Ghost in the Machine. Gary Numan- Machine and Soul 1992.

“Someone fetch a priest, you can’t say no to beauty and the beast“ David Bowie ‘Low’ (1978)

Ah yes. 1992. So where were you? Yes you, reading this? Where did you go to? Because it had gotten ‘oh so quiet’ on the Numan Scene. The 80’s were over. Had you perished in the perils of ‘The Middle Years’? Not able to hack the worry of Warriors? The Blues of Berserker. The red flames of The Fury? The splinters of Strange Charm. Maybe Radio Heart pushed you over the edge? Or Sharpe and Numan confused your sense of identity? Or was it Outland? And all the false promises of some great comeback. Year after year. Promise after promise. Record label after label. Another new image another new tour. With the same faces, only fewer and fewer. Waiting for the ‘Man Machine’ to switch back on? The 80’s were exhausting.

Where were you in ’92? Somewhere else. Thankfully. Making lives. Getting married. Having kids. Buying your first house. Trying to climb that proverbial ladder in that job you hated, to pay the mortgage to raise the kids. To be human. Laying awake at night in between bottle feeds and breast pumps, worrying about the next day and that thinning hair line. Wondering when did sex become a chore. Wishing the kids would stop fighting. Maybe we’ll have a Chinese Friday night?

Welcome to the 90’s. Can we listen to Andrea Bocelli and maybe later watch a romantic movie? How about ‘The Notebook’? I need a good cry. Or better yet, ‘Ghost’? Patrick Swayze was so hot. Wanna take up pottery, love? Like in the movie? Add a bit of sparkle? Can we listen to anything else but Gary Numan? Please!

Oh, the banality of normality. How we missed the angst of youth and Telekon. Was Wembley really that long ago? Seems like yesterday. We don’t have the money no more to buy every edition of every release to store in our attic of nostalgia. Nor afford to travel the country following the tour, sleeping in cars, playing ‘Call out the Dogs’ so loud from the car sound system in the hope some passer by might think “wow, how cool was that. Gary Numan”

“Who?”

Nevermind. It was a long time ago.

Is Gary Numan not dead? Or was he the dude who was jailed in Thailand? “No, you idiot”

“Oh. Gary Numan? The guy who sang Cars. Ya, I remember him. Thought he died or something”

Great song ‘Cars’ . Whatever happened to him? Was he gay or some shit like that?

Someone please make it stop. Get the priest. I want the 80’s to go away. It’s giving me nightmares.

But the nightmare had just begun my lovelies. Because just when you thought the dust had settled Gary Numan released ‘Machine and Soul’. But this time it wasn’t our nightmare. We were busy. Elsewhere. This would be Numan’s very own ‘Annus Horribilis’. The Camilla Parker of his career, according to himself. The white elephant. The whooping fart that slipped out in public and you just hope nobody knows it was you. Until it smells. Don’t mention ’92. For God’s sake.

Oddly, Gary Numan has never stopped mentioning it since. He speaks more of’ 92 than he does of’ 79 or ’80. A strange creature of habit. In every interview since he reflects at least once, on the year that he believes destroyed him. When in fact it is the most significant year in his life. Not his career. When the downward spiral brings you to the dark recesses of the dusty basement, you either rot in your own decay or you climb back out. Numan chose the latter. With the help of his new girlfriend, the besotted Gemma O Neill who threw down a rope to help him back up. Unlike Rapunzel in the lofty ivory tower, it’s hard to know who was rescuing who. Mission Impossible? With Gemma O Neill???? You got to be joking. She was going to save her man, marry him, have 3 babies and watch him reach for the stars. In Hollywood, of course. He would play concerts on Halloween night above Marilyn Monroe’s grave and win awards and be No 1 again. Fairy dust, fairy dust, fairy dust….. And just like that it would happen.

Hocus Pocus?

Nope, this is real life dude.

Time to get to work.

Now firstly, we must get rid of Kipper. Beware the man who wears Spandex pants on stage. And under no circumstances allow him ever produce an album of yours again.

Gemma waves her wand. Bye bye Kipper. And while we are at it, bye bye female backing singers with miniskirts, bye bye leather outfits Gary, bye bye saxophones, funk, rhythm and rhyme, Janet Jackson. Robert Palmer, Prince, Bladerunner already?, depressing ballads, Scritti Politti, Elvis Presley and Michael Jackson. Who’s ‘Bad’? Apparently, Mr Numan was.

But not any more. 1994 was coming fast. More fairy dust Gemma please. Time for Nu hair, Nu look. Nu anger.

‘Ta Dah………… Here’s Gary Numan.

As much as we love a good happy ending, aren’t we forgetting that lingering fart?

‘Machine and Soul’ may be the album nobody wants to talk about, but ignoring it won’t make it go away.

Having lost his balls to the ’80s Gary Numan approached the studio in early 1992, broke but not broken. Armed with what arguably were some decent demos he hands his soul over to Kipper to whip together a collection of songs suitable to release in what possibly was meant to be his swansong. It was like going through the cupboards in the kitchen to create some kind of meal from whatever was in the press, two days before payday.

How I miss my college years! But we survived on beans and fungus toast. It actually was quite tasty…… When one is starving to death. How I wish I hadn’t spent my whole allowance on Monday and Tuesday night. How was I to know Martinis were so fucking expensive. More beans and toast anyone?

Please Sir, may I have some more?

How about some Scritti Politti with that toast? On ‘Generator’ Kipper added more than Scritti Polliti. You just know you are going to dance cause ‘Rhythm is a Dancer’ after all. And here on ‘Machine and Soul’ we got so much rhythm we can’t stop dancing.

“Hey,………. hey hey,…. Hey”  Numan and his backing singers sound like cheerleaders at the Superbowl. Pom Poms in the air. Raise those arms girls and sing out sisters “We generate heat, we generate emotion“. Where is Lady Gaga when you need her? Oh ya, Somewhere Else. Like everyone. Still we had fun. Blissfully oblivious to ’92 we danced like robots who forget what way we were programmed. This was Gary Numan dude, it must be good. Sorry sweetheart, this is not Gary Numan, he went to ‘Outland’ in 1989 and never came back. This is Kipper and all his kappers. In spandex. Now dance you little shit. Because if it was good enough for James Brown it’s good enough for you.

“Y’all having a good time?”

“Now let’s get sexy with it. Push it, push it real good”

Yikes, almost forgot myself there for a moment. I’m meant to be moody and sulky like a real Numan fan. But I don’t know how to dress anymore and that comb over hair do on the album sleeve is a bitch to accessorize. Maybe just look depressed and try some cock rock, Kipper style, as per the title track. Hello, the video was shown on MTV Europe. What was that country again? Anyway it was in the EU, I think. Or was it Africa? Nevermind, if air guitars in front of the mirror was good enough for Bon Jovi fans it’s good enough for us. “Get up, get up and Dance“. Oh Kipper please no more dancing. It’s exhausting. I thought this was meant to be rock. I even bought the tight shorts in the sports shop. You fucker. They don’t half chaff. Plus my ass is not half as perky as it was when I was 18. I look like an idiot. Thank God nobody can see me.

Now can we talk about ‘You Got the Look’ and ‘1999’?

You see Gary Numan has a voice that does not suit anybody else’s music and he who dares touch a Prince song is doomed to eternal damnation. Jesus, look what happened to Sinead O Connor. Shame on you Mr Webb.

Poor Prince. Bless his soul. He may not have turned in his grave but not even Gemma O Neill can cook up a magic potion to make this error of judgment disappear.

Nevermind. We won’t discuss it again. ‘The Skin Game’ might save the day. What with all that funk paced noise and typical Numan vocals soaring into an unforgettable chorus, surely this is salvation. “Listen children, I’ve seen the future. Call it the deadline for now“. Ahhhh, Yes! Gary is back.

What do you mean Gary Clail? That ‘On U Sound System’ shit on ‘Human Nature’ is nothing like the riff of our ‘Skin Game’. Oh wait…….. Yikes. Next track please.

Seriously, who even heard of Gary Clail anyway? And he could never do anything as cool as ‘Emotion’ which was so successful a single it  deserved its own tour. A club tour no less. In bingo halls. All across the nation. Shit, there is that Radio Heart flashback again. It’s called PTSD dude. Get over yourself. I’m On medication for it. “Radio heart, play that sad song for me“. God I love that song. Pure Numan. What do ya mean, my therapy is not working. I’m listening to ‘Machine and Soul’ for fucks sake. Jesus, what’s a guy to do.

Try ‘Cry’. Numan’s demo was so good, he decided to go to have a wank and left it to Kipper who porned it into near submission. I can still smell the Poppers. Dancing like there is no tomorrow, with tears in my eyes, it’s almost a relief when ‘Poison’ gives some glimmer of hope. But oh no, Kipper slips off his spandex and goes all naturelle for this with a climaxing crescendo of what is the closest thing to Gary Numan rapping. Please make it stop. It burns. Mother!!!!!! Get the priest…… Again. “why do you do this to me Dimmy?”

“You are not my Mother!!!”

“Damien, don’t listen to it”

“I cast thee out unclean spirit”

“The power of Christ Compels you”

Nope, Fr Karrass, ‘Tis not working. The beast is still within.

Maybe the sweet allure of two ballads? The beautiful overproduced, ‘could be’ airplay material of ‘I Wonder’, which Kipper made love to on red satin sheets, and impregnated the purity of the Numan Demo, a flawless creature in its own clothes. Still it’s better than ‘This is Love’. And not nearly as sad as ‘Love Isolation’. We Numanoids love a good depressing song. Well here it is. Get out the Kleenex. Gary Numan sang to us that he loves us. It’s on record. “These are words just for you, only words and I love you“Or maybe the song was for his dog? It certainly wasn’t for Tracy Adams. Yikes….. Did I mention T. A. ???? I meant tubeway army of course. Phew….. That was close.

The beauty of ‘Machine and Soul’ is that it is such a mess it is irresistible. Numan had abandoned his career at this stage and his name on the sleeve feels redundant. But thanks to the aimless attention of those who cared or tried to, everyone pulled together to attempt to make something out of nothing. Albeit, had Numan taken the demos and locked himself away in his room he may have made something completely different. There are elements of his abilities heard on b sides with the instrumentals that were commissioned for ‘The Unborn’ soundtrack with Mike R Smith. A horror movie that was so bad even rotten tomatoes wouldn’t review it. But the music had fragments. Numan was still in there, like a Ghost in the Shell. Trying to crawl his way out of hell, aka the 80’s. Tracks like the 3 dimensional ‘The Hauntings’ and the demonic ‘Hanoi’ throw light on Numan alone in the studio, tweaking at knobs and noises, being a geek. Being Gary Numan. Being brilliant. Not a Kipper in sight. ‘In a Glasshouse’ like some of the album tracks has echos of the real Numan but lost in translation. “Makes Cambodia look like Kansas……..Anytime.” Speaking of Kansas, ‘Machine and Soul’ is as comical as The Wizard of Oz, and at times as poignant. Numan is the Lion, the Tin-man and the Scarecrow all in one with the Wizard the only one who is really fake. The Wizard being the industry. Full of false securities. Behind all the mystery and fantasy many artists faded to addictions or death with disillusionment and disappointment. And nobody to help them. Not even their own fear, roar or coat of steel. Numan had constantly been driven to find his way back to the Emerald City to be reunited with his beloved Toto, and live happily ever after as the star that never stopped shinning. To be remembered, to be desired, an influencer, a pioneer, a survivor. Of course Numan is no Dorothy.  Judy Garland may actually come back to haunt him.

But Gemma O Neill………… now that’s a different story.  Here’s Judy!

Follow the yellow brick road indeed.

Numan shuns 1992 only because 1994 came along, and a new chapter begins. An unforgettable chapter. But only as memorable as the page that led to it. ‘Machine and Soul’ for all its warts is like the ugly duckling that everyone feels sorry for. But without it how could we every appreciate ‘Pure’? Or sit up all night waiting for your ticket to come good for the Royal Albert Hall??

Without ‘Machine and Soul’ there would be no ‘Savage’, no ‘Splinter’ no Ade Fenton, no arguments, no online bitching, no merchandise, no Patreon, no Pledge no castle in the Hills.

Without ‘Machine and Soul’ there is no story. Nothing to measure anything against. It is impossible to parallel the ’79/80 period to present day as they are two different galaxies. Numan’s career must be appraised in compartments. Everything before ‘Machine and Soul’ to the left, everything after to the right, please. Thank you!

in 1992, there is no life in the ‘Machine’ and no Soul in the ‘Man’. It’s place in the archives feels lost under the weight of the personal disarray in Numan’s life. ‘Ruined’ ? Perhaps! But not destroyed. And not beyond repair.There is an old saying ” if its not broken don’t fix it”. For Gary Numan with the guidance of a woman who believed in him, the motto became “this is broken, its time to fix it.”

Without the personal wake up call that ‘Machine and Soul’ brought, Numan would have died, broke, forgotten, nameless with only ‘Cars’ as some scavenging crow landing on his tombstone once a year on March 8th as some stark reminder of what once was.

And whilst ‘Cars’ will haunt him for all eternity, its not nearly as scary at it could have been.

Don’t listen to ‘Machine and Soul’, because there is nothing there to inspire you musically. But do not underestimate the urgency of being as low as you can possibly get in life. We all have a Gemma O Neill who can pull us back from the brink by the strap of our shorts. Sometimes we need to just look inside ourselves to find her.

We all experience a ‘1992’ in life.

That what makes today so rewarding.

” everyday I am feeling a little more….optimistic!”

July 2020