Sharpe + Numan is a collaboration between Gary Numan and Bill Sharpe. Whilst Numan is familiar to most music fans, Bill Sharpe is probably best known as keyboardist and founding member of the funk band Shakatak. The first release from the pair had been in 1985, and there was a steady trickle of singles before the album "Automatic" surfaced in 1989.
This record begins with the hit single "Change Your Mind", which has a wonderful legato bassline and a catchy chorus. In a contemporary interview, Bill Sharpe informed us that the vast majority of the sounds on the record are sourced from a Yamaha DX7 along with four patches from a Fairlight CMI and a sprinkling of Bosendorfer piano. The ubiquitous LinnDrum provides the beat, and there is copious use of a harmoniser unit. However, in a more recent interview, Sharpe said the bassline is actually from a Prophet 5, and the Fairlight didn't feature at all. Whatever the production process, the song is undoubtedly a success and deserved a higher chart placing than it achieved.
The trouble with the rest of this album is that not much else matches the opening track. Where "Change Your Mind" is quirky and angular, everything else is a little plain and vanilla. Songs like "Turn of the World" don't really have a hook, and the backing vocals are too dominant in the mix. The singles "No More Lies" and "I'm On Automatic" are marginally more successful, but they too lack the sparkle of "Change Your Mind". The remaining tracks wash over you in a wave of mediocrity until "Love Like a Ghost" provides the rather limp denouement. 2/5
