My friend Mark Ryan has come back to do another comparison review featuring his two favorite artists, Gary Numan and David Bowie. It’s an honor to have Mark share his thoughts with us on Rave and Roll.

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My name is Mark Ryan and I am a longtime friend of Miss Parker’s. It was my suggestion that I do the following review. I grew up listening to David Bowie, and later on Gary Numan. Music was always in my house, and to this day, I have continued this legacy with my own children.

David Bowie – Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps) 

Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps) was David Bowie’s last Album for RCA. Recorded in New York and London, it was released in September 1980.

Side One starts with “It’s No Game (No. 1),” and includes the sounds of a flushing toilet and a Japanese girl’s vocal. Bowie wrote the lyrics about class society while doing his latest tour. In it, he seems very angry.

“Up the Hill Backwards” is a lovely harmonic song, with lush guitar, soothing percussion (not drums), and the bass, which is set perfectly. This was written about Bowie’s recent divorce and how he struggled with it; hard to imagine, but true.

The track “Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps)” is a 5-minute masterpiece. This song is brilliant; Bowie’s vocals are great with superb guitar work by Robert Fripp. It seems the guitar takes on a life of its own. The song is written about someone who withdraws from people’s attention; perhaps Angie Bowie or even David himself, upon closer inspection.

“Ashes to Ashes” is a follow-up to “Space Oddity.” It’s Bowie doing funk before funk was cool. The song features George Murray performing slap bass on a fretless bass guitar throughout. I love the guitar and synthesizer here, as well. The song’s lyrics describe how Bowie is finished with the 1970s and starting out in the 1980s.

Side One ends with “Fashion.” It seemed that every girl in my school who was a Bowie fan loved this song. Again, it features Robert Fripp’s guitar work (just how good is he?) and shows the New York influence on Bowie with elements of funk and bits of reggae. This track also features a description of his own political stance at the time.

Side Two starts with “Teenage Wildlife.” Before I review this, I should mention that this one of my Top 10 Bowie songs of all time. This track is just amazing and is a 7-minute masterpiece. “Teenage Wildlife” should have been released as a single. It was written about all the New Wave bands that were coming through at the time, and in it, he appears to feel threatened. It even sounds like a personal attack on some of the competition (Numan in particular). Aside from that, the track featues great guitar work by Robert Fripp and Chuck Hammer who accomplishes his guitar through a synthesizer. The lyrics are brilliant on this song: “As ugly as a teenage millionaire, Pretending it’s a whiz-kid world.” Just listen to this and you will be hooked.

“Scream Like a Baby” sees Bowie writing once again about 1984. However, this time he talks about “Sam.” Its very theme underscores the album and is a great follow-up to “Teenage Wildlife.”

“Kingdom Come” is next. Up to this time, Bowie never did a bad cover version, and this is no exception. With lovely backing vocals, this song was written the year before by Tom Verlaine.

“Because You’re Young” follows with The Who’s Pete Townshend on guitar. This is a great, but underrated, song. It features a lovely synth against the backdrop of David’s vocals.

“It’s No Game (No. 2)” finishes the Album. This is the same as Track 1, without the heavy lead guitar, but featuring the slap bass once again. Even though he still appears quite angry, you can tell he copes with his anger much better this time.

Scary Monsters is quite possibly Bowie’s best album. There is not a weak song on the album and the production is consisitent throughout. Some interesting facts: this was orginally going to be an instrumental album and it was only later on that he decided to add lyrics to it. Both George Murray & Denis Davies should be appreciated for their input; Denis plays percussion brilliantly and even in the slower number, you can hear his influence. This is a must-buy album. Shame there was no tour to support it.

Gary Numan – Strange Charm

Strange Charm was recorded in May & June of 1986 and released in November 1986. The album starts off with “My Breathing.” This is a brilliant song with soaring synths and superb violas. This is one of my most favourite Numan songs because it is so powerful with beautiful arrangements. There’s even an Arabian feel to the song.

“Unknown and Hostile” picks up where “My Breathing” finishes; however I am not convinced of the success of drum sound here. It seems lost somehow; but, the song is a story and it has been loved.

“The Sleeproom” is a beautiful song, and in my opinion, the perfect follow-up song to “Down in the Park.” There are great synths with a lovely bass synth thrown in; even the backing vocals are set in stone. Definitely an underrated Numan song.

Side One finishes with “New Thing From London Town.” This was written with Bill Sharpe of Shakatak fame. It’s a brilliant track with good drum synths from Roger Odelle. However, the down side is that the song doesn’t fit in with any other part of the album making it obviously out of place. This recording would have fit better on the album Sharpe & Numan.

Side Two starts with “I Can’t Stop.” This actually got Gary back onto the charts and is a personal song: “I’m back and I’m proven (Yeah).” The song features awful female backing vocals; however, they are soon forgotten thanks to a great lead guitar. Gary is also on form with his vocal range.

“Strange Charm” is up next. This track contains more girl backing vocals that drone over Gary’s voice, which along with drum/keyboards, are actually in harmony.

“The Need” is, quite simply, awful. “Get The Need” is the first thing you hear on this one. I’ll leave you to your own imgination; but, in my opinion, it’s best to avoid this song altogether.

Strange Charm finishes with “This Is Love” written for Gary’s girlfriend at the time. It’s a lovely song with drum effects, and a beautiful, soothing piano played by Ade Orange.

Strange Charm is indeed a strange album. Depsite the great opening, it doesn’t seem to go anywhere. Too many female shouting/backing vocals and not enough of Gary’s. I can understand where Gary was coming from; he needed a new sound and he liked to experiment with different noises and textures. However, there is no theme. The album starts off strong, and then it ends flat. I have played this album over and over again, recently, and I find it can result in two very different reactions: it’s either great, or it’s crap.

~ Mark Ryan ~

David Bowie – “Ashes to Ashes” via YouTube user emimusic

Gary Numan – “My Breathing” via YouTube user Gazz1617

I am very happy to present Bowie vs. Numan: A Fan’s Critical Review written by dear friend and 80s music devotee Mark Ryan. You may remember Mark for his part in my “The Secret Life of Numanoids” series. It’s always a good thing to showcase other “voices” so that a blog doesn’t become stale and boring. I thank Mark so much for bringing his unique point of view to Rave and Roll.

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My name is Mark Ryan and I am a longtime friend of Miss Parker’s. It was my suggestion that I do the following review. I grew up listening to David Bowie, and later on Gary Numan. Music was always in my house, and to this day, I have continued this legacy with my own children.

David Bowie – Tonight 

In the 1970s, David Bowie was the lynchpin of the music industry. Described as “influential” and “ahead of his time,” Bowie produced classic album after classic album. He was always one step ahead in the fashion stakes and surprisingly, the press liked him! Even when he was receiving bad press Bowie, to his credit, found a way to use it to his advantage.

Bowie started the 1980s clean and off drugs, releasing 2 albums in 3 years along with one world tour in 1983. After the world tour was finished, in 1984 he announced a new album called Tonight that was going to be co-produced by Hugh Padgham & Derek Bramble along with himself.

Tonight was released on 1 September 1984 and reached Number 1 in the UK and Number 11 in the USA charts, respectively.

Tonight starts out with “Loving the Alien” and is in my opinion, and without doubt, the best song of the album. However, listening closer, it should have been acoustic without the marimba and string arrangement, which makes it sluggish at times. We carry on with “Don’t Look Down’” which is an old Iggy Pop number (a familiar theme on the album). Bowie does a poor imitation of reggae (which I strongly dislike). This, in my opinion, was a big mistake.

Next up is The Beach Boys’ “God Only Knows” with a full string arrangement. This is “Bowie doing a Bowie impressionist doing Bowie.” It’s a decent cover version, but far too lush and very under-produced. It’s a great selection for a Karaoke Night, and not much else.
Side One finishes with “Tonight” which is a duet with Tina Turner and without doubt is the worst song I have ever heard. It’s best to ignore this one.

Side Two starts out with “Neighborhood Threat” and again is an old Iggy Pop song. The track is great with roaring guitars and very good production. To me. this is the Bowie of old (almost).

“Blue Jean” is next, released as a single that reached number 6. “Jazzin for Blue Jean” is an awful recording, but inspired by his early years and was accompanied by a cool video. It’s basically Bowie doing his worst crooner act. This is followed by “Tumble & Twist” which again was an old Iggy Pop song, reggae-like, and spoiled by over-production of marimbas. However, Bowie’s vocals are very good here.

“I Keep Forgettin” is backed by a great drum & horn section, lasting two and a half minutes. I really enjoy this song. The album finishes with “Dancing With the Big Boys” that’s listed as a duet and yes, you guessed it, is an old Iggy Pop number. Despite that, it really rocks and has a decent production value; however, the synthesizer actually spoils the song.

Tonight promised a lot and failed on all accounts. It’s Bowie’s worst album and the listener can sense he was losing his touch (but not motivation). I question why he chose that particular production team. Derek Bramble was a disco head, and known for his bass lines; one can feel his influence in the reggae numbers. Hugh Padgham was well known as a “Drum Guy,” so again it’s plain to see where his influence came from. Hugh was famous for producing Genesis and Kate Bush, who both made great albums; unfortunately, this was not one of them.

Tonight was basically a David Bowie & Iggy Pop album with only 2 new songs written by Bowie. I listened to this album in 1984, and again recently and in-depth, and my view is the same. Only buy/download if you are obsessed by Bowie. It’s not for the casual fan, as it lacks the depth, flexibility and courage found in other Bowie albums. Another thing that I find irritating/disappointing is that Bowie only sings on this album and plays no instruments. It leaves me wondering, “Why?”

Gary Numan – Telekon  

Gary Numan burst onto the music scene in 1979. There was something about him that got people hooked back then, and who are still hooked to this very day. I first heard him in late 1978 when I was given a demo to listen to. How that person had the demo escapes me; but, at the time, I played in a band as the drummer and always loved music, especially drum/percussion sound. As I listened to the demo, there something that was special, augmented by guitar and bass, which did not overpower his voice; instead, it went with his voice. So, imagine my surprise when I heard Numan had dropped the heavy guitars in favour of the world famous Moog synthesizer.

After two Number One albums in 1979, one in a band and one solo, and a sold-out world tour, Gary started to write his next album. How do you follow up after being so successful and not having the greatest of relationships with the press? Not an easy task; however, Gary just did that with Telekon, which was released on 5 September 1980 and reached Number 1 in the UK.

The album starts off with “This Wreckage.” This song seems to be written about his own personal choices in life, along with an atheist theme. I feel it was a poor choice for a single, because the only good part in the song is the Japanese vocal half way through. When I played it in my house, my dad disliked this song immensely (“He talks bad about God?” “Youngsters, eh?”).

Next is “The Aircrash Bureau,” and wow what a song! It consists of a beautiful arrangement, super bass solo at the start, and roaring synths; even the vocal gets you hooked. This song had “single” material written all over it, a vastly underrated song.

“Telekon,” the theme song, is next. In 1980 I disliked this song so much I would never play it because it has a piano solo on it which I feel gets lost in the mix. However, after all these years, it has grown on me.

“Remind Me to Smile” is the next track, written about his relationship with the press (horrible bunch of people), and his ever-adoring fans. It was an obvious single with such scathing lyrics as “Fame/I need new reasons/This is detention/It’s not fun at all.”

As Telekon progresses, you can see how Numan was evolving into a great songwriter. The last song on Side One is a ballad called “Sleep by Windows,” which is augmented by roaring and dark keyboards and 2 bass guitars side-by-side. However, the song’s highlight is the drumming–just masterful work.

Side Two starts with “I Am an Agent,” in which the synths and guitars combine masterfully with each other. This is a truly great song, and when I hear it live, it really gets me going.

“I Dream of Wires” is a futuristic song. Again, I love the drumming on this song that coincides with great guitar work and even the use of a whistle, but it all works so well.

“Remember I Was Vapour” is next. It’s obvious Numan uses a drum machine, as well as a drummer; however, it’s very “tinny,” under-produced, and is a disappointment. On the plus side, Numan has a great keyboard solo on it.

“Please Push No More” is a slush ballad–a very personal song with lovely piano work by Denis Haines. This song is the album’s highlight for me.

The final song on Telekon is “The Joy Circuit” in which Gary uses the violin as an extra musician’s weapon. This really works very well; it’s a great song, and a nice way to finish the album.

Telekon is a superb album, for both Numanoids and the casual fan, with terrific production and superb arrangements. Gary Numan makes full use of what he has and he really develops his style throughout this album. In my opinion, it’s better than “The Pleasure Principle,” an album that was ground-breaking in itself.

Numan was so awesome at this time, he also wrote two Top 5 hits. Telekon is the “must-have” album for a collection. It’s a shame he didn’t reach the same heights with another album until the release of Pure in 2000.

~ Mark Ryan ~

David Bowie – “Tonight” via YouTube user heno1x

Gary Numan – “Telekon” via YouTube user GaryNumanAlbums