A Perfect Circle (Live at OVO Arena Wembley) by Gary Numan – Album Review
By David Schuster
There’s an understandable sense of celebration to A Perfect Circle, recorded live in 2022 at the OVO Arena Wembley. Way back in 1981, Gary Numan performed a series of gigs there. He was at the peak of his fame but, disenchanted with the entertainment industry, he announced he was retiring from touring. His retirement was short lived, but he made his point and thereafter pursued the musical direction he wanted. Fast forward an astonishing 41 years, and he’s back on that stage, with a massive 22 studio albums to his name. It was a triumphant return, neatly captured here.
There’s a hefty 24 tracks on this record, the entire set from that memorable evening. These are culled from across nine of the releases in that extensive back catalogue. The sound quality is excellent, taken (I assume), directly from the mixing desk. However, this is skilfully merged with the ambient noise from the arena, so you get the crowd reactions, which cleverly captures the atmosphere of the live gig. The dips in audience noise between songs is slightly intrusive as it breaks that spell but, I presume, necessary to create the separation.
Gary Numan, 2025
“Surpass the originals”
Let’s start with the big hits. Three out of the first four of the singers’ records went to number one in the UK Album charts, initially with him as the lead singer for the band Tubeway Army, and then as a solo artist. Between them, they spawned no less than five top ten singles. ‘Are Friends Electric’, ‘Cars’ and ‘We Are Glass’ all still receive regular radio play almost 45 years on. Excellent versions of all of these are featured on the album. So, if you don’t have any Numan in your collection as yet, this is an ideal first purchase.
Each of these are classic 80’s dark electro-pop, and come from the period the singer-songwriter refers to as his “Machine Trilogy”, where he immersed himself in the sonic possibilities offered by synthesisers. Given the pace with which the music industry has adopted and been changed by technology, it’s difficult to grasp just how novel the sounds offered by reasonably priced mass-produced keyboards were at the time. Encountering one in the studio for the first time, Gary was captivated and his musical direction altered forever.
The intervening 40-odd years have been good for electronic music generally, but especially so for tunes written in the early 80’s. Whereas early synthesisers were mainly constrained to monophonic performance, which could sound thin and reedy, today’s technology allows for lush, fat, melodic tones. In this respect, these versions of classic tracks often surpass the originals. And for synth nerds (like myself) many songs have some fantastic sonic noodling in the introductions.
“Poignant”
A Perfect Circle also contains a good sprinkling of other fan favourites. There’s the dystopian sci-fi and innuendo laden ‘Down in the Park’. The throbbing bass of ‘My Name is Ruin’, written, like many of his early tracks, in the multi-instrumentalist’s beloved Lydian mode. Then there’s ‘Metal’ and ‘Films’ from his first solo album, The Pleasure Principle, and ‘Jo The Waiter’ from his first ever record with Tubeway Army. There’s also my personal favourite, ‘Remind Me to Smile’. The lyrics to which have always struck me as poignant, written just before his short-lived retirement announcement: “We could remind ourselves that we must laugh. Reconsider: “fame”. I need new reasons. This is detention, it’s not fun at all.”
As you’d expect, there’s several references back to those fateful 1981 performances, but in a feel-good way. The singer brings on Tim Muddiman, who played bass in Numan’s band for many years, including those Wembley gigs, for the Tubeway Army number, ‘Me! I Disconnect From You’. Later on, in the encores, he also introduces Chris Payne and Rrussell Bell, who were both in the band with him at that time. Together they perform ‘M.E.’ from The Pleasure Principle. Any good celebration is improved with family around you, and it’s nice that Gary gets the opportunity to bring on all three of his children, Raven, Persia and Echo, to accompany him on several of the songs.
If you are a long term Gary Numan fan, then A Perfect Circle represents an opportunity to share in a well deserved career highlight. Conversely, if you are new to his music, it offers a ready made ‘best of’ collection. Recommended.
David Schuster describes himself as an “adventurer, collector, musician and writer. Not necessarily in that order.” Growing up west of the Pennine hills of the UK and living his adult life east of them, he’s inclined to think that the Wars of the Roses were a mistake. David loves discovering new bands and musicians and is happiest listening to live music. He has travelled extensively in the UK and is fascinated by the variety, history and landscapes of the thousands of islands that comprise the British Isles. David is always reassured when online shops confirm that he’s not a robot.
