Gary Numan - The Pleasure Principle

When Gary Numan retired the Tubeway Army moniker and dropped The Pleasure Principle in September 1979, he didn't just top the charts—he completely broke the traditional rock-and-roll mold. In a radical move for the era, Numan completely banned electric guitars from the studio. Instead, he built an ice-cold, dystopian empire using a lean backing band, live percussion, and a towering wall of Minimoog and Polymoog synthesizers. The resulting masterpiece, heavily indebted to J.G. Ballard's surrealist alienation and Philip K. Dick's android paranoia, birthed the immortal synth-pop anthem "Cars" and altered the landscape of electronic music forever.

The 1998 remastered edition CD, issued via Beggars Banquet Records, acts as a high-fidelity time capsule. Digitally remastered straight from the original analogue studio tapes at Loud Mastering, this specific reissue rescued the record's low-end punch and razor-sharp frequencies from early digital compression. Expanding well past the original 10-track album layout, the 1998 disc packs in seven essential bonus tracks, including rare 1979 Freerange studio demos and fierce live documentations from the legendary Touring Principle show at the Hammersmith Odeon.

Album Review: Ashen Silicons and Machine Dreams

Pressing play on the 1998 remaster of The Pleasure Principle is like scraping a layer of oxidation off a pristine chrome chassis. The opening instrumental track "Airlane" hits with a renewed, devastating clarity; the synth layers no longer sound like dated relics, but rather a sharp, militarised fan-fare introducing Numan’s cold-wave utopia. The complete absence of guitars highlights just how heavy the rhythm section of bassist Paul Gardiner and drummer Cedric Sharpley truly was. They anchor Numan’s alien world to a relentless, breathing post-punk spine.

What the 1998 master beautifully exposes is the sheer sonic texture of Numan’s chosen machinery. The Polymoog’s iconic "Vox Humana" preset on tracks like "Metal" and "M.E." glides through the speakers with a haunting, almost organic warmth. It provides a stunning paradox: electronic instruments mimicking human strings, backing an artist who is actively singing about wanting to shed his human skin to become a machine. Numan's detached, deadpan vocal delivery remains an absolute masterclass in pop alienation.

The undisputed peak of the record remains "Cars," but experiencing it on this reissue forces a deep appreciation for the deeper cuts around it. "Films" feels incredibly prophetic—its massive, crunching drum break and undulating bass synthesizer practically drew the blueprint for industrial hip-hop and early electro-funk years before they became mainstream commodities. Meanwhile, the melancholic viola and violin flourishes on "Complex" break through the synthesizer fog to deliver a genuinely fragile, isolated emotional gut-punch.

Diving into the bonus material on this particular CD feels less like a corporate cash-in and more like an essential archival deep dive. The demo "Asylum"—originally the B-side to "Cars"—is an incredibly eerie, stark piano instrumental that showcases Numan's avant-garde sensibilities. Flipping to the live cuts from the Hammersmith Odeon, tracks like "Me! I Disconnect From You" capture an unparalleled, theatrical stage energy. Almost 50 years after its inception, this 1998 CD serves as a definitive testament to Numan’s vision: a world where the future was cold, mechanical, and utterly intoxicating.

Ripped from a rather lush 1998 remastered and extended CD to MP3 @ 320kbps

Gary Numan; The Pleasure Principle

1.      Airline

2.      Metal

3.      Complex

4.      Films

5.      M.E.

6.      Tracks

7.      Observer

8.      Conversation

9.      Cars

10.   Engineers

11.   Random (Demo Outtake)

12.   Oceans (Demo Outtake)

13.   Asylum (B’side Of Cars)

14.   Me! I Disconnect From You (Live) (B’side Of Complex 12”)

15.   Bombers (Live) (B’side Of Complex 12”)

16.   Remember I Was Vapour (Live)

17.   On Broadway (Live)

Tracks 14-17 were recorded live on the Touring Principle tour at the Hammersmith Odeon, London on 28th September 1979 and did not feature in the original album.