Gary Numan Digest Sun, 16 Aug 98 Volume 1 : Issue 460 Today's Topics: ADMINISTRIVIA 'metal' / 'moral' lyrics A final Jo comment (and one on taxes) A tangential issue Crypt of Dawn #4 debates, droll and disappointment Ear Corrosion Exile Logo, Etc. Gary's lyrics Gary Numan & Beastie Boys Gary Numan Digest V1 #459 Interpretation of lyrics Irrelevant gibberish from Moscow ... Malcolm McLaren Numan Live Tapes Paperbacks Premier logo Re-mastered Telekon singles Synth (?) claps used on Pleasure Principle & more... UK concert sept 12th What the hell is going on ? you are offended??????? ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Date: Sat, 15 Aug 1998 22:50:59 -0800 From: Derek Langsford Subject: ADMINISTRIVIA To: numan@cs.uwp.edu I'd like to remind everyone about the guidelines sent to each new subscriber that states that posts to the Digest are to have something to do with Gary Numan. Thus, while analysis of perceived homoeroticism in Gary's early lyrics falls within this definition, individual perspectives on sexual orientation or the perceptions of other views on sexual orientation does not. Please do not post any more on this topic unless it has meaningful Gary Numan content. I have not even started to have Dave check posts before they are sent out, so some may appear in this Digest, but if the inappropriate posts continue I will be forced to have them edited out. I rarely become heavy handed with the Digest but have had to do so because of personal insults, religion, and now sexual orientation. How long will it be before politics rears its head again? Back to regular programming, Derek ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Derek H. Langsford "Numanews" San Diego, California, USA The Gary Numan Digest email numan-request@cs.uwp.edu to subscribe -----------------------------------------------------------------------------uwp ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 15 Aug 1998 12:21:43 -0600 From: "s. payton" Subject: 'metal' / 'moral' lyrics To: numan@cs.uwp.edu "1. what are the alternate lyrics numan sang to "metal"?" 'Wouldn't they be the lyrics to Moral, which was done in '81?' my thanks to Debbie, who pointed out what was probably a fairly stupid question. [i dont have 'Dance'.] but its still fairly interesting to to see what numan did to 'moral' and there are a couple of lines that I'm still not sure about. If anyone knows, or has ideas, put 'em up! anyways, here is what i've got, and i [marked] the lyrics that aren't from 'moral'. --------------------------- lyrics to 'metal' [live at the 'final' concert. 28 apr 1981] --------------------------- [My Mallory heart is sure to fail I could crawl around the floor Just like I'm real Like I suppose] I should grow wings and just forget [this] club You know the legends never wanted to be me [Like I suppose] For too erratic to be O.K. so? If you're concerned well don't care You play games, you play safe Me I just sighed with relief Matthew's mother. The change disturbs me You've everybody's friend. Age, I suppose. [Don't you?] These New Romantics are oh so boring I could swear I've been there once or twice before [Like ??the end days??] See the boy, see the girl [??????] [Who am I? and who are we?] The exhibition [now is] over ------------------------------------------------------- 'im still confusing love with need' sean ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 13 Aug 1998 00:43:16 +0100 From: "M.Tressler" Subject: A final Jo comment (and one on taxes) To: numan@cs.uwp.edu I've been catching up on digest reading, and in all the Jo The Waiter hish-hashing I don't think anyone mentioned a perspective on the subject that I took. That being that Jo is male (since he "held me close behind the door marked gentlemen") but NOT homosexual. My take on it was that Jo was simply comforting a friend in a place where two men could exchange a simple hug without being seen and therefore labeled as being gay (i.e., "just for now that's all I need, won't someone call me friend). I don't want to resurrect a dead issue here. Just giving my two cents worth ($0.0125 after taxes). Speaking of taxes, if we all started massive letter-writing campaigns to our respective governments and clamored for lower taxes, we'd all have more money to buy more Numan stuff and Gary would have more money to tour more often and add more venues and then the whole world would just be perfect and I think I'll shutup now. "Book" -- "It's good to be a seeker, but sooner or later you have to be a finder. And then it is well to give what you have found, a gift into the world, for whoever will accept it." Jonathan Livingston Seagull ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 15 Aug 1998 03:40:49 EDT From: NewcombG3@aol.com Subject: A tangential issue To: numan@cs.uwp.edu < record my own audio CDs?>> Allow me to report from sad personal experience! This is something they don't tell you when you're shopping for a car stereo, but not all car CD players, and not even most, will play CDR disks. Something about a different combination of lasers than CDR burners. More than likely, if you weren't considering this when you bought your deck, you're out of luck! I originally bought a Kenwood changer and had to threaten and plead and bribe and whatever to exchange it for a CD player that does play CDRs. The Kenwood would pay CDRs about one in ten times, so I torture tested all the units in the store with a pile of CDRs. Only the JVC and Alpine decks did not distinguish CDRs from CDs. Pioneer, Sony, Kenwood... all failed. I ended up with the Alpine. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 12 Aug 1998 21:22:29 -0500 From: Valerie Iglar-Mobley Subject: Crypt of Dawn #4 To: The Gary Digest Dear all, Well, Gary is now officially a comic-book superhero! I'm sure it's just the step his career needs! Actually, I just bought my copy of 'Crypt of Dawn' V.4, and I must admit I do like the adaptation of "Dark". It's enjoyable both as an illumination of the "story" behind the lyrics and as another fan's tribute to The Man. The spread is preceded by a squib written by one Robb Horan, who I'm guessing is one of the creators of 'Dawn', in which he describes his admiration of Gary and the impetus that brought this about. There's also a squib by Our Hero with a few words of his own about this creation. Both are interesting, and I think help in the appreciation of the piece. My only criticism would be that (should I give this away here? does everyone have their copies already?) the vision that comes to him on the landscape looks entirely demonic. I thought this album was about the idea that God and the Devil are the same being? I would have enjoyed this more if 'Dark One' (whoever she or he is) had incorporated this (very elemental) point into the imagery. It would have been easy enough to do: have a robed Jesus appear out of the clouds... with red eyes, fangs, horns AND a halo, and maybe one cloven hoof. Now THAT would have brought the idea to life! It ends with the caption, "The Beginning," so I can only assume the team that created it intend to 'illuminate' other songs from the album as well-- perhaps all of them. I look forward to them. Love to all, Benjamin Iglar-Mobley P.S. I actually was quite lucky in getting my copy. The comic book store owner hung onto a copy for me-- without my ever even giving him my name-- because I had been calling and coming in to his store for weeks asking if it had arrived yet. When I called he said, "You're the guy with red hair, right?" I said, "Well, right now it's red, yeah." He said, "Yeah, I thought it was dyed, but I didn't want to say." ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 14 Aug 1998 09:56:14 -0600 From: "Dominion Da(m)e" Subject: debates, droll and disappointment To: hello folks... it's been a while since i posted anything but, per my usual attitude, when i have something to say... someone, somewhere will hear me whining!! it's your turn! when i first joined this list there was a huge debate regarding the religious content of numan's music / lyrics... i say who cares? if you are unable to accept the views of others... then perhaps you need to just be quiet and stop spouting off about things that you know nothing about (aside from your own opinion)!! debates should be based on persons KNOWING (factual)the subjects they are discussing... does anyone really know what gary is referring to when he sings of 'angels pissing on gravestones...' or 'closing the dead eyes of gawd....' i mean really, everyone has their own views and opinions so why bother to slam others for their personal views? the posts made with reference to gary's sexuality are ludicrous and droll... again i say who cares? if you are homosexual, heterosexual or bi-sexual... so be it... you will have many different outlooks on life in general let alone the meaning of an artists lyrics. if the lyrics mean something to you in a particular way... GREAT... if someone else interprets them in a different way... who are you to say they are wrong? live and let live!! last but not least... is anyone besides myself disappointed in the dawn comic featuring numan? (and yes: danny, andrew, ddod, and mark... i have copies for you all, i managed to scoop 10 copies before the dawn fanatics got there!!) all for now... (listening to the sighs of relief) Dominion Da(m)e "I used to dream, now I forget how to... So should I learn how to lie?" ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 13 Aug 1998 13:46:53 -0400 From: Mason Haven Subject: Ear Corrosion To: numan@cs.uwp.edu I agree with the postings regarding the sound quality of the "Dream Corrosion" CD. When I first played it I thought there was definitely something wrong with my copy. However after speaking to several others who have also purchased this CD I have concluded that the all the CDs have crappy sound quality. It is so bad that sometimes I wonder if the original master recording was done by placing a microphone in the air at the concert which was in turn hooked up to an eight track recorder. It is for this reason that I have shelved the CD. I am very surprised that no one noticed this with the recording before it was copied and distributed or even worse that no one seemed to care at the time. Though we could all use a few extra coasters. Regards, Mason. ***NEW ALBUM "SANCTUARY" AVAILABLE*** ____ Visit The Official HAVEN Web Page http://members.home.net/mhaven ICQ#6526511 ....end of transmission ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 13 Aug 1998 17:02:59 -0400 From: Erik Morrison Subject: Exile Logo, Etc. To: numan@cs.uwp.edu Actually, I don't think the Queensryche logo looks much like the Exile Logo, but it does seem to remind me of something. It's not very original. I think this is why everyone says it reminds them of something or other too. I never liked it or the Sacrifice Logo, sorry Gary. Now that I think about it, both symbols remind me of clip art. But who cares, it's the substance and not the symbols anyway and both albums are great, I esp. like the extended version of Sacrifice. Drum roll please..... Rianna, you are the official winner of my contest of the most appropriate response to this great debate on all topics non Numan. Congratulations! You may continue to buy all Numan merchandise. Honorable mention goes to Ben for at least pointing out a few Emails ago that we can all scroll past that which we do not want to read. If only life were so simple! I hate to disappoint you all but, believe it or not, I don't read every message posted. I highly recommend scrolling if something doesnt interest you. Now for something more interesting for my fellow Elvis Costello fans. This was from a German magazine where Elvis was played different songs and asked to identify the musician and comment: "Gary Numan: "I'm Render" "That must be Gary Numan. You can't take him seriously, can you? Have you seen this cover with the idiotic warrior outfit? Stupid! I never thought he was all there. Here he's posing as well: "I'm Render, I'm Mad", blah, blah, blah. With Tubeway Army he only ever just messed around. At least here he's trying to bring a rhythmic change into things. But despite that- no!" Dissapointing, but there it is. I really don't think Elvis has heard enough of Numan to dismiss him so completely but there it is. Also, I think Elvis has looked pretty silly on some of his album covers too. (ie: Spike) I think he forgets that. Is "I'm Render" a new song. I've never heard of it before. Anyone else heard? Hope everyone had a good weekend. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 13 Aug 1998 08:51:37 -0500 From: "Scott_R._Lucado" Subject: Gary's lyrics To: numan@cs.uwp.edu Hi, all. It's great to be back on the list after changing jobs. I guess while I was off-line there has been some debate about the gay references in Gary's lyrics, especially in the early music. I'm not gay, never have been, and never will be, but I must admit there was something about those early songs that I could identify with. To me, the lyrics were more about loneliness, isolation, and a sense of being largely out-of-step with a malevolent environment. The references to homosexuality per se have never been relevant to me. "Now only boys that love only boys/ The perfect picture of a boy-girl age" never kept me from chasing girls. And, "Just for now, that's all I need / Won't someone call me friend?" meant a lot more to me than "Jo the waiter held me close / behind the door marked Gentlemen." That sort of thing, combined with Gary's use of synths to produce an equally unusual sound, and I was hooked from the first time I ever heard "Cars." So much more interesting to me than some hormone-hyped loudmouth thrashing a guitar and whining about trying to get some bimbo in the sack. "How many times are they going to write that song?" I would ask myself, hearing the same stupid notions over and over. But let's face it, nobody will ever write another "Down in the Park." Scott scott_r._lucado@tiginsurance.com ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 14 Aug 1998 18:37:31 -0500 From: "Troy L. Walters" Subject: Gary Numan & Beastie Boys To: The Gary Numan Digest On eMpTyV 1515, Kurt Loder was talking with Mixmaster Mike and asking about his role during a Beastie Boys performance. After a short scratch sampling, he was going through some vinyl and he pulls out Gary Numan's Pleasure Principle album. I nearly had a heart attack! He even mentioned Gary Numan by name! I hope many others shared in my joy! -- Troy L. Walters Indiana, USA tlwalter@tctc.com http://www.tctc.com/~tlwalter Heading straight for the Numan-llennium -- Beware of the IDGAF Syndrome... © ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 13 Aug 1998 14:41:32 +0100 From: Andy McHaffie Subject: Gary Numan Digest V1 #459 To: Gary Numan >Actually, I have noticed that the e-mails of support that I've gotten >have come only from other Americans, while those I've seen posted on >the >Dige standing with the "don't ask, don't tell" crowd seem to be Brits. I think thats a unfair generaisation... Speaking as a gay Brit fan, I have a few irl straight friends on the list who are perfectly accepting. I think its just coincidence that you have seen this US / UK distinction. Ive always felt it was the other way around... Andy -- http://www.joekeith.dircon.co.uk/mouthfull.html -- ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 13 Aug 1998 09:27:06 -0400 (EDT) From: Sean Crist Subject: Interpretation of lyrics To: numan@cs.uwp.edu If Gary ever actually reads these digests, I wonder how he takes the periodic arguments over exactly what his lyrics mean. I think that if I were in his position, I'd be amused, for two reasons: 1) Art is ambiguous; if you want something with a single, one-dimensional interpretation, go read a newspaper article. A whole lot of the real craft of writing great lyrics is to pick combinations of words which have more than one meaning; the art is in how you put these multiple meanings next to each other, so that both meaning exist in the listener's mind at once. That's one of the places where the depth of art comes from, and Gary is very, very good at it. You probably seen the picture which is either a vase or two faces, depending on which way you look at it. The ambiguity is deliberate, and you'd have to just laugh at someone who insists that it's one thing and not the other. 2) The completion of art rests with the viewer/listener. If a piece of art is worth anything, it will speak to different people in different ways in different situations. What you get out of a piece of art depends on what you bring to it. You've probably had the experience of listening to the same Gary Numan song in two different mind spaces and having it be two different songs, or of talking to another fan and discovering that he or she took a song in a very different way, but that that other way makes sense too. Now, I don't take the radical view that the artist's intent doesn't matter at all. I think that's a lot of nonsense. For example, I was able to really identify with the anger and rejection in "Mean Street" long before I knew what the song was about; but that doesn't mean I wasn't very interested to later find out that Gary had been shabbily kicked out of a band called Mean Street early in his career. It's both a chronicle of something that happened to Gary AND a testament to anger and rejection in all times and places, which is why it's great. What I'm saying is that it's really a waste of time to try to nail down the one exact meaning of a Gary Numan song, because there never is just one exact meaning, and isn't supposed to be. \/ __ __ _\_ --Sean Crist (kurisuto@unagi.cis.upenn.edu) --- | | \ / http://www.ling.upenn.edu/~kurisuto/ _| ,| ,| ----- _| ,| ,| [_] | | | [_] ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 13 Aug 1998 19:24:14 +0400 From: "Peter Enright" Subject: Irrelevant gibberish from Moscow ... To: "Digest Numan" >From a laptop far far away ... Ahem! Time to address some really serious issues on this Digest! Just spent 2 glorious weeks in London strutting around in my Exile T-shirt (no-one came up and shook my hand, boo hoo) and what I shock I got when I checked out the Numan section in HMV, Virgin and Our Price ... so many Best Of's! It felt vaguely unnerving to see so much of his material out there. Has he - dare I say it - become popular? Egads! I remember the days when you had to really hunt his stuff down dressed in a shiny mac, and the thrill of actually finding it! Oh the joy! To rush back home and unwrap that plain brown package, stare at the album/CD/tape for several hours, memorising the lyrics, waiting for just the right moment (usually after several G&T's) to play it ... oh that exquisite feeling as those haunting new sounds and lyrics engulfed you ... but of course you young ones today have got it so fucking easy now 'aven't ya? I remember during the war we used to have to ... sorry. I suggest that one of these record companies simply save us all a lot of trouble and anguish by releasing "The Definitive Best Of The Best Of The Worst Of The Total And Completely Universally Acceptable To All Fans And Anyone Else Who Wants To Listen To The Seminal Anthological Authorised Archived and Unabridged Collection Of Gary Numan Music Including All Those Extended Mixes And The Funky Stuff What He Sings In The Shower And Any Other Bits We Forgot To Mention" available only by credit card of course, and be done with it! I mean really ... ? Is it just me or is this overkill with a big O? Okay I feel better now. Matthew Roberts was dead right about the Shepherd's Bush gigs lat year. Some SNIVELLING LITTLE PRAT behind me had the gall to complain to me and me bird (in his weedy high-pitched voice) as we were all leaving our seats, that I'd been standing up jumping around during the whole show and blocked his view. Still charged with all that glorious raw and undiluted energy, I politely informed him (while simultaneously resisting the urge to shove his nose into his brain with a palm-strike) that one does not attend a Gary Numan gig and sit down. "This is not the Proms mate!" I told him, and this fuckwit big girl's blouse continued jabbering at me ... so with the control that only comes from studying 4 different martial arts styles I ignored him. He was oblivious to the gravity of his situation anyway. Maybe a good old fashioned head-butt would've shut him up. Are you out there on the Digest? Do you know how close to death you came you boring little man? And the official Australian word on the lyrics debate that has become more boring than Esther Rantzen: 1. Gary's not a poof. 2. Some poofs hear poofy things in some his songs. 3. Some of us don't. 4. And some of us even identify with the weird shit. It's that simple. Let's debate SOMETHING WORTHY please, the Millenium is almost upon us. Where's my Prozac? The TikTokMan, Moscow PS: I discovered something weird about the Exile logo. You can try this at home: 1. Roll up the carpet 2. Draw the outline of the Exile logo in chalk on the floor boards 3. Place a black candle on each of the points 4. Light the candles 5. Sit naked in the lotus position in the centre while chanting DITP backwards 6. Wait and see what happens ... I tried this and a shaft of brilliant light appeared, out stepped Nash The Slash jiving around the room singing "Puttin' On The Ritz" ... or was it just the Cognac and Kahlua? ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 15 Aug 1998 11:58:29 -0400 From: Matthew Subject: Malcolm McLaren To: Gary Numan Small Numan sighting in this Saturday's Times: In an interview with Malcom McLaren, he mentions his early introduction t= o hip hop culture. Apparently Afrika Bambaataa took him to a party in New York in 1982. McLaren recalls 2 guys "breaking out in what I thought was = a battle. I thought I'd get killed, but they just bounced on their heads to= some DJ scratching Gary Numan's Cars." Interestingly this sort of comment would never have appeared in the past.= Either McLaren wouldn't have mentioned Numan, or the Editor would have scrubbed out any reference to him, not believing that Numan could have an= y possible significance. Whatever you think of McLaren, this is a small but significant victory fo= r critical acceptance. Either it's true, as I believe, and a further confirmation that Numan was a factor in early hip hop, or it's a lie and McLaren went out of his way to mention Numan. In case anyone outside the UK thinks I overstate the significance of quot= es like this, consider these comments from a review of Dominion Day: "Gary Numan - robot looky-likey, Metal Mickey sound-a-likey, comically cr= ap pilot, Thatcherite buffoon and hair transplantee, lest we forget - has, i= n a 20 year career, one half decent single to his name.... And this? Well i= t sounds exactly like you'd imagine it would. Only worse." Thanks to people like Malcom McLaren, intellectually lazy reviewers like this are looking increasingly isolated and foolish. I doubt he realises what he's done, but I've just warmed a little to our Malcolm. Matthew Roberts ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 15 Aug 1998 16:39:42 +0100 From: "Nigel Lunn" Subject: Numan Live Tapes To: Anyone out there got any live tapes of the recent Exile tour that they would like to trade. e mail me at the following address. nigellunn@wavenet.co.uk ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 13 Aug 1998 08:39:45 -0600 From: "Joey Lindstrom" Subject: Paperbacks To: "Gary Numan" On Thu, 13 Aug 98 01:00:01 CDT, "Nick" wrote: >Anyway that sort of leads me onto to my next subject the paperback edition >of 'praying to the aliens'. >Quite a few issues ago I remember reading a young Lady's comments relating >to the paperback edition which has an extra chapter. >The question being is it fair ? >Well my answer to that is a big 'NO' >Whilst I can fully understand 'Gary' is running a commercial business >and needs to make a profit I can't help thinking he's taking advantage >of a good fan base that deserves a lot better. >I'll let you decide. Sorry, I don't buy it. This is very, very common practice with such non-fiction works as autobiographies, ongoing news stories, etc. The first example that comes to me off the top of my head is one that's not going to be popular around here, but stick with me for a moment: Rush Limbaugh's first book, "The Way Things Ought To Be", had a bonus chapter added to the paperback. I believe his second book did as well, but I can't be sure. In both cases, you're dealing with ongoing stuff: with Gary, his career progressed rather a lot in the year after the release of the hardcover, and in Rush's case, he was using a lot of current-events stories to illustrate points and added the chapter to bring things up to date - since the paperback came out something like 2 years after it was originally written. It would be a whole different story if Gary had rewritten some parts dealing with the period of time covered in the hardcover for inclusion in the paperback - then you can honestly say we got the bum's rush with the hardcover. But he didn't: all he did was tack onto the end an extra chapter dealing with the portion of his life that he hadn't lived yet when the original manuscript was turned in to the publisher. If you wanna talk about what's a ripoff and what's not, talk about the industry-wide practice that says most books first come out as expensive hard-covers, then like a year later come out in paperback for far less money. I've got a lot of books in my collection that I waited that year to get because I didn't think it was worth $30, but *WAS* worth $7.99. If you accept this practice, and it's hard not to cuz, hey, let's face it, they make the decisions and not us, then what Andre Deutsche (sp?) has done here is no different than anyone else, and the fact that paperback buyers *DO* get the added chapter is a nice, and necessary, bonus. Let's face it - there's a lot of collectoroids here who woulda bought both even if they were identical in content. At least that's my presumption, witness how many people have bought the same albums on vinyl, cassette, and CD. :-) / From Joey Lindstrom joey@lindstrom.com / Interocitor Dot Net http://www.interocitor.net / / When I was eight, I played Little League. I was on first; I stole / third; I went straight across. Earlier that week, I learned that the / shortest distance between two points was a direct line. I took / advantage of that knowledge. / --Steven Wright ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 14 Aug 1998 14:58:02 -0400 From: Matthew Roberts Subject: Premier logo To: Gary Numan LOGOS, Christ! (Just a very little joke) >I'm sure I've seen the logo used on The Premier Tour t-shirts somewhere else. No surprise there. It's the greek letter 'psi'. Also used in physics to represent quantum wave functions. And as we all know, "Anyone who isn't shocked by quantum theory hasn't understood it." On the subject, Gary keeps saying there are quarks called 'strange' and 'charm' and these of course were the inspiration for the album that bears= the words 'strange' and 'charm' in it's title, that is 'Strange Charm'.............. = Anyway, he's wrong! It's actually 'strangeness'. I'm sure Mike Smith knew= this and Gary either mis-heard or mis-remembered. Beefcake! BEEFCAKE! I mentioned before that The Venus Hunters was a J G Ballard short story. Well another of his stories is called The Comsat Angels. How about that then? And of course Stories is a Gary Numan song. I'm beginning to spot a pattern. It's an FBI/KGB/CIA/MFI conspiracy. Or something. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 14 Aug 1998 17:26:27 +0100 From: colin_l Subject: Re-mastered Telekon To: numan@cs.uwp.edu Thanks to Phil Marsh for his Micromusic V Dream Corrosion comments !!! Maybe as this is posted there are more comments forthcoming.... In the last 'Digest, fellow Scot, William 'Flash-Heart'(?) talked about the partly remixed tracks in the Telekon re-issue, ("Gary Numan -20th Anniversary Edition -The classic Albums Remastered with bonus tracks. Original + Expanded Artwork"which is correct, but the accompanying booklet with album notes and lyrics, makes mistakes with the lyrics of I Die You Die + We Are Glass !!! Apparently, IDYD's last verse ends "Does everything stop when the old time laps"(!!!), and with We Are Glass there's not enough space in the booklet to include all the lyrics, so we get a short version, plus the lyric "We slip down And old eyes don't cry for me Cause I doubt I'm and I doubt you And never never going to doubt We are glass, we are glass" !!! Now Gary has an endearing habit of forgetting the lyrics to this classic a lot, as we all know from his live concerts and the live albums released over the years, that he sang whatever came into his head at the time; so perhaps whoever copied the lyrics made the unfortunate mistake of listening to a live version of the song to copy the words, so whilst he might have sung this live it's not right of course. Anyway, bye for now Colin ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 15 Aug 1998 17:44:15 -0500 From: Valerie Iglar-Mobley Subject: singles To: The Gary Digest Dear all, I had some good fortune recently, and I just wanted to share it with my friends on the Dige (because nobody else I know would appreciate it). I was at Tower the other day and to my amazement they had both editions of the "Dominion Day" single in stock! I had given up in my search for them, and assumed I'd have to hope and wait for the rumored domestic version to be released. Then when my wife and I were perusing some used record stores up the street, I found the "Music For Chameleons" 12" on vinyl! (Val had her own good luck with her own hero, Boy George, but you'll have to go to that web-site to hear about it.) I adore the "Dominion Day"s, and I noticed something listening to them. Has anyone else noticed that remixes of Gary's songs seem to fall into one of two camps: either the "Oh, was that a remix" type, wherein the remix sounds only marginally different, basically being slightly longer (with the "Chameleons" 12" in this category, as well as about the entire 'Sacrifice - extended' album); or the "Oh, is that the same song" type, when other artists remix his songs to the point of unrecognizability (with 'Random 2' and 'The Mix' as examples). Quite happily, "DD"'s versions (of the title song, and the other additional tracks) are neither! He has taken the elements of the songs as building blocks, and put them together in fresh and imaginative ways-- bringing out aspects of the music that we might otherwise have never heard in them. I'm thinking of the briliiant opening to "DD" and the quiet, moody break inside "Dead Heaven." I noticed also that both of those tracks are listed as "taken from the album, 'Exile - extended.'" Doesn anyone know whether that album has been shelved or is still on the launch pad? With the recent glut of material being released, I wonder where things stand for The Man with Eagle/Cleo. Also, I adored the adaptations he created on this last tour, and the live tracks are excellent examples. Does anyone know if there's anything in the works for a 'live' album from this or last year's tour? It seems like he's practically put out a live album for every studio release, but now that his American fans have finally had our wishes fulfilled and would really love to have another 'live' to commemorate-- I'm wondering if this time we miss out. I'd love to hear any news on either of those fronts from those among us who are more connected. (Obviously, I'm WAY out of the loop. Witness this late date I'm finally acquiring "DD".) Love to all, Benjamin Iglar-Mobley P.S. Another used cd shop nearby where I live has one copy 'Metal Rhythm,' if anyone wants me to pick it up for them. Since it's on the IRS/Illegal label, it's pretty questionable whether it will be reissued, so I thought I'd offer it here. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 14 Aug 1998 03:41:35 GMT From: "Michale Stembridge" Subject: Synth (?) claps used on Pleasure Principle & more... To: numan@cs.uwp.edu The particular sound is most notable in 'Cars', in the verses. Anyone know exactly how Numan got the sound(and what device he used to produce it with)? Thanks, Michale ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 13 Aug 1998 19:41:33 +0100 From: "Tony Clark " Subject: UK concert sept 12th To: "Numan Digest" hi, just a short message to see if anybody going to the numan concert on sept 12th, wants a lift there and back. i am leaving from swansea in wales and am travelling the whole length of the M4 to London. If anybody lives along the M4, such as cardiff, bridgend, nr. bristol, etc, and wants a lift there and back, please e-mail me and we will arrange something. i will be parking up somewhere in outer london and getting a tube in. if someone lives near the end of the m4 and can suggest a good parking places near a tubeway, please contact me. Also, is there any plans for a little get together before the concert, for digersters, fans etc. would be nice to meet up and chat. ta ta for now. tony Tony Clark E-mail: Tony.Clark@Clara.Net Web Site: http://www.tony.clark.clara.net ICQ No. 8282459 ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 15 Aug 1998 17:06:13 -0400 From: Moral Subject: What the hell is going on ? To: "Numan Digest (GN)" Hi Fellow Fans I, like most of you, have followed and supported Gary's career for a good= many years. My own version of Numan fanaticism started way back in '79 after hearing AFE on the radio. Buying a copy of everything he's ever released in the UK and almost 100 live shows later I find myself in 1998 extremely pissed off with the mis-information and down right bullshit whi= ch seems to leak out of the Numan camp at alarmingly frequent intervals. Let= 's take a look at what I mean. 1. Why not have your own official web site ? Great idea - almost instant access to up to date information for the fans, it can reach a world-wide audience and hey, it's cheaper than a Fan Club mail shot. Then let's insi= st that only you perform the updates and what we're left with is no news sin= ce 17 July. Now, forgive me, but the chances of absolutely nothing news wort= hy happening with Gary since July 17 are about nil. The rather excellent AFE= site has updates almost every day. Why not let one of the fans or someone= do the news updates for you ? Nope, rather too obvious. And why write it = in the third person, like it's being written by someone other than Gary. Hey= , we all know it's you Gary. Duh ! I follow a rather excellent band called Live. When they toured the US/wor= ld last year the lead singer took a digital camera with him and put city by city updates up on their official Live website as the tour progressed around the country. Actual fan feedback was also included. And what happened when Gary toured the US ? And I think Live are just a tadge bigg= er than our man and therefore probably a lot busier. Opportunities being wasted here I think. Duh ! 2. After a great final show on the last UK tour Gary proudly announced th= at he'd been signed up by The Agency and will be working flat out touring continuously for the next 2 years to help re-establish his career. A European tour quickly followed and then a very successful US tour followe= d that. More talk of touring the US again later in the year plus a Japan/Australia tour as well. This all sounded great. New levels of interest in Numan's career from historically hostile quarters, a higher profile and an increasing fan base all pointed to better and greater things. What better way to promote yourself than being available to the concert going public ? = Now we're told that there's no US tour, no Japan tour and nothing's happening 'down under' either. Oh, and I almost forgot. He's not going to= tour the UK again either because it's "predictable" and the "sparkle's gone". Hey Gary, do the words "Wembley", "1981" and "shagged career" mean= anything to you ? Is this the same man who has recently said how great touring is, how much he enjoys it and how much the senses are heightened during the extraordinary time which is touring ? Now me, I'm an Oracle DB= A. If I look up Oracle DBA in the career dictionary I see, "installs databas= e software, performs upgrades, does performance monitoring/tuning and intimidates pond life programmers who can't write efficient SQL". If we look up pop star in the career dictionary we see "records songs and releases them as singles and albums and does touring to promote the material thus enhancing one's career". Further more, if it weren't for th= e UK fan base one would not have the option of not touring again because one's career would have been over long ago. And the fan club newsletter actually said that because there's not going = to be another UK tour, hard-core Numan fans will have to be a little bit quicker off the mark to get hold of tickets for the "one off" shows and that the casual Numan fan will obviously find it more difficult to get to= see Gary in concert. Am I missing something here ? The UK based hard-core= Numan fans have kept the Numan career going for years. But let's be hones= t, it's hit a bit of a plateau and there simply isn't enough of us to help support another breakthrough into the big time. So, my point is this; assuming that the UK hard-core fans stick around then the only way to get= the breakthrough is going to be through turning casual Numan fans into mo= re hard-core ones. But hey, not touring means that's probably not going to happen and it's going to piss off the hard-core fans in the process. Duh = ! 3. Promising all that touring did intrigue me as I did wonder how the new= album would get recorded in time. But, Gary did manage to get by without = a major studio set up around him in 83 when he recorded Warriors in the Channel Islands. And lots of bands record on the road. Zooropa by U2 was conceived whilst on tour, so it does happen. That's what portastudios are= for after all. But no, we have to stop all touring to write and record th= e new album. And just to make it more difficult let's physically move the studio, re-cable it and add lots of new equipment. Right before a new maj= or project. Let us return to the computing analogy. Who in their right mind would re-locate their company, change network topology and move all your business critical applications off one hardware platform to a completely different one immediately before accepting a career making/breaking proje= ct from a new client ? No one would do it - it would be technological suicid= e. What is he thinking ? 4. Was I the only one who expected a public hanging for the moron who allowed the Dominion Day single fiasco ? Instead of the probing investigation which was hinted at, we get a one liner of "It was disappointing". To all those folks who thought the Eagle deal would be another IRS I salute you. For my part I think the whole deal had to be sweetened for them by getting hold of the rights to the NUMA back catalogue. These Eagle people are smart enough to realise that there's still some milking of the Numan name to be had and in return they might have to put out the odd single and release an album or two. That's not going to hurt their pockets too much is it ? That single was very importa= nt and Eagle screwed it up. Why not make amends and release a follow up ? No= t very likely now is it ? I don't know where these business and career decisions are coming from bu= t I think they are ill advised. Trust them as I may, I would not allow my o= wn mother to be responsible for my popularity and public profile and I certainly would not take career advice from my dad. As if. I think that t= he Numan camp have set out to achieve a certain (low) level of success and a= re settling for that and that alone. That's not the attitude which made Numa= n a big star in the first place and I think we may be witnessing his slow withdrawal from the music business. That's a pity as I feel he is still a= viable artist with a lot to offer music fans everywhere. = What does everyone else think ? Cheers, Sean. = ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 15 Aug 1998 20:08:53 -0700 From: "richard carter" Subject: you are offended??????? To: "gary numan digest" HOWDY !!!!!!! KING RICHARD HERE..... You knou, I still get hate-mate about the supposed gay bashing when I told the BLOTTO story...and I have been told everything from "grow up" to "its people like you that make it impossible for us to be excepted".....look, I put the story on here because: It was about GARY NUMAN It was a story that I didnt know if was true thought that the idea of NUMAN beating up a BAND was funny.. Still I offend so many of you, why?? are you that easily offended???hhhhhhmmmm might I say something? Every month I get my digest and see all of these GOD-BASHING comments or the ANTI-GOD comments as it were. Strange...I would think You would be aware that some believe in a GOD even if you do not, therefore you have offended everytime you send a post to the digest.. If you say, "I believe that way because GARY does, then GARY is your GOD...that makes you a hipocrite hipocrite : what a person who does not believe in GOD is quick to call a person who does believe in GOD. Sorry if I sound bitter, but if you dont want to be offended, try not offending others first.... well, let the hate mail begin........ King Richard Ga Angelfire for your free web-based e-mail. http://www.angelfire.com ------------------------------ End of Gary Numan Digest ******************************