Telekon

TELEKON contains five bonus tracks which includes an 'A' side, 'B' side singles and an out-take.
Personnel includes: Gary Numan (vocals, guitar, piano, Mini-Moog, Arp); R. Bell (guitar, piano, claves, background vocals); Christopher Payne (viola, piano, Mini-Moog); D. Haines (piano, Arp); Paul Gardiner (bass, background vocals); Cedric Sharpley (drums, background vocals); John Webb, James Freud (handclaps).
Engineers: Nick Smith, Steve Smith, Graeme Myhre.
Includes liner notes by Steve Malins.
1980's TELEKON was Gary Numan's first album after the surprise chart success of its predecessor THE PLEASURE PRINCIPLE and "Cars," its seemingly deathless hit single. Numan could have easily created "Cars, Part II," but chose not to do so. Instead, the songs on TELEKON are spikier and almost willfully abstruse, wrapping Numan's usual J.G. Ballard and Philip K. Dick-inspired lyrics of anomie and isolation in complex synthesizer music. TELEKON often recalls some of the Krautrock bands of the '70s, particularly Faust and the knottier elements of Amon Duul II. In the UK, Numan was still a big enough star that the album's single, the chilly "I Die You Die," was a substantial hit. But the lack of a clever follow-up to "Cars" resigned Numan to one-hit-wonder status for all in the US except his devoted cult following. The CD includes five bonus tracks, including an electronic version of Erik Satie's "Trois Gymnopedies."