Gary Numan Digest Sat, 26 Sep 92 Volume 1 : Issue 2 Today's Topics: Dramatis Numanews, Machine and Soul REVIEW : Machine + Soul WELCOME + UKGNFC materials ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 25 Sep 92 13:11:34 PDT From: dlangs%sunstroke@sdsu.edu (Derek Langsford) Subject: Dramatis To: numanews@cs.uwp.edu Date: Fri, 25 Sep 1992 12:44:34 -0600 From: "BRIAN D. HAMMOND" Subject: Dramatis I'll take a stab at the Dramatis query for more information, and sometime in the near future, I'll try to answer the Bill Sharpe/Shakatak one as well. As far as I know, Dramatis was formed in early 1981 after Numan decided to give up touring. The original band members were Rrussell Bell, Denis Haines, Chris Payne, and Cedric Sharpley. They put out a number of singles and one LP in 1981, all of which are rare and somewhat expensive due to the Numanoid demand I imagine. Overall, they were a fairly typical early 80s new-wave type band. With a little effort, one should be able to find most of their material in the UK by going to the used record stores and open markets. In the states, one's best bet is to scour Goldmine. The best I can do for their 1981 discog- raphy is as follows: 7" Oh! 2025 7" Ex Luna Scientia/Lady DJ 12" same (Oh! 2025 b/w The Curtain ---sorry) 7" No One Lives Forever/For Future Reference 12" same 7" Love Needs No Disguise/Take Me Home 7" same but with a textured sleeve 12" Love Needs No Disguise/Take Me Home/Face To Face LP For Future Reference Cassette For Future Reference Of direct interest is of course the Numan related material. Love Needs No Disguise came out originally in a texture sleeve with the lettering somewhat raised off the paper. It is considerably rarer. The 12" features another Numan song "Face to Face" which of course re-appeared two years later as "Letters" on the "Sister Surprise" single. The last song on the single "Take Me Home" is entirely Dramatis and appears on their only album For Future Reference. From what I was told, Dramatis was doing quite well with the hit song Love Needs No Disguise, and were invited to the ever important UK programme Top of The Pops. Well, as is well known, Numan sings this song, but in 1981, he was flying around the world and could in no way appear on the show for his former bandmates. Thus somebody else in the band tried to sing the song, but the crowd excited to see Numan, and the uniqness of Numan's voice impossible to imitate, caused the appearance to be a flop and the band never recovered. A shame too because they did have a few decent songs. By 1982, the band had lost Denis Haines but were still putting out singles for an upcoming album that sadly never came out. Overall, I feel their second year was better, showing a more interesting musical direction. As far as I know, they put out the following singles in 1982: 7" The Shame/I Only Find Rewind 12" same except The Shame is extended mix 7" I Can See Her Now/ One Step Ahead 7" Face On The Wall/PompAndStomp And Stance My 12" copy of The Shame also came with a poster inisde of the three band members looking very feminine (obviously under the impact of the New Romantics period and especially Duran Duran). The last single, Face On The Wall, was perhaps their best song ever. They eventually broke up after lack of commercial success in 1982. The close connection to Numan was always present especially in the first year with their collaborative single. Indeed, on the cover to the album For Future Reference one can easily spot the Telekon album. Me! I Disconnect From You ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 25 Sep 92 10:58:21 PDT From: dlangs%sunstroke@sdsu.edu (Derek Langsford) Subject: Numanews, Machine and Soul To: numanews@cs.uwp.edu Date: 25 Sep 1992 12:07:22 -0400 (EDT) From: Kay Teel To: dlangs%sunstroke@sdsu.edu Subject: Re: Numanews, Machine and Soul Derek, GREAT LONG Numanews this time. Very much appreciated. You asked for opinions of M+S, so here goes: My overall feeling is disappointment. It is not as good as I had hoped, and I was very disappointed that I'd heard half of the album already, albeit in "remixed" form. The two strongest cuts IMHO are Skin Game and I Wonder, and since I'm a little tired of Skin Game that leaves one song to listen to. That being said, it's not a terrible album. It is much better than Outland, but not as good as Metal Rhythm. I'd expected something more...and didn't get it. Now, re: Automatic. I will be happy to review this album for you. I can do it now in one word: Unfortunate. Actually, it's not that bad, but if you dislike the dancey direction Numan took on Outland, don't buy Automatic. It proves that two Numan/Sharpe collaborations as singles were fine, but an album was overdoing it. Re: Dramatis. Besides the album (For Future Reference), which comes in two flavors - - the standard British release and the Canadian version with a somewhat different track line up -- they released several singles, among them: Ex Luna Scientia, Face On The Wall, Love Needs No Disguise, The Shame, I Can See Her Now. Face On The Wall and The Shame are my personal picks (besides LNND, which I always consider a Numan single, much like Stormtrooper In Drag). The best thing about the album is the cover. Lots of Numan "in-jokes." The album was released on Rocket Records, which I believe no longer exists, so who knows who owns the rights? Lastly, Bladerunner. The "director's cut" has been released in major cities across the U.S., and if you haven't seen it, GO NOW! Even if you never saw the other version, see this one. IMHO, it is ten times better than the first version, and the Numan reference points too numerous to mention. Also, I urge everyone to petition the film company to release this version on video. It's fantastic. --Kay ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 25 Sep 92 10:44:00 PDT From: dlangs%sunstroke@sdsu.edu (Derek Langsford) Subject: REVIEW : Machine + Soul To: numanews@cs.uwp.edu >From jakubec@mprgate.mpr.ca Wed Sep 9 09:02:19 1992 Date: Wed, 9 Sep 92 09:05:55 PDT From: jakubec@mprgate.mpr.ca (Trent J Jakubec) Message-Id: <9209091605.AA01046@bambi.mpr.ca> To: dlangs%sunstroke@sdsu.edu Subject: REVIEW: G Numan - Machine + Soul Status: RO Greetings: After approximately 5 listens here goes: Gary Numan - Machine + Soul Nice cover. :-( Is this where they cut costs? The first photo on the inside is better, or even the last *tacky* guitar shot. They should have reused the Isolate cover which was way better (and much more professional). I am not even going to talk about the lettering overlay since it is so bad. Needless to say, it is not off to a good start. Overall after two listens I read the inside and one thing was immediately obvious. Although Gary might have written the material, this is Kipper's album all the way. Gary even says so in the credits. Even the two tracks that Kipper does not appear on appear to have been affected by what has been done previously. If this is the material that Gary wanted to release but IRS did not want him to, then I am afraid that he is truly stuck in trying to produce a dance album. Maybe he is trying to recover the feel from the early NUMA years but it is not working. What happened to the tracks that relied on his voice basically giving background filler to the song? Or even the older tracks that had little vocals and relied on music? Although, maybe his voice is going and he needs to bury it behind females. How often on this album do you hear him singing solo? Track by Track... 1. Machine and Soul "Get up and dance"? Come on. This is not Janet Jackson, and what is with all this guitar stuff? This track also has Prince overtones in its lyric content. Maybe he is trying to gain attention. Also the block of lyrics "So this is my secret; So this is a new way to love" is so much like a Berserker or Fury track that I hum the old track instead. There is some good ideas, but I think Kipper buried it in overproduction and glam. It is not the worst track though. 2. Generator Hey, a song that does not use the title in the lyrics. Well close anyway. And it even used titles from other songs on the album. Something that was true on many of the other albums. This has one of the two best hooks on the album. And I (I'm Talking Temptation) Won't (I`m Talking 'Bout Memories) Let My Dreams (I'm Talking 'Bout Skin Games) Slip Away From Me (I'm Talking 'Bout Secrets) But again, why did Gary let Kipper bury it? Also, the rest of the material is so flat that maybe Kipper had to bury it, or it was Kipper's music? I am trying to give Gary the benefit of the doubt. 3. The Skin Game What is this fascination with "skin" anyway. The Skin Mechanic, The Skin Game. Is Gary not getting any these days? The Kipper is actually not on this track, but I am not sure for consistency that Gary modelled it to the other tracks. With the personnel matching Emotion I wonder if these two were done at around the same time and re- recorded for this album. This song is somewhat of a mess given that it seems to never get started and goes no where when it is finished. Is "Ripping it Up" and "Tearing it Up" a hint about what should have been done with this? Again, I wish Gary would give us his voice and not the ladies. 4. Poison "Help Me; I`m In Disgrace; Witness Slow Death All Over My Face" "Listen; They Stole My Dream; New Corruption; Know What I Mean" "Listen Up; Listen Up Good; New Mans Fame; Is [NUMANS] Poison" I think that this song is all about his current problems with the music industry and his frustration. "I'm Trying to Learn the Rhythm of the Rule Change Game" If you interpret all this as I do, then there is little else to say about this except his experimenting is giving him failing grades. 5. I Wonder One of the two songs I enjoy on the album. Although it is slow, it has the proper mix of Gary toned voice and female filler to make it work. Plus it is not buried by over produced sound. A good track. 6. Emotion [This was the second time I heard this track. I first listened to Isolate before spinning this disc.] I cannot listen to this track. The line "I don's mean a thing so" sounds exactly like a teenage Canadian artist (Alanis) from Ottawa that innundated the radio two years ago. It should not have been placed on Isolate, and why another version is here I am not sure. It seems to me that Gary was short of material in an attempt to release an album. I thought from your discussion this spring that he had material to burn? "How did this ever get serious" Enough said. 7. Cry Here is the other great hook. "Don't Leave" "What ya gonna do?" "Are you gonna break down and cry" Too bad the rest just does not work. This track needed reworking. And then why, or why does it stop..... "You have just witnessed eight seconds of silence....." Why? Tell me why this garbage, along with the other movie(?) dubs got stuck in this album. Interludes from Outland are fine, but not this. Sounds like he is trying to do the "RAP THANG" and add creative detail. 8. U Got The Look Gary Gary Gary! If you have so much material, why a cover? And why a Prince track? It is not seductive, your voice sounds terrible, and the song just plays through and fades out. Are you sure you really wanted to do this? You should have made the eight seconds of silence the length of this song. 9. Love Isolation "These Are Words; Just For You" "Only Words; But It's All I Can Do" This is the other great song on the album. Again, it is slow, but it works like I wonder does. Unfortunately if you consider the other person in the song, it sounds like a farewell song. End Overall disappointing. I forget what track it was but if Gary sampled Janet Jackson voice from the big production video for some song where she goes "Cab Calloway" and breaks into the stolen synth riff, then maybe I would quit putting it in there myself. My recommendation is that if he wants to get current then he should bring back Tubeway Army (Lidyard and Gardiner) and bring the guitar sound from that first album. I would appreciate a variation since his infatuation with making another Berserker/Fury has grown tired. We need a movement. I figure he is well overdue since the stream currently looks like this Tubeway Army -> Replicas/Pleasure Principle -> Telekon -> Dance -> I Assassin/Warrior -> Berserker/The Fury -> Metal Rhythm/Outland/M+S If he wants to make another one of these dance albums, then he should just pack it in. Release the NUMA material for Asylum 4 (B/WN/TF/G) Asylum 5 (MR/SM/O/M+S). Compile the videos and concert footage into one huge VHS/LD release and maybe have a private farewell concert at his ranch/studio giving an invite to us external fans who have never seen him, and move on to flying planes. Trent PS> The other new track on Isolate is weak, but I have only listened to Isolate once. Trent J Jakubec MPR Teltech Ltd. Burnaby, BC, Canada (604)293-5379 jakubec@mprgate.mpr.ca (134.87.131.13) Fax: (604)293-6100 ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 25 Sep 92 10:33:29 PDT From: dlangs%sunstroke@sdsu.edu (Derek Langsford) Subject: WELCOME + UKGNFC materials To: numanews@cs.uwp.edu WELCOME! ------- Here it is - the first digest of Numanews. With luck I will get word of the 'Ghost' CDs this weekend. One thing I did get was the UK Fan Club stuff from my brother. I'll give details another day but suffice to say the initial FC mailing included a nice glossy yearbook, my membership card and a Teletour badge(pin) plus details of FC merchandise. Included was a personal note from Beryl thanking me for taking care of US fans wrt the 'Berserker' and 'Ghost' CDs. The newletter was another glossy booklet filled with pictures and details of what has and will be happening with Gary. Details of the Machine and Soul single and album releases were given (would have been nice to have had this before their release but I don't think that was Beryl's fault :). It also gives the main reason why the Ghost CDs have been delayed. I'll report on this and the WORLD STORM fanzine next/this week. I also want to welcome back Sean Crist from his year in Japan. His valiant efforts to find out from ALFA if Asylum 4 was in the works proved futile :( Sean also sent several copies of Asylum 3 over for those who could not find them here, and at a very good price (better than could be had in the USA including p&p). Thank you Sean. Glad to have you back but sorry to lose my contact in Japan. That's it for me for now, Bye, Derek ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Derek H. Langsford Dept. of Biology dlangs@sunstroke.sdsu.edu San Diego State University ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ End of Gary Numan Digest ******************************