I find this period of Gary Numan's career quite interesting as it is well documented that Numan and co-producer Bill Nelson didn't exactly see eye to eye. In fact, the relationship was so bad that Nelson had his production credit removed and Numan remixed all of the tracks alone.
Ultimately this messy situation created a messy sounding record. You can hear there are kernels of good ideas in these songs but the execution is muddy and indistinct.
To my mind this is one of Numan's least electronic records. Whilst there is a good amount of synths and Linn drum machine, they are dominated by electric guitar, electric bass, viola and worst of all, an omnipresent saxophone. The amount of sax on these songs is truly ridiculous and this could almost be called "The Saxophone Album". Tracks like "The Iceman Comes", "The Tick Tock Man" and "I am Render" are reduced to extended sax solos with short passages of singing thrown in. I can tolerate the occasional 30 second burst of sax, but seemingly endless warbling drives me absolutely crazy.
It's a shame one instrument was allowed to eclipse everything else as there is some considerable merit in the electro-funk Numan and Nelson created. It would improve this album immeasurably if all of the saxophone were cut out and the b-side "Poetry and Power" was added. Unfortunately things remain set in aspic and the potential for these songs is lost. 2/5
