--------------------------------------------------------------------- T H E G A R Y N U M A N D I G E S T (by subscription only - to unsubscribe, see bottom of this message) --------------------------------------------------------------------- (#2002-149) - Topics this issue: 1) Last minute Top 5 B-sides, 2) Digestible, 3) If we don't move forward, we regress, 4) Top of the Pops, 5) Gary Numan + Little Debbie = Cars, ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 14 Sep 2002 20:51:59 EDT From: MrRiPHRaPH@aol.com Subject: Last minute Top 5 B-sides --part1_34.2d742f17.2ab533af_boundary Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Here are my top 5 B-sides, just shy of being tardy. 5- Time to Die 4- We Need It 3- My Car Slides (1 and 2) 2- Exhibition 1- Noise, Noise Looking forward to the poll results. Peace! --part1_34.2d742f17.2ab533af_boundary Content-Type: text/html; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Here are my top 5 B-sides, just shy of being tardy.

5- Time to Die   
4- We Need It    
3- My Car Slides (1 and 2)   
2- Exhibition      
1- Noise, Noise

Looking forward to the poll results.  Peace! --part1_34.2d742f17.2ab533af_boundary-- ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 15 Sep 2002 00:20:47 -0600 From: "Joey Lindstrom" Subject: Digestible On Sat, 14 Sep 2002 18:01:59 -0600, M2 wrote: >I like your remixes, and honestly I wouldn't think Gary would mind what = >you do as long as you aren't pirating off him (making money without = >paying him his due share). As a matter of fact, I would be flattered if = >I were Gary. You are extending his creations. I was watching several = >interviews with him that I downloaded last night, and I think he is = >happy that there has been a resurgence in interest in him. Not just = >because it pays the bills (flying and fast cars aren't cheap, y'know), = >but it shows an appreciation for his life's work. One thing I don't = >agree with him on is Gary's attitude towards his older stuff, he = >basically feels it is in the past and he has moved on. Maybe so, but = >that shouldn't distract from the fact that his earlier work is excellent = >and that is being recognized. Technically, what Troy is doing is in violation of Gary's copyright (and the record label's). Yes, Troy is putting a lot of "himself" in it, but it's a purely derivative work and thus is still protected. Gary's pretty casual about his copyrights, though - really, the only thing he does NOT want happening is people trading CD-quality MP3's of his songs, and I don't think he'd have a problem with what Troy's doing (but that's just MY opinion: you'd have to ask him). At least, that's my gut feeling: he's always allowed people who come to his shows to record them, take pictures and movies, etc., even at venues where they have big "no cameras!" signs posted. He's said he doesn't mind someone putting RealAudio clips of his songs up either: it's all good advertising. But always remember: Gary is the rightsholder. It's his decision to make, not ours. HE made the decision to allow us to play pretty loose with his stuff, drawing a (very liberal) line in the sand and asking us not to cross it. I think that's pretty damned cool of him. :-) As for his MP3 stance, this is why I chose to encode the "Top Ten Singles" file in a LOW-bitrate format. It's good enough to hear the song, to hear the nuances of it and appreciate how good it is, but it just isn't good enough to replace the CD version: my intention, thus, was to encourage those who don't have all these songs (and I'm thinking that only includes a few of us) to *BUY* them. No matter how you slice it, I too have violated copyright, but I did so knowing Gary's stated position and in the belief that he'd be ok with it. THE MOMENT I hear from him or his people demanding I remove it, I'll remove it. I hope Troy feels the same way. :-) As for his distancing himself from his older stuff, I think this is yet another example of Gary Numan not getting his point across very well sometimes. I've seen interviews where he's clarified this a bit and it all sounds a lot more reasonable when he does. He is not trying to forget the past happened or in any way cast his past work in an unfavourable light. What he's trying very hard to do is avoid falling into the "nostalgia" trap. He doesn't want to be pegged as an "80's act", because he's NOT. He's a musician with a viable career moving into the 21st century. HE HAS MOVED ON from the 80's. But he DOES recognize the fact that the 80's is where a lot of his current fans first became Numan fans and he appreciates it. He appreciates the respect we have for him BOTH for his current work AND for his past work. But he doesn't want to live in the past, he doesn't want to be part of the "nostalgia" crowd. If we don't move forward, we regress - that's his attitude, and it's one I can respect a great deal. Personally, I love listening to his old stuff: every now and then I'll stick "Telekon" in the CD player and listen to it from start to finish, just lying on the couch with the lights dimmed and my cats jumping all over me. :-) It brings back a lot of memories. But at the same time, I find myself really, really looking forward to his next album. His last three albums have seen him get better and better, and I wonder just how high he can go. THAT is what he is aiming for: respect as a CURRENT, VIABLE musician, not just "that guy who did 'Cars'". But don't take my word for it. Just look at his concerts. Just about every tour, he dusts off a couple of old tracks (like "Replicas" on the 2001 tour) and plays them. If he were adamant that only his CURRENT music counts, then wouldn't he play only his current music? He knows that the bulk of his fans have been around for decades and we WANT to hear the old stuff along with the new, and he GIVES it to us. There's the proof. :-) >As for MP3 or WMA files, they are of less quality than a WAV file that = >you find on a CD, but that is because they are also quite smaller. = >Sure, some "audiophiles" can detect the difference, and yes I also = >realize there is some degradation, but I am not listening for that. I = >am hearing your spin on Gary's music, and I see it as complimentary. = >Sure, there are some Numan-interpretations that I don't care for (e.g. = >many of the songs on Random II, unlike Random I which I did like a = >majority of the songs), but we all have the right to like/dislike = >things. If we weren't different than we would all be listening to = >Brittany Spears! It's been my experience that the more "analog" the sound, the less easy it is to tell the difference between an MP3 and a CD-WAV copy of a song. MP3 was designed specifically for "analog" music: guitars, flutes, pianos, etc. It was NOT designed for (or at least not optimized for) "synthetic" or "digital" music, primarily synths. The more "artificial" the music is, the more likely you'll hear digital artifacts in the MP3 (or WMA) version. Some songs exhibit this a lot more than others. / From the desk of Joey Lindstrom / / War is not violence and killing, pure and simple; war is controlled / violence, for a purpose. The purpose of war is to support your / government's decisions by force. The purpose is never to kill the / enemy just to be killing him but to make him do what you want him to / do. Not killing... but controlled and purposeful violence. / / But it's not your business or mine to decide the purpose of the / control. It's never a soldier's business to decide when or where or / how - or why - he fights; that belongs to the statesmen and the / generals. The statesmen decide why and how much; the generals take / it from there and tell us where and when and how. We supply the / violence; other people - 'older and wiser heads,' as they say - / supply the control. Which is as it should be. / -- Sergeant Zim, "Starship Troopers" / (Robert Heinlein) ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 15 Sep 2002 01:10:01 -0700 From: Rod Reynolds Subject: Re: If we don't move forward, we regress Hmmm... Well I don't know if my experience really supports this. As you know my one claim to Numan fame (or infamy) was producing the Numa re-issues for Cleopatra. I had an extremely difficult time get any ANY support from Gary or his Dad. Which at the time, confused me. Here Gary was getting something like 12 albums previously unreleased in North America, and he was not interested. Those cds could have been sooo much better if I had even half an effort from him. I tried showing him proofs, I begged him for input, I begged him for photos, unreleased tracks, anything... He was not interested. Last time he was in LA I talked with him after the show at the House of Blues, and I had him sign the cover of "Remodulation", my 2 cd collection that was released as a precursor to the catalog. (I had him sign the inside blue version, which he said he quite liked (before I told him that I had done it). He had never seen it, which surprised me, since Brian from Cleopatra told me that he sent Gary all the cds that I did. When I questioned Gary about that, this is what he said. He said, and I'm paraphrasing, but it's pretty close to word for word, "I'm not interested in my past work. To me (as he held up the cover for Pure) even this I'm already over and have moved on. Well, suddenly that made all the sense. It wasn't that he thought about supporting me and Cleopatra in the re-issue campaign (and I had TONS of promotional concepts that were never used). He never thought about them at all. He's simply not interested. It was freeing in a way, although I don't agree with his philosophy, I can understand it. As I have said before, having read his biography, and having worked with him (in the fleeting moments that we actually had contact) it was a disappointment to realize that I don't actually him. I don't understand how I can LOVE someone's music and not even LIKE the person. Although, I can think of a few other instances... In fact... well, that's another story. Also, regarding the remixes... for the remasters I did I had some remixes mastered and ready to go, but he told me NOT to put them on. He told me that he never likes anyone's remixes, that he thought the originals (ie his versions) are good as they are. He made a similar (and carefully worded) statement regarding my work on the artwork for the Cleopatra cds. (Which Cleopatra wanted changed, by the way). As an artist I can understand that, even some of the work I did for Cleopatra was changed I submitted it, which insulted and infuriated me. For me, while I look forward to his new material and will buy anything with his name on it, I don't expect that I will EVER be as affected by anything he does as I have with some of his earlier work, such as "Dance" , "Replicas" and "Telekon" and to lesser extents, "The Fury" and "Sacrifice". Yes, I do like "Prayer for the Unborn" for example (particularly the remix), but it doesn't come anywhere close to the magic of "I Die: You Die" for me. The recent poll of favorites was illuminating to me, as it shows that while we all are fans of Numan and his work, we don't all love the same pieces of it. Interesting... Rod Los Angeles > > As for his distancing himself from his older stuff, I think this is yet > another example of Gary Numan not getting his point across very well > sometimes. I've seen interviews where he's clarified this a bit and it > all sounds a lot more reasonable when he does. He is not trying to > forget the past happened or in any way cast his past work in an > unfavourable light. What he's trying very hard to do is avoid falling > into the "nostalgia" trap. He doesn't want to be pegged as an "80's > act", because he's NOT. He's a musician with a viable career moving > into the 21st century. HE HAS MOVED ON from the 80's. But he DOES > recognize the fact that the 80's is where a lot of his current fans > first became Numan fans and he appreciates it. He appreciates the > respect we have for him BOTH for his current work AND for his past > work. But he doesn't want to live in the past, he doesn't want to be > part of the "nostalgia" crowd. If we don't move forward, we regress - > that's his attitude, and it's one I can respect a great deal. > / From the desk of Joey Lindstrom ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 15 Sep 2002 12:57:46 +0100 From: "Vickers" Subject: Top of the Pops If anyone was watching Top of the Pops last Friday, it was the 2000th programme. Towards the end, they had a pastiche of a lot of performers, a few seconds each (maybe 3 secs.?), with one record as the musical backing. They told us to watch out for our favourite artists, so I did! (More in hope than anticipation!) But Gary was in there! With a guitar round his waist. I suspect it was from his recent TOTP2 performance. Good old TOTP! Paddy Vickers ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 15 Sep 2002 16:49:46 -0500 From: Brad LaVoise Subject: Gary Numan + Little Debbie = Cars Well I don't really believe it, but I was watching a NASCAR race today on NBC-TV, when during the commerical break I heard "CARS" coming from the tv. I turned around and sure enough, during a commerical for Little Debbie snacks, they were playing "CARS" as the background music. Not positive, but it sounded like one of the newer version of "CARS" that Gary has done. Wasn't expecting to hear "CARS" during a snack commerical and have seen/heard it a couple of times today. Did anyone else see/hear this or know how this came about Brad St. Louis, MO ------------------------------ End digest@garynuman.info Digest [09/15/2002 18:01] --------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------- T H E G A R Y N U M A N D I G E S T is produced, moderated, and distributed by Derek Langsford, Dave Datta, and Joey Lindstrom dlangs@sunstroke.sdsu.edu, davdat@allmusic.com, Joey@GaryNuman.Info Back Issues: http://digest.garynuman.info ------------------------------------------------------------------- To reply to the messages in this list, email: digest@garynuman.info If you want to be removed, or someone wants to be added, email: listserv@GaryNuman.info and include this line as the first line of your message body: SUBSCRIBE digest@garynuman.info (email address) or UNSUBSCRIBE digest@garynuman.info (email address) (email address is optional but useful if you have multiple addresses) If you want to switch between receiving Digests or individual posts, again send to listserv@GaryNuman.Info and include either of these in your message body: NORMAL digest@garynuman.info or DIGEST digest@garynuman.info ------------------------------------------------------------------ Please note: this mailing list is configured to automatically unsubscribe you if mail to your mailbox goes undeliverable for any reason. 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