It's New to Me: Telekon by Gary Numan (1980)

Detail of a poster for The Ault & Wiborg Co., c. 1920

It may not seem like a big deal that I'm listening to Gary Numan, but it's kind of a big deal. Here's the thing - I hate "Cars". The Gary Numan song (also the Pixar film, but that's an unrelated issue). That song bugs me for reasons I've never been able to articulate properly - something about the chorus melody, I think. But I keep hearing about how great Gary Numan (and/or the Tubeway Army) is/are, and I've been eying Telekon for a while, so I decided to take the plunge. One great thing about Telekon is its cover art, with Numan's head floating in a black void accented with red stripes. The other thing here that's a big draw for me is Asperger Syndrome. I'm fascinated by this disorder in a general way, and Numan has made public statements about how it has affected his life, so I was interested to see how the disorder plays a role in his music.

Telekon is possibly the best musical portrayal of Asperger Syndrome committed to a fixed medium. Originally conceptualized as a science-fiction concept album about a man with telekinetic powers, the protagonist of this story evolved into a portrait of Numan himself, a man with a mind outside the norm, trying to make sense of his new-found fame. Songs that are clearly part of the original concept (like the title track and "I Dream of Wires") blend with songs sung nakedly from Numan's own point of view (like the excellent "Remind Me to Smile").

I like pretty much every song on Telekon, which is a relief to me because it means that my problem with "Cars" is not a problem with Numan's general approach to music. His plastic-android vocals and cutting-edge-at-the-time synth sounds might be difficult to swallow in large quantities, but he softens the blow here by mixing guitar, strings, and some excellent, icy piano into the arrangements. Of course, the version of the album I'm listening to also adds the two top-notch singles that Numan intentionally left off the album, "We Are Glass" and "I Die: You Die", and that also makes the album more listenable. However, my favorite part of the album is the quartet of introspective songs that ends Telekon: the analytical "I Dream of Wires", the ruminative "Remember I Was Vapor", the elegiac and despairing (and perfect) "Please Push No More", and the redemptive "The Joy Circuit".

Telekon is a portrait of Numan at his breaking point, overwhelmed by the popularity of The Pleasure Principle and the "Cars" single, and it's considered the last album of his peak period. I'm not a big "new wave" guy, so I'm not sure if I'll end up listening to this record often enough to justify tracking down Numan's other highly-regarded LPs, but Telekon is just what I was hoping it would be. It's a fascinating and intimate collection of songs about trying to understand the world, and it's got some surprisingly catchy moments for an album known for not yielding a hit single. "Remind Me to Smile", "This Wreckage" and "I'm an Agent", which may be my favorite track on the record, provide an uptempo counterpoint to the album's inward-looking moments.

"I'm an Agent" by Gary Numan