I just finished doing a version of Cars by Gary Numan and I started wondering if Numan's song had an effect on Bill so that he would write Flaming Desire? The two for some uncanny reason seem similar. They are full body songs though each has its signature sound, and that's where I draw a blank. I hope there isn't some crazy thing going on where you take Numan's melody, play it backward with a retrograde inversion of the intervals and it comes out sounding like Flaming Desire.
Anyway, I've been away a bit and I'm sorry to hear that Bill's mother has died. My deepest condolences for your loss, Bill. I hope you find peace.
I'm trying to refine Cars. Visually there is nothing to convey in Cars compared to the video of Flaming Desire. Flaming Desire has a host of complex symbols: the psychological, mythical, the occult, etc.; whereas, Numan has the opposite: a band playing. Bill was going for a sophisticated "art" vibe and Numan is going for the simple "pop" vibe. And yet I think these two songs are similar! So, I'm wrestling with this song. Take some Ramstein/Vlad vocals with a touch of Nelson/Vlad religiosity, shake it up so that you rattle the underworld spooks and this strange concoction appears... but something still feels missing. Any advice will be much appreciated.
This is my mom, Angela, and who would have thought she would be on a Bill Nelson site? She has a head piece that Dasha made for her that puts her right from the Middle Ages ready for a Crusade to the Holy Land. Like I said, she reminds me a bit (maybe the decor) of the picture of Bill's mom and it's going to be sad for me when she goes.
Alex you seem very into GN, so you might like this original piece of me imitating his style. The first part of this video is very much so, the second part not so much. It was done on a Roland D50 which I heard he got into during the 80s. I didn't buy it because he had it -- I only found out about it recently.
Thanks Alex for that list of GN tunes. To be perfectly honest I am not a really big fan of Gary -- I can count the songs I like on one hand: Cars, Are Friends Electric?, Down In The Park, Me I Disconnect From You, I Dream Of Wires. That's it but I like various versions people have have done with his songs, e.g., Robert Palmer doing I Dream Of Wires. I like the idea of a marching band playing Are Friends Electric? and the first thing I thought was how would they get that synth portamento effect? I saw an interview Gary did with Dave Stewart and he seemed like a nice guy. A cool performance that still gives me goose bumps is Are Friend Electric? from the AllSaints Basement sessions. Something powerful and sublime (uplifting) there.
I like to eventually do another one of Bill's songs. I've done A Private View for a Bill Nelson tribute album. Bills say he is not influenced by Gary and I believe him. However, there is a weird connection in song titles: Gary asks "Are Friends Electric?" and Bill answers "Don't Touch Me I'm Electric." Further, one would think that if Bill produces Gary's album, there must be some common current between them, some electrical power source they all plug into. I would say there is a strong connection, a voltage supply that would light up a Cathedral, but they are certainly very different as well.
The video is interesting and off beat funny but I never would have thought it was the guy from -- crack that whip -- DEVO. People change and I see a picture of Bill with his mom and he has his white St. Nick's beard and it looks very touching. I say that because my mother sits like that as well, with the same kind of furniture and background look around her, but my mom is still alive though she can hardly move. How long she will last I don't know. Anyway, thanks for posting the video -- it's a mischievous video and the guy is still probably very much like he was in DEVO.
Interesting version. Aside from the vocal delivery it's very faithful to the original.
Great video as well.
Don't wish to answer for Bill, but I've noticed the covers of Bill's tracks that Bill likes are the ones that take dramatic departures from the originals.
Am always hoping someone will cover a different GN track than Cars, like maybe The Iceman Comes or This Prison Moon.
A friend of mine I remember told me he had a dream where a marching band was playing Are 'Friends' Electric?
Had imagined some warbling, over-the-top '80s crooner voice covering My Car Slides.
Thought someone like Lady Gaga or Katy Perry covering This Disease might be cool.
Recently imagined a female singer with male backup singers covering From Russia Infected.
Cars and Flaming Desire have in common -- despite being completely different moods -- a trip to the cinema of the mind, an indefinably obsessive quality, jazz, existentialism, dance hit sparkles, astral funk pop.
Count Vlad, you may appreciate this ...
Whilst I worked with Gary on his 'Warriors' album, I've never been influenced by his music at all I'm afraid.
Note: Bill's Living In My Limousine is probably closer to Cars -- at least lyrically -- but I'm still compelled to think Flaming Desire is the spiritual brother. Though Flaming Desire is over wrought and Cars is understated there is some Georgian Knot, machine-like, maybe syllabic connection that I can't pin down. Are there any Nelson fans that have their antenna up for this kind of thing?