Date: Sun, 28 Feb 93 04:00:12 CST From: numan@cs.uwp.edu Reply-To: numan@cs.uwp.edu (Gary Numan) Subject: Gary Numan Digest V1 #22 Gary Numan Digest Sun, 28 Feb 93 Volume 1 : Issue 22 Today's Topics: Evidence of musical sampling + TiNL sounds Introduction: Richard Paiement Lyrics update various incl. comments on WHY DO WE BOTHER? ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 26 Feb 93 10:17:05 PST From: dlangs%sunstroke@sdsu.edu (Derek Langsford) Subject: Evidence of musical sampling + TiNL sounds To: numanews@cs.uwp.edu >From paris!greg@uunet.UU.NET Tue Feb 23 02:56:20 1993 Date: Mon, 22 Feb 93 19:29:50 PST From: paris!greg@uunet.UU.NET (Gregor Torrence) Subject: Contribution for the next Digest Hello, Here's something obvious on _Machine+Soul_ you'll kick yourself for not noticing: "I wonder" has most of its drums sampled from elsewhere. I can't place this first half of he song (But I have heard the same sample in Nine Inch Nails) The second half is a sample of Tears For Fears' "Shout"! Ironically, Roland Orzabal of TFF admits to programming his drum machine for that song with a riff from a Talking Heads song on _Remain_In_Light_. Although Gary hasn't taken any melodic or vocal material from from "Shout," it still seems odd in light of what Gary had to say about sampling music in the exclusive interview Derek sent out. On a later note, Sean Crist asked: > In 'This is New Love' from Berserker, the line 'Picture the man when the > hearbeat stops' is repeated several times. In the background is a strange > sort of synthesized sound something like the Touch-Tone sounds on a > push-button phone, but more musical and more underwater. In 'A > Child with a Ghost', the same sound is found again, but is not as hyper as > in 'This is New Love'. The clearest place to hear this sound is at the very > end of 'This is New Love', between the last 'Picture' and 'Stop!' > > Does anybody know how Gary created this sound? I have succeeded in > duplicating many of Gary's sounds, but haven't had any luck with this one. > I'd like to put it in my own songs. Thanks for the help. My best guess is that sound is made by a PPG waveterm synthesizer. It was a very odd first-generation all digital synth. PPG was a german company that is long since belly-up. The "wave team" who were Gary's co-producers for a time were experts on the PPG. Obviously, that's where their name comes from. If you really want that sort of sound as well as the other incredibly strange and inimitable noises on _Berserker_ and _The_Fury_, your best bet is to get your hands on a Waldorf Micro-Wave. This is a repackaged PPG-in-a-box for people like you who want those cool sounds new synths just can't do. Although licensing technology from a deceased company is probably relatively cheap, I think Waldorf lists them at around $2500 or so. If you get one, can I borrow it? You're not the only musician on the mailing list... ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Gregor Torrence greg@image.com ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 26 Feb 93 10:08:11 PST From: dlangs%sunstroke@sdsu.edu (Derek Langsford) Subject: Introduction: Richard Paiement To: numanews@cs.uwp.edu Date: Mon, 22 Feb 93 15:08:19 EST From: Richard=Paiement%DCN%DGBT=CRC=ADMSR@dgbt.banyan.doc.ca Subject: Intro++ Message - Richard Paiement Hi folks I'm new to this list and I've been reading the archives, so here's my story... My name's Richard Paiement, and I live in Hull Quebec (Canada), but as indicated in my sig, I work across the bridge in Ottawa Ontario. I discovered Numan through record store delete bins around 1981-82, starting with the Living Ornaments double live LP (Canadian gatefold). I found many interesting (good and bad) records through these delete bins, with prices around $3; this great activity of mine has since been killed by the orchestrated disappearance of vinyl, but hey, that's another story. I've been a Numan fan since, though my enthusiasm over recently released new material is questionable. The albums before 1982 were found in delete bins within the next year or so. Most other albums since have been purchased at full price when they were released. Over the years, I have accumulated a large collection of various items, including over 100 vinyls, a few dozen CDs (including the Japanese CD3 released as part of the Asylum series), magazines, books, tour books, posters, post card (only one), videotapes (live footage and videoclips), bootleg concerts, interviews, pins, etc... I even had a friend paint a t-shirt based on Gary's Berserker image, and still wear it now and then. As seems to be the concensus on this list, the last two non-compilation releases rate very very low on my Erland scale. I described it then, as others still do, as Gary's Janet Jackson period. I expect Janet to jump out of the wall every time Emotion starts. I was so disappointed with Outland that I sold my CD copy to a friend who never really cared for Gary - he likes this one. As for Machine + Soul, I didn't purchase it to not encourage mediocrity, plus it has only a few new songs. I do have most of the CD singles released for these two albums. I found the Prince covers (1999, U got the Looks) nice oddities for collectors, but... I would like to take this opportunity to complaint about Gary's incessant whining of the radio and media reactions. The Outland tourbook quotes Gary as saying "How long can you fly in the face of fashion and get away with it?" Does this imply he's doing it on purpose? Is he testing our devotion? I think the only face he's flying in is the fan's. I DO however love the soundtrack to The Unborn, and hope it will show up on CD some day. I too would like to see Gary tend towards an Eno-like existence. As mentioned by someone earlier, Change Your Mind did do very well in Canada, though I doubt it reached No.1. It was weird to hear Gary on FM on a regular basis, albeit in evenings mostly. A now defunct punk/alternative/dance bar in the area (called Club Zinc) regularly played Numan remixes during the 1986-88 period. New Thing From London Town sounds half-decent with MEGA-BASS... as does the Sisters of Mercy's cover of the Rolling Stones' , which really sounds lame on a home stereo. I've been a member of the North American Gary Numan Fan Club, run by Jim Napier in Ithica NY, from its inception three years ago. I was also a member of the Official Fan Club in England a while back. As Derek guessed, there are not 13,000 active members, but rather 13,000 people who joined since the fan club started. Unfortunately for me, the person - who shall remain anonymous on this post, but will be identified to anybody who e-mails me a request - who was graciously forwarding the fan club mail to me from England (the fan club only allow subscriptions with a mailing address in England) screwed me out of some money and has since ignored my letters. I have since been informed by others that this person is not to be trusted. I have not bothered going through other UK contacts to continue my subscription. There has been talk of two versions of the Berserker live videotape. I have these two versions, and agree with descriptions of both. I purchased my original copy of the Castle-Hendring release in September 1990, so it was release as early as 1990, and maybe even before. It may have been re-released in 1992, as people on this list seem to describe it as a current release. An interesting story about this videotape... The store where I got my tape had two copies in stock. I bought one copy, but the first few minutes were badly recorded, with lots of noise, so I exchanged it for the second copy. That left nothing for other local fans. SORRY! Up until now, I have not had the chance to see Gary live, though he did play near here during his North American tours. That was before I knew his music. The way things are going, I'm not holding my breath to see him live. What do I listen to? Since I do listen to a great variety of music, let me try to find a group or two I like for each letter of the alphabet. Alien Sex Fiend - Johann Sebastien Bach - The Cure - Devo - Brian Eno - FM/Robert Fripp - Peter Gabriel - Harmonium - Images In Vogue - Japan/Jean-Michel Jarre - Kraftwerk/King Crimson - Led Zeppelin - Marillion - Gary Numan/Nash The Slash - The Only Ones - Pink Floyd - Queen - The Ramones - Sisters of Mercy/Synergy - The The - Ultravox - Van Halen - Wendy O'Williams & The Plastmatics (why not) - X... - Yes - Frank Zappa This list is not exhaustive, and could have been better had I my records in front of me. Musical instruments: I tried the saxophone once. In grade school, I played ukelele. "All I can do now is wait for the noise..." /+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++\ (( Richard V. Paiement Internet: )) (( Research Engineer richard.paiement@crc.doc.ca )) (( Communications Research Centre )) (( Ottawa Ontario K2H 8S2 CANADA Facsimile: +1 613 993 9950 )) \+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 26 Feb 93 09:53:08 PST From: dlangs%sunstroke@sdsu.edu (Derek Langsford) Subject: Lyrics update To: numanews@cs.uwp.edu >From chuckies@binkley.cs.mcgill.ca Sun Feb 21 13:55:13 1993 From: chuckies@binkley.cs.mcgill.ca (Charles J Savoie) Date: Sun, 21 Feb 1993 16:54:58 EST } >From datta@cs.uwp.edu Sun Feb 14 16:31:38 1993 } Date: Sun, 14 Feb 1993 11:00:15 -0600 } From: David Datta } Subject: Lyrics } } Some of us have already started on typing the lyrics in for inclusion in the } archives at ftp.uwp.edu. I would be happy to mail any available lyrics to } anyone requesting them: A quick note: Replicas, which you listed under "Songs:", is in fact the lyrics for the whole album. Thus an updated list (these are in the directory /pub/music/lyrics/n/numan.gary): Albums: pleasure.principle replicas tubeway.army Songs: a_dream_of_siam a_game_called_echo a_subway_called_you are_friends_electric* are_you_real* boys_like_me cars* complex* conversation* crash cry_the_clock_said do_you_need_the_service down_in_the_park* engineers* everyday_i_die* exhibition face_to_face_letters films* friends* i_am_render i_assassin i_die_you_die i_dream_of_wires im_an_agent it_must_have_been_years jo_the_waiter* listen_to_the_sirens* love_is_like_clock_law love_needs_no_disguise me* me_i_disconnect_from_you* metal* moral music_for_chameleons my_love_is_a_liquid* my_shadow_in_vain* observer* praying_to_the_aliens* somethings_in_the_house* steel_and_you* the_dream_police* the_life_machine* tracks* we_are_so_fragile you_are_in_my_vision* zero_bars* * = Found on album files also. Charles Savoie chuckies@cs.mcgill.ca ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 26 Feb 93 10:11:09 PST From: dlangs%sunstroke@sdsu.edu (Derek Langsford) Subject: various incl. comments on WHY DO WE BOTHER? To: numanews@cs.uwp.edu Date: Mon, 22 Feb 93 12:06:28 EST From: Richard=Paiement%DCN%DGBT=CRC=ADMSR@dgbt.banyan.doc.ca Subject: Are British fans less demanding? If my intro message didn't come through properly, someone let me know. The e-mail editor blew up cause I passed its 6000 char limit. The following in some way relates to earlier WHY DO WE BOTHER posts. Someone mentioned in a previous digest that UK fans go bananas at Gary's concerts. It seems that some of the UK fans will LOVE anything Gary does, possibly to the detriment of the more discriminating fans which expect a certain quality and originality in Gary's work, something I personally find to have been absent lately. Here is an assesment of the Outland album and tour from a UK fan who corresponded with me for a while (the one who disappeared with my money!): "I love it, again the best so far and it made the live show sound alot livelier altogether." However, before the Outland album was released, some of the songs could be heard on the Numa phone hotline, and here is the same fan commenting on these: "If he [Gary] gets too poppy [as in dance-music oriented] he'll lose an awful lot of his original fans which won't be good." []: my editorials and comments Well... He did get poppier, in my opinion too poppy, and he probably lost very little original UK fans. I think it is our responsability as fans to warn Gary that if he expects any sort of success in North America, he has got to wake up and find a new direction. I agree however that it isn't Derek's position to deliver this message as it would obviously strain the good relations he is enjoying with the Webb family. Then again, let's wait for the new album to be released to see what he is now doing. We may be pleasantly surprised NOT! By the way, I'm really thrilled to have discovered this list, and if Derek eventually decides to pack it in, I hope someone out there will decide to take on the responsability to continue it. I hope my comments lead to healthy discussions, and maybe in some way, some day, we can try to influence the Gary Numan creativity process. One last comment... I've seen many of Gary's videoclips, and I'd have to say that I prefer Andy Warhol movies. Seriously, the clips are not very good. The one I prefer is Change Your Mind, which I find better by far when considering image quality, colours, viewer interest, imagination... Anybody else? /+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++\ (( Richard V. Paiement Internet: )) (( Research Engineer richard.paiement@crc.doc.ca )) (( Communications Research Centre )) (( Ottawa Ontario K2H 8S2 CANADA Facsimile: +1 613 993 9950 )) \+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++/ ------------------------------ End of Gary Numan Digest ******************************