Gary Numan Digest Sun, 31 Aug 97 Volume 1 : Issue 360 Today's Topics: An Apology A simple prayer Heart of Glass/RMTS My Own Miscellaneous Mutterings Premier Hits (US) for sale or trade Remind Me To Smile STOP IT!!! The Music : The Band We need a spam filter + Blondie. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Date: Fri, 29 Aug 1997 20:19:16 -0400 (EDT) From: JARUTLAND@aol.com Subject: An Apology To: numan@cs.uwp.edu Just wanted to say "I'm sorry" to the digest readers and administrators for my last post. It was not my intention to send that letter to the digest, but only to one person. I forgot to erase the CC I had made in a moment of complete confusion. I hope no one was offended by my comments and promise not to mention that topic again on the digest. Now... back to the music... Isn't "I Assassin" a great CD!?... ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 28 Aug 1997 04:10:45 -0400 (EDT) From: SomaCrow@aol.com Subject: A simple prayer To: numan@cs.uwp.edu In the proper position of prayer: fidgeting in my swivel chair, I beseech the gods of the Digest to enlighten me... Why are there so many Numanoids named Andy? Why are so many Numanoids also big Rush fans? Is there a link between the two? Why is it always so damn cold in Calgary? Do igloos have good acoustics for playing Numan? Who talks more like a stereotypical Californian, youthful me or southern-California girl Miss Marlene? Was she kidding or not about packing a gun when she accompanies me to some future San Francisco Numan show? Does anyone look good in puce? Why did so many people feel the need to write about religion to Digest #359? If the issue can't be settled in two dozen Digest notes and several extraneous e-mails in the space of a couple days, is there no hope that everyone will finally shut up about this damned issue, as per the wishes of many, including me? Exactly what was Peter Murphy on from 1978 to 1983? Can I have some? Why did so much good music come out in that period, Numan albums included? How many people in this Digest have read Tom Robbins, Jhonen Vasquez, and/or Robert A. Heinlein's views on religion? Why do they continue to think this argument is so all-important that they must waste the time I should be using on my long-neglected summer reading? Should I read This Boy's Life as I'm supposed to, or just watch the movie? Is there any practical use for the prayer in Gaelic I know, other than totally puzzling some people and making others think I'm speaking in tongues? Why would anyone want to portray the Christian God as an imperialist, giving dominion of Earth to his wretched subjects? Will Canadian Numanoids use "Dominion Day" from Exile as their anthem on Canada Days to come, as that was what Canada Day was originally called? Should I yell for David Bowie to play "Are 'Friends' Electric?" when I see the Thin White Duke in a couple weeks, just to piss him off? Are most Numanoids on the Net familiar with the expression "reductio ad absurdum"? Have they found this post to be amusing and poignant or useless and devoid of humor? How does that opinion relate to their opinion on the lifespan of the religion debate? Am I right to think no one will respond to this at all? ::drawing the Exile logo over her with one finger:: Hmm... no more human sacrifices to the Digest gods; the blood getting in the keyboard really screws things up. If "When Doves Cry" can be done gospel choir-style in a big movie, surely an all-organ "Cars" can be arranged, perhaps in a sequel to "The Unborn." Still thinking about the rocking-chair sex scene, Riana "Don't ask me, my head just exploded." Amen! ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 28 Aug 1997 12:45:45 +-100 From: Phil Marsh Subject: Heart of Glass/RMTS To: "'Gary Numan'" The question - what was making the similar noise on the intros to these 2 tracks? The answer is (at least, I'm almost certain the answer is)...... a Roland CR78 Compurhythm analogue drum machine. Gary used one a lot at the time (eg 1979 live versions of Bombers and On Broadway, Remember I Was Vapour), and other artists used it a lot at the time - it mainly had preset patterns but was unique at the time it came out because it came with an optional "write" switch, so you could program in your own basic patterns - pretty revolutionary at the time! Whether this particular pattern was preset or not I don't know. For anyone not yet asleep - :-) - it came in a square wooden case/surround (so it wouldn't look out of place on top of a home organ, presumably) and was pretty expensive at the time. Oh, and John Foxx used it all over his 1st album, Metamatic. Love and peace to all Methuselah...sorry, I mean Phil :-) ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 31 Aug 1997 01:19:05 -0400 From: Michael & Beth Ann Damrath Subject: My Own Miscellaneous Mutterings To: Gary Numan Boy Joey, I can relate... God help anyone who depends on my web site for the latest Numan news, as I have been unable to update the thing since the end of May (many apologies to anyone offended by the God reference). My personal excuses differ somewhat from yours, Joey... 1) Since May my wife and I have basically been all-consumed with the last trimester of a very difficult pregnancy. I like to consider myself a very attentive and doting husband, and now attentive and doting father (for the third time). Somehow updating the web site ended up on a serious way-back-burner. My newly born son David is now very much the focus of our lives. (For those that might be interested - David Thomas McLaughlin Damrath was born on August 20, 1997 at 4:17 pm EDT. He weighed in at 9 lbs 10.5 ozs.) 2) I had my share of computer adventures, too. My 7200/90 Power Macintosh decided to discontinue it's participation in my personal digital activities. After two weeks of on-again, off-again struggles, I managed to rescusitate it long enough to sell it to someone else. I now am the proud owner of a new Power Macintosh 6400/200, so I should be getting back in the game shortly. Lastly, I had missed the last four Numan digests due to not being able to retrieve my email for more than two weeks. When I finally downloaded my email, I was greatly dismayed to see more of the same religous obsession that has overrun our Numan digest for the last few months. Honestly people, enough is enough. I have much more I could say on the subject, but I won't be doing it because-as passionate as my feelings are-I am sick and fucking tired of hearing about it. Let's just talk about the man and his music, shall we? It's perfectly reasonable to me to discuss Numan's religous stance since it seems to be the focus of his music lately. It's also reasonable to talk about Gary's public statements on the subject. But spare us the legnthly diatribes on your own personal beliefs-they have nothing at all to do with Gary Numan or his music. Your belief systems are obviously very important to alot of you, as they should be, but this is simply not the appropriate forum to publish them. Do you disagree with me? Fine. Tell me about it. Want to have a religous dialog with me? Fine also, just email my private mailbox. This all probably falls on deaf ears, but it's worth the effort. Bye for now, Mike Damrath damrat@earthlink.net http://home.earthlink.net/~damrat ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 28 Aug 1997 22:15:27 -0500 From: machman@interaccess.com (Jeff Tolva) Subject: Premier Hits (US) for sale or trade To: numan@cs.uwp.edu Hey all! I have an extra copy of the Beggars Banquet "Premier Hits" CD for sale or trade. This is the US version that came out some months ago with catalog number BBL 2007 CD. Some folkes NOT living in the US might want this little gem for their collection! Any completists out there? :-) For the record, it's got the same tracks as the UK release from the previous year, just different front and back covers. I am looking for either $15 USD or a reasonable trade offer. Please e-mail me directly, if you're interested in it. Jeff Tolva (The Machman) ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 28 Aug 1997 14:44:07 -0400 From: Matthew Roberts Subject: Remind Me To Smile To: "INTERNET:numan@cs.uwp.edu" Re: the similarity to Heart Of Glass. = Can't say I'd noticed, but if it's true, I'm afraid that we can hardly revel in Gary's influence on Deborah. Heart of Glass was originally released in 1979, before Remind Me To Smile was recorded (discounting dem= o versions). What I did notice some years ago was that there is a track on Roxy Music'= s Manifesto LP (also released prior to the recording of Telekon) that has a= n IDENTICAL intro to Remind Me To Smile. Or so it seemed last time I heard = it about 10 years ago. I haven't got a record player at the moment so I can'= t refresh my memory. To redress the balance, I remember Melody Maker or some other tabloid reviewing (i.e. slagging off) Gary's 84 or 85 tour. They referred to My Shadow In Vain as sounding exactly like the song My Sharona, which of course it does. What they failed to realize is that My Shadow In Vain was= originally released in 1978 - one year before My Sharona. The conclusions? 1. Gary listened to Blondie or Roxy Music or any of a million other peopl= e who could have used a similar intro close to the time of recording Remind= Me To Smile. 2. The popular music press is pretty useless. Matthew Roberts ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 29 Aug 1997 17:22:45 +0200 From: DE VISSCHER Luc Subject: STOP IT!!! To: "'numan@cs.uwp.edu'" I'm on this list only for a few weeks now, but if this religion stupidity continuous, I will have to remove myself of it because I am sick and tired of the arguments. Whether or not you or Gary believes in God, I don't care!!!!! In the end, after all the arguments, everybody will be staying with his/her own idea, and nobody can change that. And for what I do believe or not, it's none of your business. A very irritated guy, Luc ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 30 Aug 1997 22:38:38 +0100 From: "M. & J. ALLEN" Subject: The Music : The Band To: Hi Everybody I would like to ask anybody there thoughts on if they think Garys music is better for using sequencers and DAT machines, or do you prefer the way his music was when he had a full band with backing singers and the works. The reason I ask is that I was comparing Dark Light to The Skin Mechanic and I thought the difference was quite amazing. Dark Light is very clinical like a slightly dodgy version of the studio recording, were as for The Skin Mechanic, right from the song Respect were Gary forgets the words for a change there is more raw power and energy to the songs. Personally I would like to see Gary back in the future with a full live band again. This would be of course in the future as his current trend in music needs very few musicians to perform the songs. to the idea of a fans album, I would like to share with you all my 5 top Numan tracks 1. The Iceman Comes, 2. We Take Mystery To Bed, 3. Heart, 4. Me I Disconnect From You, 5. Bleed. Please can anybody else list their 5 top tracks for us all to compare and see what sort of variety and what period of Gary's career would top the polls and get onto an album like mentioned. Take Care while Praying to the Aliens Mick England. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 28 Aug 1997 11:01:51 -0700 From: Gregor Torrence Subject: We need a spam filter + Blondie. To: numan@cs.uwp.edu (Gary Numan) I think we'd all agree this is a digest for people who like Gary Numan's music. Could somebody please install a spam filter that will reject messages with words in them like "god" and "religion." What is spam? spam is postings of an unrelated subject. The last digest was 50% spam. Please do your part to stamp out spam. Even if it means holding your tongue. If you can't hold your tongue, take the subject to one of the 330 religion newsgroup. It won't be spam if you post it there. If I'm not mistaken, that drum machine riff at the beginning of I Die You Die and Heart of Glass was a Roland Compu-Rhythm. As I recall, this was one of those good old drum machines with buttons labeled "rock," "samba," "bossa nova," "rhumba" and the like. I think that drum riff is one of those latin preset rhythms. I don't think anyone was ripped off. I think they just owned the same machine Greg. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Gregor Torrence | "It's like terror long dangler mailto:torrence@teleport.com | buddies on a scoop rack... It's http://www.teleport.com/~torrence | a big binge loaf" - Buckethead ------------------------------ End of Gary Numan Digest ******************************