While Andy Warhol talked about wanting to become a machine, Gary Numan tried his hardest. Gary Numan, son of a London Bus Driver, joined the Air Training Corps as a teenager, when he was still leaning towards being a pilot and not a pop star. He began learning to fly in 1978, but his rise to success as the leader of Tubeway Army in 1979 meant a bit of delay in getting his proper pilots’ license. He founded the small charter flight company Numanair, which remained in operation until 2013. His lifelong love of vehicles and machines was evident from his first solo hit “Cars”, which he famously wrote while sitting in one. “Because of my Asperger’s, I’ve never been good with crowds of people, and I find cities very threatening. Somehow, as soon as I get in a car, all the panic goes away. It’s nearly 40 years since I wrote that song, but the car is still my security blanket.” The First Recordings compiles material that shows the evolution of Numan’s first credited solo LP The Pleasure Principle, with much of the material available on vinyl for the first time. Many of the “early versions” were previously released in a 2009 deluxe CD package, but two tracks (“Tracks (Demo Version”, “Cars (Demo Version 1)”) were previously unreleased. Includes alternate takes of iconic Numan compositions “M.E.”, “Airlane”, “Oceans”, “Photograph”, and “Complex”, and more. This two disc set also includes four tracks from a BBC Peel Session originally recorded in 1979. This LP is pressed on orange vinyl, and is packaged in a custom die-cut sleeve that resembles a vintage master recording. Includes printed inner sleeves with detailed liner notes about these tracks and the relevant recording sessions.

• orange colored double vinyl pressing
• first time on vinyl, includes two previously unreleased songs (“Tracks (Demo Version”, “Cars (Demo Version 1)”)
• die-cut sleeve and printed inners with extensive liner notes
• limited edition
• also available: Gary Numan: Replicas - The First Recordings (Colored Vinyl) Vinyl 2LP
• music label: Beggars Banquet 2019

reviewed by THE PYRAMID ON THE LP COVERS INSPIRED NERV HQ, RIGHT? 11/2019