Gary Numan ‘The Numa Years’ remastered album collection streams this Friday March 7th
UK Music News, UK Music Videos
by
Desh Kapur UK-Editor/Photographer
‘THE NUMA YEARS’ REMASTERED ALBUM COLLECTION COMES TO STREAMING PLATFORMS THIS FRIDAY, MARCH 7TH
FEATURING THE STUDIO ALBUMS ‘BERSERKER’, ‘THE FURY’, ‘STRANGE CHARM’ AND ‘MACHINE+ SOUL’ PLUS THE LIVE SETS ‘WHITE NOISE’, ‘GHOST’ AND ‘DREAM CORROSION’
‘BERSERKER’ WILL ALSO BE RELEASED ON DOUBLE-VINYL AND 4CD ON APRIL 25TH
Gary Numan today revisits his Numa Records era with the news that ‘The Numa Years’ will hit streaming platforms on Friday, March 7th. ‘The Numa Years’ is a special remastered album collection which consists of four studio albums – ’Berserker’ (1984), ‘The Fury’ (1985), ‘Strange Charm’ (1986) and ‘Machine + Soul’ (1992) – plus three live sets in the shape of ‘White Noise’ (1985), ‘Ghost’ (1987) and ‘Dream Corrosion’ (1994).
‘The Numa Years’ saw Gary Numan depart from the synth-pop focus of his earlier work to further refine his artistic vision. ‘Berserker’ took on far darker tones, at times drawing on the rhythmic punch of the nascent industrial scene and, at others, exploring muscular funk – a stylistic approach which continues in sparser style on ‘The Fury’. After channelling beguiling dark beauty on ‘Strange Charm’, ‘Machine + Soul’ was comparatively back-to-basics, bringing together electro-pop, funk and pop-rock, including radical reworks of two Prince songs: ‘U Got The Look’ and, on this extended version, ‘1999’.
The live albums document an artist in flux, drawing heavily on the studio albums alongside select earlier hits and fan favourites. Barely any of these songs have been performed this century, with ‘My Breathing’ and ‘Berserker’ being some of the more common exceptions.
While the studio albums all already feature on streaming services, they were previously only available with their original tracklists. ‘The Numa Years’ adds a wealth of material to each studio album, featuring extended mixes, b-sides and demos. The live albums all consist of their original tracklists, now newly remastered.
Gary Numan says, “I tend to be so focused on where I’m going next I often dismiss what I’ve done before. As such, some older albums often run out of print and become difficult to find, forgotten somewhat in my desire to move forward, write new songs, and try to get better at what I do. But that attitude does a disservice to the fans and that older music itself. I’m therefore very pleased that BMG have taken on the challenge of making much of my older catalogue available once again. It will sound better, and the packaging will look better, than it did the first time round. I hope the fans will welcome these re-releases with the same enjoyment it has given me to see them alive and well once again.”
In addition, ‘Berserker’ is set to receive a long-awaited reissue on physical formats on April 25th. Now available to pre-order HERE. It will be released on double-vinyl, which replicates the tracklisting of the digital format, and a four-CD set which also adds the ‘White Noise’ live album. There are also long-term plans for similar reissues of the remaining three ‘The Numa Years’ studio albums too.
Beyond ‘The Numa Years’, Gary Numan is also preparing to release a live album this summer which will document his 2022 tour in support of most recent studio album ‘Intruder’. Both ‘Intruder’ and 2017’s ‘Savage (Songs From A Broken World)’ debuted at #2 – his highest album chart positions since ‘Telekon’ fired to #1 in 1980.
My life is a soundtrack, i track my life through music, photography is my passion, my escape, my expression. Without both i have pieces missing, thankfully i’m blessed and get to combine both.
Born in Manchester, lived in Australia for 22 years where i was heavily involved in the Australian Music Industry, firstly in bands (Singer) and then managing bands (all original), I moved back to the UK, Wales specifically 10 years ago
