Date: Mon, 31 Oct 94 12:44:04 CST From: numan@cs.uwp.edu Reply-To: numan@cs.uwp.edu (Gary Numan) Subject: Gary Numan Digest V1 #103 Gary Numan Digest Mon, 31 Oct 94 Volume 1 : Issue 103 Today's Topics: Edward Ka-Spel Gary's position on gays... Gary Numan Digest V1 #102 Gay Numan Jo the Waiter Machine and Soul Extended New Member New User Info Numan dates, November, London REVIEW: _Sacrifice_ (the new album) REVIEW: Here I Am Sacrifice - Review Subject matter of 'This Wreckage'? ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 24 Oct 1994 21:15:28 CDT From: shane810@dc.relay.ucm.org Subject: To: numan@cs.uwp.edu Am I missing something? I haven't gotten the digest for a couple of weeks. Is there really no news out there? Shane ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 27 Oct 1994 09:53:35 -0400 (EDT) From: Kevin Centanni Subject: Edward Ka-Spel To: numan@cs.uwp.edu Years ago, on Skinny Puppy's first U.S. tour, a band called "The Tear Garden" opened for Skinny Puppy. It was made up of a few SP members and led by Edward Ka-Spel. I was immediately reminded of Gary Numan (in his Telekon days). Later, I learned more about Ed... the Legendary Pink Dots and his solo work. I like it. Are there any other Edward Ka-Spel fans out in Numan land? I don't know too much about him - I think he's from Holland. I went to a Dots concert at the Limelight in NYC about 3 years ago.. It was good... but nothing like the Tear Garden concert back in 1986. Here's what I remember about the Tear Garden concert: This man came out on stage.. he was barefoot. I think he was dressed all in balck.. I do remember it being a rather plain outfit. He had taken a black marker and outlined the veins in his hands and wrists with black ink. His fingernails were painted black. There was only one keyboard on stage. Nothing else. As he played, he just stood there with a completely expressionless look on his face and performed this haunting music. Like I said, it reminded me of the detached nature of Telekon. Is there a discography out there? -- The shortest distance between two points hasn't been built yet. kpc@panix.com ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 24 Oct 1994 08:54:23 +0000 (GMT) From: Andy McHaffie Subject: Gary's position on gays... To: numan@cs.uwp.edu On the 14th Oct , Sean remindede me of Gary's lyric ""These boys of passion are nothing more than faggots." I forgot about that...It would really piss me off if he's a homophobe - Ive been following him for 15 years and always thought him very gay-friendly... As I said, he's playing at "G.A.Y." next month and Im hoping to get an interviewfor "Boyz" - an english gay magazine...If it comes off, Ill certainly bring it up.. "Scar" - sounds good...? Is it released in the UK yet? - If Gary goes back to pre-Replicas guitar based sound ill be delighted... Berserker...Are The Fury and Strange Charm on CD? If not, surely they are much better than Berserker (IMHO) and we should be clamouring for these...? Anyway - good to meet some other Numan fans You know being a Numan fan is like being gay - sometimes you think you're the only one in the world... ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 23 Oct 94 08:41:56 From: Joe.Lindstrom@telekon2.cpubbs.cuug.ab.ca (Joe Lindstrom) Subject: Gary Numan Digest V1 #102 To: numan@cs.uwp.edu *** Answering a msg posted in area GARY_NUMAN (Gary Numan Digest). Howdy Sean Crist! nue> Date: Sun, 16 Oct 1994 11:12:32 -0400 (EDT) nue> From: Sean Crist nue> Subject: Subject matter of 'This Wreckage'? nue> To: numan@cs.uwp.edu nue> Does anyone have the definitive scoop on what 'This Wreckage' is nue> about? I've always taken it as a kind of declaration of athiesm, nue> but it's hard to interpret. The way I remember it - it's a song about Gary's negative reaction to MAJOR fame (this was after "Cars" - the song appears on the Telekon album). A private man, suddenly living in a big fishbowl. The whole Telekon album is filled with these negative images, and this is why I consider it his best album to date... when Gary's STRONGLY emotional about something, that's when his genius really shines through. The Japanese lyrics at the end of "This Wreckage" translate, roughly, to "Goodbye Forever". It was intended that he would end his music career soon after Telekon. Luckily, that didn't happen. The song "Remind Me To Smile" is, similarly, about living life in a fishbowl. nue> I remember when I first found out that 'Mean Street' was the name nue> of a band that had kicked Gary out early in his career. Suddenly nue> that song was crystal clear. I had always liked it, but now I nue> knew what the events were that he was writing about. I wish I nue> could have a similar revelation about 'This Wreckage'; this has nue> always been one of my favorite songs by Gary. Certainly one of the most powerful, and not a bad performance vocally either. But I dunno if many here will agree with ya - there seems to be a lot of folks who didn't much care for that album. That's ok - they liked "Dance" and "I, Assassin", so there's no accounting for taste. (insert BIG HUGE WIDE grin here!) I was pleasantly surprised to see a bunch of Telekon material on the recent "Dream Corrosion" live album ("Remind Me To Smile", "I'm An Agent", "We Are Glass", the b-side "I Don't Believe", but oddly enough no "I Die: You Die".... then again, "I Don't Believe" and "I Die: You Die" start off VERY similarly, so mixing 'em both into the same concert might be a bit weird). It's all extremely well done. And I hate to admit it, but "Noise Noise" kicks ass on this album. :-) I used to HATE that song.... thanks for ruining it for me, Gary! Now I can't stop listening to it!!! [~] The Liquid Engineer [~] ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 23 Oct 1994 09:32:04 -0700 (PDT) From: terrym@netcom.com (Terry McConnell) Subject: Gay Numan To: numan@cs.uwp.edu This message is mostly for Andy McHaffie, but -- why send EMail what you can share with the class? :) Andy, Like you, I grew up with Gary and grew up gay. "Jo the Waiter" is probably one of the most confusing gay (or not) songs! Like someone else mentioned, Jo is a girl's name, but everything else in the song points to Jo being a guy ("...held me close ...behind the door marked 'gentlemen'" ... "...young men, need love special ..." etc ...) Take note, that much of the imagery in this song is borrowed from Uncle Bill Burroughs. Uncle Bill is very pro-gay and writes with deep understanding of the gay scene. Someone mentioned "...these boys of pleasure are nothing more than faggots." I'd like to also mention "...don't touch me with those painted little fingers, cause I know where they've been. You're not gonna put those scabs on me." This line, from 'Stories' is probably also a Burroughs reference. Uncle Bill often referred to "painted simpering faggots" as disease-ridden whores. Burroughs often made a distinction between "fags" or "queers" who _acted_ the part of the female, and "homosexuals" or "gays" who were often mistaken as straight. I belive that Gary's message with regard to gays is an expression of confusion at one point in his life; and, because of this confusion, he has a profound understanding of the community. Either this, of course, or since Burroughs shows the same insights, it is only another case of Burroughs influencing his work. In any case, I believe the message is consistent and not blurred in any way. When I was young and gay, Numan spoke to me. Now that I am older, and more experienced in being out and active (not just sexually), I see simply that Numan may have borrowed his viewpoints from the true masters of the subject. I'm not just speaking of Burroughs, but also Genet and PK Dick - all of whom are gay friendly. Does knowing this ruin it for me? Of course not. Do I care if Jo is a guy or a girl? No. Ultimately, I like to think that Beggar's Banquet _made_ him change Joe to Jo so as to appeal to a wider range of sexual orientations. After all, the controversey could well continue as it currently stands. I say that you should beleive what you want - because much of the beauty in Numan's lyrics is in their nebulosity. When a single song can fit happy, sad, angry, and depressed moods all at once - I gotta say it's inspired genius. Terry ------------------------------ Date: 24 Oct 94 12:35:12 EST From: "Kay Teel" Subject: Jo the Waiter To: numan@cs.uwp.edu Sean Christ wrote: > I've heard people argue that 'Jo the Waiter' is about a woman, since it's > spelled 'Jo' not 'Joe'. This strikes me as ridiculous; if so, the song > should be called 'Jo the Waitress'. If it were just this one song I > might agree there is a degree of ambiguity, but consider 'Friends', > 'Didn't I say I'm not one of you', etc. According to the Ray Coleman biography, the song is based on Gary's relationship with a girl named Jo. However, I agree that the lyrics are not gender specific, although I don't think the use of "waiter" over "waitress" is in itself proof positive the song is about a man. > It sounds like it's something he's not consistant about. Think of > 'The Rhythm of the Evening'- "These boys of passion are nothing > more than faggots." Exactly. My personal theory is that when Numan first started writing lyrics, he was very much influenced by William S. Burroughs' homoerotic writings as well as what I call gender-ambivalent performers like Bowie and Marc Bolan. These influences were reflected in his lyrics and image. But as he got older, he backtracked a bit into a more "macho" style. I do wonder whether such incidents as the infamous tabloid article were part of the reason for this. (The tabloid ran a story full of lies about Gary's "wild" sex life. After that, Gary refused to do interviews with UK newspapers (since they would only misquote him, anyway.)) Gee, I really miss the days when Numan's lyrics actually gave me something to puzzle over and try to decipher... (And I still don't really know what This Wreckage is about, either.) --Kay Teel teel@is.nyu.edu or teelk@elmer1.bobst.nyu.edu ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 26 Oct 1994 22:16:57 -0400 From: Cbbrad@aol.com Subject: Machine and Soul Extended To: numan@cs.uwp.edu Has any one seen or knows if Machine and Soul Extended has been re-released. I picked it up a year or so back and it had a total of 14 songs on it. Unfortunately the last four tracks were missing from the CD. The rest of the album was the same as Machine and Soul except the songs all had been remixed. It seemed to be a wide spread problem as all the copies that the store here in St. Louis got were the same way. Brad ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 25 Oct 94 14:28:47 EST From: Me@nyo.com Subject: New Member To: numan@cs.uwp.edu >Welcome! >You have now been added to the Gary Numan mailing list. Please send an >introduction message to the mailing-list. In this message, please let >us know who you are, who some of your favorite artists are, how long >you have listened to Gary Numan. Let us know if you play any i>nstruments or anything else that might come to mind. Me (guess where I got that from?) I'm a 28 year old male.....born in Illinois. I play a bass (not very well), sax (even worse), and I DJ (ok). I've been a Gary Numan since I first heard Cars/Metal (they were played back to back on a local radio station) in 1979. I didn't actually purchase any material by GN until 1985, although I had a few GN tracks on a cassette that I had gotten somehow. I went through a big Numan phase from 1986-1987. When I say phase, I mean I didn't listen to anything but Gary Numan music (constantly)....... Around the end of 1987 a good friend (at the time) brought over some old JAPAN, and I really liked it...so searched some old record stores and finally acquired some...and was reading the back of one of their albums..when I recognized the name Mick Karn.. My collection (although not much) is very dear to me. Since I have a mixer, a couple of turntables, etc...I have made several mixed Gary Numan tapes for myself and for friends who also are fans of his (because of my exposing them to his music). To date this is what I own... VINYL - Telekon, Dance, Replicas, First Album, Pleasure Principle, I Assassin, Berserker, The Fury, and Volume II of the Collection of Unreleased recordings (on Red Vinyl) CD - Skin Mechanic and New Anger CASS - Exhibition and Warriors Although GN will always be one of my favorites (I wish I could get the opportunity to see him in concert)...I listen to alot of Trance and Ambient music.......Not to mention Rap, Country, Jazz, Blues, Pop, Funk, Reggae, R&B, then there are the ones (like Gary Numan), that defy categorizing such as KraftWerk, Thomas Dolby, etc..... I'm glad that I have found out about this group........I hope to learn alot.... ######### " <> <> " <" ^ "> " <> " are friends electric? _____________ ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 26 Oct 1994 12:41:08 -0400 From: Jeffnuma@aol.com Subject: New User Info To: Numan@cs.uwp.edu My name is Jeffrey and I am a programmer in Melbourne, FL. I have been listening to and collecting as much Gary Numan music as I can since about 1981. My brothers had the Replicas album and I liked it very much. I went on to collect everything I could get my hands on. I enjoy all of his work up to today. My favorites include Replicas, We Take Mystery to Bed (12" mix), Conversation, and Berserker. I have not found anything so far that I don't like. Other artists I like include Erasure(I collect everything as well), Depeche Mode, BLONDIE/Debbie Harry (Big Fan), Visage, Ultravox, Thompson Twins/Babble, ABC, Human League,...the list goes on and on. I am really looking forward to discussions and maybe picking up some mail order items. Jeff ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 24 Oct 94 17:54:09 GMT-1:00 From: Sunil Shah Subject: Numan dates, November, London To: numan@cs.uwp.edu Greetings Planet Internet! I'm going to London in November, so I'd be very grateful if some kind soul would send me a bit of info on the places and dates for Numan concerts. Thanks, Linus linus@etek.chalmers.se, Gothenburg, Sweden ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 29 Oct 1994 22:14:07 -0700 From: dlangs@sunstroke.sdsu.edu (Derek Langsford) Subject: REVIEW: _Sacrifice_ (the new album) To: numan@cs.uwp.edu This is a rather rushed review and is probably one of many that will be in this week's and forthcoming Digests. For some reason this CD is costing more than ususal for a UK import. The wholesale price to stores is a couple of dollars more than normal. So you may have to pay upwards of $23 for it. If anyone finds it for less, let me know. GARY NUMAN SACRIFICE (UK) NUMACD 1011 1. Pray 3.55 2. Deadliner 4.29 3. A Question of Faith 4.52 4. Desire 3.47 5. Scar 3.25 6. Love and Napalm 5.08 7. You Walk in my Soul 4.39 8. Magic 4.42 9. Bleed 6.10 10. The Seed of a Lie 5.25 Total time 46.50 Written, performed, produced, engineered and mixed by Gary Numan Kipper plays guitar on 5, bass synth on 6 T.J. Davies does backing vocals on 5 Mastered by Mayking Records but pressed by Nimbus UK. We have waited 2 years for _Sacrifice_, Gary's 15th studio album (excluding extended mixes albums). It appears to be Gary's most personal album ever with him doing everything except for small contributions from Kipper and T.J. Davies who toured with Gary on the Dream Corrosion Tour. No longer can we attribute anything to influences other than those which Gary has chosen himself. We were lead to believe this was going to be a guitar album. It certainly isn't that. Still, Gary has changed direction, paring down his cluttered sound of past albums down to drum samples, synth, some guitar and vocals. Gone are the obvious dance influences, gone are the wailing backing vocals, gone are the Kipper's obvious guitar licks. Back is Gary's "whao-o-ooooo" backing vocal style from the "I, Assassin" era. The album is dark, moody, almost minimalist with smatterings of effects found on Gary's recent intrumentals (Hanoi, Dark Mountain). Ominous sounding synths, samples from movies and vocals compete but fail to overpower the dominant pseudo- industrial percussion that is present on every track. Gary's song writing seems more careful and thoughtful. The lyrics, although portraying familiar themes, break out of the rut that has been evident since Strange Charm. There is not a single awful, embarrassing or bad track on this album. It is Gary's least commercial, most focused project in a long time. I doubt if there'll be any successful singles or much airplay even though it deserves it. Despite the changes that many of us have been advocating (unclutter the sound, drop the wailing famale vox, be more industrial sounding), the improved lyrics and more carefully crafted songs, all is not sweetness and light. The percussion is too dominating and repetitive. One of my reactions to it is like that for _The Fury_. It starts to tire after half the album but fortunately the last two songs are some of the best and end the album strongly. However, once one gets past the percussion, there's a lot of meat to chew on. The album starts of with _Pray_ and I'd imagine Gary will be using this for his concert intro next month. Darkly atmospheric synth leads to more movie samples and this slowly builds until at 2 mins the percussion starts and Gary starts signing. The track is an impressive intro and sets the tone for the album. _Deadliner_ has Gary speaking, not singing, over percussion, synth and a rather ominous sounding electric piano at first. A melodic vocal line then caries the track. Again, promising with "ah ho ho-oooo" backing vocals to taunt us into reminiscing about year's past. _A Question of Faith_ instantly reminds me of _Skin Game_ at first with it's rhythm track but it is quite minimalist in sound. Guitar is more evident here than any track so far on the album. Heavily percussive again. It grows on me with each listening. Can her some Sisters of Mercy influence here. _Desire_ has Gary's vocals sounding delicate and vulnerable to great effect. There is a middle eastern sounding synth distinguishes this track. We've seen the lyrics to _Scar_ and have most likely thought that Gary's still in a lyrical rut. What saves him here is the intonation. It doesn't join the family of "I've seen this, I don't like that, I need this, I've done that" songs. _Scar_ seems fresh and new. Kipper's guitar does not detract and T.J. Davies backing vocals are subtle. Yes, subtle. I quite like this song. It works well. On _Love and Napalm_, there is a strong guitar line that is reminiscent of _The Machman_ and Gary's Tubeway Army days. It holds one's interest while the usual rhythm track and synths do their bit. _You Walk in My Soul_ is the first obvious ballad. Clearly a Numan ballad and again reminsicent of past ballads, especially _Don't Call My Name_ but with the current style applied. The percussion is still there, slowed down. _Magic_ is perhaps the most upbeat, hopeful song on _Sacrifice_. But it's not a lightweight pop song by any means. The album finishes off with two strong songs. _Bleed_ is at this point, my favourite on the album. Atmospheric intro, strong melody, interesting lyrics all showing off the best side of this "new" sound. _The Seed of a Lie_ is another ballad, though not obviously so. I love the booming backing synth that reminded me of OMD's more experimental side. A good finish to the album. I still need to listen to it some more (this review is based on 5 listenings) to make up my mind about this album. Gary has made significant positive changes but the lack of variety in the rhythm tracks detracts from the listening experience. I applaud Gary daring to make big changes. It is growing on me as I become more familiar with the songs. I expect the more barebones approach will be as controversial as anything before for his longtime fans. I certainly think this album demands a closer examination by the press than the last two albums. If the UK press went ga-ga over the Underworld's _dubnobasswithmyheadman_ then _Sacrifice_ should see some good reviews as it has a similar impression on me - well crafted, cohesive, some bright spots, perhaps slightly repetitive. It is a long time since I have felt Gary should regain the critical acclaim of the serious music listener. He does so with _Sacrifice_ but he's let down by the mix. Sound Quality: I suspect that Gary is losing his touch with production and engineering. The instrumentation is lost in the background and is on the lightly muddy side, but the vocals and percussion are crisp. With remixing I honestly think this album could be enormous. Artwork: Black, very black. Cover black with "Gary Numan" and "Sacrifice" in silver in the top and bottom left repectively. To the right is half of Gary's face in dark shadow. Clearly Gary's no spring chicken but I can't talk either. On the back of the disc and the booklet is the medical symbol in silver (looks like a pin with wings at the top and two serpents spiralling around the shaft of the pin). Booklet comes with all lyrics and credits in silver writing. There are two photos of Gary. Both very dark, in leather with what looks like a heavily ornamented crucifix around his neck. Rating - ideas, instrumentation, songs 9/10 - mix, sound quality 4/10 It'll be a while before I can place it among his previous albums. At this time I would venture to say it's his best effort since Berserker. I'll let you know if I change my mind. Derek ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Derek H. Langsford Dept. of Biology dlangs@sunstroke.sdsu.edu San Diego State University ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 28 Oct 1994 09:40:50 -0700 From: dlangs@sunstroke.sdsu.edu (Derek Langsford) Subject: REVIEW: Here I Am To: numan@cs.uwp.edu I decided to do an extensive review of "Here I Am" for those who don't have it yet and to give some very detailed info about it. Gary Numan Here I Am (UK) RRCD 186 Track Listing Source ------------- ------ 1. Emotion 5.39 album version from Machine and Soul 2. The Skin Game 6.17 " " " " 3. In A Glass House 4.12 b-side to Emotion CD single 4. Confession (live) 4.26 previously unreleased (Isolate Tour?) 5. America (live) 3.12 " " " " 6. Your Fascination 4.43 album version from The Fury 7. Time to Die 4.17 b-side to New Thing From London Town also on Isolate 8. Are Friends Electric? (live) 6.35 previously unreleased (Isolate Tour?) 9. My Dying Machine 3.20 single version, new to CD 10. Here I Am 5.37 b-side to My Dying Machine, new to CD 11. She Cries 5.51 b-side to " " " 12", new to CD 12. We Need It 6.48 b-side to Your Fascination, new to CD 13. London Times 5.29 single with Radio Heart, previously only on extremely rare Radio Heart CD 14. Rumour 2.43 b-side to London Times, without Radio Heart, also on The Other Side of GN CD 15. Berserker 4.00 single version, new to CD Total time 73.51 Dispite my initial wariness of another Numan compilation (the 6th on CD since 1988) I am pleased to conclude that this one is worth the $16+ both for the avid Numanoid and casual fan. The disc really has two halves to it: 1) previously available-on-CD material and live versions; and 2), previously unavailable-on-CD b-sides and single versions. And because Gary tends to make some excellent b-sides, the quality of the material doesn't suffer hence my recommendation to both causal and avid fans. The disc doesn't start off well by treading all too familiar ground. "Emotion", the dance track that epitomises to many fans all that has been wrong with Numan's music for the past 5 years, makes it's 4th appearance on CD. Tired lyrics, Janet Jackson percussion, yes, we've heard it all before Gary, and we are getting very impatient with it. "The Skin Game" was a brighter spot on the Machine and Soul album but as with "Emotion" this track is easily available elsewhere including the first Numan compilation from Receiver "The Other Side of Gary Numan" "In a Glass House" shows Gary's tendency to save good material for his single b-sides. This is infinitely better than the a-side from which it came. Effective samples from movies, an attention holding guitar line, pleasant rather than wailing female backing vox. In addition to the "Emotion" CD single this can be found on the "Machine and Soul extended CD". Even so, it is a welcome inclusion here. I first was hesitant about the live tracks included but was pleasantly surprised upon listening to them. "Confession" is far better in this performance than on the "Outland" album. It's not too different but the lack of percussive clutter provides an openess that gives the booming beat a more compelling presence. "America" has always been a favourite of mine from "Metal Rhythm" and this live version, though less driving than the studio version, holds up well. As with the live version of AFE, which is a standard rendition not too different from on "Ghost", my suspicion is that these versions came from the aborted Isolate Tour album recordings. Overall a good move to put some of it out in a compilation, despite my preference for all studio or all live albums. "Your Fascination" in this form is perhaps not so easy to get on CD these days due to the rarity of the long deleted "The Fury" CD. This is the album version rather than the extended version that was used for the Isolate" CD, so technically it's virtually unavailable on CD at the moment. Still I would have prefered to see a different track - perhaps an extended version of another "The Fury" song that still has not seen the digital domain. "Time to Die" is a strong ballad that contains many of the elements of Numan's early 80s style that many miss in the 90s. Dating back to "The Strange Charm" era this track first made it to CD on "Isolate". It's apprearance here is not unwelcome. This is where the CD shifts gears. So far the material has been available elsewhere on CD or are live versions of familiar material. The remaining tracks are virtually all new to CD songs or versions. First up is the single version of "My Dying Machine". This is severely shortened. For some this might be welcome as the only version available on CD to date as been the extended version that clocks in at just under 10 mins ("Isolate" and "Berserker"). I must admit this has never been a favourite of mine and the only interesting part of the extended version, the arpeggio synth breaks, are gone. Thankfully the single version is blissfully short at just over 3 mins making it's inclusion tolerable as well as welcome for completists. The regular album version is still not on CD. This disc then gives us 3 very welcome, previously unavailable on CD b-sides. And goodies they are too. "Here I Am", sees Gary in fine form, melding his Berserker sound with older elements in a slow paced number that brings back all the fond memories of Gary's peak. "She Cries" sounds even older containing "Dance", "I, Assasin" and "Warriors" era elements. This track was previously found only on the 12" version of "My Dying Machine". I am almost postive it started in the "Warriors" sessions as Bill Nelson's E-Bow guitar can be heard and the instrumentation overall is much more akin to that album than "Berserker". Lastly "We Need It", the b-side to "Your Fascination" has a deceptive intro before the growling synths come in. These 3 songs are over 16 mins of vintage Numan, something that has been rare lately. "London Times' seems out of place on a Numan album. Gary meets Phil Collins sums it up. Uptempo pop with brass backing. This was a single and album track on the Radio Heart featuring Gary Numan releases. A CD of the album was pressed in Holland but was quickly withdrawn when Gary decided he did not want his fans to think it was a Numan album. He contributed to only 3 songs and judging from this effort one can see why Gary didn't want fans to be mislead. It is quite disposable, not even up to the standards of Sharpe and Numan. Radio Heart were apparently the same production team that recently surfaced as Da Da Dang on the "Like a Refugee" CD singles with Gary. The Radio Heart CD is one of the rarest Numan collectibles but from what people have said, it is not at all worth the money you'd have to fork out for it. "Rumour" was the b-side to "London Times" but is a Numan solo effort. The difference is clear - a slow moody ballad, no brass, not poppy at all. I find it curious that Receiver included this when it has already appeared on their first Numan compilation a couple of years ago. There's still a lot of material out there that could be given it's first outing on CD instead. The last track is the single version of "Berserker". At just over 4 mins it is shorter than both the album and extended versions. So far, the extended version has been the only one to make it to CD. A shorter intro and early fadeout is the difference. At least one can now make up a compilation tape of all Gary's solo singles without just editing the "Berserker" tracks. Overall, I think "Here I Am" is a positive addition to Gary's CDiscography that brings a suprisingly high number of new songs/versions to CD and limits duplication to reasonable levels. Of course, the song selection could have been better, and there is still a lot of b-sides waiting to be put on CD but give Receiver credit for issuing what they have done so far. One also should remember that they contracted to release 3 compilations so there is still a good chance that many of the "missing" b-sides will make it on the third release. Ideally it would have been best to have had an official b-sides compilation but we'll have to take what we can get. BTW, ignore the artwork, the pictures are quite awful (ranks up there with Receiver's first Numan compilation). Erland rating +2 (a cale of -5 to +5) Derek ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Derek H. Langsford Dept. of Biology dlangs@sunstroke.sdsu.edu San Diego State University ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 27 Oct 1994 22:47:49 -0700 (PDT) From: terrym@netcom.com (Terry McConnell) Subject: Sacrifice - Review To: numan@cs.uwp.edu I just got Sacrifice (Numan's newest album) - it's all black (not only the cover art, but the music as well), and is again, distributed by Pinnacle. It's NUMACD 1011, and well worth the effort of trying to find (even though my local record store actually had it _prominently_ displayed, which is quite a rarity among new Numan albums). What follows is a brief review of, first, my impressions after listening to the whole album, then track by track, my impressions while listening to the CD. I hope this helps you make a descision to purchase this one. It's really a great album. ----- Sacrifice, the Album: Overall, this album is far and above any of Gary's previous works. It's truly a phoenix from the ashes of his career. I'll be surprised and shocked, and perhaps even physically sickened if this doesn't do well. It would be pointless to rate this CD with some kind of numeric value - suffice it to say that it's damn good, and even Non-Numan fans will like it. I wholeheartedly suggest it to anyone who likes Numan- as well as anyone who is enthralled by excellent synth work and unique composition. I'm pleased to announce that this album consists of nearly 47 minutes (10 tracks) of >brand spanking new< Numan material, and doens't have ONE remix of Cars on it. It's dark, forboding, and sometimes, even beautiful. Parts of this CD reminded me of, as has been said before, Sisters of Mercy, but also elements of Dead Can Dance, Laibach, and both old and new Numan styles are present. In many cases, the best of these elements are fused together and woven into individually beautiful packages. As I begin to indicate in the later track descriptions, I beleive the album, as a whole, lacks diversity. But, this does not detract from the work on each individual track. I'm very happy! ----- First impressions: Pray: Excellent track. Thank the gods that there were no screechy women in this one. I'm especially greatful that the words were written for the begining. Gary uses that voice distortion to incredible advantage. On to the music: Delightfully gloomy and desperate - This is the heavy wall of sound that Gary's been missing. As an introduction to the album, this track is strong and shows that there is infinite possibility in the remainder of this CD. I hope the rest of this CD matches this in quality! Deadliner: It's like I'm in this dream, you know? And I'm listening to the "new" Numan album in my dream, and I know I'm dreaming - I know Gary doesn't write stuff like this any more. I know I should wake up. But it's just too comfortable. Yes, friends and neighbors, its another excellent track. Gary >speaks< (a'la A.F.E.) the verses of this haunting track, and his voice may be the only quarrel I have with it. He's talking about a devastating nightmare: the words are there, but the execution is just a little off. Surprise! It doesn't matter! The slow, grinding, shuffling-along-with-the-weight-of-the-world-on-your-back beat in this song drives it and gives it structure. Another masterpiece. I'm looking FORWARD to the next track ... A Question of Faith: (prior to listening: Isn't this a cross between a Depeche Mode song "A Question of Time" and a George Michael song "Faith?" Hmmm ... uh - nevermind.) This is the first "fast" song on the CD. It's definately up to speed, but not as excellent as the first two tracks. I think, like many of Gary's songs, there is enough quirkyness in here to make it grow on me. Desire: Very smooth vocals and a driving beat on this medium slow track. Not bad ... it's a nice sound for Gary. It sortof reminded me of "This House is Cold." The last minute or so of the track has better background synth than the beginning, but it's all really good. This is a very mellow, modern sounding track with sharp contrasts. Scar: There's a nice intro on this track that's mostly drum for the verses, and melodic in the chorus. TJ's backing vocals (the girl from "Dream Corrosion") are unobtrusive and follow the melody, or provide good countermelody. The chorus has a nice groove to it, that I don't think will wear thin. Nice guitar work by Kipper, but I couldn't find his "solo" really. Love and Napalm: The guitar on this track is reminiscent of old Numan (The Plan), and the synth & beat are right on. This song really pumps and sounds like a "modern" cross between Friends or Plan era songs, and the best of Gary's more recent attempts at funk. Numan masterfully fuses the qualities of his past works into this powerful song and somehow makes it all sound very crisp and new. This is an impressive track, and I'm perhaps spoiled by the rest of the good songs on this album thus far, but, I feel after 6 tracks, this CD can only get better. You Walk in My Soul: This is, by far, on of the best Numan ballads I've heard in a very long time. "Heart," and even "A Child With the Ghost," alomst pale in comparison to the deep, moving darkness of the melodic elements, and plaintive, almost painful vocals in this song. This is another excellent, haunting track. Magic: The beats in these songs up to this point have nearly all seemed to this (perhaps) untrained ear to use the same basic intstrumentation. Despite this, it is only at this point in the CD that I've come to notice it - and it does seem to detract from the experience of the _entire_ album. However, that being said, the beat on this track is used more effectively than in the other tracks. This is not to belittle the effectiveness of the rhythm implementation across the span of this CD, but to indicate more that it may wear thin upon repeated listening. When I read the lyrics to this song, I expected another ballad, and while "Magic" could be characterized as a "slow" song, it's certainly got more energy than most songs composed at this tempo. Gary's vocals here were the surprising element in this song, perhaps combined with the synth samples he chose to contrast and combine with the rhythm. Bleed: At the start of this song, I held some hope that the rhythmic qualities I described above were changing; but about 40 seconds into the song, the beat was back. Gary's voice is mixed a little heavy on this track, and since his voice carries the main melody without any help until the second verse, it comes off a little coarse. There's a tinny, high pitched synth stutter at the start and end of this track (probably only perceptable with headphones) that adds an intense, erie quality to these sections of the song. I couldn't tell if this synth was mixed into the rest of the song, but if it was, I think the song would have benefitted by mixing it a little heavier - it's a nice comfortable sound that fits the vocal timbre very well. The Seed of a Lie: The beat is back (not mixed as heavy as the other tracks), but this time supported by a wall of solid bass synth that really gives it depth. Gary's voice again carries the melody, but much more succesfully in this one. There's some claves in this one too that reminded me of Telekon, but that's the only part that DID remind me of Telekon. The countermelodies by the synths are very effectively used, and Gary's vocals with the bass line - hey, it all combined together to make a nice song. This one's a keeper. --- Terry ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 23 Oct 1994 11:24:28 -0400 From: chuckies@binkley.cs.mcgill.ca (Charles J Savoie) Subject: Subject matter of 'This Wreckage'? To: numan@cs.uwp.edu (Gary Numan) | Date: Sun, 16 Oct 1994 11:12:32 -0400 (EDT) | From: Sean Crist | Subject: Subject matter of 'This Wreckage'? | | Does anyone have the definitive scoop on what 'This Wreckage' is about? It's describing Gary's confusion at being thrust into the limelight... and his desire to quit his role as pop-star... The LP version of the "Exhibition" compilation has inner notes which quote part of _This Wreckage_ as evidence of Gary's hinting at ending his music career: This wreckage I call me Would like to frame your voice This wreckage I call me Would like to leave you, leave you, Leave you, leave you soon I don't have exactly what the liner notes say; I don't have the LP version on hand. Charles -- ------------------------------ End of Gary Numan Digest ******************************