Gary Numan / Tubeway Army Replicas CD

REPLICAS contains six bonus tracks, which include outtakes and UK single B- sides.

Issued in 2008, this expanded edition of Gary Numan's groundbreaking 1979 synth-pop album, REPLICAS, presents an entire bonus disc of alternate takes and rarities, essentially revealing an early version of the classic Bowie-gone-robotic record. In addition to punchier renditions of "Me! I Disconnect from You" and "Are `Friends' Electric?" the second CD also includes excellent non-album tracks, most notably the coldly funky "Only a Downstat."

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 science fiction themes and tales of urban paranoia into concise pop songs that combined Kraftwerk-like electronics with glam-era Bowie. REPLICAS, his second album, was his first recording to fully incorporate a synthesizer into the pop/punk guitar framework 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.

By the release of their second album, Replicas, Gary Numan was the undisputed focal point and leader of icy electro-punkers Tubeway Army. And the move proved to be massively successful back home in the U.K., where both the album and the single "Are 'Friends' Electric?" topped the charts. The band had made a conscious effort to streamline the sound heard on its 1978 self-titled debut -- the distorted guitar riffs were played on Moog synthesizers instead, and Numan had perfected his faux-space-age persona. And the paranoia that is very evident in the lyrics and vocals on Numan's next release, The Pleasure Principle, can be detected on Replicas. Another near-perfect album by the band, highlights are many -- "Me! I Disconnect from You," "The Machman," "You Are in My Vision," and one of the most underrated new wave/synth-driven compositions of the whole era, the chilling ballad "Down in the Park." And out of all the Gary Numan/Beggars Banquet reissues, Replicas contains the strongest bonus tracks, such as never heard outtakes from the recording sessions, including "The Crazies," "Only a Downstat," and the B-side to the original "Are 'Friends' Electric?" single, "We Are So Fragile." [In addition to 14 bonus tracks on its second disc, Beggars Banquet's three-disc edition includes a third disc with an additional six bonus tracks.] ~ Greg Prato

By the release of their second album, Replicas, Gary Numan was the undisputed focal point and leader of icy electro-punkers Tubeway Army. And the move proved to be massively successful back home in the U.K., where both the album and the single "Are 'Friends' Electric?" topped the charts. The band had made a conscious effort to streamline the sound heard

;Plus 6 Bonus Tracks Of Out-Takes & Uk B-Sides

Recorded at Gooseberry Studios, London, England from December 1978-January 1979. Includes liner notes by Steve Malins.

Personnel: Gary Numan (vocals, guitar, keyboards); Paul Gardiner (bass); Jess Lidyard (drums).

Personnel: Gary Numan (vocals, guitar, keyboards); Paul Gardiner (bass guitar); Jess Lidyard (drums).

Audio Mixers: Gary Numan; John Caffery; Rikki Sylvan.

Liner Note Author: Steve Malins.

Recording information: Gooseberry Sound Studios, London, England (12/??/1978-02/19/1979); Regents Park Recording Company, London, England (12/Spin (9/98, pp.188-189) - 9 (out of 10) - "...1979's REPLICAS, put the synths center stage, freezing Kraftwerk's liquid opulence into stark cubist blocks..."
Uncut (p.96) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "[The album] transfixed a generation with its clipped, machine-age imagery....Stark and utterly compelling, it's a frozen monster."
Mojo (Publisher) (p.122) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "'Down In The Park''s gorgeous melody and the dizzying 'Me! I Disconnect From You?' are just two of many stand-outs."
Record Collector (magazine) (p.89) - 5 stars out of 5 -- "Deceptively simple, icicle-fragile high-end synth lines sit neatly on top of opiated and shimmering keyboards. It was a formula that would serve him well on singles such as 'Cars' and 'We Are Glass.'"