Well, the first track I have heard properly from the album is called "A Prayer for the Unborn". It was the track that was on the free CD that comes with Future Music magazine.
I have to say I was pretty much impressed with it as well.
When I first started to play it and the intro started, I thought "Oh dear, here we go again." as it seems quite slow and boring and quite a lot like the stuff that made up the majority of the last two albums from him. Then he starts singing and the very first word makes it sound just like "Whisper of Truth"! After that, it becomes a very sad song that obviously has a lot of personal feelings in it, and in true old Numan style, he really makes you sit down and listen to what he's saying. His voice is very soft and takes you into the song in a way that few people these days can achieve. You can almost see the situation he is singing about as the first four "verses" continue. Great stuff, very touching.

Then there's a bit of an instrumental break for about 26 seconds before Gaz comes in again and gives you a right kick up the backside!
The style of the song changes with Gary's vocals becoming much more aggressive and some heavier synth and guitar playing chucked in for good measure. This is the Gary Numan who has decided that he doesn't want to hide his beliefs or non-beliefs any more and, just as on the last album, he rips into someone with a vengeance.
In normal music I suppose you might describe this as the chorus, but Numan doesn't normally follow that type of convention and again, it has an instrumental break before going back into the same style but with different lyrics.

In some ways this song reminds me a lot of the "I, Assassin" era. For example, the synth sounds are reminiscent of "Music For Chameloens", and that can't be a bad thing. The way the song changes half way through reminds me of "The Image Is". On the first few listens, I thought it sounded like two unfinished songs stuck together, but I'm not sure that is the case.
Anyway, even if it was, we all know this has worked well for Gary in the past as that was how "Are 'Friends' Electric?" came about.

Altogether, I really like this track and it has certainly made me look forward to the album a lot more than I was doing before I heard it.

HANG ABOUT!!!
I'm supposed to be a Numanarchist!

Well, if I must give an alternate point of view, there are a few minor niggles with this song that I could mention...
For a start, well, the start. It's not really that interesting is it? It goes on a little bit too long before anything actually happens and doesn't seem as if much work has gone into the "new" rhythms and loops" that Gary (and Beesley) have supposedly been working on. Then there's the instrumental breaks, about which the same could be said. I like the guitar tune but think it sounds a bit "tinny" and may have been better if it sounded more powerful. There is also a keyboard line in there somewhere that sounds remarkably un-different (Yes, I DO know that isn't a real word) from a few songs from the Sacrifice era.
But, in all honesty, a part of my personality for which I am well reknowned, I have to say that I really do like this track an awful lot. It made my spine shiver in a way I haven't known for years. Not long to wait now before the album then I can see whether there is much more of the same...

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