Product Description

1980's TELEKON was Gary Numan's first album after the surprise chart success of its predecessor THE PLEASURE PRINCIPLE and "Cars", its seemingly deathless hit single. Numan could have easily created "Cars, Part II", but chose not to do so.Instead, the songs on TELEKON are spikier and almost willfully abstruse, wrapping Numan's usual J.G. Ballard and PhilipK. Dick-inspired lyrics of anomie and isolation in complex synthesizer music. TELEKON often recalls some of the Krautrock bands of the '70s, particularly Faust and the knottier elements of Amon Duul II. In the UK, Numan was still a big enough star that the album's single, the chilly "I Die You Die", was a substantial hit. But the lack of a clever follow-up to "Cars" resigned Numan to one-hit-wonder status for all inthe US except his devoted cult following. The CD includes five bonus tracks, including an electronic version of Erik Satie's "Trois Gymnopedies".

Track Listing

1. This Wreckage
2. The Aircrash Bureau
3. Telekon
4. Remind Me To Smile
5. Sleep By Windows
6. We Are Glass
7. I'm An Agent
8. I Dream Of Wires
9. Remember I Was Vapour
10. Please Push No More
11. Joy Circuit
12. I Die: You Die (Alternate Version)
13. Game Called Echo
14. Photograph
15. Down In The Park - (Piano Verison)
16. Trois Gymnopedies (First Movement)

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #28162 in Music
• Released on: 1998-06-22
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Original recording remastered, Extra tracks

Customer Reviews

Is this a review?
A brilliant album: what I'm writing about is the terrible product review. I know I'm being pedantic, but the whole point of product review is to be factual and concise, isn't it? This is neither. 'Wilfully abstruse' lyrics? they're quite straightforward, really, considering Numan continues to deal in a world of 'anomie [here, a word misused] and isolation'. The 'chilly' single, wasn't on the original album [it was predated by We Are Glass, which wasn't includedon the original album either], and who, on amazon.co.UK is interested in Numan's history stateside. The snippet 'a one-hit wonder status for all inthe [typo] US is a really useful and objective piece of information for the UK market - if I remember rightly both 'We Are Glass' and 'I Die: You Die' were top five in the UK. Sorry, just fed up with slack reviewers and felt like a bit of a rant. Oh, guess what. It has five bonus tracks - an electronic [ gasp - surely not an electronic version, from Gary Numan...] apparently.

OK. Bitch over. It's a good album. It elevated Numan to superstar status in the UK [for those of you reading this in America] culminating in his sellout Wembly gigs. That to me might be the problem with this album; it appears to want to appeal to the mainstream and is therefore a little popularist. It's softer and more accessible than TPP. It also hasn't dated particularly well, unlike his earlier stuff, the synths in particular sound dated.
Still, it's OK. Give it a go - and ignore the AWFUL product review which seems to have been written by a fourteen year old practicing for his SATs exam...

The definitive Gary Numan album
Telekon is my favourite Gary numan album and the best example of his early work, in my opinion. There are some wonderfully imaginative, atmospheric, melodic and quirky songs on here. It's far more accessible than Dance, less cold than Pleasure Principal and has a great range of styles. The only below-par tracks are the opener This Wreckage, which just dosen't do anything for me, and the title track, which is a rather dismal dirge. Otherwise, this is first class Numan all the way and has aged very well. This album was Numan at his peak. A must buy!

Remastered Joy.
Telekon is another must have Numan album. There is lots to admire from this album, and to hear it, in all it's remastered glory is just a sheer joy! Classic stuff indeed.