Gary Numan circa 84-86

[mTesc]

This seems (and has always seemed) to be a relatively rare opinion, but I'm very fond of Gary Numan's Berserker, The Fury, and (to a lesser extent) Strange Charm albums – particular some of the B sides. Tracks like "Empty Bed, Empty Heart," "Here am I," "Anthem," and "The Fear" are probably my favorite works of his, and I return to them more often than I do his coveted 1979-1980 records. I find them to be especially good winter listening in the car. There are definitely elements that haven't dated well (slapped fretless bass, diva-esque backing vocals, jarring FM bell patches here and there), but I would say that The Fury is probably my favorite Numan record, and yes I know that I'm probably inviting a fair amount of ridicule. Anyone have thoughts on this period of work?

[Hi Guys]

To be honest I haven’t really listened to anything beyond Telekon 

[zero]

The Fury was a blind thrift store vinyl purchase for me many many years ago when I was looking for '80s music to either sample or mix with. this thread has made me realize I never did either haha

[dcom]

I bought a 5CD compilation with Living Ornaments '81, Dance, I, Assassin, and Warriors some years ago, but I've not listened to that too much, but been more particular to the albums from Sacrifice onwards. I mostly prefer the latest four, from Dead Son Rising through Splinter and Savage to Intruder. I've been planning to get into the early material, but there's just so much other music, too, that they're just entries on my wantlist; the Beggars Banquet First Recordings compilations interest me the most, The Pleasure Principle and Replicas.

[mTesc]

I think Dead Son is probably my favorite of the aughts-onward material (along with the Big Noise Transmission live companion piece). I will say about Berserker and The Fury that they are both probably a bit of an acquired taste (for the aforementioned reasons of dated 80s funk elements & diva-like vocal accompaniment. But I think they're worth checking out. Speaking of compilations, Cleopatra (yeah, I know) put out a thing called "Remodulate" in the 90s that has some of the more readily digestible material from the mid-80s + Sacrifice (as it was also able to be licensed from Numa Records) and a second CD of live versions of tracks from the BB era.