''Sacrifice'' is the twelfth solo studio album by English musician Gary Numan, released in October 1994 by Numa Records. Its release is often cited as marking the start of a critical and artistic rejuvenation for Numan. The album was released in the US in 1997 with a different title, ''Dawn'', based on the comic book character

Dawn Dawn is the time that marks the beginning of twilight before sunrise. It is recognized by the appearance of indirect sunlight being scattered in Earth's atmosphere, when the centre of the Sun's disc has reached 18° below the observer's hori ...

. It also carried cover art by Joseph Michael Linsner. A number of tracks displayed an antipathy towards

religion Religion is usually defined as a social- cultural system of designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relates humanity to supernatural, ...

, a stance that had been noted in isolated songs from early in Numan's career but which became more pronounced on this album and its successors, '' Exile'' (1997) and ''

Pure Pure may refer to: Computing * A pure function * A pure virtual function * PureSystems, a family of computer systems introduced by IBM in 2012 * Pure Software, a company founded in 1991 by Reed Hastings to support the Purify tool * Pure-FTPd, F ...

'' (2000). While Exile was a fictional story, Numan later stated that "Sacrifice looks at my actual beliefs." An "extended" version of ''Sacrifice'', approximately twice as long as the original, was released in 1995. The same year, most of the tracks appeared on ''Dark Light'', Numan's live recording from the ''Sacrifice'' tour. The album was released in 1999 with extra tracks in the US and UK by Eagle Records (Cleopatra Records). The US edition has a somewhat different selection of extra tracks in addition to new artwork, just like earlier reissues of albums that were first published on Numa Records.

Production

''Sacrifice'' began as a follow-up to ''Machine & Soul'' continuing with producer Kipper. This initial project was abandoned when Numan decided to instead self-produce the album and adapt several tracks from his 1994 soundtrack, '' The Radial Pair: Video Soundtrack''. "Metal Beat", later released as a bonus track, was a demo intended for this earlier version of the album, where it would have been the title track, "Vicious". In a 2000 interview, Numan described his approach to the recording. Prior to ''Sacrifice'', "I spent quite a few years just trying to write songs that would get me back on the radio". For the new album, "I just went right back to the way I was when I was a teenager, first time writing songs, with all the enthusiasm for it". The resultant music, whilst not a commercial success, garnered Numan his best notices in years and coincided with the beginnings of a critical reassessment of his career and acknowledgment of his influence on such artists as Nine Inch Nails, Foo Fighters, Marilyn Manson,

The Magnetic Fields The Magnetic Fields (named after the André Breton/Philippe Soupault novel '' Les Champs Magnétiques'') are an American band founded and led by Stephin Merritt. Merritt is the group's primary songwriter, producer, and vocalist, as well as fr ...

, The Prodigy and Afrika Bambaataa. On 21 July 2021, it was disclosed that ''Sacrifice'' (1994), ''Exile'' (1997) and ''Pure'' (2000) would be re-produced with updated production standards.

Track listing

All tracks written by Gary Numan.

1994 Numa CD release (NUMACD 1011)

1994 Numa 'Extended' CD release (NUMACDX 1011)

# "Pray" – 5:57 # "Deadliner" – 8:45 # "A Question of Faith" – 8:43 # "Desire" – 5:33 # "Scar" – 5:25 # "Love and Napalm" – 8:26 # "You Walk in My Soul" – 6:54 # "Magic" – 6:29 # "Bleed" – 7:41 # "The Seed of a Lie" – 7:07

1999 Cleopatra U.S. CD reissue (CLP 0336-2)

# "Pray" – 3:55 # "Deadliner" – 4:29 # "A Question of Faith" – 4:52 # "Desire" – 3:47 # "Scar" – 3:25 # "Love and Napalm" – 5:08 # "You Walk in My Soul" – 4:39 # "Magic" – 4:42 # "Bleed" – 6:10 # "The Seed of a Lie" – 5:25 # "A Question of Faith" (Extended) – 8:43 # "Love and Napalm" (Extended) – 8:26 # "Metal Beat" – 3:10 (*) # "Play Like God" – 7:01

1999 Eagle Records UK CD reissue (EAMCD076)

# "Pray" – 3:55 # "Deadliner" – 4:29 # "A Question of Faith" – 4:52 # "Desire" – 3:47 # "Scar" – 3:25 # "Love And Napalm" – 5:08 # "You Walk in My Soul" – 4:39 # "Magic" – 4:42 # "Bleed" – 6:10 # "The Seed of a Lie" – 5:25 # "Play Like God" – 7:01 # "Whisper of Truth" – 4:21 # "Metal Beat" – 3:10 (*) # "Absolution" – 4:37

Personnel

*Gary Numan – all

instruments Instrument may refer to: Science and technology * Flight instruments, the devices used to measure the speed, altitude, and pertinent flight angles of various kinds of aircraft * Laboratory equipment, the measuring tools used in a scientific lab ...

and

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 withou ...

production Production may refer to: Economics and business * Production (economics) * Production, the act of manufacturing goods * Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services) * Production as a stati ...

, arrangements *

Kipper A kipper is a whole herring, a small, oily fish, that has been split in a butterfly fashion from tail to head along the dorsal ridge, gutted, salted or pickled, and cold-smoked over smouldering wood chips (typically oak). In the United Ki ...

– additional

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 strin ...

on "Scar", synth bass on "Love and Napalm" *

TJ Davis Teresa Jane Davis (born 8 January 1968), also known by her stage name TJ Davis, is an English singer, songwriter and record producer. She started as a backing vocalist for Gary Numan, D:Ream and Blur, and quickly developed a career of her own. ...

–

backing vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are ...

on "Scar"

Notes

References

* Paul Goodwin (2004). ''Electric Pioneer: An Armchair Guide To Gary Numan''. {{DEFAULTSORT:Sacrifice (Gary Numan Album) Gary Numan albums Dark wave albums 1994 albums