Track Listing
1. Airlane
2. Metal
3. Complex
4. Films
5. M.E.
6. Tracks
7. Observer
8. Conversation
9. Cars
10. Engineers
11. Random - (demo out-take, bonus track)
12. Oceans - (demo out-take, bonus track)
13. Asylum - (`B' side of "Cars" single, bonus track)
14. Me! I Disconnect From You - (live, `B' side of "Complex" 12" single, bonus track)
15. Bombers - (live, 'B' side of "Complex" 12" single, bonus track)
16. Remember I Was Vapour - (live, bonus track)
17. On Broadway - (live, bonus track)
| Details | | Producer: | Gary Numan | | Distributor: | Alternative Dis. Alliance | | Recording Type: | Studio | | Recording Mode: | Stereo | | SPAR Code: | n/a |
Album Notes
THE PLEASURE PRINCIPLE contains seven bonus tracks which includes demo out-takes and `B' side singles.
Personnel: Gary Numan (vocals, keyboards, synthetic percussion); Billy Currie (violin); Christopher Payne (viola, keyboards); Paul Gardiner (bass); Cedric Sharpley (drums, percussion); Garry Robson (background vocals).
Recorded at Marcus Music AB, London, England. Includes liner notes by Steve Malins.
Gary Numan's most commercially successful album is, perhaps unsurprisingly, his least representative disc. Powered by the hit single "Cars," arguably the first British synth-pop song to dent the US charts (M's "Pop Muzik" came out around the same time), THE PLEASURE PRINCIPLE is a striking turnaround from the guitar-powered, Joy Division-like post-punk of his old band Tubeway Army. Aside from Paul Gardiner's bass and some percussion, every instrument is electronic.
To denote their futuristic simplicity the album's 10 songs are given one-word titles; they're all built on the same layers of analogue synthesizers and futuristic, dystopian lyrics. The album's resulting numbing quality is also pretty much its point. This Cleopatra reissue has seven bonus tracks, including demo outtakes, live tracks, B-sides, and, oddly, a song from a seven-inch single given away with the first pressing of Numan's next album, TELEKON.
Editorial Reviews
Ranked #12 in CMJ's Top 20 Most-Played Albums of 1980.
CMJ (01/05/2004)
8 (out of 10) - ...further honed REPLICA's adolescent angst/android fetishism schtick...
Spin (09/01/1998)
4 stars out of 5 -- THE PLEASURE PRINCIPLE is a simultaneously grim and enlightening experience, and highly recommended.
Record Collector
4 stars out of 5 -- It's often forgotten that this was electronic music's commercial breakthrough.
Q
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