Gary Numan

Tapfret wrote: While I am still very steadfast in my opinion that nothing would be gained by including him, ...

In this moment I am having a strange urge to drive around in cars. 

Of course, Raff.   Manset's case has proved somewhat controversial, though, particularly when his name was brought up again.  I was trying to point out just how dissimilar the cases are. I would never have expected Manset to be mentioned in a thread about Numan.

"I feel a Nu-man" (an ex. No. 2, The Prisoner, ep. Fall Out).

No offence, but I think that Manset's case and Numan's are very different.  I don't see it as really relevant to Numan's case.  Manset was added for La Mort d'Orion which seemed appropriate enough to me; however, unlike Manset, I have not heard any Numan albums that I would consider to be Prog.  It's not about quantity of material for me, it's about individual albums.  The career arcs of Manset and Numan are very different and not readily comparable.  Numan found early popular success then his career waned; Manset found commercial success a few albums in.  If Manset had only released La Mort d'Orion he would be in a Prog sub rather than Related, but I don't think Numan's greater discography would prove the same impediment if, say, Replikas was considered Prog.  If Replikas is Prog then so are other albums of his.  Numan may have experimented with different styles over the years, but it's not like Genesis' move to pop, say.  Numan has taken different approaches, but I don't see some abrupt change from proggy to non-proggy (mind you, Manset realeased later material that might be considered Prog Related).

 Admittedly, I only have Replikas, The Pleasure Principle, Telekon and Warriors, so not enough to make a strong case one way or the other, except that I have heard quite a bit of other material from other albums.  Numan was one of my favourite artists at one time, particularly for Replikas and the lesser-known Telekon (Telekon being one that I'd suggest giving  a good listen to).  Certainly he explored quite a few styles -- electronica/ electropop/ techno, jazz, funk, new  wave, industrial.... I like his "machine" period the most.

Incidentally, Yes wrote a sardonic song about him, "White Car" and Bowie, who Numan idolised was critical of him and Bowie's "Teenage Wildlife" where he wrote "One of the new wave boys/ Same old thing in brand new drag" was at least in part about him.

But Prog, and sufficiently related, is in the ear of the behearer.  Incidentally, though I think it irrelevant to Numan's case, for those curious about La Mort d'Orion, youtube has the album: EDIT  link wasn't working TRY THIS (don't know if you've checked all of these out, Claude, but be interested to get your impressions, though I don't want to hijack this topic).

Whether Numan is deemed worthy or not, I don't think Manset's addition is relevant.  And I guarantee that Numan's addition would prove far more controversial.  Back in July when Manset was added, I didn't see members complaining.  And when I did a poll with Manset's La Mort d'Orion as an option in Prog polls back in April, I didn't see complaints either:
http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=47959

Back to Numan... I really should get Hybrid:



Here's one of my favourite Numan songs:



Edited by Logan - January 12 2009 at 13:30

Listen to my voice, we are so fragile, Me! I disconnect from you...Remind me to smile

Slartibartfast wrote: He used to be a human, but now he's Gary Numan.

I thought he used to be a Webb...

Sorry, just that the songs I've been able to find for him are not too proggy. Add to that the admission that out of 30 records, one & one only is full on prog, the rest bearing little relation.
Numan will  never be a fit for symphonic or RIO, but his early career was made up of experimentation, that had him compared with classic Bowie, and a few have posted previously about his post 80s work being very diversified stylewise.

Considering the recent addition or Gerard Manset, I think that Numan deserves a good round of debate, if only among the collabs.  I think that just Replicas and the Pleasure Principle would get him a good lift.
But his obstacles are these - 1) and this is a major one at PA : he enjoyed a modicum of commercial success. And being well known means many feel fit to judge an act based on one or two songs they heard on the radio years ago. 2) He never really got into the long multi-part suites; 3) No apocalypse in 9/8 rip-off or Mahavishnu technical virtuosity; 4) and finally - he wrote songs, i.e. made attempts to mostly include melodies in his music.
SO he's not heavy, not avant, not symphonic. But he should be prog related at the very least.
GIVE AN ALBUM OR TWO OF HIS A GOOD LISTEN, ESPECIALLY REPLICAS OR PLEASURE PRINCIPLE !

Raff wrote: I'd like to add something to Olav's comments. The original Master List is, as he also stated, about 5 years old - which means it dates back to the beginnings of the site. Many things have drastically changed since then, especially as regards band/artist additions policy. At the time there were no genre teams, and the control over additions was minimal - this is why there are some debatable entries in the DB (just ask any of the teams who have engaged in cleanup sessions), and there are still so many bio-less entries. Now the requirements for additions are much more stringent, but bear in mind it wasn't always so... Looking at the Master List can be quite entertaining, as you will find just about EVERYONE was suggested at some point.

This is one of those, "Has 1 or 2 albums that is proggier than the least proggy album from some PA included band". Especially in the Electroprog sub. 

I particularly like the song Down In the Park, but adding him would be a huge stretch.