White Noise is a double

Double album

A double album is an audio album which spans two units of the primary medium in which it is sold, typically records and compact discs....

 live album

Live album

A live album is a recording consisting of material recorded during stage performances using remote recording techniques, commonly contrasted with a studio album...

 by Gary Numan

Gary Numan

Gary Numan is an English singer, composer, and musician, most widely known for his chart-topping 1979 hits "Are 'Friends' Electric?" and "Cars". His signature sound consisted of heavy synthesizer hooks fed through guitar effects pedals.Numan is considered a pioneer of commercial electronic music...

 and originally released in 1985

1985 in music

This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1985.-January–March:*January 1 - The newest music video channel, VH-1, debuts on American cable. It is aimed at an older demographic than its sister station, MTV...

. The album was reissued as a double CD

Compact Disc

The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...

 in 1998

1998 in music

This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1998.-Events:*January 28 – "Weird Al" Yankovic gets LASIK surgery to cure his myopia...

 before a remaster

Remaster

Remaster is a word marketed mostly in the digital audio age, although the remastering process has existed since recording began...

ed version was released in 2003

2003 in music

-January:* January – following an investigation by The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry and London detectives, police raids in England and the Netherlands recover nearly 500 original Beatles studio tapes, recorded during the Let It Be sessions. Five people are arrested...

.

The White Noise album was recorded on 11 December 1984 - the second-last show of Numan's Berserker Tour. It was released on 27 April 1985 and reached number 29 in the UK album chart

UK Albums Chart

The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart...

, outperforming the Berserker

Berserker (Gary Numan album)

Berserker is the eighth studio album, and sixth under his own name, by electronic music pioneer Gary Numan, released in 1984. It was his first album to be released under Numan's own record label, Numa Records.-Overview:...

 (1984) album. White Noise also enjoyed great success in Belgium

Belgium

Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...

 where it went to number 2. An edited version of the show was released on video as The Berserker Tour in 1985 (subsequent DVD releases featured this shortened version of the show, until the entire concert was released on DVD in early 2008 under the title Cold Warning).

A month after the release of White Noise, four tracks from the album ("Are 'Friends' Electric?", "Berserker", "Cars" and "We Are Glass") were released as The Live EP. It reached #27 on the UK singles chart, outperforming the two singles released in 1984 from Numan's Berserker album (the title track, which reached #32, and "My Dying Machine", which reached #66).

Track listing

All tracks written by Gary Numan.

All timings are approximate and will vary slightly with different equipment.

1985 Numa vinyl and MC release (NUMAD/C 1002)

Side One

1. "Intro" — 1:58
2. "Berserker" — 5:42
3. "Metal" — 3:32
4. "Me! I Disconnect From You" — 3:21
5. "Remind Me to Smile" — 3:21
6. "Sister Surprise" — 6:11

Side Two

1. "Music for Chameleons" — 6:10
2. "The Iceman Comes" — 4:37
3. "Cold Warning" — 6:09
4. "Down in the Park
   Down in the Park
   "Down in the Park" is a 1979 single written and recorded by Gary Numan with his band Tubeway Army. The first cut from the album Replicas, it was not a hit when released but has long been a critical and fan favourite and for many years was described by Numan as his best composition.-Style:Like the...
   
   " — 5:28

Side Three

1. "This Prison Moon" — 3:28
2. "I Die: You Die
   I Die: You Die
   "I Die: You Die" is a Gary Numan single from 1980. Released shortly before his fourth album, Telekon, it continued the anthemic style Numan had begun earlier in the year with "We Are Glass". The composer himself described the two singles as "Much the same thing...
   
   " — 3:55
3. "My Dying Machine" — 5:42
4. "Cars
   Cars (song)
   Fear Factory, an American industrial metal band, recorded a version of "Cars" and released it as the second single from their third studio album, Obsolete. The song was only included as a bonus track on the limited edition digipak re-release of Obsolete and would be instrumental in breaking Fear...
   
   " — 3:38
5. "We Take Mystery (to Bed)" — 6:31

Side Four

1. "We Are Glass
   We Are Glass
   "We Are Glass" is a Gary Numan single released in 1980. Its up-tempo beat, scratchy guitars and pitch-bending synthesizer effects made it a prime example of the synthpop of the time....
   
   " — 4:57
2. "This is New Love" — 6:21
3. "My Shadow in Vain" — 5:45
4. "Are 'Friends' Electric?
   Are 'Friends' Electric?
   "Are 'Friends' Electric?" is a 1979 song written by Gary Numan, released under the name of his then-band Tubeway Army as a single and on the album Replicas...
   
   " — 6:09

• Side One and Two, Three and Four were combined for the MC release.

1993 Numa CD reissue (NUMACD 1002)

Side One and Two, Three and Four were combined for the CD release.

1998 Cleopatra U.S. CD reissue (CLP 0303-2)

Same CD track listing as Numa release. Different rear and inner tray artwork and an essay by Dave Thompson.

2003 Eagle Records CD reissue (EDMCD 158)

Same CD track listing as Numa release. Different front, rear and inner tray artwork and an essay by Dominic Jones.

• Numan can be heard breaking into laughter during the show's closing number, "Are 'Friends' Electric?" This was because members of the support act, the music group Hohokam, put on women's clothing and broke onto the stage during the song's performance. One of the pranksters lifted his bra cup and "flashed" Numan, causing Numan to laugh.

Personnel

• Gary Numan – vocals, producer
  Record producer
  A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
  
  
• Karen Taylor – backing vocals
  Backing vocalist
  A backing vocalist or backing singer is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists...
  
  
• Andy Coughlan – bass
  Bass guitar
  The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
  
  
• Ced Sharpley – drum
  Drum
  The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments, which is technically classified as the membranophones. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a shell and struck, either directly with the player's hands, or with a...
  
  s
• Rrussell Bell – guitar
  Guitar
  The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
  
  , keyboards
  Keyboard instrument
  A keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...
  
  , violin
  Violin
  The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
  
  
• John Webb – keyboards, saxophone
  Saxophone
  The saxophone is a conical-bore transposing musical instrument that is a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1846...
  
  
• Chris Payne – keyboards, viola
  Viola
  The viola is a bowed string instrument. It is the middle voice of the violin family, between the violin and the cello.- Form :The viola is similar in material and construction to the violin. A full-size viola's body is between and longer than the body of a full-size violin , with an average...
  
  
• Tim Summerhayes – engineer
  Engineer
  An engineer is a professional practitioner of engineering, concerned with applying scientific knowledge, mathematics and ingenuity to develop solutions for technical problems. Engineers design materials, structures, machines and systems while considering the limitations imposed by practicality,...
  
  , audio mixing
  Audio mixing (recorded music)
  In audio recording, audio mixing is the process by which multiple recorded sounds are combined into one or more channels, most commonly two-channel stereo. In the process, the source signals' level, frequency content, dynamics, and panoramic position are manipulated and effects such as reverb may...
  
  
• Denis Blackham – audio mastering
  Audio mastering
  Mastering, a form of audio post-production, is the process of preparing and transferring recorded audio from a source containing the final mix to a data storage device ; the source from which all copies will be produced...
  
  
• John Webb – audio mixing
• Fraser Gray – photographer