If you alreaqdy know and love both his new and old work, this is a lovely way for him to give us a tide-over without him putting out yet another umpteenth live album to milk the loyal fan wallet. This particular mixed bag is fun and worthwhile. There are a few new songs that are par with Exile and Pure, and then the re-workings... He has not just remixed the same old songs. He has completely re-recorded some old classics and also recent songs with uncharacteristically deep, lush, thick sonic dance high-end production. The newly recorded vocals are some of the strongest and most confident he has ever done (no surprise, with the well tested and much performed material). He has let other people bring in the maximum technology possible to make lavish, heavy, throbbing versions that are suitable for rave, NIN, and rocker-nuwave listening. No shortage of guitars, electro sounds, beats, some loops, and taking the not-obvious route through these songs. Bravo. (now get back to work and give us a real album)

Gary Numan released "Pure" in 2000 and that was an album of exceptional quality that not only brought this legendary artist back to the limelight but proved he still has the ability to deliver stunning and very emotional albums. Among the avalanche of dishwashed nu-metal and hip-hop acts it went (of course) largely unnoticed.
Taking a cue from that, Numan continues by releasing this double CD where he reworkds his older songs with the aid of some seriously fine acts such as Curve, Flud or Rico.

Now, in most other cases, such a release would smell "cash-in" from miles, but "Hybrid" is a very ambitious and before anything else a very honest effort.
Classic songs of a bygone era that have left their mark on contemporary music are redone and their quality increases multifold. It's not only the quality of production that is notched-up here. The songs themselves are delivered with a new aura attached them. Both of the CDs sound super dark, very doomy and incredibly atmospheric. And in how many cases can an artist release a double album that you can hear through and through without feeling this a drag?

Numan's vocals are also in superb form. Indeed the older this guy gets the better he becomes somehow, even though it would seem that with his style of music that would be somewhat difficult.

What also needs to be noted is that "Hybrid" is by no means a release "for the Numan fans". By far not. This will appeal to anyone out there into NIN, Ministry, or any of the relevent industrial acts. But it goes further thatn that in my opinion.
Numan has not only influenced a big part of the modern music scene with his 80s albums but he continues to do so by outdoing them in the process. This is absolutely stunning actually.
The recipe, when it comes to industrial music, is somewhat "standard" yes, but at the end of the day what counts is the aura, as i said above. Heavy industrial guitars, distorted and trippy sound effects and loops, whispering or echoing vocals, samples mostly inspired by horror soundtracks or multisampled songs for the extra effect. But in the end it's still the aura that makes the big difference. And that is exactly where Numan leaves you with a burning mark in your brain. In this respect, for anyone into dark sonic scapes this is a massively essential album.

And judging from Numan's return into recording fresh stuff (with "Pure") it seems we will be seeing and hearing a lot more from this guy in the upcoming time. Thank all the cosmic forces for that.

I've been a Numan fan since 1980, and I think that this may be his best album in nearly 20 years.

Sure, the antitheist lyrics are puerile, but there's an intensity here that his music has been lacking for a long time. And most welcome of all is the element that drew me to his music in the first place--a sense of menace underlying the music.

In terms of production, the songs are well-executed. Also, this album for the first time captures Gary's vocal abilities--he's actually comprehensible on these songs.

This is a big step in the right direction for ol' Gary. Now I'm ready to hear more new stuff.