Gary Numan Digest Thu, 4 Jan 2001 Volume 2 : Issue 105 Today's Topics: Entertainment Weekly Gary Numan Digest V2 #104 he's a liquid, kraftwerk and bryan ferry Metal Hammer The John Peel Show top ten pickup lines at a numan concert Update:Vocal effect on Pure Vocal effect ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Date: Mon, 1 Jan 2001 14:48:03 EST From: Numanfan1@aol.com Subject: Entertainment Weekly To: digest@garynumanfan.nu While waiting at the Barber shop I was reading a recent copy of the US magazine Entertainment Weekly. They had a section reviewing new CD's. There was a review of the new NIN CD. The reviewer basically was saying that it is pretty tame and uneventful. However, he/she went on to mention that the cover of Gary Numan's Metal was the only keeper on the CD. Waiting to win the California Lottery to spend the money on promoting Numan !!. Happy Nu Year !. NuRuss P.S. I have sent something with the infamous date of 01.01.01 ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 1 Jan 2001 21:29:05 EST From: ImAnAgent9984@cs.com Subject: Gary Numan Digest V2 #104 To: digest@garynumanfan.nu In a message dated 12/31/00 3:23:45 AM Pacific Standard Time, digest@garynumanfan.nu writes: << Subject: Vocal effect on Pure >> Yes Derek, I did notice that. I don't think it's an accident because it's more heavy in some parts. I take a liking to it myself. sounds good. John ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 31 Dec 2000 10:15:37 -0800 From: alecw Subject: he's a liquid, kraftwerk and bryan ferry To: digest@garynumanfan.nu valerium, thanks for bringing up foxx and numan as a twofer. a couple of elves, aren't they? forgive the long-windedness of what's to follow. i can't help dusting off this old story. this is an interesting subject to me, gary and others' ghost-like circumstances with one another. like john says in that deadpan voice in "a new kind of man": it feels like someone's using my eyes... it was a while ago now (1979/1980) and it's always been a confusing little mystery for those of us who were and still are huge fans of both foxx and numan. back then it seemed to really matter who came first more than it does now. it's like some other, pre-internet age, rock elves i can think of right off the top. john lennon thought it was paul mccartney's fault. paul thought it was yoko's fault. "metamatic" or "the pleasure principle," which came first? the truth lies blurred in the mists of time. like when the supposed "aryan outsiders" invaded india. who was where first was who was who when? there will never be a definitive answer. it's all very much on a ghostly level. like in john foxx's "he's a liquid":- she's elusive he's adhesive according to billy currie, keyboardist/violinist of ultravox who also played violin on "principle," played on that numan tour and appeared on TOPTP with the GN army as a band member, a lot of the songs that appeared on "metamatic" were at late rehearsal stage when foxx was still in ultravox. how interesting is it, then, that he should end up in the "numan camp," as part of tubeway army? "he's a liquid" was supposedly more of a classic build-up "rock" number and even had a long violin solo! foxx was starting to resent the construct of "the band," calling them "clowns" and the like, and became attracted more and more to minimalism in life and art. that's what's funny about the so-called reagan/thatcher '80s, known for all the excess, the yuppies, the empty calories, "the double-breasted dumbness," as foxx calls it. greed was not the main philosophy at the very beginning. i think the idea which came to life for me with both "matic" and "principle" was toward a non-greed type of advancement in life, spirituality and mental speculation, out of a desire to carve away the excess baggage, dislocation. i think he admired what gary was doing. this was during the last ultravox tour with foxx, around the time of the "systems of romance" record when they were abandoned by record company and press alike. they'd been a signed act for what they saw as a long period of time and here they were taking on america crammed in a station wagon, like the beach boys did when they were teenagers. this situation--and however many others--kind of brought about foxx and currie each independently hooking up with numan. i think they both got to expand, musically, after their "numan experience." it further makes it more difficult to figure out who was who and where and why and i'm sure the irony isn't lost on anyone involved. everyone was swept up in a wave of influences. nowadays, billy, john and gary seem to be pretty chummy and so it obviously doesn't matter to them, any of these issues stemming from the '70s and '80s. it would seem that the english press, never big ultravox or john foxx fans, took john foxx's "side" (which they probably created to begin with) and made it known that they saw the two records as proof positive that gary was a fake and would be found out as such soon enough. it was a classic attempt to play one side off against the other to sell papers and to move units. well, 20 years later, both are still making interesting recordings and both still take on issues like unseen forces, being overwhelmed by the atmosphere of any given situation, sexuality and alienation in their lyrics. as someone pointed out a while back, they both have a track called "shadowman." foxx and numan, both with their made up last names, both kraftwerk fans who made unsurpassed original pop records about not-so-obvious subject matter, met in late '79, i believe is the story, and played each other the demo versions of the records they were each working on at the time, which ended up being "metamatic" and "the pleasure principle." i think the press took out-of-context comments from both to stir a little something up. GN and JF were naturally proud of those records and both of them later said they released "the first electropop" record at the end of the '70s. i think they may have each been guilty of believing their own press for a few weeks--who could blame them?--or it was simply media manipulation. mainly, though, i say BOTH were influenced heavily--in terms of ways to use the synthetic instruments, the type of mood built into the sounds and melodies on those particular "first electropop" records--by kraftwerk and, to a much lesser extent, bowie and eno. i know they were both fans of "man machine" and "trans europe express" and it shows in good ways. kraftwerk made music supposedly influenced by the folk melodies from the rhyne and the black forest. maybe. foxx and numan made some statements that were as relevent to britain as kraftwerk's were to germany, or even devo's were to america, yellow magic orchestra were to japan, with MM and PP. that's the trilateralists and some of the UN right there. i think they're equally "goth" in their own way, too (by default). they're equally industrial, equally pop, those records. MM and PP still sound like the future to me. now that i think about it, john foxx addressed this question in the very early '80s. i have a very, very piss poor videotape somewhere of foxx sitting down answering questions on french TV in which he says gary's "welcome to it," meaning what is often thought of as his style of pop music. he further goes on to say how impressed he is about gary's view of music being for one and for all, that all questions of influence should be downgraded in importance. he makes it clear that this is his view, too. he further goes on to stress the importance of kraftwerk. that kind of says it all. anyway, the who-copied-who thing got so bad that by the mid '80s (?) foxx met up with numan in order to set the record straight. it was in the form of a letter, which was sent out to the press, that he and gary were to co-sign, which stated neither has any problem whatsoever. my feeling is that gary was a foxx fan as a teenager (only a few years before PP!) and john was pretty impressed with "are 'friends' electric?" and all the general numan interest in britain. they both influenced each other. really, the records are not that much alike. both are unbeatable. it always looked to me like a publicity stunt. if it was a publicity stunt to cause controversy and therefore move more units, i guess it worked. both of those records did pretty well, sales-wise, especially PP of course, and both of them are now seen as pretty ground-breaking. both reminded me of "star trek" (the late '60s version). another point is this: kraftwerk, can, john foxx, ultravox, bill nelson, gary numan and yellow magic orchestra blazed some trails that are pretty well worn at this stage of the game. the world is so much more complex now, so much more "hip" and so much more "tech" that these types of issues don't have the religious importance they once had. everyone's worried about their own intellectual property and personal information. as far as NIN goes, it must be the same thing, right? gary loves a particular sound and makes it his own and the person who made that sound also likes gary's sound. the sound exchange. i think around '82 or so the same thing happened between prince and numan and neither one of them even knew it!!! hey, wasn't that bryan ferry aeroplane incident strange? happy new, areku > Date: Thu, 28 Dec 2000 16:51:39 -0000 > From: "David Dalton" > Subject: John Foxx > To: "Numan Digest" > > In the last digest, Luc De Visscher mentioned that initially Gary Numan > influenced NIN, only for NIN to influence Gary on his last album. Has anyone > noticed that something very like this happened at the beginning of Gary's > career? He always cited John Foxx as an important early influence, yet > Foxx's album "Metamatic" was I thought very influenced by "The Pleasure > Principle". > Happy New Year, > DJ Valeriun www.electricdreamsclub.com > ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 31 Dec 2000 16:41:28 +0000 From: vickers@netcomuk.co.uk Subject: Metal Hammer To: Gary Numan I have been able to get hold of the Metal Hammer which has a Numan interview in it. They subtly deal with the possibility that many of their readers are not convinced by Gary's 'hammerness', and suggest that they listen to RIP on the free CD. The article makes one or two factual errors where aeroplanes are concerned, even having Gary crashing in the Pacific, but deals with Gary and NIN, Gary and Marilyn, Gary with Fear Factory, etc. The interview must have been done a while ago, because one of the songs is called 'Black Angel' - one of the ones about the miscarriage. I make it: Select, The Mix, Mix Mag, Metal Hammer, Kerrang, Classic Rock, Hip Hop Connection, Gary's getting some good coverage in the music mags. Paddy Vickers ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 04 Jan 2001 09:29:21 +0000 From: vickers@netcomuk.co.uk Subject: The John Peel Show To: Gary Numan Dear All, I managed to record the John Peel show from 19th December. John Peel is a middle-aged disc jockey who is famous for his avant-garde, often experimental, tastes in music, and whose name you will know from the early live radio sessions which brought Gary to the attention of people outside London. As far as I can make out, he has an annual chart of what people ask to hear for the Christmas Special - or some such bizarre "Festive Fifty". At any rate, his Festive Fifty ratings bear no resemblance to real chart positions. On 19th December, he hosted Gary live in the studio, doing 'Are Friends Electric?'. It was, of course, expertly performed, new-style, with an extra fast beat running alongside the original. To the radio audience, it would have been quite unmistakably the song/track they knew, but up-to-date. At the end, John Peel said, 'Majestic, I call that!', and 'As good as ever', and shouted across to ask Gary if he would like to come back early in the New Year to do some more songs. With the volume up loud, you can just hear Gary shout 'Yes' from across the studio. John Peel is very influential in Britain. 90% of the population probably regard him as irrelevant, but there has always been a section of the population who look up to his knowledge of the less conventional music scene, and this further confirmation that JP likes what Gary does will be of great help to Gary at this time. Paddy Vickers, who has still only convinced two people to buy PURE! ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 02 Jan 2001 23:39:40 -0400 From: Hopey Subject: top ten pickup lines at a numan concert To: digest@GaryNumanFan.NU 10. Nice eyeliner... 9. I know Jo the Waiter. No, really... 8. I'll give you Strange Charm for a kiss... 7. Fly any planes lately? 6. Christian or Atheist? Can we talk? Like, talk for hours? 5. Meet my mum and dad. (Or Meet my son/daughter) 4. Hey, let's go down to the park... 3. Seen my Dick? (as they whip out a copy of "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep") 2. I'd like to get to know your Tubeway! 1. Pleasure is my number one Principal. HAPPY 2001 ALL! Hoping for the US tour soon - if the South by Southwest thing in Texas is for real, then I'm scratching in my vacation time. Hoping my jaw heals in time for me to be able to scream at a numan concert. Hoping Pure gets more than "critical acclaim". Hoping to meet some of you (again). LET THE ODYSSEY BEGIN!!!!! hopey1970@home.com ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 02 Jan 2001 15:17:50 -0000 From: "Colin Linskey" Subject: Update:Vocal effect on Pure To: digest@garynumanfan.nu Derek Langsford's comment re almost very track on Pure has Gary's vocal delayed by a touch or so is nothing new. he's admitted himself that he isn;t confident about his voice. Cica Warriors he mentioned he used delays probably so that his voice was repeated, layered 3 or 4 times before he was happy with it. May not be proud of his vocals but thousands of us would disagree, and it's glad to see his songwriting back on top form after earlier albums that we all have different opinions of. Best Wishes for a Happy New Year for everyone on the list, and of course, Gary, Gemma, Beryl, Tony, John... Colin _________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 31 Dec 2000 16:35:42 +0000 From: vickers@netcomuk.co.uk Subject: Vocal effect To: Gary Numan The vocal effect which Derek noticed is one of the things which my musician friend was thrilled about, seeing it as lengthening the sound of the voice. He also pointed out to me how Gary uses the voal line like another instrument, not necessarily singing the lines to replicate the words as they would be spoken. Paddy Vickers ------------------------------ End of Gary Numan Digest ****************************** ------------------------------------------------------------------- T H E G A R Y N U M A N D I G E S T is produced and distributed by Derek Langsford, Dave Datta, and Joey Lindstrom dlangs@sunstroke.sdsu.edu, datta@cs.uwp.edu, Joey@GaryNumanFan.NU ------------------------------------------------------------------- To reply to the messages in this list, email: digest@GaryNumanFan.NU If you want to be removed, or someone wants to be added, email: digest-request@GaryNumanFan.NU ------------------------------------------------------------------ The Gary Numan Digest is brought to you via Joey Lindstrom and the GaryNUmanFan server Joey@GaryNumanFan.NU All of the opinions in this digest belong to the respective authors and do not necessarily agree with those of the Digest Producers. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Produced and distributed by Derek Langsford dlangs@sunstroke.sdsu.edu -------------------------------------------------------------------------- To reply to the messages in this list, mail to: digest@garynumanfan.nu If you want to be removed, or someone wants to be added, you can mail to digest-request@garynumanfan.nu --------------------------------------------------------------------------