POLAROID SUITCASE
GENERAL INFO
Gary’s first full-length album (though to be fair it clocks in at about 32 minutes, so I always
thought it was a bit short). I had a limited run of CDs pressed in July 2003, which then got either
given away as promos or sold at shows. Long since sold out. Released a digital download and/or
streaming version on December 12, 2012 - not quite the day the Mayan calendar predicted the
end of the world, but I’m sure Gary would have been impressed.
RECORDING VENUES & DATES
74 Chewton Road, 23 Maude Terrace & 27 Maude Terrace, Walthamstow:
6 February 2002 - 13 June 2003
COVER IMAGE
Gary holding the top half of a mannequin with a Venetian blind backdrop and a conical objet d’art,
photographed by the inestimable James Betts at a location somewhere in London, April 2003. The
Venetian blind might have been at my request but the cone, the lighting and and the general
colour scheme were all James (I think from studying various Gary Numan album covers). The
dummy was provided by Jenny Samuels, who also made me some fantastic artwork for the poster
and an amazing backdrop for the live show. Or at least I thought it was, till I looked at the sleeve
notes and saw that the “Dummy Mistress” is credited as Georgie Ripper. Someone might be able
to enlighten me about that. I never wore this exact costume wore stage - maybe I used the shirt
and waistcoat for Gary’s ‘Earl Grey’ persona but not with the hat and trousers. So I think that
costume was just for the day. I eventually started wearing the hat on stage in 2009 under the
name Blake Famous. You can see more pics from the original photo session here.
The design for the original version of the album sleeve is an absolute shameless rip-off of Dare by
The Human League. Slavishly copied all the right fonts and everything. But it didn’t look right
when I did the digital release so I simplified it. You can download the original packaging here.
THE MUSIC
Eight positive, upbeat songs about things Gary’s obsessed with. OK, one of them’s about being
attacked by a horde of robotic businessmen but it still feels like a pop song. I’d already recorded
four of them for the Sex Dummy EP, but these are new mixes with new vocals, and with the four
new songs, that means I pretty much made this album in three months. (Although if you count the
four backing tracks I already had, it’s more like fifteen months, but who’s counting?)
THE RECORDING PROCESS
I don’t know when I decided to record an album. Maybe I always wanted to do it. I was doing a
show at the Edinburgh Fringe and I’d seen other musical comedy acts like Priorite a Gauche and
Otis Lee Crenshaw selling albums at their shows, so it just seemed like the obvious thing to do. I
was recording the backing tracks anyway - how hard could it be? As it turned out, a lot harder than
I thought. My tendency to want to do absolutely everybody’s job completely by myself meant a lot
of man-hours slaving away at the computer cobbling this thing together. But I never thought it
wasn’t worth the effort.
I already had four songs on the EP, but I didn’t think the recordings were good enough. So I
decided to re-do them, and add a few more. I wanted to add another six songs to make it a
proper, old school 80s album of ten tracks (five on each side), but I just didn’t have the time (or
enough songs), so I compromised on eight (also a good, solid early 80s template - I’m thinking Tin
Drum, I Assassin, Let’s Dance).
The recording method was basically the same as I’d already been using for Sex Dummy - over-
complicated and amateurish, with backing tracks made on a PlayStation 2 game, slavishly copied
over to the PC, instrument by instrument in real time, adding effects in Sound Forge and mixing a
backing track in Adobe Premiere, before exporting it onto a MiniDisc and playing that back to
myself over headphones so I could record a vocal in Sound Forge (which didn’t have multitrack
capability), then adding effects to the voice and mixing a finished version in Premiere, and finally
back into Sound Forge for the master. The result is about as good as you could feasibly expect.
But I guess, because the process was so unique to me, it probably doesn’t really sound like
anything else. Definitely not anything else made in 2003.
THOUGHTS & FEELINGS
I used to be puzzled why people generally like this one best but it’s obvious to me now. Listening
to it again for the first time in ten years, I’m mainly struck by how ambitious it is, and how well it
conveys the sense of this character, Gary Le Strange, a bedroom loner with too many daft ideas.
It’s confident and accessible and packed with silly jokes which - mainly because they’re not really
tied to a specific time and place (yeah I know - weird for an eighties parody made in 2003) - still
work just as well today. As for the music, the things that really date it aren’t the sounds or the
genre - that stuff was outmoded when I made it, which was partly the point. No, the things that
make it sound old and creaky are the same things that made it sound old and creaky then - a
cheap microphone and an amateur mix made by some random guy in his bedroom who didn’t
really know what he was doing. But the strength of the idea and the conviction I brought to it
somehow makes it work. And because so much of it is about stuff Gary likes (as opposed to stuff
he fears or hates), it has a positivity about it that carries you along on this weird journey. There’s
no real story to it, but it really does have a pleasing shape, and by the end of it I felt like I knew
him. Wish I’d felt like that at the time.
So as a piece of comedy, it works. But as music? When I pull my head out of my backside and
compare it to other things that were being recorded in London around the same time -
groundreaking electronic albums like Arular and Boy in Da Corner - it’s deeply amateurish and
really quite rubbish. Definitely room for improvement.
BEST TRACK
No idea. They all have merit. It works as a whole.
2003
LISTEN/BUY
POLAROID SUITCASE
GENERAL INFO
Gary’s first full-length album (though to be fair it
clocks in at about 32 minutes, so I always thought it
was a bit short). I had a limited run of CDs pressed
in July 2003, which then got either given away as
promos or sold at shows. Long since sold out.
Released a digital download and/or streaming
version on December 12, 2012 - not quite the day
the Mayan calendar predicted the end of the world,
but I’m sure Gary would have been impressed.
RECORDING VENUES & DATES
74 Chewton Road, 27 Maude Terrace & 23 Maude
Terrace, Walthamstow:
6 February 2002 - 13 June 2003
COVER IMAGE
Gary holding the top half of a mannequin with a
Venetian blind backdrop and a conical objet d’art,
photographed by the inestimable James Betts at a
location somewhere in London, April 2003. The
Venetian blind might have been at my request but
the cone, the lighting and and the general colour
scheme were all James (I think from studying
various Gary Numan album covers). The dummy
was provided by Jenny Samuels, who also made me
some fantastic artwork for the poster and an
amazing backdrop for the live show. Or at least I
thought it was, till I looked at the sleeve notes and
saw that the “Dummy Mistress” is credited as
Georgie Ripper. Someone might be able to
enlighten me about that. I never wore this exact
costume wore stage - maybe I used the shirt and
waistcoat for Gary’s ‘Earl Grey’ persona but not with
the hat and trousers. So I think that costume was
just for the day. I eventually started wearing the hat
on stage in 2009 under the name Blake Famous.
You can see more pics from the original photo
session here.
The design for the original version of the album
sleeve is an absolute shameless rip-off of Dare by
The Human League. Slavishly copied all the right
fonts and everything. But it didn’t look right when I
did the digital release so I simplified it. You can
download the original packaging here.
THE MUSIC
Eight positive, upbeat songs about things Gary’s
obsessed with. OK, one of them’s about being
attacked by a horde of robotic businessmen but it
still feels like a pop song. I’d already recorded four
of them for the Sex Dummy EP, but these are new
mixes with new vocals, and with the four new songs,
that means I pretty much made this album in three
months. (Although if you count the four backing
tracks I already had, it’s more like fifteen months,
but who’s counting?)
THE RECORDING PROCESS
I don’t know when I decided to record an album.
Maybe I always wanted to do it. I was doing a show
at the Edinburgh Fringe and I’d seen other musical
comedy acts like Priorite a Gauche and Otis Lee
Crenshaw selling albums at their shows, so it just
seemed like the obvious thing to do. I was recording
the backing tracks anyway - how hard could it be?
As it turned out, a lot harder than I thought. My
tendency to want to do absolutely everybody’s job
completely by myself meant a lot of man-hours
slaving away at the computer cobbling this thing
together. But I never thought it wasn’t worth the
effort.
I already had four songs on the EP, but I didn’t think
the recordings were good enough. So I decided to
re-do them, and add a few more. I wanted to add
another six songs to make it a proper, old school
80s album of ten tracks (five on each side), but I just
didn’t have the time (or enough songs), so I
compromised on eight (also a good, solid early 80s
template - I’m thinking Tin Drum, I Assassin, Let’s
Dance).
The recording method was basically the same as I’d
already been using for Sex Dummy - over-
complicated and amateurish, with backing tracks
made on a PlayStation 2 game, slavishly copied over
to the PC, instrument by instrument in real time,
adding effects in Sound Forge and mixing a backing
track in Adobe Premiere, before exporting it onto a
MiniDisc and playing that back to myself over
headphones so I could record a vocal in Sound
Forge (which didn’t have multitrack capability), then
adding effects to the voice and mixing a finished
version in Premiere, and finally back into Sound
Forge for the master. The result is about as good as
you could feasibly expect. But I guess, because the
process was so unique to me, it probably doesn’t
really sound like anything else. Definitely not
anything else made in 2003.
THOUGHTS & FEELINGS
I used to be puzzled why people generally like this
one best but it’s obvious to me now. Listening to it
again for the first time in ten years, I’m mainly
struck by how ambitious it is, and how well it
conveys the sense of this character, Gary Le
Strange, a bedroom loner with too many daft ideas.
It’s confident and accessible and packed with silly
jokes which - mainly because they’re not really tied
to a specific time and place (yeah I know - weird for
an eighties parody made in 2003) - still work just as
well today. As for the music, the things that really
date it aren’t the sounds or the genre - that stuff
was outmoded when I made it, which was partly the
point. No, the things that make it sound old and
creaky are the same things that made it sound old
and creaky then - a cheap microphone and an
amateur mix made by some random guy in his
bedroom who didn’t really know what he was doing.
But the strength of the idea and the conviction I
brought to it somehow makes it work. And because
so much of it is about stuff Gary likes (as opposed
to stuff he fears or hates), it has a positivity about it
that carries you along on this weird journey. There’s
no real story to it, but it really does have a pleasing
shape, and by the end of it I felt like I knew him.
Wish I’d felt like that at the time.
So as a piece of comedy, it works. But as music?
When I pull my head out of my backside and
compare it to other things that were being recorded
in London around the same time - groundreaking
electronic albums like Arular and Boy in Da Corner -
it’s deeply amateurish and really quite rubbish.
Definitely room for improvement.
BEST TRACK
No idea. They all have merit. It works as a whole.
