Gary Numan - The Pleasure Principle

 Solid Synth Pop
Short and sweet, this is a really nice album. Heavy synthesizers, euro-rock from the end of the 70s. Sounds dated and experimental but great if you can get into that sound. I always enjoy listening to this one. (But most of my friends and associates do not!) March 22, 2008

 My pick for best synth album of all time
Forget the hit single, forget everything you may have heard about Numan's career after the release of this epic and just jump into it. It is a great retro ride into the dark heart of cold war synth pop and nobody has ever done it better than this.
5 stars! March 22, 2008

 A True New Wave Genius
"The Pleasure Principle" is the album that contains Gary Numan's biggest chart hit, "Cars". And "Cars" is the only commercial-radio-friendly song on the album. The other tracks, however, are works of pure genius, especially "M.E.", "Engineers", and the masterpiece "Tracks". "Tracks" might be the best two minute song I have ever heard.

Numan is only now being credited for his work practically inventing the entire New Wave movement, and this album certainly stands the test of time as one the classics of the genre. Order it without hesitation, slip on your headphones, and prepare for a real listening treat. June 19, 2007

 best album ever
Someone once asked me what my favorite album of all time is. That is of course a very difficult question to answer. But I'll have to choose Gary Numan's The Pleasure Principle because it is the only album of which I've been in continuous possession of for the past 25 years; first as a cassette and then a CD. I can't say that of any other album and I've listened to hundreds. If you like this record then go get Replicas and Telekon. If you like those two then try out I, Assassin. April 24, 2007

 We're so exposed...
Numan's sole association for some is still his 1979 hit Cars. It's a shame, because the album it hails from is an excellent record and holds up remarkably well all these years later.

This is a notable rock achievement---a rock album with no guitars. The synthesizers (Minimoog and Polymoog) are put through some guitar pedals and create some big, fat, fuzzy sounds that are pitched, distorted, swished, whatever. The bass and drums are `real', and Numan continues the sci-fi-robot-future-Phillip K Dick-inspired rock. As on Replicas, the hooks seem effortless.

There are a number of Numan classis in addition to Cars, some of them still regularly performed live. Films, for instance, is a funky, menacing number. Metal is a live staple, covered and remixed numerous times and still working. Conversation is another rambling, robot-inspired number with a long synth breakdown at the end, similar to Cars. M.E. is another dark and menacing number, now well-known for the Basement Jaxx use of the sample riff.

Many folks now acknowledge this as an important, influential album, yet Numan remains cult (if at all in the US). The Pleasure Principle is cohesive, the sound has aged incredibly well, and it's ahead of it's time for 1979--not bad for a kid. The remastered and reissued Beggar's Banquet discs are all excellent. The b-sides (three of them) are atmospheric and completely in line with the mood of the album--kind of dark, mechanical, but effortlessly catchy. The live tracks (four) are of excellent quality and come from the Living Ornaments series of live albums (also highly recommended). With a `distant' sound, warm synths, and dark lyrics, Numan was in his own world. March 30, 2007

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