Gary Numan Digest Thu, 9 Sep 99 Volume 1 : Issue 571 Today's Topics: Are You Real? Face To Face site Hunting Venus I'm a new Gary Numan fan! I Die: You Die Miscellaneous Nicholson / Numan 1987 - 1994 tracks Numan stuff on eBay Out of Office AutoReply: Gary Numan Digest V1 #570 Radio Heart Sister Surprise/Odds And Ends Terre Thaemiltz's Repicas Rubato The silliest version of Cars ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Date: Sun, 5 Sep 1999 03:50:34 EDT From: Numaniac@aol.com Subject: Are You Real? To: numan@cs.uwp.edu Is this really the man? Are you really Gary Numan? ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 6 Sep 1999 19:16:58 +0400 From: "Peter Enright esq." Subject: Face To Face site To: "Numan Digest" For all you Mac Munchers and tech-heads, I came across this site from BB: http://www.apple.com/publishing/music/numan/ If you can't be bothered surfing, the text is below, but you miss out on the nice pikkies ... Talk about the man-machine interface. I mean, sure, synthesizers had been used to make music before, but when Gary Numan hit the scene back in the early ‘80s no one had quite so seamlessly woven the image—all stainless steel and frosted glass—to make good on the promise of post-modern might and our undying love of machines. His paean to machine lust, the seminal song “Cars,” was followed by more hits and then nothing. Recently in the press again because of a passel of fans from The Smashing Pumpkins and NIN to the Foo Fighters and Marilyn Manson, Numan, long time Mac fan (and fanatic) sat down for a D&P vetting on new media, technology, and the business of art. Design & Publishing: Conceptually speaking, from your point of view as industry vet/artist, how have advances in technology, specifically musical technology, altered what currently constitutes musical art? Gary Numan: I don’t think advances in musical technology have changed our perception of what is ‘musical art’ at all actually. If you look at the charts now it seems to me that technology hasn’t really changed anything in the last 20 years as far as the ‘art’ of music is concerned. But behind the scenes things have changed enormously especially in the recording studio. Modern equipment is stunning. Even in my small home studio I now have equipment that, for a fraction of the price of things that were state of the art 10 years ago, now outperforms that older gear in every respect and can do things that were then undreamed of. The computer and associated software plays a major part in many of these advances. But we still have relatively simple music dominating the charts with little sign, if any, that the public is getting into anything radically new or cutting edge. Technology is allowing people to record in ever increasing quality but with ever greater scope for the moderately talented to sound positively gifted. This is probably the main reason why music isn’t really stretching the limits the way it could. D&P: What kind of technology have you found that’s currently working for you? GN: In the studio I use an Otari Radar 24 track hard disc recorder that goes through a little Quartz in-line console. I have a G3/266 Desktop Mac, which has the Logic Audio sequencer for the main song writing, Pro Tools, Sound Designer for editing and compiling the stereo master and MasterList software for CD writing. I’m also using the Waves audio processing package, which is remarkable and I have the DigiDesign AudioMedia 3 PCI card for the Mac. Because of the amount of info needed on screen at any one time I use two linked 17” Apple multiscan monitors. I have external Hard Drives, Jazz, Zip and EZ135 removables, and various scanners, printers and modems around the place. I also have two DAT players, a dedicated rack mounted CD Writer, as well as a CD Writer connected to the G3, plus a load of other things, cassette copiers, and so on. My 7600/120 Mac at the other end of the room I use for all my artwork. I run my NuWorld web site from the 7600, as well as designing all of our artwork from t-shirts to CD sleeves, Newsletters, Tour Programmes, pretty much anything nonmusical really. My trusty 1400cs/133 Powerbook also travels with me most of the time. And, dare I say it, I have a fast PC that I use to check on the internet compatibility issues that sometimes arise with the website. D&P: As long as you don’t actually LIKE having it, I think that’s okay to say. But with all this A-list attention again does it feel like the zeitgeist has merely caught up with you and technology is now so accessible that what you’re doing may not seem some strange to listener’s ears? GN: Certainly being acknowledged and credited as an influence by people of the quality that you’ve mentioned has played a major part in my resurgence. I’m enormously grateful to them all for their kind words. It’s also come at just the right time in that I am now probably writing better than I ever have before. If this had happened in 1992 I would have died in my bed as I was then writing some of the worst crap I’ve ever had the cheek to put out on record. But I think history is now doing me a favour actually and giving me credit where little is due. I doubt that I was half as influential as some people are saying but it’s nice to hear just the same. I was written off as being an odd little blip in the business for many years so it’s cool to now be considered highly credible. I don’t really take that much notice though, I’ll probably be out of favour again by Christmas. D&P: Is there anything, technologically speaking, that has currently really managed to capture your interest? GN: All of it. I’m a total tech head. One of the problems I face daily is that I do pretty much everything to do with my career. I write and produce everything, play most things on my records, I engineer my own records, design my own artwork, even down to the backstage passes on tour, run and code my own web site, my own Fan magazine, write articles, a book recently, and various other things. Time is a major problem. I find it almost impossible to really learn how to get the best from hardware or software before it’s upgraded, improved, and full of new things that I again know little about. I seem to be permanently struggling to stay on top of it all and, as a result, am in a constant state of feeling slightly stupid and not quite up to speed. Technology is, therefore, now becoming an everyday frustration, as well as a pleasure because there is just not enough time to take advantage of, and enjoy, it all. D&P: And down the road? GN: Computers that you can talk to as easily, and reliably, as the one on the Starship Enterprise. Computers that don’t have system errors of any number, no extension conflicts, no keyboards, no mice. Computers that you can’t see, or are at least out of the way. Removable media no larger than a sugar cube. Walls in houses or any building that can also become monitors when activated. A mobile phone that doesn’t always say ‘No Signal’ and that will communicate with my unseen Starship Enterprise computer from anywhere on the planet or beyond. A toaster that is sensible enough to smell smoke those vital few seconds before I do. This is one of those questions that you can answer without stopping for the rest of your life so I’ll end there. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 8 Sep 1999 12:15:14 +0400 From: "The Tik Tok Man" Subject: Hunting Venus To: "Numan Digest" Finally watched Hunting Venus last night, and had a laugh or two. For those of you who have not seen it; you ain't missing much. Typical telly movie. Looks like it was made on a budget of about 64 pounds and a few favours. The storyline (if you can call it that) is a tiresome variation on the old Blues Brothers "Let's get the band back together" routine. Two lesbian ex-groupies/"Venus Hunters" fan club organisers, ripped off by band leader/con-artist Simon (Clunes), kidnap him many years later and hunt down Charlie (Morrisey) who's had a sex change, Gavin a loony, Peter and John for one last gig. Could've easily been funnier, but it hovered uncomfortably in that limbo region between being a bit serious and a bit silly. The writer didn't seem to know which way to go. Martin Clunes was ... well Martin Clunes. Neil Morrisey made a quiet convincing transsexual, even his/her tits looked real. If they'd just stuck to their Men Behaving Badly characters it would've been great! Numan's cameo was way too brief, and not befitting a star of his class. Simon Le Bon was typecast as typically egotistical. The Human League should have been worked more into the script along with others, instead of being so obviously token cameos shoved in at the end. Ultravox and Foxx were conspicuous by their absence. Some good music in the soundtrack too. But the whole package was badly let down by crap lighting and camerawork/editing. A brief moment of fun: nice visual gag when they start looking for John. Groupie: John always said he'd go back to plumbing if music didn't work out as a career Simon: I suspect music didn't work out as a career. Peter slides a business card forward. It reads "Plumbing 24 hrs. Tubeway Army." Peter: You're right "Metal" starts up as we see John's workboots striding into the building from the street. The Famous Numan Scene: BBC TV Centre. John, Gavin and Peter burst into the men's room and search the cubicles for Simon, who they think has done a runner just before the gig. No-one there. We can see Gaz's back as he stands at a urinal in the background. Wearing black leather jacket, black jeans. John grabs Gaz by the shoulder. John: 'Scuse me mate did you s- Shock of recognition on John's face - he's just interrupted his hero in the middle of pissing. John: - Gary Numan ... Gaz nods, expressionless. John: You're a giant. Gaz looks down, chuckles. Numan: Ha, well, I'm sorry but I think this giant just peed on your Tucker boot. John: Oh, no worries Gary. Fantastic! Numan: But the suede. It's gonna mark. John: Wonderful Gary. Wonderful! Gaz zips up. John holds the door open for him. John (as Numan exits): Thanks! John turns to look at the others. John: Gotta mark! What scintillating dialogue. What a moving performance. NOT! And the worst part about this scene? Numan never even washed his hands! ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 6 Sep 1999 14:14:16 -0700 (PDT) From: Adriannah Subject: I'm a new Gary Numan fan! To: numan@cs.uwp.edu Hi everyone! I just started listening to Gary Numan's music about 3 weeks ago. I ordered a bunch of CDs and stuff from NuStreet at NuWorld. I'm very excited to get all the stuff I ordered! I have Exile, the Eagle U.K. release. And I have Strange Charm and Remodulate, the Cleopatra record label. I've been curious about Gary Numan's music since the late 80's, but I only knew 2 songs, 'Cars' and 'New Thing From London Town'. These 2 songs were played a lot at dance clubs I went to, original versions and mixed versions. And in the late 80's to early 90's I also heard the same 2 Gary Numan songs on alternative radio. I have a question about one of Gary's songs. There's another song that I heard at dance clubs that I'm positive is a Gary Numan song, but I don't know the name of it. Here's the only lyrics to this song I know: "Change your mind, nothing ever stays the same, change your mind." There's way more to it than that, but since the late 80's that's all I've had stuck in my head in regards to this song. I know the tune of the song, how it sounds and all too, but that's impossible for me to describe in words. Someone please let me know the name of this song and what album of Gary's it is on. Thank you, Tim Wheeler for your recent post about being positive about criticism and all that. The wish list is an excellent idea. I wish that Gary Numan would release his new album this year. I wish that Gary Numan would play a concert in Mississippi, U.S.A. And someone, I forget who, posted a message about other music groups that are influenced by Gary's musical style. I think the names were Deus and Project Pitchfork, right? I'll have to go to Borders.com and see if I can listen to song samples of these artists. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Bid and sell for free at http://auctions.yahoo.com ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 06 Sep 1999 10:47:14 BST From: "James Chapman" Subject: I Die: You Die To: numan@cs.uwp.edu Yes, on Saturday this song was played on national radio..even if it was only radio 2. They have a show with Alan Freeman doing two top 10s of that week in a year gone by, and IDYD was #6 this week in 1980. At least it was a variation on the two usual suspects. The only other good song in that top 10 was Bowie's "Ashes to Ashes" at #2, and The Jam's "Start" at #1. The rest of it was the ussual Cliff, Abba,disco shite. Just shows why Bowie was worried about Numan. Cheers James ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 07 Sep 1999 13:24:13 BST From: "James Chapman" Subject: Miscellaneous To: numan@cs.uwp.edu On Sun, 5 Sep 99 01:00:02 CDT, Allan wrote: >Basically, Danny Turner is a complete WANKER. He has sent an e-mail >to all >the John Foxx fans trying to sell his new mag+cd for £8. I sent him >an >e-mail back to tell him that I thought it was a bit steep and he >went all >childish and personal on me. Hey Danny, I am really >offended..........NOT. >I >would like to repeat the phrase that I included on one of my replies >to >your >e-mail.....FUCK OFF OK????? Get the point???love to everyone except >Danny. If Danny Turner is the actual "Danny T" then I had a really mysterious e-mail from him a few months back, I think he was trying to sell some merchandise, there was some vinyl very cheap but the really alarming thing was he was trying to flog the Beggars reissues (TA, R, TPP,T) for £10.99, when even HMV sold them for a pound less, and then was selling the Living Ornaments discs (trying to make out they were rare) for get this..£23! £10 more than NuWorld! I just thought it was a bit odd and deleted the mail. Then Derek commented on Dance reissue - I'm really looking forward to getting this, but I can't at the moment due to not having a credit card, and being a student, I shouldn't really get one. I have phoned up Beggars to try and order it that way, but all I keep getting is a recorded message...anyone done this? I could also print out the form and send a cheque, but the library computers don't allow that :-( Anyway, Metal Rhythm and Outland are out next week, I might wait until November until Dance. Can anyone tell me when I, Assassin and Warriors are out? Then Don McCrum did a list for his personal compilation. A couple of digests ago, I did a 4 disc set, but seeing live tracks in Don's list, I thought I'd add a 5th disc: The James Chapman live chronicles: Intro (Living Ornaments '81) 1. Berserker (White Noise) 2. I'm An Agent (Dark Light) 3. Me! I Disconnect From You (Ghost) 4. My Breathing (Dream Corrosion) 5. AFE (Dream Corrosion) 6. Cars (Living Ornaments '81) 7. I Die: You Die (Forum '99) 8. Tracks (forum '99) 9. We Are Glass (Ghost) 10. Noise Noise (Dark Light) 11. Replicas (Dark Light) 12. My Shadow In Vain (White Noise) 13. Down In The Park (living Ornaments '81) 14. I Don't Believe (Dream Corrosion) 15. Metal/Moral (Living Ornaments '81) Just about does it :-) Cheers James ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 07 Sep 1999 23:11:56 -0700 From: Derek Langsford Subject: Nicholson / Numan 1987 - 1994 tracks To: numan@cs.uwp.edu Courtesy of Dave on the AFE UBB: Nicholson / Numan 1987 - 1994 The Record Label - spincd2005 1. Thrill Me (Radio Heart Demo Version) 4.03 2. Radio Heart (Radio Mix) 3.43 3. Radio Heart (Extended Mix) 6.00 4. Hearts And Minds (London Times Demo) 3.31 5. London Times (Radio Mix) 3.43 6. London Times (Extended Mix) 5.23 7. Nuits Francaise (All Across The Nation Demo) 3.11 8. All Across The Nation (Radio Mix) 4.02 9. All Across The Nation (Extended Mix) 5.39 10. Over on the Other Side (Like a Refugee Demo) 4.00 11. Like a Refugee (I Won't Cry) (Acoustic Mix) 4.32 12. Like a Refugee (I Won't Cry) (Radio Mix) 3.53 13. Like a Refugee (I Won't Cry) (Pandemonium Mix) 4.37 14. Tragedy in Blue (Demo Version) Demo version have Nicholson on vocals. Originally advertized as having all the mixes, the CD doesn't have the instrumental versions of Radio Heart (damn, time to get a Karaoke machine - NOT!) and several Like a Refugee mixes are missing. Better than nothing - at least some tracks are new to CD. Derek San Diego, California ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 06 Sep 1999 09:17:49 EST From: numan@leogate.kf9ug.ampr.org Subject: Numan stuff on eBay To: numan@cs.uwp.edu I listed some Numan CDs on eBay and noticed that there are a lot of numan stuff for sale there. Music, posters, etc. I have 5 CDs listed there under the eBay handle of "kf9ug". Check it out. I found more than I expected there. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- God Bless! Michael Day "The only things to fear in life are God and our own arrogance" - M.E. "Remind Me To Smile" Website: http://mikeday.rexnet.net/kf9ug/music/gnuman/ ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 4 Sep 1999 23:45:18 -0700 From: Ross Brown Subject: Out of Office AutoReply: Gary Numan Digest V1 #570 To: numan@cs.uwp.edu Out of office until Tuesday, 7 September, for the Labor Day holiday. Speak to you Tueday. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 05 Sep 1999 16:07:53 EST From: "iiaann 7" Subject: Radio Heart To: numan@cs.uwp.edu In digest #568, Nick (voix@earthling.net) mentioned that he had received the Radio Heart CD's that he odered two years ago from Sister Ray in London. What about people who ordered these CD's from "The Record Label". Does anyone know if we are going to get our CD's as well ??? ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 5 Sep 1999 13:14:29 -0400 From: Matthew Roberts Subject: Sister Surprise/Odds And Ends To: Gary Numan Digest 570 was most amusing. Thanks to all involved, intentionally or not= I saw the Cars video on VH1 (UK) at about 12.30 Saturday morning. Hope it= = gets played at peak viewing times rather than just the graveyard shift. So the question of what "Letters" was remains a bit of a mystery. Thanks for the = info Steve. Coupla thoughts/questions... If there was a long version of Moral, was it intended as a single, or was= it just edited for the album? And when are we going to get to hear it? The "Bill Nelson mix" of Sister Surprise... hmm? Shouldn't there a Bill Nelson mix of the entire album?? What's special about SS? = This is the sum total of my knowledge on the subject which unfortunately doesn't help much. = There are two RELEASED versions of SS. The album version and the single version (7" & 12" being exactly the same). Both versions appear (to me) to be the same "mix" in the strict sense of the word - just arranged slightly differently with some lyric changes, so= I don't think either of those could be a "Bill Nelson mix". Now here's a little related information which I throw into the arena. The= production on the Warriors album is generally credited to Gary Numan alon= e, whereas we all know that Bill Nelson had a fair amount of input (See Alie= n 1 for the latest version of events). However, there are 2 versions of the cassette sleeve. One which gives the= usual "Produced by Gary Numan" and another one which states that the enti= re A-side (first 5 tracks) plus The Rhythm Of The Evening were "Produced by Gary Numan and Bill Nelson". I always thought Warriors and The Iceman Com= es were the most obviously Nelson influenced tracks, the Warriors riff havin= g been lifted directly off Nelson's 1983 album, "Chimera". But what's the story? Did Gary initially feel that those 6 tracks had enough of Bill intact to warrant a production credit? Did he leave them relatively intact after Bill left? And now for anorak of the week - In The Plan CD there are photos of Tubew= ay Army on stage in 78. The bass guitar that Paul was playing actually belonged to Gary, and he's still got it. It appeared with him in Select a= while back. Apparently he wrote the main Cars melody on it. Just one last "thought". My parents were a welder and a bar maid. I'm so grateful the internet gives me the opportunity to mix with better people.= Thank you everyone. Matthew Roberts ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 7 Sep 1999 22:32:31 -0700 From: theartdept@att.net (rod reynolds) Subject: Terre Thaemiltz's Repicas Rubato To: boyslikeus Hello. Terre Thaemiltz's album Replicas Rubato will be released in the USA distributed by Caroline Records (same company that distributes Cleopatra/Eagle) on September 21. List price $15.98. Here is the complicated and wordy blurb that appears in the Caroline sales book for September. Overview: Replicas Rubato is the second installment of Thaemlitz's Rubato releases, which feature piano renditions of songs by influential electronic producers. The melodies on Replicas Rubato are drawn from a number of Gary Numan's albums spanning from 1978 to 1983. As a continuation of Thaemlitz's previous piano renditions of Kraftwerk titles, Die Roboter Rubato, the performances were composed through a combination of annotations digitally stepped in note by note, open meter improvisation and computer aided composition. In keeping with Numan's cyborg theme of Replicas inspired by sci-fi author Philip K Dick, Theamiltz uses technology to create highly human sounding piano performances filled with spontaneity, sensitivity and unexpected turns of melody. In Thaemlitz's own words, "as replicas of their namesakes, they are lies at worst, ambiguous half truths at best." As usual, there is a larger agenda behind Thaemlitz's audio production other than pleasure. Theamlitz's arrival at these analyses is positioned in relation to his admittedly obsessive childhood relationship to Numan's music and it impact upon his own sexuality, which ultimately helped facilitate his adaptation of queer theory and transgenderism as strategies for self definition. Track Listing: Stormtrooper in Drag, Down in the Park, Dream of Siam, Friends, Sister Surprise, Cars, Cry the Clock Said, Praying to the Aliens, Slowcar to China, Jo the Waiter, Please Push No More In related news, Cleopatra will be releasing the double live cd "Ghost" in October. The cd is not remastered, the track listing is the same as the original UK cd on Numa. Bye for now, Rod Los Angeles ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 5 Sep 1999 18:12:59 +0400 From: "The Tik Tok Man" Subject: The silliest version of Cars To: "Numan Digest" What was the name of that semi-famous 70's English band who imitated many famous songs with their own satirical lyrics? Pommie equivalent of Weird Al Yankovich. I seem to recall through the mists of time that they recorded a version of "Cars" called "Who Shot J.R.?" which was pretty funny. I heard that they impersonated Numan's look for the video. Could be fun looking for ... ------------------------------ End of Gary Numan Digest ****************************** _______________________________________________________________________ _____ ____ ____ _____ _____ / \ | | / \ / \ / \ / \ | |-----| |-----| | |-----| |-----| | | | G | | A | | | R | | Y | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |-----| |-----| | |-----| |-----| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | N | E | W | S |=====| | | | | | | | & | | | | | | | \_____/ I | N | F | O | | | | is produced and distributed by Derek Langsford dlangs@sunstroke.sdsu.edu -------------------------------------------------------------------------- To reply to the messages in this list, mail to: numan@cs.uwp.edu If you want to be removed, or someone wants to be added, you can mail to numan-request@cs.uwp.edu ----------------- The Gary Numan Digest is brought to you via Datta Production and Development, 905 97th Street, Kenosha, WI 53143 USA datta@cs.uwp.edu and computer resources courtesy of University of Wisconsin-Parkside and Datta Production and Development. 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