Gary Numan Digest Sun, 13 Dec 92 Volume 1 : Issue 13 Today's Topics: Administrivia FOR SALE: John Foxx - In Mysterious Ways CD Review: The Other Side of... Gary Numan ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 11 Dec 92 18:02:32 PST From: dlangs%sunstroke@sdsu.edu (Derek Langsford) Subject: Administrivia To: numanews@cs.uwp.edu With the holidays fast approaching and the universities done for the semester there will probably be little traffic for the next couple of weeks. If there are contributions next week the Digest will appear as normal. The week of the 20th will not see a Digest as I will be out of town and unable to moderate incoming messages. For those waiting for Berserker CDs, I spoke with Peteer last weekend and was expecting them in the mail this past week. So all looks good on that front. The only glitch could be that Beryl might not have had the second pressing delivered as she was promised. I have my fingers crossed. So to all who will not be with us next week, have a happy holiday and Nu(man) year :-) Derek ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Derek H. Langsford Dept. of Biology dlangs@sunstroke.sdsu.edu San Diego State University ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 12 Dec 92 22:36:39 PST From: dlangs%sunstroke@sdsu.edu (Derek Langsford) Subject: FOR SALE: John Foxx - In Mysterious Ways CD To: numanews@cs.uwp.edu I realise this is not Numan related but I do know that many of you are also fans of John Foxx as well as Gary so I thought I would post this to this group first rather than the whole NET. A friend of mine would like to sell his copy of John Foxx's In Mysterious Ways on CD. I am sure someone out there must want this. Virgin deleted it from their CD catalogue more than a year ago and copies are getting scarce. He would like to get a fair price for it and is open to offers. He offered it to me first but I already have it. If interested please contact me and give an indication of what you might be willing to pay. It sounds like he would like to auction it, something I feel uncomfortable with on the net. Unfortunately first come first serve is not necessarily fair either. So I am not sure how I will handle it. I will contact those of you who respond. Derek ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Derek H. Langsford Dept. of Biology dlangs@sunstroke.sdsu.edu San Diego State University ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 11 Dec 92 11:41:37 PST From: dlangs%sunstroke@sdsu.edu (Derek Langsford) Subject: Review: The Other Side of... Gary Numan To: numanews@cs.uwp.edu Gary Numan - The Other Side of.....Gary Numan RRCD170 (UK) 1. I Can't Stop 5.45 SC B=Berserker 2. Tricks 5.38 F F=The Fury 3. Miracles 3.34 F SC=Strange Charm 4. The Sleeproom 5.16 SC MS=Machine + Soul 5. Machine And Soul 5.56 MS 6. Rumour 2.45 b-side 7. The Skin Game 6.18 MS 8. A Child With The Ghost 4.04 B 9. This Disease 4.02 F 10. The Need 7.04 SC 11. I Still Remember 4.01 F 12. Strange Charm 5.00 SC 13. The Hunter 6.45 B 14. Empty Bed, Empty Heart 3.06 b-side Total 69.51 Back in the early Summer I reviewed a compilation of some of Gary's NUMA label work. Here is another compilation that will be welcome for those who liked the _Isolate_ release. Gary's fans have been well serviced this year with CD releases. 1992 saw the restricted release of Berserker on CD, the compilation Isolate, a new album Machine and Soul, the live 2CD set of Ghost, a single CD Beggars Banquet years retrospective, 3 CD singles and now this new compilation. Unfortunately none of these are released outside the UK so it's import stores where these will be found for those outside the UK. Early in the year Gary's label said it would release two compilations : Isolate and Isolate II. It would appear that vol. II has been scrapped ad this release has taken its place. My reasoning: this is all NUMA material from 1984 on; it contains tracks from Berserker, The Fury, Strange Charm and Machine and Soul; there is *NO* overlap with Isolate, and there are two new-to-CD tracks (6 and 14, b-sides to the Radio Heart single "London Times" and "Berserker" respectively). The disc is put out by Receiver Records (the first time any NUMA material has been licensed out). I think this is a very shrewd move by NUMA as they get guaranteed benefit of royalties without taking the risks of a flop. The CD is a near perfect compliment to Isolate. Having both CDs gives you the majority of the tracks on the deleted Strange Charm and The Fury CDs. For those owning these discs there are a couple of b-sides to entrap the fan. Yes, very shrewd indeed. And this still leaves NUMA the ability to put out a comprehensive NUMA b-sides collection to milk the fans even more. First, the artwork (barf, hughie!) is awful. The whole thing is a disgusting purple colour. I ordinarily like purple but this is not a likeble one at all. Fortunately the disc makes up for it. Nearly 70 mins for a mid-price UK disc is not bad value. Indeed, the mix of tracks is far more listenable than the Strange Charm or Fury albums on their own. These I can find annoying with minor exposure. Tracks selection is good given the limitations of non-Isolate tracks although I could live without 'The Need' and tire easily of 'I Can't Stop' The material represents Gary's still continuing phase with programmed drums and wailing female backing vox. It was OK on Berserker, less noticeable than on the other albums, but The Fury brought these components upfront to the point of exasperation. Still the selection of tracks here is varied and presents the more diverse tracks from the albums. The Fury tracks (Tricks, Miracles, This Disease (misnamed as The Disease), and I Still Remember) are all good tracks of varied tempo. I Can't Stop and The Need are rather similar tracks and almost equally annoying but the appearance of The Sleeproom and Strange Charm, also from the Strange Charm album balance it out. One can always program out a few tracks and still have a reasonably long CD to listen to. The Berserker tracks are not the best. This is New Love would have been a better choice than The Hunter which is here in its extended form. The two most recent singles from Machine and Soul are also here so you can see where he has gone since the brief period with IRS. The only new-to-CD tracks, the b-sides, are not great, but it is always nice to get some older Numan on CD for the first time. Shame these tracks are so short. Whether you want to get this depends on what you have already. As I stated before it is a great compliment to Isolate. Still, Numa do have plans to rerelease Strange Charm and The Fury on CD which will cover a lot of this CD. It's not essential to the regular buyer, but is a nice addition giving a pleasant mix of a selection of his NUMA material. Like Isolate this is a lot different from Cars and Are 'Friends' Electric? so I'd recommend caution to the uninititated. Ratings: 6/10 Numanews - the Gary Numan Digest is up and running. To subscribe email numan-request@cs.uwp.edu for developements and news on Gary's career and music. Derek ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Derek H. Langsford Dept. of Biology dlangs@sunstroke.sdsu.edu San Diego State University ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ End of Gary Numan Digest ******************************