Gary Numan Digest Thu, 9 Oct 97 Volume 1 : Issue 371 Today's Topics: "Praying To The Aliens" ISBN number Can I borrow someone's floor? Defender of the faith ! Dramatis Earlier versions of songs... Gary comments on the "Remind Me To Smile" website James Freud Late Night Keystroking Oooops on the I love LA post same subjects...:-) Spare ticket for Guildford Wedding Rings/ James Freud/ Unclassifiable Wondering ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Date: Wed, 08 Oct 97 16:40:12 -0700 From: "Joey Lindstrom" Subject: "Praying To The Aliens" ISBN number To: "numan@cs.uwp.edu" In case anyone's planning on ordering the Numan biography when it comes out, it might be helpful to have the book's ISBN number for ordering purposes. Thank you to Robert Eggleston who tracked it down, and it is: 0233992057 The title is "Praying To The Aliens" and it is "by" Steve Mallins (doesn't seem to be any mention of Gary - shades of Random!) /-------------------------------------------------------------------------- / From: The Desk Of Joey Lindstrom +1 403-606-3853 / EMAIL: joey@lindstrom.com numanoid@ab.imag.net lindstrj@cadvision.com / WEBB: http://www.ab.imag.net/worldwidewebb/ /-------------------------------------------------------------------------- / All of the people in my building are insane. The guy above me designs / synthetic hairballs for ceramic cats. The lady across the hall tried to / rob a department store... With a pricing gun... She said, "Give me all / of the money in the vault, or I'm marking down everything in the store." / --Steven Wright /-------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 6 Oct 97 03:58:59 -0500 From: Shane King Subject: Can I borrow someone's floor? To: "Gary Numan" I'm heading to the UK for the tour, and will be seeing the October 26th Shepards Bush show, maybe one other. Who else is travelling over from the US? Would any kind soul in the London area like to house my brother and me for a couple of days? We are both house broken and generally really fun to be with. If not then we will be staying in youth hostels, which isn't so bad, but it never hurts to ask. Is anyone from the digest going to be there for that show? If so I'd like to hear from you. I leave on the 14th. I'm also going to Germany to see Kraftwerk and hope to see Jarre in France, but haven't been able to get those tickets yet. If anyone can point me in the right direction I sure would appreciate it. I just realized that I will get to buy both the album and autobiography on the week it's released. How cool is that? Now if I only had a DiscMan. I don't think that I could justify buying that just for the trip, since money is an issue, of course. Derek, I don't know if your sdsu address is your main e-mail account anymore, so I am posting this in the digest.Let me know if there is anything that I can get for you while I'm there.Tony arranged for me to get my ticket from Beryl, so if there is any message you'd like me to pass on, let me know. Shane ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 5 Oct 1997 12:44:41 -0400 From: Sean Francis Subject: Defender of the faith ! To: "Numan Digest (GN)" Folks, Bored at work the other day, I went snooping around Compuserve for some light relief. I wandered into the UK MUSIC forum and did a global search= on the messages library to see if anything by our hero came up. Yes it did. 16 messages to be precise in the "Where Are They Now" section and al= l written by an obviously anti Numan crowd. Incensed by this I wrote the following piece to the forum. Thought you all might like it : *********** What a shame that all the postings about Gary Numan seem to have been mad= e by people who obviously know sweet FA about him, his music or his career.= = A shame, but also rather typical. Let's recap for those ignorants out there who are so in need of up to dat= e information. Gary Numan's rise to fame is well documented. His populari= ty certainly peaked between 1979 and 1983 for sure, but his recording career= has continued to flourish to this day. He has released an album almost every year since 1979, has toured almost every year to mostly sold out venues (and large ones too like Hammersmith Apollo) and has continued to achieve a modest amount of commercial success. He has done all this despite no radio airplay, no huge promotion/record company behind him and= without selling out to become hip enough to be considered mainstream and therefore acceptable to the brain dead sheep who buy singles these days. His influence on the music industry has also been recently publicly recognised with the release of a double CD called Random. This features many of today's top and up & coming recording artists performing covers o= f Numan songs. What a compliment to a man who has consistently been hammer= ed by the popular (music) press ever since he hit stardom. Think back to wh= o else was huge when Numan was a very very big star. Adam & the Ants, Blondie, The Jam, The Police, Culture Club to name a few. And where are they now ? Are they still packing 3500 devoted fans into places like Hamm= y Apollo 20 years on ? Are they having double albums of cover versions of their songs released in 1997 ? I don't think so. In fact, these artists have disappeared up their own arses as they've had their time. Numan continues to out last and out perform all the old and new pretenders. = On 20th. October his new album "Exile" is released the same day that his autobiography goes on sale(ahem, major publishing house by the way). A nationwide tour starts later in October and runs through to November. Oh yes, and he just signed a new 3 album worldwide recording deal with Eagle/BMG. And BMG are the biggest music publishers on the planet. And check the book of British hit singles/albums. You'll find that Numan is listed as the 18th. most successful British male recording artist of all time. = So, before you start slagging off Numan, get your facts straight. If you= r knowledge of his music is limited to "Cars" or "Are 'Friends' Electric" then you have also missed out on an exceptional talent and fascinating recording career. Oh, and as for the Tory crap mentioned here. Fact One= : he was misquoted, Fact Two : he did once vote Tory and was honest enough = to admit it, Fact 3 : His favoured politician at the moment happens to be To= ny Blair. Do I hear the sounds of you all eating your words ? I think I do.= = Enjoy your feast. Sean. ***************** OK, I know I didn't like Random much but it is still a pretty big compliment to Numan to have had this material put together and released (just in case anyone was going to get picky about my defense of Random). Apologies to anyone on the Digest who regularly buys singles. When I sai= d singles, I meant "chart singles". I don't follow the US charts, but the = UK charts are full of utter trash IMO. You can even get to number 1 these days with sales not far exceeding 10,000 copies. Long gone are the days when you had to put out a brilliant song and sell half a million plus to achieve a bit hit, never mind a number one. Anyway, that was the point I was making. Other stuff. = If you're not on Robert's email list for updates to his Are Friends Electric ? site, then get to it. He's posted a couple of reviews of the Exile album already. One from a rag called Select and another from Q Magazine. The Select review can't really be called a review. It reads mo= re like an opportunity to slag off Numan. When will these morons realise th= at it isn't fashionable to slander him anymore ? The Q review is quite amazing. In fact it's one of the best reviews I ever read ! Thanks to Joey for listing the original Star Trek personnel's appearances= in TNG. Joey, did you look that up or do you carry that information aroun= d in your head ? Being English, The Simpsons does rather miss the mark with me, which is confusing as I find Beavis & Butt-Head extremely funny.= Huh huh huh huh huh. As for Andy, please don't mention Hohokam in Gary's company. He might get annoyed. I too thought they were great when I saw them on the Berserker Tour. I even have some of their singles too. But, apparently these guys ripped Gary off and basically jerked him around big= time. I can't remember the exact details, but I think it was in a previo= us The Digest Asks Gary (what ever happened to that feature ?). Anyone know which one ? And Chelmsford is not all bad. I was sitting outside a pub o= ne evening a few Summers ago and down the street came a group of young girls= obviously on their way to a nearby club. One of these girls was wearing what I can only describe as a negligee ! Quite extraordinary. And finally, I liked Manno Toshikazu's comment in the last Digest, "Numanoids are very kind and comfortable. You can enjoy!!". I don't think= it will take these guys long to work out that the Digest isn't where the kind and comfortable Numanoids tend to hang out ! However, all newcomers= welcome ............enjoy ! Kind and comfortable regards to all, Sean. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 6 Oct 1997 07:56:23 +0100 From: Clive Jones Subject: Dramatis To: "'numan@cs.uwp.edu'" In Gary Numan Digest V1 #370, Matthew Roberts writes, >Dennis Haines had left the group by the time of Face On The Wall. Dennis was unfortunately absent from the Dramatis London gig (at the Venue) in may 1982 also. :( >I believe there was at least one other unreleased track, as I recall Chri= >s >Payne saying their best track hadn't been put out (or was he being >speculative?). This was undoubtedly "Sand and Stone" - and what a brilliant track it was too. I was listening to Radio 1 in the summer of 1982 and Dramatis were doing a live session and S&S was billed as their next single. Unfortunately, it wasn't to be :( Clive ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 06 Oct 97 08:24:00 PDT From: Scott Abfalter Subject: Earlier versions of songs... To: NUMAN "Anyway, here's the track listing: Are 'Friends' Eclectic? We Are Tupperware She's Got Very Long Fingernails We Take Mystery (to Lunch) I, Ass My Centurion Needs a C-Level Check The Ice-cream Man Comes Take Out the Dogs My Sneezing I Could Stop If I Really Wanted To >From Sussex Infected Sardine & Sole Radio Gall Bladder and, of course, Jars Wow! Did I get my money's worth, or what??" No you did not, they didn't give you tape #2: Machine+Oil Me! I Disconnect The Phone! We Are So Easily Chipped I Lost My Wallet Down In The Park Nose, Nose! Everyday I Get Really Sick I Die; You Don't I like the earlier version of "Bleed" from Sacrafice: "I don't want to sleep, I got a nosebleed, nosebleed, nooose-bleed." ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 05 Oct 1997 18:13:47 EST From: numan@gw.kf9ug.ampr.org Subject: Gary comments on the "Remind Me To Smile" website To: numan@cs.uwp.edu Gary recently sen me an email message commenting on the contents of the 'Remind Me To Smile' website I've created. He commented extensively about what 'Exile' is really about as well as his views about religion and why he feels the way he does towards God and Religion. 'Remind Me To Smile' takes an interesting look at Gary's work verses the views held by Christians and how they might view his work. Gary also provided me information about the real meaning behind 'Absolution'. By the way, Gary and Gemma were not married in a church for those that have asked recently in the Numan Digest. If you are interested in his comments or mine, you can see them at: http://user.centralnet.net/kf9ug/music/gnuman/ Michael Day (kf9ug) ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 6 Oct 1997 13:07:00 +1100 From: Bart Tieman Subject: James Freud To: "'numan@cs.uwp.edu'" Just a bit of info on James Freud that might clear up the query about his collaboration with Mr. Numan. James Freud is an Australian artist who in 1980 had a hit with the single Modern Girl in Australia. About the same time he toured as support to Gary Numan I assume during his Aussie leg of his world tour. He then recorded an album at Gary's studio about the time of Telekon but differences between him and Gary saw the project scrapped. He was supposed to have said that the album sounded too much like The Pleasure Principle and Gary told him to get stuffed into which a fight broke out and James Freud ended up with a broken arm (allegedly). Apparently Gary has quite a temper or did in those days. Anyway James Freud did release an album called Breaking Silence but there are no Gary related tracks on it. If there is such an album with Gary Numan credited on the cover then I would say that it is either a bootleg or very rare. Numan Down Under Bart ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 08 Oct 1997 05:34:33 -0500 From: Bookman Subject: Late Night Keystroking To: Gary Numan This may be rather lengthy but hang with me and you might find something interesting or worthy of a response (maybe). A few days ago, on Pittsburgh's variety music radio station, during the 80's hour, some guy called in and requested Cars by Paul Newman. The DJ was quite amused, and corrected the error. The guy apologized, and the DJ followed with, "well, with all those one-hit wonders out there, it's hard to keep their names straight." Anyway, it was nice to hear Cars on the radio again. By the way, the original is still far superior to any of the remixes or covers out there. I loaned my copy of Random to a coworker, knowing he's into certain types of music that I don't readily know how to classify. He didn't know it was a Numan tribute (when he realized it was, he said he'd been duped), and recorded "Technical," "Jo" and "Stormtroopers" because he already liked those bands/musicians. Now, my honest opinion over the whole record deal... I am somewhat encouraged that Eagle records is affiliated with BMG. But overall I am very skeptical that Gary will ever broaden his listening base beyond those of us who are already loyal fans. Oh, sure, a few new people will pick up his next album or two, and maybe we established fans will recruit a few new listeners, but I seriously doubt this big "comeback" we're all hoping for will ever happen. I hate to sound so negative, especially after I referred to a certain detractor of "Random" as the most negative person in the world. But just like the DJ I just talked about, anyone who even recognizes the name of Gary Numan (outside of us fans) knows him only as a One Hit Wonder. I'm happy that Gary is still recording and touring, but do any of you think the general public is going to buy into his music now, twenty years after Cars? I know, his music's not for the general public... but when you want increased exposure, popularity and acceptance, wouldn't some of the everyday people need to be involved? Many of Numan's fans are either listeners of Rush or make comparisons between Gary's music and Rush's. I like Rush also, but in their last ten or fifteen years I really doubt that they brought many NEW listeners aboard their wagon. Most likely they got almost all their fans in the first few years, and those fans have remained faithful. Nothing they've done in the late 80's or any of the 90's made me rush out (pardon the pun) and buy up all their records. Actually I don't own any of their records, but I do like just about all the stuff that gets radio play. My point is that as Rush has gone, so will Numan, (IMHO). We who've been with him from the early or not-so-early days will continue to listen and admire, but I honestly feel there will be no "comeback" for Gary. Hey, I hope I'm proven wrong. I really do. But I've waited for comebacks for many of my favorite artists and it just never happens, even with releases of some very good albums. It's just too late now. Gary's time in the spotlight has passed. I think we're lucky to have such a wealth of recordings over the years, and also to know that more are on the way. Me, I have alot of catching up to do: I had thought for a long time that Gary's career had come to an end after "I, Assassin" was released (and when I did get my hands on recordings such as The Fury, I could understand why there'd been no US releases for many years). Gary could stop making music tomorrow and I'd be glad that at least he was around alot longer than most other artists. I had wanted to do my own list of favorite and least favorite Numan tunes, but i think I've probably said too much already. I'm sure I'll be seeing alot of nasty replies, but that's what our forum is all about... issues, differences of opinion... right? One last note. Etiquette on the web is a big thing, I guess. Most of you out there would punish spamming by castration, or worse. Yet bonehead spelling and grammar errors show up in so many letters, all of which bug me far worse than an occasional spam in my mailbox (and yes, for political correctness, I'm excluding those whose native language is not English). Here's a tip: write your e-mail in your word-processing program and SPELL-CHECK it before mailing it! It'll do wonders for your readability and credibility (unless, of course, the reader can't spell either). For the record, it's like 4 am so I'm not going to proofread my letter. Please feel free to point out MY errors. Original Trek rules. Next Gen and Voyager are very good. Hate DSN. Ferengi (spelling?) was the worst mistake of all the series' combined. Mike ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 05 Oct 1997 00:10:06 -0800 From: Alyssa Jaraba Subject: Oooops on the I love LA post To: Gary Numan Ack! My apologies. Johnny Carson called Barstow California the Center of the Universe, not the armpit of it. Blame the mistake on a recent trip through there in 112 degree weather with no A/C. Peace, Lyssa -- Tearin it up..I'm living on empty... The Madhouse http://home.earthlink.net/~madhouse_/ Home of The Madhouse, Cry of the Celts, My Shadow In Vain, The Octopi Pit, and Selah's Cool Mac CyberPunk Central http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Corridor/6115 Home of the CyberPunk Cafe ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 5 Oct 1997 03:24:41 -0400 From: brezniakdavid@webtv.net (David Brezniak) Subject: same subjects...:-) To: numan@cs.uwp.edu Hi guys and gals (respectively)... Los Angeles, well, I don't drive, so I don't have to worry about getting my windshield washed, but I will visit California one day and someday would like to live there. (gasp)--you forgot MY major city in Massachusetts, BOSTON....it doesn't even qualify as an armpit. I was thinking more on the lines of a pubic hair. :-) Hey, Joey, my mother wears army boots, so watch it...LOL :-) Star Trek TNG is my favorite of the entire series--(gulp)--and I do like The Simpsons, however, I also do like King Of The Hill and South Park as well.... do you think I watch too much TV?:-) Where is our favorite person Nick Foxx...we need some criticism in here, and he's our king at it...I must say I do miss his views lately...:-) I'll put another buck down that Gary at least had a toast after the wedding...... and FINALLY..... I do like Canada very much (Toronto especially, don't ask me why..) so it shows we people from Massa-crappy-chusetts do have some taste.:-) Cheers.... Dave ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 08 Oct 1997 08:47:54 +0100 From: amchaffie@meto.gov.uk Subject: Spare ticket for Guildford To: Numan Digest Numan Digest I have an extra ticket for the Guildford show on the 28th October if anyone needs one....email me ! Andy ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 5 Oct 1997 15:06:58 -0400 From: Matthew Roberts Subject: Wedding Rings/ James Freud/ Unclassifiable To: Gary Numan Victor, Yes, Gary's wedding ring says "Until God takes me away." and yes, Gary is= an atheist. There's no mystery if you think about it. Since Gary doesn't believe in God, he hardly expects to be taken away by him - ever. In other words, for "Until God takes me away." read "Forever.". Another triumph of humanist irony. Craig, The sole Numan co-produced track on James Freud's album is "Automatic Crazy". It's nothing special but I guess people stuck in early 80's time warp would love it. Naturally though, it's interesting for any Numan fans= to catch another snippet of the Numan sound of that era. Personally, I prefer Nicky Robson's "Stars". Joey, Did I say making money was wrong? Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha. Still, I'm glad= the Record Label isn't "pulling a Mother Theresa".... encouraging starvation, suppressing medical care & supporting arms dealing? Now that WOULD be naughty. To whom it may concern, I've seen 4 reviews of Exile so far. 1 very good (Q), 3 very bad (Select,= Vox & Maxim I think) Doh! = There is a nice short piece in October's Record Collector (UK) talking about Random & Exile with a new picture of Gary. I picked up "Time Travel" today by the music journalist, Jon Savage. It's= a collection of his writings and includes a long piece he wrote about Gary for Melody Maker. He followed the last few dates of Gary's 1979 tour and = so it's interesting for anybody interested in the young Gary's state of mind= at that time. It's also surprisingly favourable since I seem to recall Savage joining the Numan hate brigade later. I believe it contains the first reference to Gary's possible retirement. Talking about his recently renewed contract with WEA, Gary said "...we di= d write into it that if any time I wanted to, I could stop - we talked a lo= t about this and it's quite important - that any time I wanted to, I could stop and they can't withhold the royalties." Gary had already started writing Telekon and several of his comments are reminiscent of that album= 's lyrics. Matthew Roberts ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 05 Oct 1997 15:42:51 -0600 From: gessman@nvmedia.com (NV - Gene Essman) Subject: Wondering To: numan@cs.uwp.edu I've been listening to and collecting GN for a while (just as long as most of you oldtimers), so if you begin to wonder whether I'm a fan or not as you read my post, you already know the answer. I still need to play devils advocate though. I need to see some reasons. I've listened to the Exile wav files on the GN site and am trying to figure out who, besides us numanoids, is going to listen to this new album? Where does this style of music fit in with todays alternative? You know that this music will not be played on top 40. You know that nobody on the alternative stations has a sound like GN (if they did, GN would already be a force to be dealt with). What makes us think that GN's new music is a style that will be welcomed? I, for one, do not believe that GN will become much larger than he is right now. Random was a good shot in the arm for him, but don't you think that was because the "younger bands/musicians" gave a little public respect (and rightfully so)? I'm sure that we'll pick up a few longterm numanoids because of Random, but are we kidding ourselves into thinking that Random and any subsequent publicity is going to be anything more than a fad for everybody else? I don't know about where you live, but here in Denver, alternative is one of many "in"s or "cool"s or "phat"s and GN "ain't all that". We all know that it takes a serious fan to appreciate the likes of a GN. Remember, "cool" = fad, and the shallow tend to be faddish. Are we dreaming? Denver, Colorado USA ------------------------------ End of Gary Numan Digest ******************************