Date: Mon, 16 Aug 93 07:23:02 CDT From: numan@cs.uwp.edu Reply-To: numan@cs.uwp.edu (Gary Numan) Subject: Gary Numan Digest V1 #39 Gary Numan Digest Mon, 16 Aug 93 Volume 1 : Issue 39 Today's Topics: (2 msgs) A wish to contact other Gary Numan fans berserker favor? Cross-posts for you reading pleasure FrEE aLTeRnaTiVe MusIc InFo Head count result / US convention Hello Fellow Numan Fans Here am I more Roche 5 than pain Jory (bad news I'm afraid) New CDS?, Shadow Man, Note to new readers Numan music sighting... S.U.'s and U.D.'s Translating Japanese text ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 09 Aug 93 17:01:31 GMT From: thx1138@angus.mi.org (Scott Abfalter) Subject: To: David Datta Hello Gary Numan Fans! It is wonderful to find other Numan fans here on the Net. I have been listening to Gary Numan for some 12 or so years now (I first heard his music on the live performance on Saturday Night Live and rushed out to get an albumn the very next day). I've gotton to the FTP site and downloaded everything there, reading it and being generally a happy fan. Just recently I was to England, but Tower Records in London was out of almost everytning. I did pick up Warriors and Exhibition. Basically, I really love all of his music. I see three basic periods: (make that four: ) 1. Tubeway Army stuff 2. Numan/Machine stuff (before Dance) 3. Gary's experiments with stuff other than synth (Dance * I, Assassin) 4. New Numan (Berserker and beyond) I like all of them. I am also going to make a statement _never before heard_: I really, really enjoyed 'Outland' and count it as one of his best albumns. It is technically impressive, has more energy and less droning vocals. (I never really liked his backround singers). None of his albumns are unredeemingly bad, but some of them have fewer good stuff. Warriors and Machine+Soul both were fairly lack lustre for me. What else does this opinionated fan listen to, you ask? (I can tell, you are all sitting at the edge of your seats, biting your lower lips and holding your breath in suspens...) Right now I am listening to Billy Idol's 'Cyberpunk' as I type this. More because I love Cyberpunk than like Billy Idol --but in truth it is a pretty cool tape. Now a'days I usually listen to technopop. Front 242, Front Line Assembly, 808 State, and that lot. Sometimes I like it less techno: Information Society and Nine Inch Nails. Here and there I get reagee in my system and listen to Bob Marley for a few days and get generally slack. Every once in a while I pull out a Dead Kennedy's or Ministry tape if I am in a particularly f#ck-the-world bad mood. The mainstay of technopop. One thing about being a Gary Numan fan (for me at least) is that no matter where my musical tastes have wandered, I have _always_ counted Gary Numan as my all time favorite. I have combed record shops time and time again. The high point to my England trips had been the opportunity to find tapes of his I didn't have. Well, looking back at this letter I see it's pretty poorly typed. Please forgive the misspellings --I can't go back to earlier parts of the message and I am _not_ gonna type it in again! I am glad to have found this mailing list! THX Scott Allen Abfalter -- Scott Abfalter (thx1138@angus.mi.org) Mystery Spot BBS, Royal Oak, MI --------------------------------------------?-- ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 3 Aug 93 21:07:18 -0400 From: jds@isr.harvard.edu (John David Skrentny) Subject: To: numan@cs.uwp.edu Those who want to figure out what Numan was going on about in those early songs, and before he began to simply declare what he does/does not like/need/want might want to check out the fiction of Philip K. Dick and J. G. Ballard. I am told that this stuff was really influential in those early years. Dick, for example, has a book or short story called "Flow My Tears" with a subtitle about police, and Ballard has a story called "Crash". I've never checked this stuff out myself but I am told that there are a lot of connections. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 5 Aug 1993 13:41:23 -0400 (EDT) From: Network Entity Subject: A wish to contact other Gary Numan fans To: numan@cs.uwp.edu Hi there, I've downloaded quite a few Numan mailing list files from ftp.uwp.edu and am very interested in joining the mailing list. I have always enjoyed Gary Numan ever since I first heard him perform while watching Saturday Night Live many years ago, and have been an avid fan ever since. Until the last week or so I have known nothing about him at all save what I could glean from the music. I love his older music, I love his newer music and I even love his jazzy experiments on Dance and I, Assassin. In short, I am really impressed with his music all around. If whoever receives this could add me to the list I would be extreemly happy! Scott Allen Abfalter ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 6 Aug 1993 19:56:40 -0700 (PDT) From: Velocity-9 Subject: berserker favor? To: numan@cs.uwp.edu does some lucky person out there who already has Berserker on CD think they could do me a favor? i'm one of the people left high and dry by the royal mail losing my freshly ordered CD, and i was wondering if anyone would mind taping their copy for me so that i could at least give it a listen and decide whether i should keep my hard-converted pounds in place waiting for the end of the year's new pressing. any takers? i'll pay postage both ways. thanks for the attention! -gts/uwiz ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 3 Aug 93 07:54:35 EDT From: Richard=Paiement%DCN%DGBT=CRC=ADMSR@dgbt.banyan.doc.ca Subject: Cross-posts for you reading pleasure To: numan@cs.uwp.edu ***** ATTACHMENT: NUMAN.TXT ***** Here is some stuff found on the alt.cyberpunk list, that I'm cross-posting for your reading enjoy. Of course, I edited out the less interesting stuff. I did reply to some of these, and have extended an invitation to the group to move their Numan related discussions to our list. Later, Richard Paiement richard@dgbt.doc.ca ----------------------------------------------------- NOTE: All text below is a cross-post... so no flames! ----------------------------------------------------- ********************* *** CROSS-POST #1 *** ********************* >From: bublsort@tacobel.UUCP (Bubble Sorter) >Subject: Re: Gary Numan: ProtoCyberPunk >Date: Thu, 15 Jul 93 10:57:43 EDT > >> He calls his early music his "Machine Music" stage. Use of bass and >> sax and even later changes to a more pop-ish sound are in response to his >> critics, who didn't realize just how far ahead of his time Numan was. >> >> Also listen to "The Pleasure Principle", "Berserker", "The Fury" >> and his original Tubeway Army albumns for more of this sort of >> music. >> >> If anyone is interested in a list of albumns by him, let me know and >> I'll tell you what I've found so far. >> >> I do notice, on his newest American release "Outland" (which tends to >> get filed under "O" because his name is in such a small font!) that >> there is quite a bit of sampling from Blade Runner and Predator. >> Looks as if cyberpunk still influences him. >> >> (Hmm, Idol/Numan --the possibilities are endless...) >> >> THX >> > >after outland it sort of when downhill. actually after new anger it >went downhill, it was just somewhat faster after outland. if you haven't >heard The Other Side of Gary Numan... don't worry about it. maybe there >are two worthwhile songs on it, besides the Skin Game, which is good. >but you get sick of all that female wailing. well, it's a curious mix. ********************* *** CROSS-POST #2 *** ********************* >From: bds@uts.ipp-garching.mpg.de (Bruce d. Scott) >Subject: Re: Gary Numan: ProtoCyberPunk >Date: 15 Jul 1993 20:00:06 GMT > >Gary Numan had a good number of songs in the man+machine+electricity > ==> merge all of the above >direction circa 1980, which many people will tell you can't be CP >because it pre-dates anything most generally called CP. > >Just a data point; make your own judgement. > >But Gary Numan's sound is/was *nothing* like Billy Idol's. It was tech >not trying to be pop as much as trying to convince pop that tech was >interesting. > >There's also Ultravox's "I want to be a machine" from about the same time. ********************* *** CROSS-POST #3 *** ********************* >From: bublsort@tacobel.UUCP (Bubble Sorter) >Subject: Re: Gary Numan: Proto-CP? >Date: Thu, 15 Jul 93 10:48:51 EDT > >wow. someone else likes gary numan. i thought i wa the only one.. >maybe replicas is cyberpunk, but i don't think the rest of his stuff is, >really. if you feel like dropping 30 bucks you should try and find a >copy of Exhibition, which is a 2 cd set of his earlier stuff, including >down in the park, and are friends electric. what isn't "cyberpunk" is >kind of whiny "why do my fans like me so much" stuff, and punk stuff. > >that particular verse of down in the park is > I was in a car crash, or was it the war > well, i've never been quite the same > little white lies like "i was there" ********************* *** CROSS-POST #4 *** ********************* >From: ici@garnet.msen.com (Network Entity) >Subject: List of Gary Numan Releases >Date: 21 Jul 1993 17:07:34 GMT > > That being said, here is a list I have compiled with the Gary Numan > albumns that I have, their label information, the songs titles on each > one, and a line or two of comments each. > > NOTE: Gary Numan has three fairly different sounding styles. His original > style he refers to as his 'Numan/Machine' years, and that is what > most people are familiar with. > > Two of his albumns (Dance and I, Assassin) are more moody and > feature less synthesiser. I think this was a big mistake for > him, personally, but apparently he was under a lot of critisism. > > His newest style of music is a lot more pop and features backround > singers for better vocal range. It is more emotional and less > machine/new wave. > > Some people like his older, some his newer. I like all of it. > >--------------------------------------------------------------------------- >"Tubeway Army: Featuring Gary Numan (first albumn)" > >The Tubeway Army obviously could not afford expensive synthesers yet, so >this one use more traditional insturments. Very New Wave and not yet >refined. > >"Replicas" (1979) > >Still very New Wave, but with a bigger budget. Obviously very scifi >influenced. > >"The Pleasure Priciple" (1979) > >His big US release (Cars was a #1 hit for a bit). More of his >Numan/Machine style of music. > >"Living Ornaments" (1980: Live Double Albumn) > >These are live versions of his early Numan/Machine style of music. > >"Telekon" (1980) > >This albumn had a little more emotion that his previous music and contained >some of his best songs. > >"Dance" (1981) > >Critics got on his case about being all synthesiser oriented (back then it >was a bad thing I guess) so he started using more traditional instruments >for this slow albumn. Not a lot of energy but more complex than previous >music. > >"I, Assassin" (1982) > >Continuing on with experiments with traditional instruments, this one uses >a lot of bass. Music for Chameleons was an excellent song. > >"Berserker" (1985) > >Now he has gone through another change in style. Abandoning the slow music >with more traditional instuments, he is back to synthisiser music again. >He has added backup vocals to augment his rather monotonal singing style. >This started the trend to which his music has followed since. Quite a bit >more pop than before. > >It should be noted that at this point Gary Numan decided that he would >look a whole lot better if he was paper-white with blue hair, blue lips >and blue eyeliner. Looks a lot cooler that it sounds. This seemed to >last a few years before he (apparently) got sick of it. > >"Change Your Mind" (1985: 45 LP) > >You will probably have a hard time finding this, which is too bad. I really >wish these two made an actual albumn together because this song is one of >my favorites. It was a Polydor records promotional realease. The DJ that >gave it to me informed me that Polydor said no albumn would be forthcoming. > >"The Fury" (1985) > >More in the trend of 'Berserker'. The lyrics seems to be tending more toward >his problems with fame and such than the earlier scifi influences. Much more >complex than his earlier music. > >"Tubeway Army: 1978/1979" (1985: collection of unreleased songs) > >These were songs that were considered for 'The Pleasure Principle' and >'Telekon' but didn't make it. Albums was clear blue for some unknown >reason. There were at least three other LP 45's like this with various >unreleased Numan songs but I failed to buy them when I had the chance. > >"White Noise" (1985: Live Double Albumn) > >This is a live concert where he plays some of his older music as well as >some of his newer songs. > >"Gary Numan: The Collection" > >This is mostly his older Numan/Machine style here. Apparently this was >from a series of collections of innovative musicians. I was very >inhappy with it as something was done wrong when it was mastered and the >songs all sounded very tinny compared to actual releases. > >"The Skin Game" (1989: Live Convert) > >Gary Numan's first US release in quite a while. These songs are found on >older albumns, but many of them had only been on imports before. > >"New Anger" (1989) > >He followed 'The Skin Game' with an albumn of new songs. He seems to be >building up more energy and emotion. The songs are faster paced and >the vocals a bit angry. > >"Outland" (1991) > >This is his newest US release (that I am aware of). In this he has >discovered digital sampling but uses it very tastefully (taking from >'Blade Runner', 'The Terminator' and 'Predator' Can you see the pattern?) >There is actaully a political song on this tape 'Russia Infected' that talks >about western influence in what was then the USSR. I'd recommend getting >this for a taste of his newer style music as it's his most complex to date. > >"Isolate" (1992: taken from Berserker, The Fury and Strange Charm) > >This was a teaser record. They took songs from three other albumns and >made one full albumn (going as far as to place pictures of the other three >on the back). > >"Machine and Soul" (1992) > >I picked this up in England on a bussiness trip. It is not as complex as >'Outland' and follows more in the tradition of 'Berserker' and 'The Fury'. >His rendition of 'U Got the Look' is not as good as Prince, and I do not >even like Prince. The rest of the albumn is much better. > >"Strange Charm" (198?) > > I have a copied tape of this albumn (I'd buy it if I could find it) and > have no liner notes for it. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 12 Aug 93 17:38:20 -0400 From: silva@mond1.ccrc.uga.edu Subject: FrEE aLTeRnaTiVe MusIc InFo To: numan@cs.uwp.edu **************************************************************************** ||||||||||||||| QRM - The aLTeRnaTiVe Online Music Publication ||||||||||||| **************************************************************************** QrM, can be your new source of aLTeRnaTiVe music info! For over two years QRM has covered the best of what's new and happening in the reaLm of cutting edge music in the hardcopy world, and now we've made the cYBeR leap into the InterneT. To be featured in the AuG issue: Interviews with: The Fall Bjork (formerly of the Sugarcubes...) Smashing Pumpkins The Fluid OMD Stereolab Unrest Pennywise Radiohead Concert coverage of: Porno for Pyros LoLLaPoLooZa 93 The Noisy Land tour (New Zealand bands) and SCADS of reviews of new releases. So do it. Increase your hip quotient by a factor of ten with a few well placed clicks of your mouse. Just send your e-mail address to QRM (silva@mond1.ccrc.uga.edu) and look for our premiere issue towards the end of the month. QRM, sorta like SPIN/Rolling Stone/Alternative Press without the $3 cover charge. Oh yeah, and without the pictures...but were working on that! ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 5 Aug 93 09:34:55 EDT From: Richard=Paiement%DCN%DGBT=CRC=ADMSR@dgbt.banyan.doc.ca Subject: Head count result / US convention To: numan@cs.uwp.edu FYI: I received 5 replies to the head count request from a while back, though I know we are more than this on the list. Looking at postings since mid-May, I've counted a total of 19 people. Given that most subscribers are passive, I assume we could be as many as fifty, maybe more. I previously mentioned the Numan convention being organised in the US this summer, and some of you asked for more info. Unfortunately, I have yet to receive either the June or July issues of the GNNAFC, which would contain all details. It is nromally held around the end of July or early August, so we may have missed it. If other readers have received their June or July issues (Brian, Kay, others?), would you mind informing us of the date and location, if we haven't missed it. Cheers, Richard Paiement Ottawa Ontario Canada richard@dgbt.doc.ca ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 30 Jul 93 21:13:05 PDT From: terrym@netcom.com (Terry McConnell) Subject: Hello Fellow Numan Fans To: datta@cs.uwp.edu (David Datta) Hello All, When I was around 13 years old, my sister's boyfriend let me borrow his Pleasure Principle tape. Until then, I had never heard of Gary Numan. I hadn't even heard the song Cars (which was popular at the time). After listening to the tape only once, I kept it and started looking for more. Since then, I have become quite a fan of Gary, and quite a converter of other people. Numan's music spurred me to read Phillip K Dick (I was already a devout Science Fiction junkie -- even at 13), and others like Genet and Burroughs. To me, Gary brought music and lyrics together that was a constant source of interpretive life. The very essense of his living music lends itself to interpretation each time you hear it. As most, I have disappointed with Gary's recent attempt to make money and sell pop -- though I have every Numan CD I could get my hands on (with a few exceptions -- Notably Berserker, White Noise, The Fury, Strange Charm, and NUMA Interview disks 2-?). Numan is (IMO) at his best when he is uniquely orchistrating. Telekon's Joy Circuit was interesting in that there were a wonderful juxtaposition of styles making harmony. Berserker's Cold Warning -- one of Numan's best songs, mixes the same distant synth and hard strings. Numan has always been an innovator with the fretless bass - there are some incredible licks on Dance, Warriors, and even his Tubway Army stuff. I can't pick a favorite album because each seem to have a different style and flavor. I suppose the best of the best albums for me would be Dance or Warriors. Both have timeless beauty - speaking of which I forgot to mention the awesome SAX. (But, of course you all know this stuff ... ) Other artists that I love are varied and strange - Ultravox, OMD (older is better!), Joy Division (some New Order), and all the other "lesser" bands of that era (Blancmange, Silicon Teens, blah blah). On the "newer" front, I like The Lightning Seeds, Camoflage, Stone Roses, (how could I forget Deepest Commode ... er I mean Depeche Commode, whatever?), Erasure, XTC, REM, Oingo Boingo, B52s, oops, looks like I digressed again. On the "Terry, that's strange" front: Laibach, Capt. Beefheart, Kronos Quartet, Ween (I LOVE WEEN!), Disposable Heroes of the Hypocricy, Nick Cave, and some other bizarre stuff NO ONE has heard of. Anyway ... this is my first exposure to an Internet Mailing List ... so, you guys better not disappoint me. :) Terry ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 3 Aug 1993 19:55:17 -0400 (EDT) From: "Sean J. Crist" Subject: Here am I more Roche 5 than pain To: numan@cs.uwp.edu A fellow Numanoid and I were discussing lyrics, and he asked me what "Here am I more Roche 5 than pain" means. I'll share the answer because others might be interested in it. Roche is the name of a very large pharmaceutical company which manufactures Valium, among other things. Valium tablets come imprinted with the name 'Roche', and come in doses of five or ten milligrams. Unfortunately, Gary pronounces Roche incorrectly; it's one syllable, pronounced 'Roash'. The final -e is silent. I have some questions of my own: --In 'We take mystery to bed', what does 'D.E.B.' stand for? --I heard that Mallory is a brand of electrical battery sold in Britain. Is this correct? If so, the reference in 'Metal' makes sense. --Any guess as to what a 'downstat' is? \/ __ __ _\_ --Kurisuto (kurisuto@chopin.udel.edu) --- | | \ / _| ,| ,| ----- "I'm walking with a zombie with seaweed in my hair. _| ,| ,| [_] I'm walking with a zombie through radioactive air." | | | [_] --Army of Lovers ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 7 Aug 93 20:03:42 PDT From: dlangs%sunstroke@sdsu.edu (Derek Langsford) Subject: Jory (bad news I'm afraid) To: numan@cs.uwp.edu I realise this is not Numan related but it is news that I feel I should pass on as many of you have asked how Jory is doing. After encouraging progress over several weeks when he regained all his verbal and many of his physical skills we have been devastated by recent events. We had him home for 2 days two weeks ago only to go back to the hospital with a fever while his immune system was low. He was getting more lethargic and was vomiting more. Tests showed no infection but a CT scan showed his brain fluid chambers had collapsed. His response to corrective surgery was so much faster than expected that the changes in his brain drove him into a coma. His condition was compounded by a faulty valve in his cranial fluid drainage shunt. After 6 days he started to come out a little but he soon relapsed. A magnetic resonance image (MRI) scan has since shown the metastices on his spine are growing aggressively on his spinal cord, despite him receiving chemotherapy, giving him virtually no chance of beating the cancer even if he does regain consciousness. Susan and I are extremely sad that he'll die probably sooner rather than later. He has been such a wonderful baby who has touched a lot of people with his smile, happiness, and personality. We love him very much and will miss him more than we can say. Derek and Susan Langsford ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 14 Aug 93 13:40:49 PDT From: dlangs%sunstroke@sdsu.edu (Derek Langsford) Subject: New CDS?, Shadow Man, Note to new readers To: numan@cs.uwp.edu New Releases? ------------- Speaking with Paul Mayer this week he said his importer in NYC expects a new Numan Beggars Banquet compilation and a Cars remix CDsingle (9 versions) from the UK in a couple of weeks. The compilation is supposed to include a couple of b-sides. I wonder if this is to complete the UK CD output of his BB material? We shall see. And 9 versions of Cars - I hope they are as good as the E Reg Model mixes. Shadow Man Video balance ------------------------ Paul also has said he will wait for reimbursement for the NTSC transfers until the situation with my son is resolved. I would expect the total cost to be in the $10 minus your deposits range. Please wait for details before doing anything at this point. Note to newer readers --------------------- For those new to the list I am not in business supplying Numan CDs and videos, I am facillitating access to items that are unobtainable otherwise. With the current crisis in my family it will be a while before I take on any new orders or responsibilities. So please be patient. In combination with availability problems from NUMA themselves things will take a long time to happen. I forsee things getting back to sort of normal towards the end of the year. If there are any unresolved problems from the Shadow Man/White Noise/Berserker orders of the spring please email me personally. Thanks for your patience, Derek Derek H. Langsford dlangs@sunstroke.sdsu.edu Dept. of Biology, Tel. work +1 619 594 2885 San Diego State Univ. San Diego, CA 92182, USA ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 7 Aug 93 16:12:43 PDT From: terrym@netcom.com (Terry McConnell) Subject: Numan music sighting... To: numan@cs.uwp.edu The third episode of the PBS/Carl Sagan series "Cosmos" has a small snippet of Gary's "I Nearly Married a Human" in it. I wonder if Carl listens to Gary? I thought it needed to me mentioned somewhere. Terry -- ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 5 Aug 93 09:33:46 EDT From: Richard=Paiement%DCN%DGBT=CRC=ADMSR@dgbt.banyan.doc.ca Subject: S.U.'s and U.D.'s To: numan@cs.uwp.edu >> here is a question I've always had.. and now that the list is here.. I >> want to ask.. what does S.U.'s MEAN? To add to what Neal and Kay have said, which is also what I have heard and read, this girl Su(e) can be seen in a picture with Gary and his corvette: from memory, he's sitting in the driver's seat with the door open (ajar!) and his legs sticking out, and the girl is standing behind the car. As for the nasty fallout, I believe it had to do with her getting into the relationship for the sole purpose of getting a story to publish, or something similar, and Gary felt betrayed, as I guess anyone would. > While we're at it, what is "the vacant flesh of U.D.'s?" > As an aside, U.D.s did stand for something - Undesirables. Nothing to add to this. Richard Paiement Ottawa Ontario Canada richard@dgbt.doc.ca ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 5 Aug 93 09:51:50 EDT From: Richard=Paiement%DCN%DGBT=CRC=ADMSR@dgbt.banyan.doc.ca Subject: Translating Japanese text To: numan@cs.uwp.edu As some of you have surely discovered by now, a Numan biography, translated from Japanese text found in the Asylum I booklet, is available at the music ftp site. If anyone is interested in doing some more translation from Japanese to English, I have the booklet from the Japanese release of the New Anger CD, which contains three pages of Japanese text. I am willing to scan these pages and e-mail them as .gif (or any other format) file, or alternately I can snail-mail or fax them. Just let me know if interested. Richard Paiement Ottawa Ontario Canada richard@dgbt.doc.ca ------------------------------ End of Gary Numan Digest ******************************