Track Listing

1. Pure
2. Walking with shadows
3. Rip
4. One perfect lie
5. My jesus
6. Fallen
7. Listen to my voice
8. A prayer for the unborn
9. Torn
10. Little invitro
11. I can't breathe

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #68019 in Music
• Published on: 2000-03-06
• Released on: 2002-05-01
• Number of discs: 1

Customer Reviews

a genius falls to earth
ive always loved numan - his early solo albums and the tubeway army material were chock full of great songs with very intersting lyrics, spell-binding instrumentation with a great, original vocal delivery. gary wore his influences on his sleeve - namely bowie and kraftwerk, but managed to create his own identity and was responsible for some truly great material.
'pure' however finds him addressing a new musical sound - that of the 'industrial' bands from the early 90's such as nine inch nails. bowie did the same thing too on his 'i,outside' album where he favoured the industrial' drum and bass sound of bands like the prodigy. however wheras bowie, the consumate songwriter ' pounded the opposition into dust with that fabulous album ,with 'pure' numan merely emulates rather than transcends. the lyrics are still there, but the vocal delivery is gone. the vocals buried in the mix, muddy and mumbled, meaning most of the time the lyrics are impenetrable. the production on the album is all rather bass-heavy and muddy too. gone are the chilling keyboard flourishes which typified numan, to be replaced by boring heavy metal bombast and the usual soft-heavy-soft-heavy approach so favoured by bands of this genre.

in fact gary sounds so much like nine inch nails here that it could almost be a nine inch nails out-take album. and thats a shame cos gary, at his best, walks all over that very over-rated act. the real tragedy here is that numan seems to have forgotten how to write songs. all of the material here (lyrics excepted), are pretty ordinary, with little or none of the expression and mystery that made the man so special.

im not gonna buy the follow up album 'jagged' cos i expect more of the same. i'll stick with those classic early albums and lament the passing of a man who , from being a leader, has turned into a follower, and hope one day he will see this and turn it all around again. heres hoping!

A dark brooding masterpiece
Everyone knows who Gary Numan is don't they?

He's that bloke who did Cars isn't he?

Well yes he is, but don't expect this to sound anything like Tubeway Army or his early solo stuff.

For years now Gary has been experimenting with audio sound scape and this is his pinacle so far - there is a new album on the way soon....

Expect wall to wall synths, drum loops, guitars and Numans haunting voice. This album is a dark and brooding as anything by the great goth bands of the 80's - it's also chillingly beautiful with some great melodies. If you liked Exile then it's more of the same, except that the quality is much improved.

An album to listen to on a dark cold night, with the volume turned up and the weight of the world on your shoulders.

A chillingly beautiful avalanche of sound
only someone who has experienced the live numan phenomena can fully appreciate my title for this review,however the closest next experience is PURE AT FULL BLAST,just as the music deviates from the most delicate piano to the ground wrenching power of numans synths and guitar,the lyrics and atmosphere generated will drag your senses along the ups and downs of the rollercoaster of your emotions,from your most painful experience to the most seediest experiences in life.When though you eventually reach the end your insides will have been touched in such a way you will want to go back to see which way this album will take you next time. the sound is vastly cathedral-like,yet delicately beautiful,hauntingly etheral and supercharged by amp busting bass synths and numans voice has never sounded more in authority yet sometimes painfully torn by experience.theres more emotion here than any of the glass shattering divas on offer in todays music charts,this is a real genius at work not one of your pampered ponces who just turn up to sing,everything you hear on pure is numan back at his best. Forget cars,are friends electric etc this album leaves them in its wake this is a new millenium sound that will be influencing the pop world for years. Numan has the imagination to create this and the on stage presence to carry it off once youve experienced that you will then understand my title!!! add pure to your collection but only if you appreciate real talent,this time from the godfather of electronica