Gary Numan Digest Sun, 29 Nov 98 Volume 1 : Issue 490 Today's Topics: A couple of things. A new member converting pounds Gary Numan Digest V1 #489 minutia MME ? New music club features Numan (sort of) Numan X-mas Album Old synths versus new synths Opinions on various pickings (quite long) Poetry and Power Polls the poll Ultimate Numan Compilation/Sampler Vinyl Trainspotters ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Date: Thu, 26 Nov 1998 11:50:15 -0000 From: Leon Smith <lss1m@admin.le.ac.uk> Subject: A couple of things. To: "'numan@cs.uwp.edu'" <numan@cs.uwp.edu> Hi Everyone, I haven't posted to the digest in a long time (lots of personal hassle, but its not v.interesting). Some of you out there may remember me (but probably not). Anyway Digest 489 had a number of great posts, and I couldn't resist replying to a couple of them. Troy, excellent idea about the ultimate compilation. How often have most of us bought one of these and thought, if only it had x, y and z it would have been brilliant? For my two penneth, the absolute musts are Jo the Waiter, Dark and You are in my Vision, but I suspect the main problem with a project like this is you're never going to get people to agree on 12 tracks. Ben, we must have been separated at birth. Dead Can Dance, This Mortal Coil and Cocteau Twins (plus candles) are all regular accompaniments to intimate evenings (well what do you expect from a sad old Goth like me :-). Cheers, Leon. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 26 Nov 1998 10:44:19 +0000 (GMT) From: "A.P.Tudor" <A.P.Tudor@selc.hull.ac.uk> Subject: A new member To: numan@cs.uwp.edu Here's a brief introductory message from a new list-member. I've been listening to Gary since I was a lad, getting into him (as did so many others) via Are 'friends' Electric? in 1979. Since then, I've managed to see him plenty of times, sometimes being thrilled, sometimes less so. I drifted away after The Fury but then picked up a copy of Metal Rythmn and loved it. Since then I've been out of the UK a lot but have seen him a few times and bought his stuff. To be honest, I like the recent stuff a lot less than the older material, probably because those were my 'formative' years. That doesn't stop me listening to the new CDs, of course, or enjoying some of the 'dead modern' stuff on Random (indeed, I think the versions of She's Got Claws, Everday I die and We are Glass are brilliant). My favourite album (isn't everyone's?) is absolutely & definitely the Pleasure Principle, and I also like his punk songs (or some of them at least). One of the real pleasures at Gary's concerts is to hear him 'resurrect' old and half forgotten songs. I know he likes to play his new material (as do all musicians) but when he slips an old gem in there it doesn't half send me home happy! Around the time of Beserker (and a few tours after that) I know he tried consciously to miss out some old favs - and I must admit that I agreed with him. He has a vast & rich repertoire and it doesn't fuss me not to hear Me I disconnect from you, Cars, She sells Mystery & the like. Maybe one day I'll compile my 'ideal' concert playlist and send it to you. That's it. I look forward to reading you all. Adrian Tudor ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 26 Nov 1998 23:16:16 -0500 (EST) From: Telekon@webtv.net (Alison Koppel) Subject: converting pounds To: numan@cs.uwp.edu does anyone know what 12.99 in british pounds would be in american money? i asked this question to sister ray & they told me that they didn't know. also, if anyone is interested, i have 12 (every episode) of the hit british comedy fawlty towers. i will put 6 episodes on tape 1 & 6 episodes on tape 2. over 6 hours of episodes for only 40 dollars. that's under 4 dollars an episode & includes shipping & handling. high quality tapes & 100% satisfaction guaranteed. this is for anyone who wants it. you can order as many sets as you want. if interested, email me at: telekon@webtv.net "I TURN OFF THE PAIN, LIKE I TURNED OFF YOU ALL, NOW THERE'S ONLY M.E." ~gary numan - the pleasure principle~ ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 26 Nov 1998 21:30:34 -0000 From: "Antonio Scandella" <Antonio@goffboi.freeserve.co.uk> Subject: Gary Numan Digest V1 #489 To: "Gary Numan" <numan@cs.uwp.edu> Jean said, <<I'd love to get out Live at the Roxy, but I'm actually supposed to be revising for a programming exam. I always used to work out Gary's lyrics for myself, mainly because I need to know approximately what he's saying so I do the appropriate hand gestures when dancing. Toni knows don't you?>> I liked the way you danced. The Bowie fans always used to be much more theatrical than us Numanoids, as I remember, though there were a few of us who competed with them ;) But it *was* easier to do a swirly-armed mime-dance to 'Life On Mars' than it was to 'This Is New Love'... As for appropriate bonk-time music, I was going to be silly and say Napalm Death was good for that, but my favourite has to be side 1 of Dance. It just sort of goes at the right pace ::cough:: but with these pesky CD's, once you've just got the mood right, 'Crash' comes on and ruins the ambience... but I *would* agree with the Cocteau Twins as suitable smoochy-type music *if* I didn't spend the whole time wondering what the hell Liz Frazier was singing about. (i.e. 'You look lovely tonight, bebe... hang on - did she really just say "Fribble-wibble penny penny bicycle??"') So I just tend to put on some Japan, these days. Oh - and for anybody interested - my Noise Noise site has moved servers. If anybody has links to Noise Noise I'd appreciate it if you could change them to - http://www.goffboi.freeserve.co.uk/Page2.html There are a couple of new photo's there, and I am working on some more old Numan Interviews, too. I keep getting sidetracked when I take out all the old cuttings I have - and I spend too much time reading the stuff and not enough typing them out... Toni 'I'm young! I'm me! I'm living for the moment and expressing myself! Yaha! Hahahaha! Blam, Blam, Blam! Pakow! Pakow! Crazy Chrissie - DR & Quinch ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 27 Nov 1998 23:19:24 -0800 From: obscure@blueneptune.com Subject: minutia To: Numan News Digest <numan@cs.uwp.edu> Hi All, Thought I'd pass on this tidbit of information. I mentioned a couple of Digests ago that I'd ordered the paperback version of PTTA from Amazon.co.uk. I ordered it on Sunday, they sent an email saying that they'd put it in the post on Monday, and I received it on Wednesday! Talk about service...maybe this is amazing to me because it's only the second thing I've ordered via the Internet, but I figured someone out there might like to know how easy and hassle-free my order was. (esp. after all the talk of dodgy mail-order record stores). As for the "new" chapter, it isn't very long at less than 20 pages, but I enjoyed reading about the US Tour from Gary's perspective. For that alone it was worth buying. I hope everyone had a great holiday... Lisa ________________________ obscure@blueneptune.com ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 26 Nov 1998 20:10:32 -0000 From: "Stephen Page" <yhy83@dial.pipex.com> Subject: MME ? To: <numan@cs.uwp.edu> All my postings so far have been in MME format and I can appreciate the comments of the person who expressed a negative opinion about them, and until his posting wasn't sure how to change it. I have made a change to the setting and am posting this to see if I've done it right, if I have hopefully I shan't upset anyone anymore with MME postings. May upset them with the contents though hehehehehe ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 28 Nov 1998 12:32:00 EST From: WAR4PREZ@aol.com Subject: New music club features Numan (sort of) To: numan@cs.uwp.edu There has recently been a new music club coming called everycd Their site is at everycd.com they have fourteen Numan albums...it looked good to me except they have an annual fee of $40! Their site is still in its beta stages and needs time. Still if you have the cash...they also say they'll try to find out of print albums from used record stores. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 26 Nov 1998 08:33:03 -0800 From: alec way <errora@earthlink.net> Subject: Numan X-mas Album To: numan@cs.uwp.edu I love the Numan X-mas album idea. In fact, he should do what the Beatles did and release special loopy musical X-mas messages to his fanclub. Maybe that's too hippy/cuddly for his style, so I doubt it'd happen. A friend of mine also wants to do an all-salsa all-Numan record. I think that Numan melodies, such as The Iceman Comes, lend themselves quite well to different styles Latin musics. But, the Numan X-mas classics record would be a winner. On the subject, there's a bootleg Brian Wilson demo called Christmas Time which is so Numan-sounding--the minimal and intense keyboard line and the deadpan lyrics delivered deadpan and sad somehow in a very (unintentionally, I'm sure) Numanesque way. best for holidays, A ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 27 Nov 1998 12:32:04 -0800 From: Gregor Torrence <gregor@europa.com> Subject: Old synths versus new synths To: numan@cs.uwp.edu (Gary Numan) James Chapman wrote: >New synths >just aren't the same are they? ... I am not one who's good at >describing sounds, but I think gary's synth sound went downhill in >about 1987 ... The synth you're complaining about is a Roland D50. And make no mistake, it was a very fashionable sound in most circles around that time. Outland and Metal Rhythm are mostly done on a Korg M1. It too was very fashionable, but I think Gary has kept it around a bit too long. But, lets get a little perspective here. The albums' whose synths we are complaining about were made at a time in Gary's career when money was very tight. And although the newer digital synths may not be to all of our liking, they have features which drastically cut the cost of making new records, namely MIDI. And without these features, he might not have been able to afford to make music at all. >I wonder how it would sound if Gary >tried to do the intro to I Dream of Wires on new synths. Well, I might ask what the intros to 'An Alien Cure' or 'Exile' would sound like like if he tried to make those sounds with a Prophet 5, a minimoog, or and Arp 2600. I suppose we should realize that synths sounds (not to mention guitar and drums sounds) are bit like Jeans. Long and bell- bottomed or high-waters, skin tight or baggy, dark blue or faded. Whatever you've got now, it's going to be out of style in no time. And perhaps the moral of the story is that when you complain about what the synths of 1988 sound like, dig up a photo of the clothes and haircut you had back then. You and your acid washed jeans just might be ripe for a little ridicule yourself. I know I am. > Yes I know I may be living in the past but I know what I like. >Then again, there's hardly anything by Numan that I dislike. Couldn't agree more. It's only when the song writing suffers that there is really anything to complain about. And with Gary, those complaints are few and far between. Gregor. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 26 Nov 1998 13:40:22 GMT0BST From: "James Chapman" <James.Chapman@newcastle.ac.uk> Subject: Opinions on various pickings (quite long) To: numan@cs.uwp.edu I have got several Numan items in the past few months which I have never got round to reviewing so here goes: The Numa years boxed set: Before I had this, I was missing 3 of the albums, and the other two I only had in extended form, though I had heard bits of each one. It was pretty much an essential for me, so I got it on the morning of release, and had listened to all 5 CDs by the end of the day. Berserker: Brilliant, my favourite numan album although I do prefer most of the extended versions (My Dying Machine is the exception though I love the album version). The B-sides have a particular quality about them too. Very powerful indeed. The Fury: Very good, but doesn't seem as "big" as Berserker. Not too much difference between regular and extended versions. Strange Charm: I wasn't expecting to like this very much, but it's my 2nd favourite album behind Berserker. A much more complex sound the the simple Fury, and I like the way lots of different instruments are used. Even The Need which sucks as a song I burst out laughig the first time I heard it, and it doesn't really annoy me of leave me cold like the other of my hated Numan songs. Machine+Soul: I was expecting this to be total crap, but it does have something to offer, like The Skin Game, I Wonder and Cry, and even the title track rocks a bit! Although Emotion and Generator are really awful, and Poison is like The Need-very funny. Sacrifice: Great album-I had heard most of this previously on Dark Light, and was looking forward to it, and wasn't disappointed. some of the qualities of the studio album were lost in the live performance. Pray is a really cool intro, and I love A Question of Faith, Love And Napalm, Magic and Bleed. although You Walk in My Soul occasionly makes me want to puke :-) I love the way the whole thing is presented-although it would have been a lot easier to pack an even number of CDs! I was kind of expecting 5 CDs in separate jewel cases in a box. The stories about each album were great reading as well. Living Ornaments 79 and 81 I'm not all that keen on the 79, but I love the 81. They both use my favourite live intro, and the sound quality is great! They both have historical signifance about them, and the performances of Complex, M.E. , Me! I Disconnect From You, I'm An Agent, I Dream of Wires, Please Push No More, WAG, IDYD, Cars and AFE are breathtaking. Metal is also very good as I always thought Metal has the best music and Moral the best lyrics and they both come together here. Also Remember I Was Vapour is a swignifant improvent on the original, and even the wonderfully crap sound quality version of Conversation is hilariously funny! The BB first 4 album reissues: I already had the 4 double packs, so there wasn't much musically new to me. Again the sound quality is great, and I think they have done a great job with the artwork and liner notes. I'm not so keen on Living Ornaments 78, though-I hate that early punkish Tubeway Army stuff. The main thing is-why couldn't they have done this in 1993 instead of the double packs? I'm really looking forward to Dance, I Assassin and Warriors, though I may not get The Plan. I hope they don't rerelease them yet again, well not on CD anyway. Wait till the Numan on Minidisc series comes out! Instead of thinking about new to CD tracks, it'll be new to Minidisc tracks :-) White Noise Live: This is my favourite live album, just beating LO 81. The energy level is massive, and Gary sounds like he's having a great time. The Berserker songs are great live, especiaaly the title track and Cold Warning, though I prefer the studio version of This Is New Love. I could also live without Sister Surprise because it's pants-at least it isn't the 9 minute version. of the oldies, the best are Metal, MIDFY, I Die: You Die, and My Shadow In vain-even though I ain't got a damn clue what he's actually singing most of the time. Unlike other live albums, when I listen to it I can actually imagine myself there. I learn that it isn't digitally remastered, so I don't know how they got it sounding this good-congratulations Numa or Cleopatra! I also saw a cople of digests ago that Rod Reynolds said they weren't intending to reissue all the live albums, in which case I feel very fortunate that WN was the only one I was missing. Rod had also said that they chose WN beause it had the best cover, in which case I was lucky I wasn't missing Ghost :-) Automatic : Enjoyable, actually. I think it compares favourably with Outland and M+S, and the synth sound is better than those of the same era that I mentioned in the last digest. I don't understand why so many have it in for Bill Sharpe. I wasn't expecting classic Numan though which was fortunate. I will also be getting Exile extended, The Fury reissue to hear RSPCA I Still Remember, Tribal (I have liked a lot of other demo tracks), and the regular album version of Call Out The Dogs-I have only heard the extended version thanks to them messing up with The Numa Years. And maybe Numan/Nicholson if it actually exists :-) Please feel free to discuss the points with me or on the digest James ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --- "And Ralf Schumacher is the son of double world champion, Michael Schumacher Murray Walker, 1997 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --- ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 28 Nov 1998 08:24:23 -0600 From: Brad LaVoise <cbnuma@mail.swbell.net> Subject: Poetry and Power To: Numan Digest <numan@cs.uwp.edu> This past Wed., Nov. 25th at the Gravity Kills concert in St. Louis guess what was played as their final song of the night. What was unusual is that many people started to leave because they thought the concert was over after the first encore. Now the house lights didn't go up so me and Sue (my wife) knew they were coming out for one more set. Oh yeah, we were wearing our Exile tour shirts - in case anyone was wandering. We did get one comment coming into the show, mainly that we were showing our age. But now back to the story. When they came out, the lead singer said something to the effect that they normally don't end a show like this but that they were going to do a song that they did for the GARY NUMAN tribute album. Both of us were floored when they started Poetry and Power, the crowd seemed to like it also, probably not as much as we did. We were even more shocked, but that's how the concert ended. Quite unusual for any group, I think, to end a show with a cover song. Now I know some didn't like this cover, but IMO I thought it was one of the better tracks on Random. I can see why Numan liked what they did with the song. Well that's all for now. Brad ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 26 Nov 1998 09:50:13 +0000 From: Andy McHaffie <amchaffie@meto.gov.uk> Subject: Polls To: Numan Digest <numan@cs.uwp.edu> >There are some interesting comparisons there. I realise Andy's >poll includes B-sides and extra tracks so this shows that the Fury >and Berserker B-sides are possibly better than the actual albums or >better in comparison to all the B-sides from the other albums. When the albums are ranked it doesnt include the B-sides. There is a score for the albums + B-sides as well, but the overall album rankings dont take this into account. I have ordered my extended Exile. Anyone else ? Let us know opinions when you get it. > Here's throwing a question to the wind... I would like to someday do a = >cover tune of one of Gary Numan's songs. Anyone know who to get a hold = >of to get permission, and how? If youre not going to release it, dont bother. If you are, just include it on your PRS, and inform the appropriate publishing company. >And for Numan to make love to....er...how about This Wreckage? Or >that dodgy instrumental on the B-side of Cars? Thats triggered off a memory. I remember the very first hardcore porn film I saw had "Asylum" as part of the soundtrack Andy -- http://www.best.com/~drumz/mp - Numan poll -- ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 26 Nov 1998 12:41:04 GMT0BST From: "James Chapman" <James.Chapman@newcastle.ac.uk> Subject: the poll To: numan@cs.uwp.edu I have decided to keep the poll ranking the albums open for a while, although I will have my e-mail account closed in several months. If anyone is willing to take over this poll, I would be very welcome! James ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --- "And Ralf Schumacher is the son of double world champion, Michael Schumacher Murray Walker, 1997 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --- ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 28 Nov 1998 19:25:12 -0800 From: theartdept@att.net (rod reynolds) Subject: Ultimate Numan Compilation/Sampler To: numan@cs.uwp.edu >How about WE (I mean the Digest as a whole) put our heads together and >create the ultimate Gary Numan CD compilation: EVERYTHING YOUR >LISTENERS EVER WANTED TO HEAR BY GARY NUMAN BUT YOU WERE TOO >AFRAID TO >PLAY! We could, maybe, get Mr. Reynolds to assist with the clearances >and possibly even more, maybe, hopefully, it would be kindda nice... get >the support of the label(s) and push this thing hard! Hello. Well, I happen to think the first disc of Remodulate is about the best Numan Sampler there is, at least from the Numa years (admittedly, I *may* be biased, as I compiled it ;o). Cleopatra doesn't have rights to the Beggars or IRS material so we can't even think about touching that (legally). My recommendation: send your local radio station a copy of Remodulate. It was *designed* to expose people to Numan music that they'd never heard, and shatter their perceptions based soley upon their limited (ie "Cars") Numan repertoire. Not to mention, the more copies of Remodulate (or any Cleopatra Numan release) that sell, the more support Cleopatra can give Gary. They need to be shown the market for Gary Numan in America just as much as anyone else... Seriously. Best wishes, Rod Los Angeles ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 28 Nov 1998 16:08:38 +0000 From: kevin Goodchild <Kevin.goodchild@virgin.net> Subject: Vinyl Trainspotters To: numan digest <numan@cs.uwp.edu> Hello, I am after a copy of "Cars" 7" from Peru, any South American Numan fans out there how could help ? Whoever did the New Kingdom bootled cd nice job ! thanks Kevin ------------------------------ End of Gary Numan Digest ******************************