Date: Sun, 4 Sep 94 04:00:06 CDT From: numan@cs.uwp.edu Reply-To: numan@cs.uwp.edu (Gary Numan) Subject: Gary Numan Digest V1 #95 Gary Numan Digest Sun, 4 Sep 94 Volume 1 : Issue 95 Today's Topics: Dadadangnabbit! Dream Corrosion (2 msgs) Dream Corrosion sighting Gary Numan Digest V1 #94 Latest News! Marilyn Manson One More Thing opening statement ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 03 Sep 94 19:24:02 From: Joe.Lindstrom@telekon2.cpubbs.cuug.ab.ca (Joe Lindstrom) Subject: Dadadangnabbit! To: numan@cs.uwp.edu Howdy Everyone! First a quick note to Manish Soni - your tape *IS* coming. My PROFUSE apologies for the delay, I've had some troubles with my equipment here. Anyone else who wanted that Numan "Spotlight" from MuchMusic, send me $10CDN (try not to send checks on US banks for US currency, they're a *BITCH* for me to cash) to cover mailing plus the cost of a blank videotape, to: 16 Falbury Bay NE Calgary, AB Canada T3J 1H6 The only comments I want to make this week are in regards to "Like A Refugee" by Numan and Dadadang. I don't find this song as wretched as everyone seems to find it. I don't know why - does this mean I'm WAY too much of a completist? My girlfriend really likes it - wonder if this is a good sign or not? Anyways: It's a fairly basic song but unlike almost everything he does, it's "mainstream". As someone else pointed out, it's got some of Gary's best vocals in a very long time - I was sorta surprised by this. Don't get me wrong, I like Numan *BEST* when he's just belting it out (ie: "Jo The Waiter", "Berserker") but it's a real turnoff to mainstream audiences. THIS Numan would be a heck of a lot more acceptable - I'm going to try to get permission to get it added to our playlist at the campus radio station where I'm a broadcasting studio (the satellite station is a rock/lite-rock format and this song would slip in easily). As for the music - well, it just ain't Numan. That ain't a bad thing, but anyone expecting some Numan-inspired tuneage should look elsewhere. That said, I rather *LIKE* the music - slow paced, a nice celtic sound to it... and I'm sorry but I can't agree with whoever said it was like "80's Information Society" music. :-) I dunno if I'll file this in my collection next to the "real" Numan music - cuz it sure ain't - but I do enjoy it and I'm finding, like Outland, that it grows on you. [~] The Liquid Engineer [~] ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 29 Aug 94 00:20:04 EDT From: ZigiF@aol.com Subject: Dream Corrosion To: numan@cs.uwp.edu I picked up the Dream Corrosion album at My Local Store for $32.95 on the 28th, the day after it came in. This means it's available for substantially less elsewhere (my store is a small concern and they're wonderful people to deal with, so it's worth the few extra bills). The track listing is as follows: Disc 1 Mission (Intro) Machine and Soul Outland Me, I Disconnect From You We Are So Fragile Respect Shame Films Dream Killer Down in the Park My World Storm The Machman Generator Noise Noise Disc 2 Cars Voix You Are In My Vision It Must Have Been Years That's Too Bad Remind Me To Smile I'm An Agent Are 'Friends' Electric? My Breathing I Don't Believe Bombers Jo the Waiter We Are Glass First off, I haven't yet listened to this _properly_. I had a friend over and I was rather excited--I'd read the track listing about eight times before it sunk in that "YAIMV" WAS on it (this and "Jo" were the first songs I learned to play on both guitar & bass, and so have emotional connotations for me...I remember Numan saying in an interview that YAIMV was one of his two least favorite pieces musically, and I had never expected to hear another version). Getting the grumbles out of the way right off: The sound quality is not great, especially the vocals, which are downright muddy; but I personally will trade clarity for "That's Too Bad" any day. (I would also trade "Generator" for "The Skin Game," but that's nitpicking. And I would have loved it if this were great new material, but hopefully there will be more of that eventually. I'm feeling optimistic right now.) But other than that, I loved it. I revelled in it. I didn't cringe even *once* listening to *either* disc (I might have squinted a little at the insertion of the backup vocals into some of the older stuff, however, but I suppose she had to have something to do besides just stand there and bop; and T.J. Davies' voice isn't as shrill as some), and, since I've gotten used to having to build up a tolerance before I can appreciate his new stuff, it was quite a relief. I've never been able to really come to enjoy _Outland_ on the whole (I've tried--the intros are terrific), especially "Dream Killer," which I found on the thin and maudlin side, but the versions of Outland stuff on DC are excellent--richer and gutsier--and the version of "Dream Killer" lost all its stickiness. It sounds great. The old, old stuff is, for the most part, done really straight (it *might* have been fun if he'd reworked it more, but it might not have been; I'm satisfied), especially "That's Too Bad" (wow, has his voice changed!). DITP has an Outlandish (heh) intro and a slightly increased ominousness. Altered first verse of Machman (I haven't made it out). New drum break in "Cars." YAIMV is faster & grungier. AFE has acquired some very fine Basic R&R guitar work. Nothing major, but fresh enough to be interesting. I was pleased that it was the fast guitar version of "Bombers," rather than the slow Telekonical version that I've heard somewhere (the Asylum collection? Living Ornaments?). I'll admit that much of my enthusiam about this set is that it features an astonishing number of my personal favorites, very old and otherwise, played very well. I did noticed a conspicuous absence of anything from Berserker, though ( and The Fury, Warriors, I Assassin, or Dance--but Berserker is much the best of the bunch), but I'm happy. The cover is rather nice, too. (Damn, wish I'd been at that show.) But where does "Shame" come from? That's a great song. I must have missed it, or is it new? Later! Ziggy Blum ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 1 Sep 1994 14:23:05 -0600 From: "BRIAN D. HAMMOND" Subject: Dream Corrosion To: numan@cs.uwp.edu A couple of days ago, I got the full length Dream Corrosion Tour CD. In general, this recording struck me as slightly above average. After hearing the Live EP two weeks ago, I was pretty excited about this album. My feelings now, after having listened to it once, are mixed. In some cases I am pleased with the interpretations and in other cases, I am mildly disappointed. Chief among my complaints is the over abundance of tape machines to provide backing instrumentation. Perhaps this is a necessity, but it degrades from the "live" quality of the music. The female backing vocalist had a powerful voice that at times appeared to overwhlem Numan. There was a noticable lack of bass guitar on many songs (esp. Remind Me To Smile). This depreived them of a lot their backbone. Perhaps I've been spoiled on all those fretless bass sounds from the Assassinatour in 1982 on up to 1992. I still contend that the recording quality (and the overall intensity) of the concert pales in comparison to _White Noise_. A few positives: I really liked the inclusion of rarely to never-before- played-live songs. Some of the interpretations really worked too. Numan was perhaps the most expressive in his vocals, showing emotion and crowd interaction, that I have ever heard in a live recording. Unlike _White Noise_ and _Living Ornmanets 79 & 80_ where every track was a joy, this one is hit or miss. Some versions were great, others varied from slightly dull to bad (i.e. Films, where Numan's voice seemed incapable of reaching all the notes). Still, I place this concert above _Ghost_ and _The Skin Mechanic_. I would recommend this live album, not enthusiatically, but with a guarded thumbs up. Anyway, the track listing: Disc 1: 1 Mission (Intro) 2 Machine And Soul 3 Outland 4 Me! I Disconnect From You 5 We Are So Fragile 6 Respect 7 Shame 8 Films 9 Dream Killer 10 Down In The Park 11 My World Storm (mislabelled, actually, New Anger) 12 The Machman 13 Generator 14 Noise Noise Disc 2: 1 Cars 2 Voix 3 You Are In My Vision 4 It Must Have Been Years 5 That's Too Bad 6 Remind Me To Smile 7 I'm An Agent 8 Are 'Friends' Electric? 9 My Breathing 10 I Don't Believe 11 Bombers 12 Jo The Waiter 13 We Are Glass I won't bother going through each track listing off which ones I like and why (who cares, this is all subjective anyway). I must admit that Kipper's guitar work sounded quite good on many of these songs, giving them an edge they never had before. I was a little disappointed that no songs from _Dance_ or _I, Assassin_ were included. At least "Emotion" wasn't on it. Me! I Disconnect From You ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 2 Sep 1994 16:28:39 -0700 From: dlangs@sunstroke.sdsu.edu (Derek Langsford) Subject: Dream Corrosion sighting To: numan@cs.uwp.edu I saw a copy of the Dream Corrosion album CD today but didn't pick it up after I was told it was mispriced and they wanted $7 more than what the price sticker said. I was too annoyed to buy it. At $19.99 it was a bargain but I thought I'd wait before paying $26.99. Anyway, it's in one of those slim 2CD cases. The song selection looked rather intriguing - a mixture of material from his whole career rather than moslty stuff from the most recent one or two albums plus the standard AFE, Cars, DitP, IDYD, WAG etc. There looked to be a large number of songs in the set. One that did catch my eyes was "Shame" - the first time this song has appeared on CD in any form. The cover was decent for a live album. I'm looking forward to reviews of it and will supply my own when I break down and get the thing. Derek ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Derek H. Langsford Dept. of Biology dlangs@sunstroke.sdsu.edu San Diego State University ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 28 Aug 94 07:58:10 EDT From: MeadB@aol.com Subject: Gary Numan Digest V1 #94 To: numan@cs.uwp.edu unsubscribe ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 31 Aug 1994 14:40:41 -0600 From: "BRIAN D. HAMMOND" Subject: Latest News! To: numan@cs.uwp.edu Just spoke with Paul Bosanko today. For those who don't know him, he's the one Beryl Webb fingered to be the US distributor of official Fan Club and Numa Records items. He had spoken to Beryl earlier in the day for about an hour and a half. First, he expects to have his first shipment of items from Beryl in about 2 weeks. He is currently moving to a new address, but once he's settled, he'll pass it along to me so that I may pass it along to all of you. He is expecting to get tour t-shirts and some videos. He'll also be providing memberships to the UK club as well as Numa Records back catalogue items (CDs,singles from the old label signees etc..). Beryl also told him Numan is set to release his next album soon. Aparantly Vicious and Scar are out. It will be called _Sacrifice_ and according to Beryl represents a very dark and eerie sound. She told Paul it isn't the type of album you would want to listen to in a dark room. Gary told her it was a sound and album he wanted to do all by himself. It will also feature two instrumentals on it, something Numan hasn't done in a long time. The first single to be released will be out in a matter of weeks and is called "A Question Of Faith." No word yet on what it sounds like. Numa also has plans to release the Radial Pair Video soundtrack on CD sometime real soon. That's supposed to feature sounds similar to Hanoi and Dark Mountain. Finally, Beryl told Paul that the moivre Speed (now playing at your local $1.50 theatres) features the Cars Sprint Mix in it. She wasn't sure where it appeared in the actual film but knows that it is on the movie soundtrack available at any decent record store. The phone conversation ended after Beryl had to go speak to a BBC representative about a TV interview later that night! Hope this interests some of you! Me! I Disconncet From You ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 29 Aug 94 15:12:51 EDT From: AnuKirk@aol.com Subject: Marilyn Manson To: numan@cs.uwp.edu ...has recorded a cover of "Down In The Park." it's the same key and approximately the same tempo as Numan's. It sucks. They use a puny Roland TR-808 drum loop, what sounds like a CasioTone through a distortion pedal for bass, heavy distorted guitar (that's OK), and some generic string synth. But in an attempt to make it "heavy", they pull out the main keyboard riff and had the "singer" scream most of the vocals on one note, though the processing on his voice is nice. It may or may not be released -- their album is already out. Perhaps it'll be a single b-side. Marilyn Manson is the first band Trent Reznor (of NIN) signed to his label. I got a copy of the song through a friend who works for their music publisher. The best thing that can be said is that if it IS released, Gary should be getting some $$$ and maybe some more people will get into his stuff. -- Anu ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 2 Sep 1994 02:16:21 -0600 From: "BRIAN D. HAMMOND" Subject: One More Thing To: numan@cs.uwp.edu Forgot to mention that, for those completists out there, Dream Corrosion is also available on vinyl. From what I heard, the LP has six sides (three full LPs) in a gatefold sleeve and adorned with an authentic autogrpagh from Numan himself. Last I checked, both ABCD and Music Machine had copies for sale. Me! I Disconnect From You ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 29 Aug 94 13:41:34 BST From: Derek Macdonald Subject: opening statement To: numan@cs.uwp.edu Hi, just a few words about myself. I started listening to Gary when 'Are Friends Electric' topped the charts over here all those years ago. In fact the first LP (remember them?) I ever bought was 'Replicas'. The second was 'The Pleasure Principle'. I've seen Gary live on most of his British tours since the 1982(?) Warriors tour.I have to be honest I still haven't made my mind up about this Kipper fellow. I suppose I do fall into the 'old guard' category. Can anyone tell me what happened to Chris Payne, Rrussell Bell and Ced Sharpley (post Dramatis)? I've read quite a bit of post saying 'The Fury - Aaaargh!'. I quite like the singles off of it and 'Tricks'. I think I'd have to say that IMHO 'I, Assassin' is a bit of a turkey. For a while I thought that perhaps Gary was losing it but I thought that MAchine & Soul was a return to form. The Dream Corrosion Album is superb. At Last a different set list! My all-time favourite Numan tracks are 1) Remind me to smile 2) My Breathing 3) Berserker 4) My Car Slides 5) I Die: You Die What else? I play the guitar, well I own one. I'm desperate to find a copy of the Gary Numan songbook which was published a few years ago. Favourite other acts include Bill Nelson, Kraftwerk, Ultravox, American Music Club and Love & Money. Derek Macdonald Napier University Edinburgh ------------------------------ End of Gary Numan Digest ******************************