living Ornaments '79)"
  15. "My Shadow In Vain (Living Ornaments '79)"
  16. "Conversation (Living Ornaments '79)"
  17. "The Dream Police (Living Ornaments '79)"
  18. "Metal (Living Ornaments '79)"

Chart positions

Chart Year Peak
position
UK Albums Chart[6] 1979 1

Personnel

References

  1. ^ Prato, Greg. The Pleasure Principle at AllMusic. Retrieved 7 July 2011.
  2. ^ "Consumer Guide Album review". Robert Christgau. Retrieved 7 July 2011.
  3. ^ Buckley, David (2009). "Filter Reissues". Mojo (192). London: Bauer Media Group: 109. ISSN 1351-0193. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  4. ^ http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/rpm/028020-119.01-e.php?brws_s=1&file_num=nlc008388.0189a&type=1&interval=24&PHPSESSID=ccntousk30frf6h4jsn237nm12
  5. ^ Gary Numan Online Store
  6. ^ "Number 1 Albums – 1970s". The Official Charts Company. Archived from the original on 9 February 2008. Retrieved 24 June 2011.
Preceded by
In Through the Out Door by Led Zeppelin
Oceans of Fantasy by Boney M
 UK Albums Chart number one album
22–27 September 1979
6–11 October 1979 		Succeeded by
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