''I, Assassin'' is the fourth solo

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

by English new wave musician

Gary Numan Gary Anthony James Webb (born 8 March 1958), known professionally as Gary Numan, is an English musician. He entered the music industry as frontman of the new wave band Tubeway Army. After releasing two albums with the band, he released his d ...

, released on 10 September 1982 by

Beggars Banquet ''Beggars Banquet'' is the 7th British and 9th American studio album by the English rock band the Rolling Stones, released on 6 December 1968 by Decca Records in the United Kingdom and London Records in the United States. It was the first Ro ...

. It peaked at No. 8 on the

UK Album Chart The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts ...

. Three singles were released from the album: "

Music for Chameleons ''Music for Chameleons'' (1980) is a collection of short fiction and non-fiction by the American author Truman Capote. Capote's first collection of new material in fourteen years, ''Music for Chameleons'' spent sixteen weeks on the ''New York T ...

", "

We Take Mystery (To Bed) "We Take Mystery (To Bed)" is a song written and recorded by the English new wave musician Gary Numan, the second single released from his fourth solo studio album, ''I, Assassin'' (1982). It peaked at No. 9 on the UK Singles Chart (the highest ...

" and "White Boys and Heroes", all of which reached the UK Top 20 ("We Take Mystery" peaked at No. 9, and is Numan's last Top 10 single to date).

Overview

Numan's previous studio album, ''

Dance Dance is a performing art form consisting of sequences of movement, either improvised or purposefully selected. This movement has aesthetic and often symbolic value. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoir ...

'' (1981), was an experimental effort that explored and incorporated different musical elements such as

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

. ''I, Assassin'' operates in a similar vein. Although the fretless bass and some of the jazz elements of ''Dance'' are still in place, Numan went further with ''I, Assassin'', exploring

funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African Americans in the m ...

music and blending it together with heavier percussion and his own familiar electronic sound. Numan recalled that an important factor during the album's recording was the contribution made by fretless bassist

Pino Palladino Giuseppe Henry "Pino" Palladino (born 17 October 1957) is a Welsh musician, songwriter, and record producer. A prolific session bassist, he has played bass for acts such as The Who, the John Mayer Trio, Nine Inch Nails, Gary Numan, Jeff Beck ...

: Most of the album was written and recorded between January and March 1982 following Numan's round-the-world trip in a small aircraft. The 24 year old Numan stated that the round-the-world flight and the experience of a near-death plane crash helped him shape a new opinion of himself and gave him a strong self-confidence that he hadn't had before. Later in his career Numan said of ''I, Assassin'': "I still think it's one of the best albums I've made."Gary Numan, I, Assassin , The Arkive
Beggars Banquet For the album's cover sleeve, Numan retained the

fedora A fedora () is a hat with a soft brim and indented crown.Kilgour, Ruth Edwards (1958). ''A Pageant of Hats Ancient and Modern''. R. M. McBride Company. It is typically creased lengthwise down the crown and "pinched" near the front on both sides ...

hat from ''Dance'', with the

trench coat A trench coat or trenchcoat is a variety of coat made of waterproof heavy-duty fabric, originally developed for British Army officers before the First World War, and becoming popular while used in the trenches. Originally made from gabardine, ...

and alley background representing ''I, Assassins 1930s gangster motif. The album cover of ''I, Assassin'' was influenced by that of

Frank Sinatra Francis Albert Sinatra (; December 12, 1915 – May 14, 1998) was an American singer and actor. Nicknamed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Chairman of the Board" and later called "Ol' Blue Eyes", Sinatra was one of the most popular ...

's 1954 studio album ''

Songs for Young Lovers ''Songs for Young Lovers'' is the seventh studio album by Frank Sinatra and his first on Capitol Records. It was issued as an 8-song, 10" album (Capitol H-488) and as a 45rpm EP set, but it was the first Sinatra "album" not to have a 78rpm mu ...

''. Before the release of ''I, Assassin'', Numan left Britain to live as a

tax exile A tax exile is a person who leaves a country to avoid the payment of income tax or other taxes. The term refers to an individual who already owes money to the tax authorities or wishes to avoid being liable in the future for taxation at what they ...

in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. He supported the new album with an 18-date concert tour in America in October–November 1982 (his first series of live shows since his "farewell" shows at

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium (branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 200 ...

in 1981). No official live albums or videos have been released from Numan's 1982 tour. Numan recorded a second video for "We Take Mystery (To Bed)" during his stay in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

, before heading to live in

Jersey Jersey ( , ; nrf, Jèrri, label=Jèrriais ), officially the Bailiwick of Jersey (french: Bailliage de Jersey, links=no; Jèrriais: ), is an island country and self-governing Crown Dependencies, Crown Dependency near the coast of north-west F ...

where he began writing the material for his next studio album, ''

Warriors A warrior is a person specializing in combat or warfare, especially within the context of a tribal or clan-based warrior culture society that recognizes a separate warrior aristocracies, class, or caste. History Warriors seem to have be ...

'' (1983).

Releases

''I, Assassin'' was originally released on vinyl album and cassette in 1982. It was eventually released on CD in 1993, as a double CD packaged with Numan's 1980 album ''

Telekon ''Telekon'' is the second solo studio album by English musician Gary Numan. It debuted at the top of the UK Albums Chart in September 1980, making it his third consecutive (and to date, final) No. 1 album. It was also the third and final studio ...

'' (Beggars Banquet had reissued all eight of Numan's studio albums that were released on the label, including the two

Tubeway Army Tubeway Army were a London-based new wave band led by lead singer Gary Numan. Formed at the height of punk rock in 1977 the band gradually changed to an electronic sound. They were the first band of the electronic era to have a synthesiser-b ...

albums, as double CD sets). ''I, Assassin'' was released on CD by itself in 2002. Both CD releases contain seven bonus tracks.

Chart performance

The album peaked at the 8th position, spending 6 weeks on the UK charts, making it less successful than Numan's previous studio albums.

Track listing

All songs are written by

. Side A # "White Boys and Heroes" – 6:23 # "War Songs" – 5:05 # "A Dream of Siam" – 6:13 # "

" – 6:06 Side B #

"This Is My House" – 4:52 # "I, Assassin" – 5:26 # "The 1930's Rust" – 3:55 # "

" – 6:10 CD bonus tracks #

"War Games" – 3:55 # "Glitter and Ash" – 4:42 # "The Image Is" – 5:55 # "This House Is Cold" – 5:27 # "Noise Noise" – 3:49 # "We Take Mystery" (Early version) – 5:58 # "Bridge? What Bridge?" – 4:22

Personnel

Credits are adapted from the ''I, Assassin'' liner notes. *

–

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

;

synthesiser A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and f ...

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

* Roger Mason – synthesizers *

–

fretless bass A fretless bass is a bass guitar whose neck does not have any frets. While the instrument is played in all styles of music, it is most common in pop, rock, and jazz. It first saw widespread use during the 1970s, although some players used them befo ...

; guitar *

Chris Slade Chris Slade (born Christopher Slade Rees; 30 October 1946) is a Welsh musician, best known for playing for the Australian rock band AC/DC. He drummed for the band from 1989 to 1994, performing on their 1990 album '' The Razors Edge'' along with ...

–

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

;

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

* John Webb – percussion * Mike –

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to pr ...

;

harmonica The harmonica, also known as a French harp or mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used worldwide in many musical genres, notably in blues, American folk music, classical music, jazz, country, and rock. The many types of harmonica inclu ...

David Van Day David Van Day (born David Paul Day, 28 November 1956) is an English singer, songwriter and politician who was formerly a member of the pop music, pop vocal duet (music), duo Dollar (group), Dollar. He was also a member of the 1970s vocal group Gu ...

– handclaps on "Noise Noise" *

Thereza Bazar Theresa Lorraine Bazar (born 23 May 1955) is a Canadian-born singer, best known as one half of the pop duo Dollar. Career Bazar met with success in her late teens as a member of 1970s group Guys 'n' Dolls, who scored a 1975 hit with "There's ...

– backing vocals on "Noise Noise" * Nick Robson - backing vocals on “Bridge? What Bridge?” * Michelle Adams – backing vocals on "Bridge? What Bridge?" *

Mick Karn Andonis Michaelides (Greek: Αντώνης Μιχαηλίδης; 24 July 1958 – 4 January 2011), better known as Mick Karn, was an English-Cypriot musician and songwriter who rose to fame as the bassist for the art rock/ new wave band Japan. H ...

– backing vocals on "Bridge? What Bridge?" Production and artwork * Gary Numan – producer * Nick Smith – engineer * Sean Lynch – assistant engineer * Geoff Howes –

photography Photography is the art, application, and practice of creating durable images by recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. It is employed ...

References

* *

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

External links

* {{Authority control Gary Numan albums 1982 albums Beggars Banquet Records albums