Track Listing

1. Me! I disconnect from you
2. Are 'Friends' electric?
3. The machman
4. Praying to the aliens
5. Down in the park
6. You are in my vision
7. Replicas
8. It must have been years
9. When the machines rock (instrumental)
10. I nearly married a human (instrumental)
11. Do you need the service?
12. The crazies
13. Only a downstat
14. We have a technical
15. We are so fragile
16. I nearly married a human (2) (instrumental)

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2127 in Music
• Released on: 1999-11-01
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Extra tracks, Original recording reissued, Original recording remastered
• Dimensions: .24 pounds

CD 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.

Customer Reviews

A much overlooked classic
This was Gary Numan's first album to feature the heavy synth-driven machine music that is his trademark. The debut album, simply called Tubeway Army, was more a punk-rock affair. Replicas, released in 1979, is a classic album of its' time and has perhaps been overlooked by many who see Mr Numan as nothing other than an ersatz David Bowie. Sure enough, Numan was influenced by Bowie but let's face it, how many acts that appeared in the 80s weren't? Numan was obviously inspired by David Bowie's mid-70s work with Eno on the Berlin-era albums like Low and Hereos. It's clear that he was also influenced by other early pioneers of electronica such as Kraftwerk and pre-Midge Ure Ultravox. But that doesn't mean to say Gary Numan didn't make original music - he did and this album is the proof. Forget the later funk-rock experiments, messing about with aeroplanes and speaking up in support of Maggie Thatcher, Gary Numan never again matched the sheer brilliance of this album - a futuristic nightmare vision of a world controlled by replica humans, all set to sparsely arranged, haunting synth-based music. Sure, everybody knows Are Friends Electric?, but the real gems of this album are the lesser known tracks such as Replicas, Me I Disconnect From You and the utterly awesome Down In The Park. In my view, this album was never bettered and if there's one Gary Numan album you absolutley must own this is it.

in the beggining
Gary Numan has been for so long an underrated influence. Although detractors would point to cheesy synth lines and daft makeup the truth is that he introduced the synthesiser as a major force for the first time in the charts. Jean Michelle Jarre and Tangerine dream had both done much of value previously but they were appealing to a small cognescenti who were learning to value the synth, whereas Numan dragged the chart watching teenagers of the late 70's and early 80's around to his way of thinking and if you were to count up the amount of synth based albums and singles since 'are 'friends electric' you would get a clear picture of what a huge influence he has been.
Replicas is the album that launched Numan and pop synth and as time passes this albums stature simply grows and grows. Based heavily on Numans love of science fiction short stories by writers from the 50's & 60's and dissafection he creates a bleak landscape of loveless relationships and a world populated by machines and disafected humans.
The stand out tracks are the tone setting 'me I disconnect from you', the relentlessly grim 'down in the park', 'you are in my visions' empty guitar led despair and the seminal 'are 'friends electric'.
The album is devoid of any duff tracks and though you are likely to find favourites the chances are that more often than not you will listen to the whole album through as every track has something that will grab your attention.
The bonus tracks are more than fillers as well, in particular the frenetic ' do you need the service' and 'we are so fragile'.
The quality of mastering is far greater than in the original releases and the extra tracks make this even better value for money.
Numan would go on to reach even greater heights with the blisteringly good 'pleasure principle' and 'telekon' but this album is where to start, bleak, sterile and the voice of a million dissafected youths who were destined never to 'fit in' and who got Numans vision of an electronic future.
Some albums are 'must haves' if you want to trace musics long history of new branches and strong influences and this is one of them. It is still relevant, the tracks still resonate and it's the perfect launch pad for a long underrated and ignored musician, the electronic face of chart albums and singles that you take for granted started here and few are as fresh and sharp.

Deserves a high place in the evolution of synth rock
Often cited by many contemporary artists (Leftfield, NIN, Marilyn Manson, Blur,) as a key influential album, Replicas should perhaps be more widely recognised for the place it has in modern music.

It was one of the first mainstream recordings to successfully combine guitars and synths into a formula that pleased the mass market. This blend is best exemplified in the by now legendary Are Friends Electric, which held the number one spot in the UK for four weeks in 1979. It returned to the same spot in 2001/2 (with a little help from the Sugababes) which only goes to show the longevity of the music contained in Replicas.

It was Numan's first "showcase" album. Recorded in late '78 and early '79 with best friend Paul Gardiner on bass, and his uncle Jess Lidyard standing in on drums, Replicas is both raw and polished. By Numan's own admission, his production is basic, and this remastered edition does nothing to hide that. However this only adds to the album's appeal. Drums are crisp, synths thin, and guitars chug and fuzz. The overall combination works though to give a varied atmospheric collection.

Lyrically, it takes heavily from William S Burroughs' dystopian future where humans and machines are dfficult to separate. Titles such as When the Machies Rock, I Nearly Married a Human and The Machman don't sound too far away from the sort of language you'd find in a Philip K Dick novel. As a teenager Numan was obsessed by sci-fi, so it's no surprise to hear it coming through here.

Me! I Disconnect From You opens the album with a lonesome synth hook and suddenly explodes into a beating whirling 3 minute post punk anthem. Next up is the ubiquitous Are Friends Electric and we're away. Replicas has many highlights: the guitar led The Machman, the almost orchestral Down in the Park, the dark brooding Replicas, and the closing instrumentals. The extra tracks are true bonuses in that they are very good. Wisely included, they are outakes from the Replicas sessions, recorded in 1978.

In all a very good album that should have a place on every true music fans' shelf. Arguably Replicas was as instrumental in the development of modern music as Low. Well worth a purchase.