Should Gary Numan Reunite His Old Bandmates??

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So here's an idea-

In 2006 Gary Numan regroups with some of his old players from his most classic records for a "reunion" record of sorts. Bowie's done it. Joe Jackson has.

Numanoids will remember names like Chris Payne, RRussell Bell, Cedric Sharpley, Billy Currie, even Uncle Jess Lidyard from the Tubeway Days.

Of course the sad reality would be that Tubeway Army's Paul Gardiner(RIP) would not be able to take part.

Just tossing that out there. Telekon II anyone??

― ZionTrain, Thursday, 17 March 2005 18:29 (8 years ago) Permalink

Seems a bit cryptic. He's content with where he's at.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 17 March 2005 18:31 (8 years ago) Permalink

His drummer was quite cool, as I remember.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Thursday, 17 March 2005 18:38 (8 years ago) Permalink

Sharpley was the drummer, yeah? *FIENDISHLY* good on "Films" in particular. That's one of the all time underrated breaks.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 17 March 2005 18:40 (8 years ago) Permalink

To me, that was one of the best things about those early records. The simple undercurrent of well-miked analog drums underneath earthshattering electronic blasts.

― ZionTrain, Thursday, 17 March 2005 18:55 (8 years ago) Permalink

Sharpley was the drummer, yeah? *FIENDISHLY* good on "Films" in particular. That's one of the all time underrated breaks.

Was he drumming on Numan's SNL appearance back in the day? I've never seen anyone so gleefully bash the hell out of a crash cymbal.

― Elvis Telecom (Chris Barrus), Thursday, 17 March 2005 20:57 (8 years ago) Permalink

I'm with ZionTrain. I think Numan plus Dramatis was a magic combination.

― moley, Thursday, 17 March 2005 21:15 (8 years ago) Permalink

Rob and Monti (the production team behind "Pure" and the upcoming "Jagged Halo") can oversee the production of "Telekon II".
That way both ends of the spectrum will be well represented.

― ZionTrain, Thursday, 17 March 2005 21:56 (8 years ago) Permalink

why does ILM get numan-ed out late at night?!?

― Eisbär (llamasfur), Friday, 18 March 2005 05:47 (8 years ago) Permalink

Gary Numan should eat peanut butter and jam sandwiches with the Queen.

― Bimble... (Bimble...), Friday, 18 March 2005 05:48 (8 years ago) Permalink

i'm w/ ned here. mr. numan seems to be content with his present group. still, it WOULD be a nice one-off -- maybe for a charity or something.

― Eisbär (llamasfur), Friday, 18 March 2005 05:49 (8 years ago) Permalink

I saw that SNL version of Cars the other day - glad for the fact they kept cutting to Ced Sharpley about every time there was a cymbal crash. My reaction when I saw this thread title was "no Paul Gardiner", so I guess that stands.

― Deluxe (Damian), Friday, 18 March 2005 09:49 (8 years ago) Permalink

Didn't he rid himself of his band mates because, basically, they contributed nothing anyway?

I mean, a bit like George Michael reuniting with Andrew Ridgeley, no?

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Friday, 18 March 2005 11:42 (8 years ago) Permalink

No, we mean a bit like you posting to ILM.

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Friday, 18 March 2005 11:53 (8 years ago) Permalink

He did refer to those guys once as simply "players", NOT a band. HOWEVER, listen to the "Living Ornaments" live series. Gentlemen, that WAS a band- in skinny colorful ties.. and a pretty good one.

― ZionTrain, Friday, 18 March 2005 14:44 (8 years ago) Permalink

I don't remember any band being split up the very instant they got a number one hit single.

Although, Paul Gardiner was obviously still on good terms with Mr Webb, as "Stormtrooper in drag" showed.

Didn't the rest of them carry on without him? Tubeway summat-else?

― mark grout (mark grout), Saturday, 19 March 2005 19:04 (8 years ago) Permalink

No, the Tubeway Army moniker dissolved after "Replicas." Gardiner and Numan collaborated a few times before Paul overdosed in '84. Gary acknowledged Paul on the 10th and 20th anniversaries of his death by adding a Gardiner-Numan track to that years' setlist.

― ZionTrain, Saturday, 19 March 2005 19:53 (8 years ago) Permalink

I'm sure they (at least) reformed. Tubeway Something.

― mark grout (mark grout), Saturday, 19 March 2005 20:05 (8 years ago) Permalink

You mean they pulled a Glitter Band on Numan??? How odd.

― donut debonair (donut), Saturday, 19 March 2005 21:18 (8 years ago) Permalink

Especially since Numan has always been the one calling the shots in his music (w/ Gardiner even) since '77 or so... not too sure about Gary Glitter.

It would be like that Richard Pryor Show skit with " and the Pips!"

― donut debonair (donut), Saturday, 19 March 2005 21:20 (8 years ago) Permalink

They became Dramatis and released an album. Gary guested on one song, Love Needs No Disguise. I had that album on cassette! It was, well, GRATE. A lot better than you might expect. Fans of Bill Nelson might like it.
'
On The Pleasure Principle you have the classic line up. Gary thanks them on the sleeve 'for turning basics into songs.'

― moley, Saturday, 19 March 2005 21:36 (8 years ago) Permalink

6 years pass...

I've just been made aware that Cedric Sharpley died a couple of days ago from a heart attack, aged 59. Rest in peace, Ced.

― The Jupiter 8 (Turrican), Thursday, 15 March 2012 23:07 (1 year ago) Permalink

― The Jupiter 8 (Turrican), Thursday, 15 March 2012 23:15 (1 year ago) Permalink

RIP. Fine drummer and a big part of what made The Pleasure Principle such a great album. As someone said upthread it was that combination of organic drums and analogue synths that made it so good.

― my father will guide me up the stairs to bed (anagram), Friday, 16 March 2012 08:46 (1 year ago) Permalink

Good searching btw.

― Mark G, Friday, 16 March 2012 09:23 (1 year ago) Permalink

RIP.

― Pay Now or Your "Sam's Club" Membership will Be Revoked (Mount Cleaners), Friday, 16 March 2012 10:46 (1 year ago) Permalink

Oh man, tragic news.

― Ned Raggett, Friday, 16 March 2012 16:16 (1 year ago) Permalink

Wait so was Lidyard only on the first two albums?

― Axolotl with an Atlatl (Jon Lewis), Friday, 16 March 2012 16:18 (1 year ago) Permalink

Yeah, as mentioned upthread Lidyard was part of the extended family that Numan relied on to help get himself going, so it was almost like a personal project there for a bit. I'm sure there's more in Numan's autobiography about it.

Sharpley passing, man that's a loss. That's a MAJOR loss. I'm still taking it all in.

― Ned Raggett, Friday, 16 March 2012 16:31 (1 year ago) Permalink

Indeed Ned, I'm still trying to get my head around it myself. While listening to a track like 'Metal' now, where both Ced Sharpley and Paul Gardiner create that really precise groove that really drives the song along, I can't help but not only think of what a loss it is that the people responsible for moments like that no longer with us, but I also get the feeling that maybe Numan didn't realise how great a rhythm section he had in those two. Take the rhythm section away from a lot of the tracks on The Pleasure Principle, and there's a great deal missing.

I always admired Ced not only for the way he and Gardiner really locked together and sounded (to my ears, anyway) really exciting, but his timekeeping was really impeccable too. I'm thinking of the title track from Telekon for example, where there's a crossfade at the end between Ced's drumming and the drum machine at the end, and they're both very closely in time with one another. Or the way he always used to stay in time with the drum machine that runs throughout 'Remind Me To Smile' whenever they played it live. This is before we even get to his drum sound!

There have been odd mentions over the years about Numan's influence on hip-hop here and there. But I'd like to put forward that those people weren't actually listening to Numan. They were listening to Ced and Paul.

― The Jupiter 8 (Turrican), Saturday, 17 March 2012 00:50 (1 year ago) Permalink

Would have to agree, though Numan and through him Kraftwerk brought in the love of strange electronic textures and melodies, so it's more of an even split.

― Ned Raggett, Saturday, 17 March 2012 00:52 (1 year ago) Permalink

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