Seems like everybody who uses keyboard/computer technology in the mid-to-late 1990s lays fruit at the base of Gary Numan's volcano. Although Numan has continued to record and release material since his late 1970s heyday, he's never repeated the brilliance of those first few singles. Premiere Hits is a timely repackaging of some of Numan's greatest work. Unfortunately remembered by the mainstream for his robotic, nasal drone on "Cars," this collection provides a history lesson to the uninitiated. There was something almost melancholy behind the icy isolation of "Down in the Park," "Are Friends Electric?" and "We Are Glass." Numan's melodic sensibilities were essentially minimal, but it fit his aesthetic perfectly. Songs like "When I Die You Die" have a sweeping grandeur to them, nonetheless, and earlier works like "Bombers" have an aggressive punk edge. "Stormtrooper in Drag," took Numan's techno-glam phase about as far as it could go, but hey, at least you could dance to it. --Steve Gdula
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