Gary Numan’s ‘Dance’ turns 45 on 4 September
Beggars Banquet released Gary Numan’s third album “Dance” on 4 September 1981, with Japan’s Mick Karn on bass. The album turns 45 this year.
Gary Numan released his third solo studio album, “Dance,” on 4 September 1981 through Beggars Banquet. The album turns 45 this year. It followed Numan’s “Farewell Concerts” at Wembley Arena earlier that year and reached number 3 on the UK Albums Chart, later earning a silver certification for sales over 60,000.
Numan recorded “Dance” in June and July 1981 at Rock City Studios in Shepperton and produced it himself. Where his earlier records leaned on a full backing band, “Dance” took a sparser, more minimalist approach built around drum machines, percussion and layered synthesizers, drawing on the influence of Brian Eno, Kraftwerk, Lou Reed and Japan. Numan invited Japan’s bassist Mick Karn to play on the record, and Karn’s fretless bass and saxophone shaped tracks including the lead single “She’s Got Claws,” which reached number 6 on the UK singles chart. Japan guitarist Rob Dean also featured, alongside violinist Nash the Slash, Queen drummer Roger Taylor, and Numan’s regular collaborators Chris Payne, Cedric Sharpley and Paul Gardiner. The original album ran across tracks including “Slowcar to China,” “Night Talk,” “A Subway Called ‘You’,” “Cry, the Clock Said,” “She’s Got Claws,” “Crash,” “Boys Like Me,” “Stories,” “My Brother’s Time,” “You Are, You Are,” “Moral,” “Stormtrooper in Drag,” “Face to Face,” “Exhibition” and “I Sing Rain.” “Dance” streams on Spotify.
About Gary Numan
Gary Numan started out fronting Tubeway Army in London in the late 1970s, moving from punk-influenced guitar rock toward synthesizers after discovering a Minimoog left behind in a studio. Tubeway Army’s self-titled 1978 debut led to the 1979 album “Replicas,” whose single “Are ‘Friends’ Electric?” gave Numan his first UK number 1. He dropped the band name for his solo billing later that year with “The Pleasure Principle,” which produced the chart-topping single “Cars” and established the icy, synth-led sound that shaped early-1980s new wave and electronic pop. A biography of this formative period, “Tubeway Daze: The Untold Story Of Tubeway Army,” was published in 2016. Numan signed to Beggars Banquet Records and followed with “Telekon” in 1980, then staged his high-profile “Farewell Concerts” at Wembley Arena in April 1981 before returning to the studio for “Dance,” his most experimental release to date. Numan later commented on that shift: “if I was supposed to be a pop star doing music for the masses, it probably wasn’t the right thing to do.” He continued releasing albums through the 1980s and 1990s, including “I, Assassin” and “The Fury,” before a return to heavier, industrial-leaning territory on 1994’s “Sacrifice” influenced a new generation of electronic and metal acts. Numan’s catalog has stayed active into recent decades with “Splinter (Songs From A Broken Mind)” in 2013, and “Savage (Songs from a Broken World)” in 2017, both produced with Ade Fenton, followed by “Intruder” in 2021. “Dance” remains a pivotal turn in that catalog, marking Numan’s shift into a starker, more introspective sound 45 years after its release.
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