Gary Numan - Strange Charm: Live Cuts, Hits, Rarities (1999)

I feel this album to be one of Numan's best; sure, it's not Replicas or Pleasure Principle, but fans of an ever-evolving artist have to keep up with him in taste and style, which this album clearly has great value in. 1983's Warriors was a mislead and equally misleading album that paired Numan's signature style with dancier beats and instrumentation; for me, it misses the mark. Berserker was a great album, though found Numan in the same strange place that Warriors was trying to get out of. The Fury is Numan's perfecting the fusion of dancey pop and new wave, taking his style into a more industrial, slightly funky direction; the only problem with that album is the lack of originality between the tracks.

This album shows Numan taking that perfected new sound he'd been working on for years and indulges in musical ideas. Using his new found admiration for female backing vocals and saxophone he managed to create an eclectic and very well-written album.