Rarely has an album sleeve so poorly represented the mood and the message of the music inside than ‘The Fury’, I dare say. Musically, this was a hard-edged, tough, largely electronic sound filled that mined the technology of the day to keep up with the in your face sound of acts on ZTT, et al. To the extent that it left behind the earlier, more unique Numan sound, much to the alienation of a good chunk of existing Numan fans – even more so than ‘Berserker’ (which we looked at before) already had, as it had ushered in the move to digital synths, leaving behind the analogue warmth. Partly, that fan exodus may well have been because they never made it to the music, such was the antipathy to the image. Fair to say that both ‘Warriors’ and ‘Berserker’ had already been a tough sell, image wise – but this time round, beyond the pale for many a fan, I would wager. While the music may have been edgy and electronic, the image was – as Numan himself would later describe in his autobiographies – less the intended James Bond and more “the man who lost it all at Monte Carlo” casino wheel/cards table.
The album itself as released on the Numa label though comes in two distinct versions – the ‘regular’ standard issue and the ‘extended mixes’ version – much like ‘Berserker’ had ushered in, but this time every track was longer on the extended mixes version.
Re-issued a few times in the late 1990s when Numa’s critical stock was on the rise again, the later issues mixed and matched things with additional bonus tracks and literally airbrushed the image – but not without faults. along the way
| Regular Numa vinyl LP / Numa CD (1985) |
Extended Numa Cassette (1985) / Extended Numa CD (1996) |
|
| Call Out The Dogs | 4:37 | 6:41 |
| This Disease | 3:59 | 5:14 |
| Your Fascination | 4:42 | 5:10 |
| Miracles | 3:34 | 4:18 |
| The Pleasure Skin | 4:07 | 4:52 |
| Creatures | 5:09 | 6:36 |
| Tricks | 5:38 | 6:18 |
| God Only Knows | 5:25 | 6:35 |
| I Still Remember | 4:00 | 5:20 |
What follows isn’t everything, as the album was released in various territories that Numa records had licensing deals with, and I only have copies of a few of the variants, but its intended as a beginners guide if you are new or returning to the album.
Numa LP
‘The Fury’ Numa NUMA 1003 (1985)
No surprises, the vinyl LP contains the ‘standard’ length versions of the songs, what with the maximum vinyl duration time limits and all.
Cassettes
‘The Fury’ Numa NUMAC 1003 (1985)
‘The Fury Extended Mixes’ Numa NUMAK 1003 (1985)
Two separate versions released on cassette and the good news is that it is very easy to tell them apart as the extended mixes version (which I don’t have on cassette) clearly states it in the titling on the cover design.
CDs (Numa Records)
‘The Fury’ Numa CD NUMA 1003 (1985)
The first issues on CD (there are a few different pressings, it seems, some with bar code on the back cover, some without) contained the same, shorter length tracks as per the vinyl LP and standard cassette issue. Tricky to find now, but not impossible.
‘The Fury’ (Extended Mixes) Numa CD NUMACDX 1003 (1996)
A 1996 re-issue saw the extended mixes used – confusingly, and unlike the extended mixes cassette, the packaging for the 1996 CD did not state this. Again, a rare item to find these days.
CDs (Later non-Numa re-issues)
‘The Numa Years’ Eagle Records EAGBX025 / GAS 0000025 EGB / EDL EAG 089-2 (1998)
Released as a disc within the Eagle Records 1998 ‘The Numa Years’ book/box set, this version largely contained the regular, shorter length version of the album – but, it replaced the regular version of the opening track, ‘Call Out The Dogs’ with the extended version of the track instead – it added the following additional bonus tracks:
- We Need It (7:01)
- Anthem (3:28)
- No Shelter (1:54)
- Puppets (Remix) (5:26)
- The Fear (Remix) (6:14)
Unfortunately, there were problems with these bonus tracks. Bonus tracks for ‘Berserker’, ‘The Fury’ and ‘Strange Charm’ were taken from transfers used on the 1995 ‘Babylon’ series of CD EPs, which suffered from errors such as slightly slower speed and channel inversions. It’s noted on discogs.com that tracks 1, 3, 5 and 10 to 14 on this re-issue are affected.
‘The Fury’ Cleopatra CLP 0389-2 (1998)
The US release on Cleopatra Records contained the regular, shorter length tracks for the album with the following additional bonus tracks added:
- Call Out The Dogs (Extended) (6:56)
- I Still Remember (12″ Version) (5:22)
- Anthem (3:29)
- Tribal (Demo) (5:57)
- The Fear (’95 Remix) (6:16)
‘The Fury’ Eagle Records EAMCD073 / GAS 0000073 EAM / EDL EAG 156-2 (1999)
The 1999 CD re-issue was effectively the same issue as per the version contained in ‘The Numa Years’ CD box set but in a new cover design – subtle airbrushing to re-colour the red bow-tie white on different variations of the same cover shot photos! Still the same problems with some of the tracks used though – despite these problems, copies sell for a lot of money now second-hand.
In summary, ‘The Fury’ is an album that is crying out for a definitive re-issue that brings together the regular and extended mixes plus rounds up all the period B sides (some of which have never been issues in their original versions) and later waifs and strays (such as the ‘Tribal’ demo that is an early take on ‘Call Out The Dogs’) and corrects the earlier mastering errors of the Eagle re-issues.
By far the best Numan album since “Dance.” I didn’t mind the cover. That’s not why I buy albums, though it was odd. But anything is better than the “Warriors” cover…which DID suggest to me that I give it a pass as an import LP in 1983! As did the contrived Blue Kabuki image of “Berserker.” Plus, in 1984, Ultravox were still a going concern. And I tended to write off Numan with Ultravox and Foxx going concerns for my synth rock fix. But by 1986 this was no longer the case, and I bought the 1st CD of “The Fury” out of sheer curiosity to see what Numan was up to.
As you say, digital synths, but what I felt was strong material at the very least. As someone who always wanted to see someone else produce Numan for a change to obviate his self-indulgences, I have to admit that “Your Fascination” having Colin Thurston [good choice!] involved was undetectable to my ears! “Call Out The Dogs” took his Bladerunner fetish to its logical conclusion in the best possible way. When “Strange Charm” appeared later that year, I wasted no time and also enjoyed that one as much as “The Fury.” I find it hard to pick a favorite between the two. I sold off my Numa CDs of that when I bought the “Numa Years” Eagle Box as I was wont to do back then. I am much more careful these days! After the Sharpe + Numan album [pretty good by my reckoning] then came the problematic IRS era. Oh dear.
For me, ‘Strange Charm’ is the better album, it has some fantastic tracks – the opening ‘My Breathing’ was a real hairs on the back of the neck moment the very first time I played it – such a unique sound. What’s interesting with the songs on ‘The Fury’ is the reliance on digital synths such as the PPG Wave and its kind of more precise, colder sound. It really lines the music up into much more staccato, beat heavy mode on most (though not all) of the songs. The warmth of the more familiar sound canvas from earlier albums (Ced Sharpley’s drums, the classic analogue synths, even the fretless bass is more frequently into rapid-fire funk slap percussive mode) is largely gone by this album and it’s much less melodic overall. The period B sides are revealing though – ‘We Need It’ definitely sounds like it started life earlier than ‘The Fury’ – it’s sound has a definite echo of that from ‘I, Assassin’ to my ears. ‘This Ship Comes Apart’ too also sounds like it was kicking about a bit beforehand.
Things got a little blurry for me on “I, Assassin.” I thought he started to circle the drain. Just seeing the cover for “Warriors” made it easy to pass at that point for a couple of years. But good call on “My Breathing.” I still have the hairs on the back of my neck raise up when I play it. Okay, so “Strange Charm” is better! And for staccato flair, the title track can’t be beat! Numan weaving his double-time vocals with the femme BVs while the synth stabs keep jolting me.
I found ‘I, Assassin’ a struggle back in the day – its the saxophone that does it for me, wasn’t a good fit compared to the violas of the previous albums. And of course, there is no arguing with the Japan ‘influence’ charges. ‘The 1930s Rust’ in particular was a bit of a joke, never warmed to it – In fact, think I swapped ‘The Image Is’ from the B side of ‘We Take Mystery (To Bed)’ on a tape version I compiled and it worked a lot better for me. But it has its moments, ‘This Is My House’ and the title track in particular are two stormers.