Gary Numan Digest Sun, 20 Oct 96 Volume 1 : Issue 272 Today's Topics: Bowie, The Stranglers and the Top 40 Introduction...new mailing list member! Machine & Soul - Derek's comments Primitive Radio Gods The Fury unsubscribe (anyday now.....) Video Game Music ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Date: Thu, 17 Oct 1996 13:07:52 +0100 (BST) From: austinbaggett@ex-or.co.uk (Austin) Subject: Bowie, The Stranglers and the Top 40 To: numan@cs.uwp.edu (Gary Numan) Following on from Matthew Tamea's fine efforts to provoke banter, here are some more prompts: No. 1: Has anybody failed to notice the similarity between Gary's Sister Surprise and David Bowie's Beauty and the Beast (released on the 1977 album Heroes)? Even the lyric "Gone Wrong" appears on Beauty and the Beast, sung in a similar manner and with the same effect. No. 2: I heard an old song by The Stranglers on the Radio the other day. It seemed to be based on Gary's "Bombers". Blimin' cheek I thought, rushing to my keyboard to announce to the Digest that the Stranglers have ripped off Numan. The DJ then announced that it was a very early Stranglers single - released in 1977!! Oopps. Is anyone a Stranglers fan? What was this single and do you agree? Who is brave enough to ask Gary about this in the next "Digest asks". Not me! No. 3: Who thinks that the music they use in the background on Radio 1's Top 40 show on Sunday afternoons was based on (or possibly actually is) the intro music to Cars? Incidently, somebody raised the point in the last digest's "Gary's Questions" about the rash of cheap compilations coming out. IMO, this is no bad thing. Alot of people do buy these mid-price compilations. Crappy covers and poor sleeve notes are part of the course, and are not the reason why people buy them. The market that these CDs are aimed at are those who know little of Numan, and are prepared to spend a relatively small amount of money so that they can swing about to I Die You Die and reminsce about when they were 13. After playing IDYD, AFE and Cars, you never know they might just listen to some of the newer stuff on the CD. The faulty packaging etc are all relatively subtle to a non-Numan fanatic. As a method of getting his music heard to a larger audience, I think they are, on the whole, good news. Regards to all Austin, London ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 18 Oct 1996 17:43:52 -0400 From: CFCJim@aol.com Subject: Introduction...new mailing list member! To: numan@cs.uwp.edu Hi ... My name is Jim Calverley, I live in Rhode Island, and I have a weird story about how I came to listen to Gary's music... I first heard Gary Numan when a friend of the family from UK came to visit and brought me "Replicas". Being a budding young musician, I was amazed by the synthesizers...from that point on, I was hooked, and got myself a copy of "Tubeway Army" on a subsequent trip I took to the UK.. then "The Pleasure Principle" came out in the US and I saw Gary live at the Ocean State Theater in Providence, RI, and was awe-struck at the amazing live show. From there, I continued to collect his albums, and at some point ( I think it was at the inception of the Compact Disc) I stopped listening to my vinyl. Lately, I started looking for Gary Numan info on the web, and was pleasantly suprised to see he was still in the game...I thought he had quit the biz to be a pilot...anyway, my parents were on a trip to the UK recentl;y, and I had them pick up some Gary Numan CD's for me while they were there...I have since re-immersed myself in the Numan realm...and I love it...it's funny, I hadn't listened to these songs for at least ten years, yet I knew all the lyrics by heart ...it really stuck with me...stuff like "Down in the Park", and "Me, I Disconnect from You", and "This Wreckage" ...it was like I had written them myself...or heard them in a dream...and recalled them when waking up. So...as you can see, I am head first back into the Numan thing...and loving all of it... One question.....When will he tour the US?????????!! ! ! ! thanks for the newsletter listing... I look forward to it... Jim ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 18 Oct 1996 16:14:55 -0700 From: dlangs@sunstroke.sdsu.edu (Derek Langsford) Subject: Machine & Soul - Derek's comments To: numan@cs.uwp.edu Thanks Rob for taking the plunge on M&S. I am surpised this album hasn't generated more posts. We still have two weeks left though. Anyway here goes: 'Machine and Soul' was released when my excitement about Gary's music was almost at rock bottom. 'Outland' had albut destroyed my belief that Gary would produce a good album again (glad I was wrong on that front) and after the intervening singles 'Emotion' and 'Skin Game' did little to relieve my anxieties it was with trepidation that I bought M&S. I had promised myself to wait for a review but when I saw it, I just couldn't help but think there must be something worthwhile on it, even though 'Emotion' reared it's head yet again. So I bought it, expecting this to be the last Numan album I would purchase on faith alone. M&S is not a great album but it was an improvement on 'Outland' IMO as Rob remarked. It was not overtly dance orientated, and in fact had a few good songs on it. What was obvious though was the lack of cohesiveness of the material. Gary in retrospect now feels this album is his worst. It came at a time when he was full of self doubt (IRS failed to pick up their option on his contract) and he was out of ideas. Advice was coming from every direction and the result was a hodgepodge of material that was overinfluenced by that Kipper fellow whose "fret wanking' was so evident on 'Dream Corrosion' and 'Dark Light'. Gary considers it his least Numanesque album. So, song by song. The title track appears in 6 versions in various places, 7 if the promo 7" had a different one. While an OK song, despite the "get up and dance" lyric, I don't feel the different mixes do anything for the song. I'm not sure why he bothered. I don't mind the song. It's OK. But 6 versions? "Generator" has some nice touches - the tribal sounding drums but those "hey hey heeeyyyy"s are cringeworthy especially as they sound horribly distorted. Backing vocals are too strong as was often the case then. The chorus saves it from being well below par. "Skin Game" was familiar from the single. Neat guitar work on the intro but the yelled vocals and influence of grunge only partially worked. Rather than a well crafted song it seems like one of Gary's noodlings. "Poison" ranks among my least fave Numan songs along with "The Need", "Sister Surprise", "Telekon" and "Dark Sunday". The Chorus is its only saving grace. 'Nuff said. "I wonder" is the gem on the album IMO. Despite the riff being lifted from Tears For Fears (Everybody Wants to Rule the World) who themselves lifted it from Talking Heads, this track stands out as an emotional heart tugger with an interesting pace. It builds and rolls along very nicely. A fave of mine from any album. I was very surpised to see "Emotion" on this album. It was an old track but I think this, the numerous mixes of M&S, the lack of true b-side songs, the covers, just shows the struggle Gary had to come up with material for this album. I could add this one to my list of least faves. The only place I ever want to see this track ever again is on a singles collection from 84 - 97. I normally skip over "Emotion" to "Cry", the second well crafted song on the album. The extended mix is even better. I even like the jazz piano break and I am not a jazz fan. Reminded me a lot of Heaven 17. I do not understand why Gary had to put a Prince cover on the album. After the criticism of "Outland" you'd think he would have known better. I don't know the whole story but I suspect it was material limitations. It might work live but on an album it was a big mistake IMO. Sorry Rob. I found it crazy Techno Army chose this to put on their album. Out of over 200 Numan songs they chose a cover. Deary me. "Love Isolation", written for Beryl is an affecting though not enthralling ballad like "Don't Call My Name". A typical finish for a Numan album. Other tracks: Dark Mountain, ho hum, The Hauntings, ho hum, In A Glasshouse, good b-side, Hanoi, ho hum. The early versions of "I wonder" and "Cry", 'Wonder Eye' and 'Cry Baby' are intriguing looks into the development of a song by Gary. As with other early versions it seems that Gary lays down a basic idea then plays with it, upping the tempo, injecting life. And these versions are neat in their own way as well. '1999' - what was it Al Crawford said? "NUman meets Prince and the song loses". Still an acucrate comment. So while this era showed some sparks of life musically, Gary considers this to be his lowest point. I know a lot of fans rank M&S as their least favourite but not me. It's not up there with TPP, or Berserker or Sacrifice but it's not rock bottom either. I rank it better than The Plan, Outland and maybe even "Strange Charm" and "The Fury" but it is leagues behind most of his other albums. Glad Gary came out of his musical and lyrical rut before I completely lost my faith. Derek -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Derek H. Langsford dlangs@sunstroke.sdsu.edu Dept. of Biology Tel. (619) 594 2885 San Diego State University Fax (619) 594 7831 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 19 Oct 96 12:12:30 From: "Joey Lindstrom" Subject: Primitive Radio Gods To: "numan@cs.uwp.edu" Been hearing a great new tune on my local rock station by The Primitive Radio Gods, a number called "Standing Outside A Broken Phone Booth With Money In My Hands". Musically this thing sounds like it might have some definite Numan influence... I dunno, could be my imagination but it sure sounds like this guy's a Numanoid. :-) Anyone out there heard it, and more importantly: does anyone have the ALBUM and can you tell me if it's more of the same? /--------------------------------------------------------- / Joey Lindstrom numanoid@netway.ab.ca lindstrj@cadvision.com / http://www.netway.ab.ca/worldwidewebb/ / "There's a reason 'Wheel Of Fortune' is on right after 'Jeopardy'. Once / you've been forced to choke down the foul-tasting tequila shot of your / own abject ignorance, it's nice to be able to bite into the refreshing / lime wedge of other people's incredible fucking stupidity." / - Dennis Miller ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 19 Oct 1996 11:29:00 -0400 From: Cbbrad@aol.com Subject: The Fury To: numan@cs.uwp.edu What songs will be on The Fury extended when it is released later next month. Will it be like Machine + Soul and have b-side singles or like Sacrifice extended was. Brad ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 17 Oct 1996 13:33:08 -0400 From: maldoror@iserv.net Subject: unsubscribe (anyday now.....) To: numan@cs.uwp.edu seeing as how i can't unsubscribe from this list at the requests mailbox, i'm putting this where i'm sur you'll see it: TAKE ME OFF THE LIST (i'm a bit irritated - this is the fourth message i've sent. you're not doing much to improve my already tainted view of humanity....) maldoror@iserv.net ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 19 Oct 1996 01:09:18 +0100 From: Stoo Cambridge Subject: Video Game Music To: numan@cs.uwp.edu I don't wish this mail to be output on the list, as I'm directing this question to Gary, and would be interested in hearing his reply. Q: We're a software development company, and we develop video games, we're about to begin our next project, and as I'm a big fan of Gary's I'd be interested to know if he would consider working with us on the Audio side, as I feel that the individual style of Gary's music would suit the style of our next game. I've worked with a few other artists in the past, although only on a small scale, and I believe that the music industry is very similar to the games industry. I won't ramble on as I can do that more if Gary's interested. Thanks, ==-- - - - Stoo ==--- - - - _o_ /@ @\ ----oOO-O-+-V +-O-OOo-------- ! remember your a womble... ! ----------------------------- stoo@dircon.co.uk http://www.users.dircon.co.uk/~stoo Abstract Entertainment Limited http://abstract.co.uk/ ----------------------------- ------------------------------ End of Gary Numan Digest ******************************