2002 was GARY NUMAN'S most successful year in Yonks. Apart from re-visiting his previously omnipresent android pop star days via SUGABABES sampling his "Are Friends Electric?" (and getting a number 1 hit in the process), his own Top 30 single in "Rip" and the release of his terrific 25-year retrospective job "Exposure" ensured the cult goodwill steadily rebuilding his career would finally burst like the proverbial dam commercially.
So the release of "Hybrid" is probably the logical next step. It's neither a tribute album, nor a new studio collection as such (though it does present 3 new tracks), but actually a hands-on collaboration between Numan and a number of sympatico/ influential DJS producers and musicians, who've been invited to reshape and rstructure Numan's original works.
In theory, this sounds precarious and potentially catastrophic, especially considering that Numan's earlier works still sound so pristine, otherworldly and downright futuristic all these years on. However, the end results fare relatively well and while I couldn't realistically say that anything here actually transcends its' original incarnation, there are several credible reconstructions.
Actually, the project "Hybrid" most closely resembles is Can's similarly open-minded "Sacrilege", with unlikely tangents emerging from the lateral thinking. That said, this writer remains undecided about Numan's recent material. Of the new tracks included here, only "Crazier" really hits the spot, leaving a clammy, voyeuristic imprint behind without totally discarding the tune factor. The reworkings of Numan's post-'94 tracks are a mixed bag, too. For every spooked-out, Depeche Mode-style creepathon like "Absolution" (reworked by Andy Gray with fine new vox from Numan) there's a dodgy aberration like the howling "Bleed."
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The renovation of the older material largely proves the most diverting. Neither take of "Down In The Park" scales the heights of the original, though CURVE'S version (with extra guitar from Alan Moulder) is possibly just shaded by SULPHER'S ultra-glacial, warped version that closes the second disc.
Meanwhile, "Me! I Disconnect From You" gets a shiny, but acceptably modern sheen from Alan Moulder; "This Wreckage" sounds overblown and hamfisted in NEW GEMINI'S hands (even allowing for Numan's excellent vocals); "Are Friends Electric?" gets a radical bleeps, bloops and beats overhaul from ANDY GRAY and "M.E" receives a reworking from Numan himself that makes you wish he hadn't entrusted so much of the project to outsiders. That said, the remarkable orchestral reworking of the enduring "Cars" (replete with bowed double bass and flutes, no less!) is the responisbility of renowned producer FLOOD, U2 engineer ROB KIRWAN and programmer DIMITRI TIKOVAI. Numan meets Shostakovich? Not as daft as it sounds.
Considering the unimpeachable brilliance of a fair chunk of these originals, it's no surprise that the newer breed of copyists still can't surpass the (not so)old master Numan as a rule, but "Hybrid" is nevertheless a worthwhile exercise that will (again) have you digging out "Replicas", "Telekon" et al. Fair enough if you ask me.
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