Product Description

As early as 1977, English pop savant Gary Numan was crafting forward-looking new wave rock that was light years ahead of the punk being offered by his contemporaries. Bravely going against all current musical fashion, Numan blended sciencefiction themes and tales of urban paranoia into concise popsongs that combined Kraftwerk-like electronics with glam-era Bowie. REPLICAS, his second album, was his first recordingto fully incorporate a synthesizer into the pop/punk guitarframework that he explored on his debut, TUBEWAY ARMY.
REPLICAS is the album on which Numan's reputation and retrospective acclaim is built. While it does not include "Cars" (that song was the highlight of his next album), REPLICAS is Numan's true masterpiece. In its reissued form, the album offers plentiful bonus tracks and extensive liner notes. Highlighted by the frosty pop and deliciously vintage analogue electronics of "Down in the Park" and "Are Friends Electric", REPLICAS is a nostalgic look at a rock future that never happened. It is also one of the few artifacts of the new wave era that sounds as fresh today as it did when it was first issued in the 1978.

Track Listing

Disc 1:

1. Me! I Disconnect You.
2. Are Friends Electric?
3. The Machman.
4. Praying to the Aliens.
5. Down in the Park.
6. You are my Vision.
7. Replicas.
8. It Must Have Been the Years.
9. When the Machines Rock.
10. I Nearly Married a Human.
11. We Are So Fragile.
12. Do you Need the Service.
13. I Nearly Married A Human 2

Disc 2:

1. Me! I Disconnect From You.
2. Are Friends Electric?
3. 3.The Machman.
4. Praying to the Aliens.
5. Down in the Park.
6. Do you need the Service?
7. Only a Downstat.
8. We Have a Technical.
9. You are my Vision.
10. Replicas
11. It must have been Years.
12. When the Machines Rock.
13. The Crazies.
14. I nearly married a Human 3

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1785 in Music
• Released on: 2008-02-25
• Number of discs: 2

Customer Reviews

Machines do rock!
This reissue of Tubeway Army's seminal work is welcome because it spotlights the underrated vision and talent of Gary Numan.Amongst the first of the new wavers to see the potential of the synthsiser as a valid pop instrument, Numan went about constructing a fine album of futuristic pop that was both in tune with its aggressive times,and crucially,gave pretty much the first hints at a direction pop music would take in the next decade.

Both bleak,and foreboding,Replicas was an important album in establishing a new musical order,that two years earlier would have been unthinkable.Without Numan's breakthrough album,synthesised music may never have become such a huge musical influence,and the impact of "Are Friends Electric" as a massive number one single in 1979 still resonates in popular music today.

This reissue updates the original album by adding a full disc of demos that in some way retain the spirit of Numan's vision better than the finished product["When The Machines Rock" has a vocal missing from the Replicas version, giving the song a considerably different atmosphere,and the previously non album "We Have A Technical" was good enough for the final cut,but presumably left off for timing reasons].These demo tracks suggest Numan had plenty of ideas,and their rawer edge means they form the perfect missing link between the first Tubeway Army album,and Replicas.

Gary Numan would confirm that his success was no fluke with two fine follow up albums in the next two years,but it was Replicas that opened the gates to the final acceptance of the synthesiser as a valid pop instrument.

REDUX 'OH YES'
Theres not much to say about this release,to celebrate 30yrs of Mr Numan except YOU HAVE TO BUY THIS, IT IS ONE OF MUSIC'S HIDDEN GEMS.I bought the album back in 1979,and it has never lost it's appeal to me,it was so different back then and even now it still feels fresh.This release has the original plus extras (Demo's/Early versions)and it's the extras that show you how raw sounding early electronic music was compared to today,but this is it's charm.Replicas should be up there with the all time great albums.

Indispensible....
This is the record that when purchased originally on vinyl in 1979 introduced people like myself to electronic music. Numan took the blueprint from bands like Kraftwerk, early Ultravox(!), and the Bowie trilogy of albums that heavily featured Brian Eno and came up with something that was undoubtably his own.
Highlights are too many to mention although most people would recognise "Are "Friends" Electric?" (still probably the most original number 1 single ever). Personal favourite is the instrumental "I Nearly Married A Human" (which on this reissue exists as three versions, version 2 was originally on the b side of "Down In The Park" 12 inch).The track reminds this reviewer of the second side of Bowie's "Low" album, particularly the synthetics of the track "Warszawa".
The second disc heavily shows the wealth of ideas that Numan had at his disposal at the time. Effectively containing a different version of the entire "Replicas" album, its not only for the fans but it stands up in its own right (how did "We Have A Technical" miss the original album?)
Finally, a mention for the excellent sonic quality of this remaster- Its punchy, rich and comes up as freshly minted. In fact it wears its age supremely well so this will please anorak hi-fi lovers (like myself) everywhere.
Could we now have a similar treatment for Numan's solo "Pleasure Principle" and "Telekon" please?