The last Numan live album & DVD I bought was Telekon Live. He can't better that.

I'm done with Numan until the next new studio album is out and he has something new to say. I've no interest in a DSR remix album, which I've heard may be coming out.

I think I've probably mentioned my cynicism towards Numan's entrepreneurial skills regarding his live catalogue in other topics/rants/missives/congealedfoamaroundmyfaceasthemeninwhitecoatscometotakemeaway so I won’t go on about it here.

But.

With albums such as Manafon, A Small Craft On A Milk Sea etc – the (eye-wateringly expensive) Deluxe Edition Box Set sort of thing is going to become the norm (if it hasn’t already).

But.

They are new works. Brand new albums, brand new music so there’s a defence (just) for them existing. I bought the Manafon box set – can’t deny it – hold my hands up yer ‘onour. But I bought it in the egalitarian/stupid spirit of belief that I was contributing to one of my favourite artists and furthering his work.

Well, summat like that anyway.

So.

I don’t get the justification for this box set. For this box set - someone pressed ‘record’ at the mixing desk and someone went ‘click’ with a camera.

So what?

I think this really is a turning point for Numan – his hardcore fans are a mixture of pleasant or mental, there’s very rarely a halfway house and they’re normally quite vocally opinionated about Numan – his music or anything else. I’m not a member of any of his forums, but I’d be interested to now what his fans think.

Numan is about to enter a completely new phase of his career and personal life, with the move to LA, which is happening very soon from what I gather. Personally I'm no longer bothered about seeing him live - which will probably be something of a rarity in coming years, but I am very interested to hear how these changes affect his music and career, and I do think there's a wider audience for his current style of audience over there.

The fans on Numan forums tend to vary from the genuine, nice, passionate fan to the hardcore obsessive and the jaded cynic. All are opinionated in their own way! There's only one forum I bother using, because it's well moderated.

You have a point about the 'deluxe' kind of reissue becoming the norm - everyone's doing it now. But a lot of work goes into these both in the packaging and making the music sound as good as possible, which if it's a crucial album to you, then it's worth getting.

I hear you, and agree in principle with this. But...

There must come a point where fans get pissed off and with even 'new' output overpackaged and overpriced.

But

No-one HAS to actually buy it. There's no guns pointing at the head...

And

Perhaps in the current marketplace it is getting harder to make a living as a professional recording artist as returns on 'product' are so low (due to accessibility, formats, listener expectatons etc) that such moves are inevitable as a means to a singular end...?
Especially when there are people that will always buy no matter what.

Cynical?

Perhaps, but understandable in some ways.

And

There's also the issue of ownership / contracts / rights etc as artists mature / become independent / switch labels / self produce etc. Maybe they have made very little from previous 'packages' owned or licensed to other organisations, and a change in circumstances provides an opportunity to regain 'ownership' and therefore revenue...?

Dunno. Just Though Experiments.
Apologies for hijacking the Numan thread with generic ramblings.
But he is a tangible example maybe of all these points we're talking about?

Absolutely, it's all related and relevant. Actually, the deluxe re-issue is the one thing that Numan is yet to come up with. But so far he's jumped on the bandwagon of overpriced VIP tickets, limited edition runs of things like the new book and multiple album versions – which I think is fine. There's something to suit every pocket and collector. With this kind of thing though, I think some fans (regardless of artist), feel somehow obliged to buy each one. This always puzzles me.

In some cases, when we're talking about an artist whose new releases are few and far between, any re-has of a previous album that comes along with previously unreleased/unavailable material can sometimes make it worth while.

I won't buy a deluxe re-issue systematically. For me, it's usually when it's an album I really like, but my CD is old and the sound level low in comparison to more recent albums, which is the case now for a lot of albums I bought in the early 90s for example. So to get a better sounding version of the album is part of the appeal, the rest being down to the extras it comes with.

I shall for example be picking up the new 2-disc version of Mike Oldfield's QE2 tomorrow. Now we've gone completely out of Numan territory!!

Gary Numan will be playing 7 shows in December for the new 'Dead Moon Falling' Tour. These concerts will feature some brand new songs from the forthcoming 'Splinter' album (due for release in 2013), plus new versions of songs from 2011's 'Dead Son Rising' album.

Gary is working alongside other legendary artists such as Alec Empire, The Duke Spirit, Alessandro Cortini (Nine Inch Nails), Tim Burgess (The Charlatans) and Gazelle Twin.

Interesting archive interview with Gary Numan by Paul Morley in The Guardian's Rock's Back PAges thing.

Gary Numan: 'I mean, John Travolta's got a Dakota' – a classic interview from the vaults .... with mention of John Foxx and his band Ultravox.
""I think they're brilliant, the best band in the world and no one's realised it!" he enthuses."

There's a brand new interview with Gary Numan now online

Here:

http://www.new-reviews.co.uk/?p=7329

This one's been doing the rounds for a while but still made me chuckle.

(warning - contains bad language)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Unf_WOgpBFk