Review of "Exile" as it appeared in the March 11-25 issue of "The Rocket" (Portland, Oregon):

Gary Numan

Exile

(Cleopatra CD)

Gary Numan didn't really disappear after his mega-hit "Cars", he just turned his attention to another form of transportation. Numan has since become one of Britain’s premier aerobatic pilots, flying his immaculately restored World War II-era North American Harvard at air shows around the country.

Numan has never given up on music, though, releasing a series of albums, usually on his own label in England. "Exile" comes on the heels of a mini-revival, a compilation of his old stuff actually denting the British charts, and his warhorse "Down In the Park, being covered by the Foo Fighters. "Exile" is a concept album profiling Lucifer's fall from grace, and while all the elements are there for a turkey of the first order (concept albums with religious themes by art-rockers past their hit-making days are not high on most critics agendas), it's really fairly good.

Which isn't to say that if you hated Numan then, you won't hate him now. All of the elements are still there - the stark icy keyboards, the robotic voccals, the persistent drum machines. But while bands like Kraftwerk made rigidity part of their credo, Numan always tried to throw a tune or two into the mix. He does it here again on "Dead Heaven" and "The Angel Wars," soaring melodies at odds with Numan's flat delivery. Those afraid that Numan has become a born again Christian needn't worry: the story is told more like a documentary than a sermon.

There is a nice but unnecessary live take of "Down In The Park" tacked onto the end of the album, which spoils the concept. But this LP should buy a little gas for the Harvard.

Robert Allen

c 1998 The Rocket Magazine

Bam Media Inc.