I also got the new Gary Numan album today. Let me put what I'm about to write in context by stating from the start that I have, like most fans, been waiting for this CD for nearly two years.
In the event I'm not sure it was quite what I was expecting. It feels very much like an extension to Pure rather than something entirely fresh. (suppose that some of the problem of the length of time it has taken to reach the distribution channels).
Also I feel that perhaps it shares, for me, the same problem as the last REM album. Not in terms of the music, obviously, but that album felt as though Stipe Buck and Mills had gone into the studio to make "a new REM album". This feels the same somehow, as if in trying too hard to make something like Pure, Jagged has ended up sounding almost like a parody.
That's not necessarily a bad thing - there are some interesting textures and sounds, but somehow it's all a little too similar, especially the drum sounds instrumentation and patterns, and there's nothing that lifts the album. I kept waiting for something to happen in every song - not a good sign. I'd like to see more high energy tracks and whilst Gary may not be moving into Nu Metal anytime soon (though I could actually see something working with slipknot!) I think that electronica a has, thanks to the likes of Goldfrapp's Will Gregory, moved on in the last 5 years.
So overall a slightly disappointing release from an artist that I admire greatly. Whilst the fans will buy it I'm not sure it will capture too many new listeners. Jagged seems, to me, to occupy the same film noir cinemascape territory as Felt Mountain, but in the time it's taken to release this album Goldfrapp have managed to redefine both Disco and Glam. Perhaps now is to time for Gary to return to his roots and catch the wave of neo-punk. Let's just hope he has a record company capable of releasing the next album before 2010!
In the event I'm not sure it was quite what I was expecting. It feels very much like an extension to Pure rather than something entirely fresh. (suppose that some of the problem of the length of time it has taken to reach the distribution channels).
Also I feel that perhaps it shares, for me, the same problem as the last REM album. Not in terms of the music, obviously, but that album felt as though Stipe Buck and Mills had gone into the studio to make "a new REM album". This feels the same somehow, as if in trying too hard to make something like Pure, Jagged has ended up sounding almost like a parody.
That's not necessarily a bad thing - there are some interesting textures and sounds, but somehow it's all a little too similar, especially the drum sounds instrumentation and patterns, and there's nothing that lifts the album. I kept waiting for something to happen in every song - not a good sign. I'd like to see more high energy tracks and whilst Gary may not be moving into Nu Metal anytime soon (though I could actually see something working with slipknot!) I think that electronica a has, thanks to the likes of Goldfrapp's Will Gregory, moved on in the last 5 years.
So overall a slightly disappointing release from an artist that I admire greatly. Whilst the fans will buy it I'm not sure it will capture too many new listeners. Jagged seems, to me, to occupy the same film noir cinemascape territory as Felt Mountain, but in the time it's taken to release this album Goldfrapp have managed to redefine both Disco and Glam. Perhaps now is to time for Gary to return to his roots and catch the wave of neo-punk. Let's just hope he has a record company capable of releasing the next album before 2010!
