CD: BBL28CD
RELEASED: 1999
LABEL: Beggars

01. Slow Car To China
02. Night Talk
03. Subway Called You
04. Cry The Clock Said
05. She's Got Claws
06. Crash
07. Boys Like Me
08. Stories
09. My Brother's Time
10. You Are You Are
11. Moral
12. Stormtrooper In Drag *
13. Face To Face *
14. Dance *
15. Exhibition *
16. I Sing Rain *

Remastered reissue of 1981 album with expanded artwork and 5 bonustracks. DANCE is an ironic title indeed for one of Gary Numan's latter- period recordings. This slab of decidedly undanceable tunes, replete with Numan's trademark synth rhythms, beatboxes, and beautifully sculpted robotic-analog sounds, remains vastly underrated and unappreciated. Numan's compositional finesse has hardly ebbed over time. If anything, his obsession with sci-fi imagery has grown ever more fantastic. "Slowcar to China" offers nearly quaint, purring beats and sparkling keyboards, while the stuttering rhythmic hiccups and bottom-end gank of "Night Talk" prove that Mick Karn's bass was integral to these recordings. DANCE certainly wasn't pop music-much of it is too odd and awry for radio exposure-but the album nonetheless managed to worm its way into numerous charts and hearts. With the new-electronic brigade discovering the retro joys of early '80s tech, DANCE is an album that warrants overdue re-evaluation, an outlandish space of bizarre and inspiring images and sounds from the past, future and somewhere in between.

Influences / Similar Artists:
Icehouse, Krafwerk, David Bowie, Japan, Simple Minds, Roxy Music