| "Complex" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Single by Gary Numan | ||||
| from the album The Pleasure Principle | ||||
| B-side | "Bombers (Live Version)" | |||
| Released | 16 November 1979 | |||
| Recorded | Marcus Music AB, London, 1979 | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 3:13 | |||
| Label | Beggars Banquet BEG 29 | |||
| Songwriter(s) | Gary Numan | |||
| Producer(s) | Gary Numan | |||
| Gary Numan singles chronology | ||||
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"Complex" is a song by English musician Gary Numan. It was the second single to be taken from his 1979 album The Pleasure Principle . [1] The single reached number six on the UK Singles Chart in late November 1979. [2]
The recording's backing track uses conventional acoustic drums, acoustic piano, and electric bass guitar, joined by violin (played by Ultravox's Billy Currie), viola and heavily flanged and reverberated analogue monosynth. [3]
Despite the success of the single, which spent two weeks in the UK top 10 during a nine-week chart run, [2] Numan later regretted "Complex" as the choice of a single and that the second single of The Pleasure Principle should have been "Metal". [1]
Live versions of "Complex" are included on Living Ornaments '81 and on the expanded CD release of Living Ornaments '80 . The song was performed live on the "Pleasure Principle 30th anniversary tour" in 2009, featuring guest appearances by Chris Payne who plays viola on the original recording. [4]
