Gary Numan Digest Fri, 13 Sep 96 Volume 1 : Issue 261 Today's Topics: "THE DIGEST ASKS GARY - August 1996" Asylum vol 2 for sale Disappearing Digest! Gary Numan Digest V1 #260 Gary Q's: Outland Studio Upgrade I, Assassin Monthly Topic: I, Assassin Oh Sh*t Please visit my home page Poetry and Power of statistics Program Tours & Others Radio Heart That's too bad/Bombers Doublepack The Story So Far, Human VH-1 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Date: Wed, 11 Sep 1996 11:25:20 -0700 From: dlangs@sunstroke.sdsu.edu (Derek Langsford) Subject: "THE DIGEST ASKS GARY - August 1996" To: numan@cs.uwp.edu Sorry for the delay in getting these to you. It was all my fault as Gary responded in his usual timely fashion. I just didn't get them to him until last Friday. Some of you are still forgetting to indicate where you live! Please include this info every time you send an email for Gary's Qs. I don't have the time to sift through past issues and find your details, nor can I guess from your email address unless it's fairly descriptive. I think it only a courtesy for Gary to know where in the world these questions are coming from. Anyway, here's this month's set. Details of how to go about asking Gary a question are given at the end. If you forget the info you can find it at the World Wide Webb (http://www.netway.ab.ca/worldwidewebb/confession.html) where all of the previous "THE DIGEST ASKS GARY" sessions are archived. Derek ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- >From Eric Rodriguez of Landover Hills, Maryland USA Hey Gary, I am 13 years old and a ''Cars Freak''. I just love that song. I am stuck in a time warp as well, for I only listen to 80's music (your old songs). I have these CD's in order of how I got them: The Best of Gary Numan 1978-1983, Here I Am, The Other Side of Gary Numan, Dream Corrosion, The Pleasure Principle/Warriors set, Document Series presents: Gary Numan, and Replicas/The Plan set. I will soon be getting the Telekon/I, Assassin set which like most of these I have had to special order. I am also looking forward to Living Ornaments '79 & '80. Q1. Do you like to watch wrestling. And do you know anyone that collects WWF wrestling figures? I was wondering (when you had time) could you see if any stores had some WWF action figures (1-2-3 Kid, and the Smoking Gunns) they are in a green package. If you don't watch wrestling and haven't the slightest idea what i'm talking about, i am sorry to have made you clueless to what I was talking about and you don't have to look for the action figures. I'll let you concentrate on your music. A1. I actually don't like wrestling at all I'm afraid and I hardly ever go to toy shops but I'll keep my eyes open just in case. Nice talking to you! Thanks a lot! ---- >From Wayne Knisley, Oceanside, California, USA Gary, My very first Gary Numan concert was 'I,Assassin Tour 82', you played Perkins Palace, Pasadena, CA October 8th. Opening band was 'Viva Beat'. When the curtains went up, the set was completely stripped with nothing but regular stage lighting. I was completely disappointed....in the beginning. I was totally expecting to see a flash stage set as in the Touring Principle and the Teletour sets. During the concert I gained total respect for you as a live performer. You totally worked the stage and the audience and I was totally mesmorized by your stage presence. Since then I've been to only two other tours and that was in the UK. Q2. What was the reason to tour without your regular stage. If you can recall,14 years ago? A2. I don't have a regular stage set. Each tour has a new one. The reason that the '82 US tour didn't have a flash one was due entirely to a lack of money and the fact that much of that tour was played in small venues, small club size really, and so even if I had gone out with a big set my lowly level of success at that time would have prevented me using it anyway. Thank you for answering my previous questions, I feel such honor that you actually take the time to do...absolutely amazing. I think I may have mislead you in the one question I asked about you doing an instrumental album. What I was getting at was that your music is so ingenious. Q3. Would you consider releasing an already released album or compilation of tracks minus the vocals thus creating an instrumental album? A lot of your ballads are arranged so beautifully!! Thanks for re-visting this question. A3. It would have to be re-mixed which takes a fair amount of time and I would have to be sure that a significant number of people would want such an album and to be honest I don't think that that many people would. I'm having enough trouble trying to sell my normal albums as it is let alone instrumental versions. This would probably be a good idea if I was doing better business than I am at the moment. Thought of a couple more questions but here are two other thoughts. First, I think that you should do whatever you feel is best for you and Numa as far as the release of 'Strange Charm' goes. However, my personal choice is to have as much as possible on CD that already isn't on CD. Second, stop by Joey Lindstrom's site 'The World Wide Webb' and pop in to 'Poetry and Power'. The section is a tribute to you by the fans. Hope you enjoy it. Q4. Of all the backing vocalists that you've worked with in the past, male or female, with whom would you like to work with again if the need came about. A4. They all had their good and bad points but TJ is the only one who has become a firm friend and who I see regularly socially so it would definitely be TJ Davis. Q5. Are you familiar with the group Alphaville? Any influences from them or are they too bubble gum pop for you? A5. I've heard of them, in fact I think my guitar player Rob just finished a tour with them but no, they are not an influence. I've not heard any of their stuff. Q6. Finally, How many licks does it take to get to the center of a Tootsie Roll Tootsie Pop? This is a trivial question obviously. A6. A good question and I'll keep licking till I find the answer. Thanks as always. ---- Chris Savage of East Lansing, Michigan, USA asks: I am somewhat new to this list so perhaps you've answered this before but here goes: Q7. Is there *any* chance that we'll be seeing you in the USA in the near future? If so, when?! A7. If I get a major deal the chances are good, if not the chances are a bit 50/50. When is even harder to guess but next year would be nice.*** I've been a fan of yours from waaay back and saw the Telekon tour in Ann Arbor, Michigan. I've been starving since then! Please come back! ---- Chris Schumann, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA: Before the question, I'd like to thank you for the music you've given the rest of us. I wish I had gone to see you (you performed in Madison, Wisconsin twice -- about three hours from my home town), but I didn't really start listening to music until 1981. You've said that working with a producer is not right for you right now, but there has been some talk on the digest about less-than-great sound quality on some of your CD's (and I must agree in some cases). Q8. What are your thoughts on hiring a sound or recording engineer during the mastering process? A8. I think it's virtually been proven that the sound quality problems originate long after the stuff leaves my studio, most likely at a particular pressing plant. In fact I'll just insert a snippet of a message I sent to someone recently who had a slightly insulting thing to say about my engineering and leave that as my answer. "I want my albums to be of the highest quality and to that end spend a huge amount of time and money on equipment for the studio but I am only in control of the recording process up to a certain point." "The facts of the Sacrifice album, original version, are that we spent in excess of one thousand pounds getting it EQ mastered at the top cutting house currently in the business so it should be as good as it can get. After 15 plus albums I can assure all my fans that I do know when an album sounds good or not in a studio regardless of who is engineering it but I cannot speak for the final quality of every copy pressed as I obviously don't quality check every single copy." "It must be fairly obvious to most people that I have high quality equipment here that I record stuff on, and listen to stuff with, before sending it away to be cut and pressed. It is probably better than most peoples Hi Fi systems,costing well in excess of 100,000 UK pounds as it does. Nothing leaves here that doesn't sound first class. Whatever problems are occuring with the sound it happens after it leaves here so Mr Ken Whatsisname can shove his engineering comments up his arse. If he honestly believes that an album left this studio that was of no better quality than a cassette deck copy he must be simple." ---- >From John Wilson, Merrimack, New Hampshire, USA I have had the Dream Corrosion CD for sometime and very much enjoy the music. As a result, I purchased the video but must tell you I was very surprised, and a bit disappointed, at the concert presentation. I have not seen you live, since the "I Assasin" tour in the U.S., so my memory is admittedly dated. Nevertheless, the three times I saw you, your stage presence was very much stoic and detached. I enjoyed your concerts tremendously and felt your stage presence fit your music extremely well. The music, your delivery, and the futuristic stage set was very distinctive and well integrated. The Dream Corrosion concert is entirely different - you and the band really cut loose. Q9. Has (and will) your return to a more sinister tone of music factor into the style of any future concerts? How would you characterize the Dark Light and Premier Tours? A9. I don't know how to answer this. If you prefer the older style of slightly wooden and less energetic on-stage delivery then sadly I can offer you nothing in the future. I'm lucky in that most people seem to much prefer the way I perform these days although most of them have obviously grown with me over the years that you missed. The best thing you can do is to watch old videos I suppose because I like the way I've developed as a stage performer. I'm reasonably still on songs that suit it and go crazy apeshit on songs that have energy. I think it's a mistake to think that being sinister means you have to stand still and glare at people but each to their own I suppose. BTW, Sacrifice and the Absolution single are absolutely brilliant. It's a good thing they are on CDs because albums would have worn out by now. Looking forward to Exile! -John ---- Craig Burrows, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada Hi Gary First let me offer my condolences for your recent losses, I, as I'm sure other digest members, were thinking of you during this difficult time. Q.10. I recently picked up a copy of Telekon/ I Assassin while on a visit to the U.K. There is a bonus track called "This House is Cold" which IMO is one of your finest pieces. I am, however, having a little difficulty "decoding" the lyrics :-) Can you offer any insight? also, from the sound of the song it doesn't sound like it was written in the I Assassin era, do you remember when you wrote it? A10. No. I've not heard the track since I recorded it as far as I know and certainly not since that duo album was released so I've nothing to jog my memory. I loved Sacrifice, esp the ext version and am looking forward to Exile. Thanks for taking the time to answer all of our questions ---- Brian Winchester-Beebe, Arkansas, USA: Dear Gary, You answered my questions before and I am thankful! I hope that you continue to answer my questions! Here goes! Q11. I believe that you once sang the lines...."Did you know that friends come in boxes" and the lines...."September she knows I can feel".....Well, I was wanting to know if you think that I should purchase Nintendo's new 64-bit machine? You see, the "Nintendo 64" comes in a box and she arrives here in the USA sometime this September! Please, I value your opinion and foresight....Should I buy myself this new toy from Nintendo? A11. Hello strange person. The line 'Did you know that friends come in boxes' was actually from a song about a future technology whereby a man could masturbate into a box of 'stuff' and from it the child of his choosing would grow. A bit like 'add water and stir'. I don't think that writing that song therefore gives me much of an insight into your Nintendo dilemma. So much for foresight. Foreskin more like. Sorry.*** I have had some-what odd dreams all of my life! When I was about 8 or 9 years old I learned that the people in my dreams were ancient Romans! I have had dreams of ancient Roman military type scenes all of my life! There has always been this one guy, in my dreams, that is preaching to groups of Roman soldiers! Now that I've grown-up a little bit, I've noticed that this gentleman from my dreams, who is preaching to groups of Roman soldiers, is actually me! I have been having dreams all my life in which I am some kind of ancient Roman leader or Roman Centurion! Well, I heard one of your songs entitled "My Centurion" and for a while I was convinced that this song was about my dreams! As I was listening to "My Centurion" the lyrics were corresponding almost perfectly with several dreams of mine! Later, I learned that the song "My Centurion" might actually be related to a type of airplane! Q12. My question.....Is the song "My Centurion" referring to a type of aircraft or is the song actually referring to one of your fan's dreams? A12. It's about a plane crash I was in. The aeroplane was a Cessna 210 Centurian. It was a wierd experience but not THAT wierd. Thank you for answering my questions! I wish you luck and happiness with "Exile" and your work in the future! ---- Stefano Meneghetti, somehwere in Italy: Q13. Would you consider to play gigs in small but fashionable clubs around the world? A13. Certainly would. They don't even have to be fashionable. ---- Russ (of somewhere in the USA) Q14. On your touring principle tape you came back on stage and stated that "It was a bit different than last night". I'm wondering how bad was the previous night? What did they audience do (Or didn't do?) A14. I think the night before had a large element of music biz personnel in the audience and so the crowd reaction was noticeably less frenzied than the night that was recorded. Q15. Does it really cost that much to bring a small tour to the U.S? It seems that there are plenty of bands that put on small tours here in the U.S. why couldn't you? (after all, if it wasn't for us yanks you would be singing in German and the name Numan wouldn't be anything special). A15. Yes, it really does. You have to remember that I'm not 'a band' I'm a solo artist that has to pay his musicians. This puts my situation in a completely different box compared to regular touring bands. I also don't have a record company in the US to sell the records that such a tour would be set up to promote. I have no success to speak of and so could command only very small fees in very small places so the tour could not support itself financially without the backing of a record company. Etc etc etc. The last comment escapes me completely unless you're referring to World War 2 and I think your history books may paint a slightly different picture of events compared to ours. For what it's worth I don't think the name Numan IS anything special, nor the man that uses it, never have. Q16. The overall theme on "Sacrifice" seems to be hinged on the thought that you or somebody you know has a deadly disease, like aids, any connection here? A16. No. I don't know anyone that's died of a deadly disease or anyone that has one. I don't use the word to apply to something like AIDS or Cancer. I use it in a slightly more abstract way. Q17. Do you still live in Virginia Water? A17. Not since 1988. Q18. If you could go back in time would you keep touring instead of "retiring" after the Teletour? A18. I did keep touring. I think I've done about 10 or so since then, maybe more. Q19. Do you believe in god? A19. You must be new to the Digest I think. No, I do not believe in God.*** Just a few pondering thoughts from and old fan. ---- Isabel Botana in Cologne, Germany: Dear Gary, Q20. do you BY ANY CHANCE have Warren Cann's e-mail address? A20. No, sorry. I didn't even know he had an e-mail address. The last time I spoke to him was last year and I cannot spot him. I suppose he will still be living in L.A., though. Well, it IS worth a try, innit...? Thank you in advance for your kind collaboration. Love'n'hugs Isabel ---- Tony R. Boies of Winchester, Virginia writes: Gary, Q21. Do you know who owns the rights (if anyone) to the Live at the Roxy 1977 recording, and how would you feel if someone (record label, fans, etc.) re-released it on CD? A21. I'm sure that album was a bootleg in which case nobody owns it. I wouldn't care one way or the other of it was put out on CD to be honest. Check out the Nut Music Home Page: http://www.shentel.net/nutmusic ---- Nigel Day of Chippenham, Wiltshire, UK: Just back from the Adrenaline Village gig which was cool as f*ck. Seeing you live again has prompted these few questions: You do some cool versions of some older tracks yet there are a certain number which I think are cruelly overlooked, namely "Complex", "The Aircrash Bureau" and "Night Talk". Q22. Is there any reason why you dont play these tracks? Especially Complex which I reckon is one of the most beautiful, understated pieces you have ever written !!!! Please play it on the "Exile" tour. Pretty please :-) A22. Insrumentation mainly. I don't have a Viola player so the only way I could do it would be to stick it on to tape. Not an unthinkable idea but not something I'm overly keen on.*** Q23. As much as I love the older stuff and the Sacrifice material (Absolution scares me), I wonder why periods like "Dance" and "I, Assassin" dont figure that highly in your sets these days. How do you feel about those albums now? A23. Both albums use fretless bass, and sax, extensively and I don't have a fretless bass player, or sax player, in the band at the moment. I like those albums very much. We did play 'This Is My House' and 'War Songs' on the first night of the 'Sacrifice Tour' or 'Premier Tour', can't remember which. We may play 'Night talk' in the future as well as that has been shortlisted for the last two tours at least.*** Personally I think Dance is bloody brilliant, and it's a shame that the songs on it don't get aired live. Q24. I'm a huuuuge D Mode fan. Do I detect strong M Gore-esque elements in your recent output? If so, you obviously listen to cool music. A24. Quite possibly, 'Songs of love and devotion' is one of my all time favourite albums. I also met Martin Gore and Alan Wilder recently, at different times, and they were both excellent so I would be surprised if that influence doesn't turn up somewhere.*** Cant wait for Exile. Hope it all goes well. Cheers Nige ---- Paul Brenneman of Garland, Texas,USA...in the Grand County of Dallas. Q25. My personal favorite song by you is "Down in the Park". How did this song come about and what does it mean to you? Is there a certain park somewhere that this song refers to? A25. I wrote it on an old upright piano in 1978. It was my first electronic single and seems to have become something of a landmark in electronic music. It refers to a park that was part of some fictional short stories that I was working on at the time. Those stories all became songs from the 'Replicas' period. Q26. I have enjoyed all of your work with the exception of the Fury album. What was happening with you during this period. The change of from wearing make-up and semi-dressing up as a tuff boy, slash early 80's punk to the '85' Fury album's formal suit wearing, nice guy, boy next door look really took me by surprise. A26. Nothing was happening. You probably aren't aware but The Fury was my third album in a row of suit wearing. 'Dance' and 'I Assassin' both had a suit clad me on the front, in fact you may notice that I'm wearing a suit on the cover of 'The Pleasure Principle' album as well. Not only that but I have BROWN hair on that cover as well. Not sure therefore why 'The Fury' cover came as such a surprise. Don't forget that was also wearing a shirt and tie on the 'Replicas' cover. I'm also surprised that anyone would ever consider any of those early album images as anything remotely tough. Most people thought I was effeminate and/or gay. I was never an early 80's punk unless these things were seen differently in America. Over here punk was dead and almost buried by the early 80's. I'm only being curious and do not mean to sound harsh. I've fully enjoyed your music and plan to continue with the many years to come ahead. I wish you continued success and hope to hear of you touring somewhere in the USA. I'm looking forward to your upcoming Exile recordings as well. Thanks for the Memories :) ---- Vince Attard of Tampa, Florida, USA: Hey Gary... Q27. I notice that some of the titles from the new "Exile" record seem to be based on themes from the 1995 movie "Prophecy". Is this correct? If so, please elaborate on your thoughts and inspirations regarding the film and how it ties into the overall "Exile" theme. A27. The '95 movie 'Prophecy' was actually a '96 movie over here. I think I saw it on video in February, maybe March this year. I got the video out because it did indeed seem to have a similar theme to my 'Exile' album although, after having seen it, it wasn't that close after all. Good film though. Q28. During the last few tours that you've re-introduced the older material on stage, the "Dance" and "Warriors" albums have been ignored with the exception of "Moral" on a few dates. I was wondering, was this planned or a coincidence? Do you plan to possibly play tunes from those on future tours? A28. Not definitely but best check out the answers to Questions 22 and 23. Q29. Will there be a vinyl issue of "Exile"? A29. It's far from certain but it is possible. Thanks Gary! ---- Alexander Deacon of Wantage, Oxfordshire, UK: Hello Gary, With all the talk of your hopefully not too distant "unplugged" album, it set me thinking back to the an old b-side, the piano version of "Down in the Park". Q30. Given the way that this particular interpretation IMHO rendered the original almost unlistenable in terms of melody, I wondered whether any more piano versions were recorded around the time? A30. By unlistenable do you mean nowhere near as good as the piano version? If so, bow your head in shame. No other piano only versions were recorded that I can remember. and.... Q31. Given that around the time of Telekon you used the piano quite extensively, I also wondered why you then suddenly stopped using the piano, given the more haunting quality it gave to your music (Aircrash Bureau etc.)? You used it for Exhibition (my all-time fav) but not really since. Was it just that Denis Haynes was with you at the time or what? A31. Virtually every song that I've ever written has been written at least in part on piano and most songs that I've recorded have the piano on them somewhere or other. 'Sacrifice' is full of piano for example, it's just not isolated in the mix but believe me, you would certainly notice if it wasn't there. On tour Ade Orange plays nothing but piano on all the 'Sacrifice' and 'Exile' songs, albeit with a few effects thrown on top. Q32. Did you play the piano on Exhibition? A32. Can't remember but I must have done some of it. Many thanks for allowing me the opportunity to ask you these questions as despite having been to 50+ concerts I have never had the opportunity to meet you. ---- Markus Dietrich of Germany: Q33. Does you know how many copies of the Premier Hits have been sold?!? A33. No sorry. I probably wouldn't tell you if I did though, unless it was something amazing of course. Giving out certain sales figures is a bit like telling people how big your willy is. A bit too personal and revealing. Q34. Lately I got my 7 Cars version CD (SPV 055-28113). Inside there was a competition (only for UK residers :-(. What I have been interested in was, who won the 1st prize to fly and the 2nd drive with you around the Silverstone track!?! A34. I don't remember the names but that competiton was actually run on the third release of Cars which I think was in '92/'93. Driving around the Silverstone track was very cool. I flew their in my aeroplane and did a display before the main race of the day which was also a bit of an honour. Bye for now, Gary Numan. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- THE END PLEASE NOTE! Send your questions via email to: Derek Langsford with a subject line of: Gary's Qs Include your real name, town/city, county/province/state and country. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ I reserve the right to delete and edit questions for content or length. Thanks again to all who participated. Derek -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Derek H. Langsford dlangs@sunstroke.sdsu.edu Dept. of Biology Tel. (619) 594 2885 San Diego State University Fax (619) 594 7831 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 11 Sep 1996 10:51:24 -0700 From: dlangs@sunstroke.sdsu.edu (Derek Langsford) Subject: Asylum vol 2 for sale To: numan@cs.uwp.edu I (un)fortunately have to offer for sale a copy of the Japanese 4 CD set "Asylum 2". After several very pleasant emails in July the purchaser ( a Digest subscriber) has not come through with payment or an explanation of why they have not even emailed me since July 26 in which they confirmed they'd be sending payment the next week. The person goes by the pseudonym 'Anathema" with the email address account: lb32377@nyssa.swt.edu Fingering the account says it belongs to Lee Boyd or maybe it's Boyd Lee. I think he's ata university in South West Texas. Repeated emails have gone unanswered even though it looks as if he is logging in to his account. After I gave him a final 7 days notice to respond he has not done so and so I offer this for sale. I'd advise avoiding doing any business with him in future. I can't beleive my bad luck - my first and second difficulty with a Numan transaction occurs one after the other. I paid $71.90 + tax ($5.57) = $77.47 for this set at a local store. It originally sold for anything from $42 to $117 (the price range I saw back in 1990), but it's long out of print. I'd like to get what I paid or as much as possible for it. It contains the 4 albums, Telekon, Dance, I, Assassin and Warriors. Each CD has the bonus tracks as on the more recent BB 2CD UK reissues. One track on this set which is not on the UK 2 CD sets is the "We Take Mystery (to bed)" extended version. The "I, Assassin" CD omits 'This House is Cold' as that was an unknown track at the time. The set comes in a 4 CD case which is the width of the the old 2CD cases. There are two booklets, one with the track listings for each disc and a discography of his catalogue up through 1989. It is very lavish on matt black paper with glossy colour pictures for the album covers and photographs. The other booklet contains the lyrics for all the songs. The Asylum sets were lauded when they came out as the definitive Numan Beggars Banquet CD reissue and set a standard that has rarely been equalled for any artist. As I said, I'd like to get as much as I paid for it if I can. I can send it anywhere in the world and will take checks in currencies other than US dollars if an extra 5% is included for conversion fees. Email me if interested. Any reasonable offer will be considered. BTW, I won't promise the set to someone only to change my mind later :-) Derek -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Derek H. Langsford dlangs@sunstroke.sdsu.edu Dept. of Biology Tel. (619) 594 2885 San Diego State University Fax (619) 594 7831 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 8 Sep 1996 23:09:14 -0500 (CDT) From: Brian Eyles Subject: Disappearing Digest! To: numan@cs.uwp.edu Hi folks! Just a quick one - is there a problem with the digest as I've not received anything since 29th August. Maybe it's my email. I would appreciate it if somebody could email me just so I know that it's not a problem at my end! thanks Brian ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 8 Sep 1996 05:47:21 -0700 (PDT) From: damrat@earthlink.net (Michael & BethAnn Damrath) Subject: Gary Numan Digest V1 #260 To: numan@cs.uwp.edu (Gary Numan) On Fri, 6 Sep 1996 Tom Gorham wrote: >Admittedly, London Times was shite, but even that was a step above the dire >'I Can't Stop' and the whole of Outland. And when you think of the hoplesss >cacaphony of Sharpe and Numan's output and the embarrassing 'U got the >look', surely Radio Heart was a plus point rather than anything else. > WHAT? Outland was an incredibly good disk! When I first heard Outland in 1991 I was astounded to hear how good it was! The music was inspired. The lyrics were thought provoking and full of insight. Most of all, Gary's production was superb! To even compare Outland as a whole to 'Radio Heart' is ridiculous! The two records are not even in the same league. I will have to agree that 'London Times' was not one of Gary's best. However, I actually liked 'I Can't Stop'. Come on, Tom, what were you thinking? Mike Damrath damrat@earthlink.net "The wreckage of a hero Lies broken in the corner And everyone pretends They'd like to live that way." --Gary Numan, "You Are In My Vision" ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 08 Sep 1996 21:48:14 -0500 From: tlwalter@accs.net (Troy Walters) Subject: Gary Q's: Outland Studio Upgrade To: numan@cs.uwp.edu Troy L. Walters (tlwalter@accs.net), Frankfort, Indiana Q: Since you are upgrading (or expanding) your Outland Studio does this mean you will be replacing some of the equipment, and if so, will you make any of the old equipment available to your fans for purchase? I, for one, would be interested in purchasing some of said equipment and pay for shipping expenses to the states as well. Just thought I'd ask. -- Troy L. Walters tlwalter@accs.net http://www.accs.net/users/tlwalter/poetry.htm -- Beware of the IDGAF Syndrome... (c) ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 9 Sep 1996 08:33:56 -0400 From: tthoman@biostats.hmc.psu.edu (Terrence Thoman) Subject: I, Assassin To: numan@cs.uwp.edu This album has a special appeal to me. For one thing, it was the last widely available Numan album in the U.S. (Hopefully that will change this fall) I saw only a few copies of the Warriors album and the Robert Palmer/Numan album. That was about all until Berserker showed up in the import bin. Anyway, I liked it then, and I still play it regularly today. Many seem to place Dance as a down album for Gary, but I place it as my favorite. He really expanded the instrumental complexities of his music in Dance, and continued to do the same in IA. The lyrical content was what attracted me to Gary's music originally, but Dance and IA really showed another dimension to his work. White Boys and Heroes was my favorite originally, but now I find Music for Chameleons, War Songs, and We Take Mystery to Bed most interesting. +----------------------------------------------------+ | tthoman@biostats.hmc.psu.edu | | Terrence Thoman | | Camp Hill, Pennsylvania, USA | | | | Will you remember when the sparkle dies down? | | - Gary Numan | +----------------------------------------------------+ ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 8 Sep 1996 22:07:43 -0400 From: BDay0000@aol.com Subject: Monthly Topic: I, Assassin To: numan@cs.uwp.edu Hey guys!!!!! This album has always been one of my favorites. I feel that it is a very mainstream album, but then again, it sounded nothing like the mainstream of that time. What if all of Top 40 was this good? I was not old enough to go into discos when this album was released, but several of my friends who were often told me that it was being played in and around Atlanta and Birmingham, AL. They actually knew the songs when they heard them at my house or in my car!!!!!! It seems that this was the end of the popularity for Numan in the US. I think that the music is very slick and natural. Not too heavy on the sequencers and drum machines. I wish Numan had the resources, or, err, creative desire to use actual musicians again. I mean REAL musicians. Oh, well...Sacrafice was excellent so what am I bitching about? Anyway...I, A. is a winner. See ya, Brad Day Atlanta, GA ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 09 Sep 1996 09:37:47 +0100 From: econec@vax.ox.ac.uk Subject: Oh Sh*t To: NUMAN@cs.uwp.edu Dear Numanoids, I know GN needs publicity, but appearing on that show with Noel Edmonds ... oh boy. They had him epitomising the eighties doing Cars. In case you were wondering, the TV was on in the Chinese Takeaway :) Depressed, Edmund PS The worst of it is, he probably got an _enormous_ audience being on that crap. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 9 Sep 1996 01:57:29 +0200 From: tcyang@seas.ucla.edu (Tung-chiang Yang) Subject: Please visit my home page To: nzbikers@newzealand.sun.com (), nynjgolf@newsite.newschool.edu (), soc.culture.taiwan FAQ: http://www.seas.ucla.edu/~tcyang/html/Taiwan_faq.html Tung-chiang Yang tcyang@seas.ucla.edu ------------------------------ Date: 11 Sep 96 10:27:20 +0arder than I expected at the beginning because of all the little manual changes I had to do. In fact, it is quite impossible to automate the process. I didn't delete words that are repeated in a song: I think that it is representative of the importance of that word. It remains some errors, but it doesn't matter for the results. The result is a file (more than 2000 lines), too big to be inserted here. Let's begin by a few numbers: Number of words : 29630 Number of different words : 2103 Number of words that appear only once : 928 Number of words that appear <=10 times: 1748 -> 4308 words So, I have enough words for statistics (about 30000), even if all songs are not taken into account. Gary's seems to use always the same words, as about half of them (928) appears only once, and the mean is (29630/2103=) 14 times for each word. This number gives a minimum limit to say if a particular word is of some importance. 3/4 of the words (1748) make only 4308 over 29630. That means that a few words are repeated a lot of times. I don't know if 2103 different words are a lot: maybe some of you will have some interesting comments (comparison with other texts?). I suppose that now you're interested by the top ten. Before reading the results, just guess what it could be! 421 are 431 my 462 am 510 me 531 it 532 do 565 to 629 and 642 not 648 is 808 the 1267 you 2010 i Gary seems to want to speak more of "I" than "you" or everybody else. 2010 times signifies that "I" is used every 14 words! I don't know if he wants to speak of him, or if he thinks of "I" for somebody else (me? :-) ) who will sing his songs. It's a question for Gary! In fact, it is a little more complicated as some other word like "me" or "your" have to be also considered (and you can see that "me" and "my" are already used very often). So I have gathered words into different types. (I eliminate words like "the", "to", etc. as they have no meaning.) 1) me & you ----------- 2010 i 359 we 1267 you 48 he 531 it 510 me 29 us 219 your 133 she 431 my 33 her 32 mine 129 they 31 them ------ ----- ------ ----- ----- 2983 388 1486 374 531 total "I, you" are the most interesting subjects. "I" comes first (2983), and appears two more times than you (1486). And it is quite rare when we are together (we,us: 388). 2) boys and girls ----------------- 48 he 133 she 15 him 33 her 45 man 1 woman 25 men 3 women 11 boy 18 girl 3 child 76 boys 4 girls 5 children --------- --------- --- 220 192 8 So it is more or less equal, Gary seems not interested more by men than women. But it is curious that he uses directly much more the word "boy,man" than "girl,woman": he prefers to use "she". Children are definitively of no interest in Gary's songs. 3) to be or not to be --------------------- 648 is 301 have 462 am 77 had 421 are 30 has 111 be 63 been 40 was It is clear that the state (of mind, of being...) is an important thing in Gary's songs. But everybody already knows that. 72 feel 67 believe 65 remember So let's see some words related to. They should appears quite often. I have selected only the first (I eliminate not, do, in, this...) 172 love 145 need 140 time 165 know 165 here 136 now 122 just 120 if 112 new 86 heart 80 old 69 young 60 cry 57 cold So, "love" is the most important thing, and it seems natural to have "need" just after, with "know" as it is important to know (if you don't know, it is of no importance!). "hate" appears only 8 times. Time is also very important, and a lot of related words appears quite often (now, here, new...). If "old" and "new" are quite equals, it is not the case for cold (57), and I believe that it is a characteristic of Gary, as warm appears only once. "cry" (60+11 cried) is also the same, although we have more smiles (18) than warm (1). His music is more dark(25) than happy(1), also his words. 4) eyes/ears/speak ------------------ 93 look 56 listen 119 say 85 see 34 heard 62 talking 55 eyes 62 call 53 seen 53 talk 31 looking 34 said 28 scream 25 voice So looking the world and communicate are very important, but it is something to expect as we've already seen that "I & you" were the main topics in the songs. But it has to be noticed that touching is rare (20), and smelling is rarer (5). So let's speak and see, but don't touch (like the Internet? :-) ) 5) mind ------- 51 god 44 die 42 think 40 soul 36 mind 30 dream 28 dreams 23 pray 21 life This is also one of the main topics of Gary's songs. We have to speak together of love, but also of god, soul, dream. 6) misc. -------- 84 more 59 never 45 give 52 wrong 22 bad 35 show 32 forget 1 less 46 ever 1 receive 10 right 36 good 32 hide 65 remember 31 friends 29 friend but no ennemy. Interesting, isn't it? ----- I will not go further in this analysis. It is certain that we can go deeper, but I don't feel able to do that. Probably you have a different feeling about these numbers! Feel free to comment. I just wanted to give some new keys in order to have a new point of view about Gary's songs. I'm sure it is representative as it covers a long period of his life. I would be happy to have his opinion about that. And now a totally different topic: there are a great number of words that appears only once. This gives me the idea of doing a little quiz: I propose a word, you find the song :-) In a next posting. Jeff Jean-Francois Mainguet mainguet@tcs.thomson.fr ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 11 Sep 1996 18:53:27 +0200 From: Patxi Villegas Subject: Program Tours & Others To: numan@cs.uwp.edu I want to buy the following items: -The Skin Mechanic (VHS-PAL) ..... 30UKP -Gary Numanīs Micromusic (VHS-PAL) ..... 30UKP -The Touring Principle (VHS-PAL) .... 30UKP -Metal Rythm (CD) .... 25UKP -The Skin Mechanic (CD) .... 25UKP -Tour Programs .... 10UKP Thanks. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 10 Sep 1996 09:26:23 +0100 From: "S.B.Davenport" Subject: Radio Heart To: numan@cs.uwp.edu Hi Tom, > > I noticed a slagging of of Radio Heart in the latest Digest, and I must > complain! In a Numan period 1985-1993 that many fans regard as a trough in > Numan's career, one of the few shining moments was the single 'Radio > Heart'. > It was the only Numan song that one of my friends liked - so much so that > he bought the 12in version and is still playing it regularly to this day. > He claims it summed up his life at the time: This is odd I looked at the credits on all three singles and the album, and all Radio Heart songs are creditted to H. Nicholson and production to both H. & D. Nicholson. Numan only gets a credit on his own songs on the b-sides. > 'I hear a sound in the night > Could be the turn of a key > And when I switch on the light > It's you I'm hoping to see > Imagination - it plays a cruel, cruel game' > Can't beat that really. It's not bad, I'll admit, but I find the song as a whole a bit bland. Hugh Nicholson's b-sides were always instrumentals which consisted of the a-side minus the vocal track and this always struck me as a lack of inspiration and talent. The album is, to me, similarly naff, with one Visage-esque track on it brightening the gloom. Who is this Nicholson guy anyway and how did he get Elton John into the project aswell? > Admittedly, London Times was shite, but even that was a step above the dire > 'I Can't Stop' and the whole of Outland. And when you think of the hoplesss > cacaphony of Sharpe and Numan's output and the embarrassing 'U got the > look', surely Radio Heart was a plus point rather than anything else. > I can see we have several differences of opinion here! I actually like Outland, masses of samples from some of my favourite films and endless cross-fading - bliss. The songs are quite good aswell. I would, however, agree with you about Sharpe & Numan's album, it sits in the dusty forgotten corner of my record collection only ver played when I've forgotten quite how bad it is, nice cover though. fare well, Bruce ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 8 Sep 1996 11:53:45 +0100 From: Nick Biggar Subject: That's too bad/Bombers Doublepack To: numan@cs.uwp.edu Reading that someone was selling the That's too Bad/Bombers Doublepack reminded me that I have purchased two versions. The first one, only contained the Blue Eyes track on the "b" side of Bombers but listed O.D. Receiver on the label. I purchased a second copy which contained both track on the "b" side. Can anyone explain why? Nick Biggar Chesterfield, UK. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 8 Sep 1996 06:06:50 -0700 (PDT) From: damrat@earthlink.net (Michael & BethAnn Damrath) Subject: The Story So Far, Human To: m.r.p.@ix.netcom.com (Mike Przytarski) On Thu, 5 Sep 1996, Mike Przytarski wrote, > >The Story So far was also a HIT's box (and yes I do remember the info you >all sent when it first came out). But once again, on MY DYING MACHINE >and THE SLEEPROOM it was nice to get his 'hits' from the albums put out >AFTER his departure from BB. These are the first I have seen that focus >on his days after 1983. The live TIME TO DIE was nothing more than the >BERSERKER tour CD. I found songs from the SKIN MECHNANIC and WHITE NOISE > on it. I suppose its a LIVE HITS CD. Was nice to not buy a CD set >without CARS on it though.) > If I'm not mistaken isn't CARS on the 3rd disk of 'The Story So Far'? I envy you for having found 'Human', stuck here in the backwaters of Virginia I have not had such luck. I also have always loved the music side of the GN sound. I have wondered for years what a Numan movie soundtrack would sound like and when I heard about 'The Unborn' (Human) I wanted to hear it badly! Incidently, I have attempted a number of times to find the movie 'The Unborn' to rent and have had no luck. Have you ever seen the movie? Mike Damrath damrat@earthlink.net ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 9 Sep 96 12:55 EST From: Rodney Valdez <0006546270@mcimail.com> Subject: VH-1 To: Gary Numan I was sitting around on Friday (9/6) making some wine and listening to VH-1. I was more interested in the wine than VH-1, when all of the sudden I was listening to 'Cars'. I stopped everything and watched the video. Linda 'whats-her-name' from the GO-GO's was hosting and said the Gary Numan has quit the business and is now in the plane flying business??? What the HELL is wrong VH-1? Don't they have any researchers that actually get the real scoop on people?? Does any one know the e-mail address to VH-1 so we can put an end to the passing of mis-information? VH-1 NEEDS to be informed. Thanks, Rodney ------------------------------ End of Gary Numan Digest ******************************