Electro pop would be forever relegated to the zone of 'geeky post-punk curiosity' without Gary Numan. The man came out of nowhere, took the style and brought it kicking and screaming into the mainstream world, whilst still never leaving his integrity behind. Numan would continue to play around within the music, creating intricate sounds and pieces which are so perfectly balanced that they would shatter like glass if even the slightest sound were changed. So it's kinda right for my first Numan review to be We Are Glass.
The A side it We Are Glass, it takes us in with a repetitive beat, and a cool alien symth sound, with Numan comming right in with the lyrics virtually bouncing around the music. The track has a more energetic and liquid feel compared to Cars, a more standard tune really boosted up by it's synths which add a real energy to it, and along with the galloping rhythm guitars, help propell it forward into the future.
The next is a cover of Erik Satie's Trois Gymnopedies (1st Movement), using the synth to give Satie's trademark dissonant melodies an even more ghostly and haunting feel. This reminds me very much of Mort Garson's early electronica. I'm quite a fan of Gymnopedies (learning it on guitar :D , so this track really speaks to me, and it's just so cool that Numan decided to have it as the B side, like, polar opposite of the first track. It carries such emotion and alienation with it.
So here we have two solid tracks on one solid piece of plastic. A great single from a great songsmith!
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