The first release from new Cooking Vinyl subsidiary Maida Vale Records, which will plunder the archives of various radio stations, Gary Numan’s The Complete John Peel Sessions is a fascinating comparison of Numan at very different stages in his career.

The first seven tracks of this compilation are made up of two John Peel sessions recorded in 1979, three months before and after the release of Tubeway Army’s Replicas album respectively. These show Numan the synth-pop pioneer, outweirding everyone in a genre that was still then pretty weird but still delivering some of the most engaging pop music of the time.

Kicking off with the new wave, guitar-heavy Me I Disconnect From You, he hints at the direction he’d take later in his career. So too does the dark, sinister sound of Down In The Park in a more subtle way. More in-keeping with our memory of the young Gary Numan, however, is an early version of Cars. This version is interesting in that it lacks the paranoid fear of the outside world that pervades the final recording.

The remaining nine tracks were recorded in 2001, while Numan was promoting his Pure album. Here he is less the innovator, more borrowing from Marilyn Manson and Nine Inch Nails. Still it’s interesting to hear how Cars and Down In The Park developed over 22 years.

A definite must for Gary Numan fans and also worth a glance if you’re simply and interested party.

Label: Maida Vale Records / Cooking Vinyl
Website: www.numan.co.uk
Release date: 7th May 2007

Tracklist:

1. Me I Disconnect from You
2. Down In The Park
3. I Nearly Married A Human
4. Cars
5. Airlane
6. Films
7. Conversation
8. RIP
9. Metal
10. Pure
11. My Jesus
12. Cars
13. Listen to My Voice
14. I Can’t Breathe
15. Down In The Park
16. A Prayer For The Unborn