Gary Numan in the press....

A two page feature is in this month's Zero magazine and a 'Self Portrait' piece is in Mojo along with a very positive review. There are also features in Clash magazine, Bizarre and Stool Pigeon, plus a Q&A in Uncut where he talks about his favourite current TV programme - The Mighty Boosh. You can also check out online interviews at www.barcodezine.com; www.suicidegirls.com and www.beatmag.net/march06/rapid-fire.htm. Gary has been doing a lot of radio interviews recently too. BBC Radio London did an hour long 'special' on him, tracks from the album have been played on Radio 1 and XFM and he also joined Lauren Laverne on her XFM breakfast show for a chat last week. In fact from Monday 13th, right through the whole of the week, Gary is going to be reading passages from one of his favourite books at 7.30am every morning on Lauren Laverne's XFM show. On Monday he's also doing an interview with Total Rock and on Wednesday 15th he's going to be on Tom Robinson's evening show on BBC's 6 Music. He's also being interviewed by Jonathan Ross next Saturday (the 18th) on his Radio 2 breakfast show. Internationally he's been doing an amazing amount of interviews, including publications in Germany, America, Hong Kong, Australia, Italy, Finland, Spain and France.

Some great reviews of the album have already run - here's a selection:

'Recently Numan has undergone a renaissance and he's going for broke with these anthemic tunes. Underpinned by steroidal beats - some featuring real drums - the massive synths and guitars are stacked up like some Babelesque tower constructed from breezeblocks. Subtle it ain't - listening on headphones feels like putting one's head in a car crusher - but it is supremely confident and the innovator of the late '70s never sounds like he's having to play catch-up.' Mojo

'The beats are fresh, the incidental effects impact nicely and there's more energy here than there should be from someone who has been through the music industry mill for the last quarter of a century plus. . . When the chorus of tracks like 'Slave', 'In A Dark Place' and the superb 'Haunted' hit home, you see the lights lift and the arms raise just like they did in '79.' Future Music

'Gary Numan has had a bit of a comeback in recent years thanks to The Sugababes, Basement Jaxx and Armand Van Helden. With electronic music made popular by the likes of Goldfrapp and The Killers, one of the innovators of this genre pushes things to a new level. This first studio album in five years has all the classic ingredients-crushing synths, guitars and dark industrial noise. 'Slave' is moody, atmospheric and challenging electronica with heavy beats. 'Haunted' and 'Halo' see Numan use live drums for the first time in 20 years and add that something else. While this might be a bit too grim for some, it's a must for those who like their music dark and heavy.' The Sun

'The second coming of Gary Numan shows no signs of flagging or relenting. Jagged, the third album since the electro pioneer rediscovered his love of guitars, is further evidence of Gary's exceptional ability to mould and manipulate the essence of fragility into musical form. Slightly less direct than Pure but no less emphatic, Jagged tells reflective stories of loss, sorrow and regret through dark, creeping rhythms that lurk beneath sheets of guitar, tempered by heady, almost suffocating, synths. 'Pressure' ruminates with melodious yet haunting refrains, 'Blind' unleashes torrents of sound, and 'Slave' unleashes carefully gauged anguish. The result is a bleak emotional holocaust of an album, evidencing the work of a truely precious artist whose continuing creativity should be cherished.' Rocksound

'Electronic pioneer Gary Numan's rehabilitation has come full circle, or at least as far as it is likely to. After producing some of the most forward looking albums of the late 70s/early '80s (Replicas, Telekon) he disappeared down the ill-advised route of trying to make white funk and then, even worse, straight up pop music, leading to total vilification. After being covered and feted by the likes of NIN and Marilyn Manson he has now taken his place as the elder statesman of industrial rock. And this is suitably atmospheric and rousing stuff, close in feel to the urban nightmare of 'Down In The Park', featuring as it does the Prodigy's live guitarist Rob Holliday and ex-members of NIN and Curve. One can only hope that this will mark a complete critical re-evaluation of such as visionary and misunderstood figure.' Zero Magazine

'Comparing his current sound to the synths on Replicas, for example, is rather like comparing Terminator to Terminator 2. If Replicas was the future in a Buck Rogers/Barbarella kind of way, then Jagged is a prophesised Android Armageddon, replete with a dark wave industrial metal soundtrack. It's scary but the special effects are spellbinding. Numan's vocals are superb throughout, still disconnected obviously, but in songs such as 'In A Dark Place' and 'Haunted' he conjures up the soaring choruses that fill your head to bursting. Elsewhere, barely audible noises clash with bulldozer guutars, whispered voices speak of isolation but suggest that you are not alone, and bass lines swell and bounce like steel ballons, combining to make Jagged an exhilarating, if at times claustrophobic, experience.' Musicomh.com

'Powerful electronic rock - Numan's first studio album in five years is a very ambitious piece of work. When you see a tracklisting composed mostly of one-word titles, you begin to suspect this might be something of a weighty drama, and so it transpires. A dense, moody collection, it can be thunderous one moment and ethereal the next, forbidding and mysterious, grinding and soaring. 'Slave' takes a tribal course, while metal fans might appreciate the rock-friendly 'Halo' and the way electric guitars and real drums work with the electronics create gigantic surges in, for instance, 'Pressure'. The 'tunes' are largely repetitive, hypnotic and anthemic with Numan's chanting, treated vocals on the title track creating a particularly sinister ambience. Classic Rock

'On his last outing, 2000's Pure, he tied his colours to the goth-industrial mast and made a reasonable hash of it. This time DJ-producer Ade Fenton provides dark swirling electronics while Numan's strange cold tones float about adding minor key lamentations. Music entirely suitable for some fog-sodden sci-fi dystopia from the movies but, on this particular occasion, that's no bad thing.' Beatmag.ne

'This is his best work in a decade. There's even some potential for chart action here with 'In A Dark Place', especially, having enough links to the world of rawk to drag in a few Rammstein / Manson fans along the way.' Metal4life.com