I’ve been really into Gary Numan the past few years, buying up all his later period albums and listening to them loads, trying to track down the hard to find ones for a price I can afford (not easy!) and I’ve seen him a couple of times in the past year or so. I’ve always liked his early stuff though and have had Are “Friends” Electric? in one format or other ever since it came out. But I’m just listening to his new live album now and when the track came on I quickly realised that I only really know the first line and ‘smoking a cigarette’. Isn’t it weird that you know all the words to some tracks after 2 or 3 listens, yet others you can listen to hundreds of times without the words ever really sinking in.
Anyway, the new live album was recorded with an Orchestra and they seem to have similar issues with their memories, because at around 6:23 they appear to break out into the theme from Superstars. Didn’t half spoil the mood. I’ve gone from imagining Gary wandering through a bleak, desolate, post-apocalyptic landscape, to diminutive England strikers with no skin on their back!
I am not a fan at all (although I recently picked up a marked down reissue of Replicas on vinyl), but I think I would be pretty much word perfect for Are “friends” Electric?
About a year ago he tweeted that he was about to do this orchestral show and wanted to cull either Cars or AFE. He wanted to know which one of the two people think will sound better with an orchestra? I responded with Cars because I thought the string section would do that really well.
I didn’t realise that he was going to have the synth lines running through – I thought the whole song would be using traditional orchestral instrumemts. I didn’t think AFE with trumpets or tubas would sound right at all.
Think the opening of AFE would be awesome with an orchestra.
But without the powerful synth parts? How would that be played?
With an orchestra!
There’s a hole in my bucket.