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Rating: This time I want to talk to you about Gary Numan's second solo album, Telekon, an album, in my opinion, suitable for evenings and nights from June to late September. Released in 1980 with 10 tracks, in the 1998 reissue their number rises to 16. Telekon is the natural continuation of "The Pleasure Principle". It is characterized by the addition of a keyboard with a subtle sound and the almost constant presence of the piano. On the cover, the singer's face, surrounded by an icy aura, splits the total black of the background, which is, however, warmed by the orange color of the credits and lines intersecting like a gift package.
Besides being the composer of the music, Gary Numan is also the author of the lyrics, which have an important role in the creative process. When they don't talk about difficult loves, they are very cryptic, but hint at situations on the edge of physical or psychological violence. Sometimes, however, there's a feeling they are written just to have something to sing: many tracks, in fact, could well do without the words. Even the song titles, in some cases, are very sophisticated and add value to the work.
But let’s take a closer look at each individual track. The album opens with This Wreckage, which lasts almost 6 minutes. The intro is a bit too long and nothing special, but then the song unfolds in the best way thanks to important lyrics, interpreted without overdoing it. Yes, because often, to very original melodic lines and great atmosphere, there is an unmistakable singing which, however, is the real weak point of this commendable and, all in all, honest artist. The Aircrash Bureau, also almost 6 minutes long, has its only strength in the instrumental theme that evokes one or two tracks from The Pleasure Principle, and it makes us feel like we are masters of the sky, piloting a plane.
The third track, the title track Telekon, is the most threatening and dark song on the album: a "gust" of synth with three chords acts as a continuous bass line for the singing and drums and, when it duets with the crazy notes of the piano, it creates an excellent crystal contrast. The lyrics talk about two people who start discovering each other's flaws and no longer trust each other. The spacey, powerful, and characteristic synthesizer still brings us back to the previous album. Remind Me To Smile is a reflection on the weight of fame on artists; to not be overwhelmed by it, one must remember to smile and laugh. We Are Glass talks about the omnipotence of youth willingly bordering on cruelty. I Die: You Die has a very catchy chorus and is perhaps the best song of the group, but it’s not easy to understand what it's about. I’m an Agent, the song with the worst title, sounds like the theme song of a cartoon due to the pompous singing, but in the end, this is not a flaw.
A bit detached, The Joy Circuit, with strings in the foreground and piano bringing more calm, is an exercise in experimentation not fully realized. From this moment on, the tone definitely changes, and Numan's stylistic evolution is evident. The next two tracks are what I define as the most "scientific" ones on Telekon. Sleep By Windows is like a warm breeze on a night. Almost ambient and expanded in its slow pace marked by the drums, only in the end does it pick up speed to fade into electronic crumbs, a somewhat questionable choice. The more or less poetic verses suggest a way to punish or keep away a love that is no longer there. I Dream Of Wires is the only track in which Numan imagines life in the future: first proclaiming himself "the last electrician," then listing normal everyday actions that could be performed with the help of computerized devices or the power of thought. Musically it starts quietly, with an acidic and ghostly electronic sound and remains gloomy until the first chorus; when it turns to rock with the explosion of percussions, it loses some of the mystery that characterized it.
The heart of Telekon however, lies in the soft tracks where the new keyboard expresses itself bare, rarefying the atmosphere, tinting it with a pale pink. Please Push No More is one of the gems of the album: pleasant and epidermal like a fresh summer breeze, slightly crepuscular, it mourns with resignation a love that is now over. A Game Called Echo could have been a great instrumental thanks to long synthetic passages that separate the verses. Remember I Was Vapour repeats the same theme many times to contain all the singer’s needs in the sentimental realm.
The last pieces of the album are all instrumentals that don't abandon the quiet atmosphere of the previous three.
Photograph is a little masterpiece, sparse and concise. It's also the most different track, so much so that it could be mistaken for a classical genre piece, centered as it is on piano, church organ, and final synth. Down in the Park, presented with a new arrangement performed on the piano, however, does not live up to the original. The synthetic reinterpretation of the first movement of the three Gymnopedies by Eric Satie, which closes the work, is successful.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 This Wreckage (05:21)
And what if God's dead
We must have done something wrong
This dark facade ends
We're independent from someone
This wreckage I call me
Would like to frame your voice
This wreckage I call me
Would like to meet you, meet you
Soon
We write suggestions
Suggesting fading to silence
And that must please you
My mirror's tarnished with 'no-help'
This wreckage I call me
Would like to frame your voice
This wreckage I call me
Would like to meet you, meet you
Soon
(Japanese phrase - means "Goodbye, forever")
Turn out these eyes
Wipe off my face
Erase me
Replay 'The end'
It's all just show
Erase you
I need to I need to I need to
This wreckage I call me
Would like to frame your voice
This wreckage I call me
Would like to leave you, leave you
Leave you, leave you soon
(Japanese phrase - means "Goodbye, forever")
02 The Aircrash Bureau (05:35)
Hello, I'm the aircrash bureau
I bet you're so surprised to see me
I could specialise in rumours
I'll send shivers up your spine
Pilot, back, I need my squadron
I was flying before D-day
Now I'm warning you of falling
I'll tell you when you're going down
Sometimes I get these questions
It reminds me of the skin game
We used to stand around on corners
Saying 'well here we are again'
So now she motions closer
Now that's what I call romance
Someone's calling me but vaguely
You need the feeling not the man
03 Telekon (04:21)
Where is my outline I start to fade
No concentration means 'fail' these days
I leave the table saying 'I am real'
I feel the pressure like your eyes on me
Don't mention that name and books on love
I can't be sure, I can't be sure
You end on reel one
You end on reel one
You quote from 'anxious' and things we do
I need protection from the likes of you
Do you begin to see that I don't know
I live on memories that are hard to find
Send me a card and write 'I think of you'
I'll say you lied, I'll say you're lying
You are, you are
Tell me a secret I'm sure to fall
My dog runs A.W.O.L. I blame you all
We're in formation saying 'safe, safe, safe'
Turn up my collar and mix with dark
The speaker turns on me spot her eyes
It's hard to breathe, it's hard to breathe
You end on reel one
You end on reel one
You are, you are
04 Remind Me to Smile (03:59)
We'll take a taxi to the show
We could report by phone
We could remind ourselves that
We must laugh
Reconsider: 'fame'
I need new reasons
This is detention it's not fun at all
Remind me to smile
You know, 'the old friends' line
It gets so I feel like
I'm in this cold, glass, cage
I've got the horrors
Check, over my shoulder
I punch the air and fight but
No-one's there
You you - Oh no
Old scars - don't show
We fall - you see
Crawl crawl - in love
I dive - so clean
Young things - don't scream
Toys toys - so far
Boys boys - you are
(Chorus)
Get off the car
Get off the phone
Move from my window, leave me alone
Keep your revivals
Keep your conventions
Keep all your fantasies that's all we are
08 Remember I Was Vapour (05:05)
There's nothing here but us
There's nothing here but us
Remember, I was vapour
Remember, I was just like you
Remember, I was liquid
Remember, I was someone too
Remember, I need others
Remember, I need oxygen
Remember, I need lovers
Remember, I need to forget
Chorus
Remember, I am human
Remember, I feel just like you
Remember, I had reasons
Remember, I had friends like you
Remember, I grow tired
Remember, I could end all this
Remember, I have memories
Remember, I need to forget
09 Please Push No More (05:31)
Now I'm behind glass
I'll talk to you
The telephone lines blind
You have defaced my face
I bet you laughed at me
You bright young things
And now I need no-one
I miss you, so
Please push no more
Please push no more
Now it's all over for sure
I'll walk back home
We must all come down
We all grow old
We are close, we are hurt
So that was love
And love she kills me
It needs to, so
Please push no more
Please push no more
Please push no more
Please push no more
10 The Joy Circuit (05:07)
Send in the guards
We are all new faces
I'm so sorry
But my reasons are wrong
My reasons are wrong
We are on joy circuit
The image fix
Rewind, cry
Well it's somewhere to go
Well it's somewhere to go
Tell me of your pain
Love it, love it
Show me the new way
Love it, love it
It's so unusual
But all I find is a reason to die
A reason to die
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