After the runaway success of "The Pleasure Principle" Gary went away, bought some shiny new polysynths (Prophet 5 and Jupiter 4) and set about recording his third "machine music" album. The first track "This Wreckage" is a petty dark piece with lyrics that hint at Numan's discomfort with his new found fame. Despite it's seemingly bleak tone there is a great hook running through this song as it stutters along in an angular, but strangely pleasing way.
"The Aircrash Bureau" features Paul Gardiner's multitracked bass alongside some Roland CR-78 percussion and piano flourishes courtesy of Denis Haines. There's definitely a broader sonic palette here when compared to the previous album, but it isn't always to my taste. The song "Telekeon" is a case in point where the arrangement just doesn't work and the vocals are really quite irritating.
One of the best songs on here is the brilliant "Remind Me To Smile" which has a catchy handclap motif and some funky rhythm guitar work. "Sleep by Windows" sounds more like something we would have heard on "Replicas" and feels like a step backwards. The first disc finishes with the rapid fire "We Are Glass" which was a single in 1980 but was not featured on the original version of the album.
"I'm an agent" is a pretty good song but I really don't like Numan's snarling vocal delivery. There's a bit more vivacity on "I Dream of Wires" which was even good enough for Robert Palmer to record a cover version. "Remember I was vapour" is another example of the surly vocal delivery Numan seemed to adopt in 1980 and it's not becoming.
The lament of "Please Push No More" is based on a good idea but it becomes boring and repetitive after five and a half minutes. The "Joy Circuit" proves that no matter how many times you overdub a single violin it will always sound like a terrible scratchy mess. We finish with another single omitted from the original pressing, "I Die: You Die". This song was a swipe at an increasingly hostile music press who seemed to have forgotten that their relationship with artists was one of codependence. In 2024 it's easy to see who had the last laugh when you look for a review of Numan's latest album in Melody Maker, Smash Hits or Sounds. 3/5
