Search - Gary Numan & Tubeway Army :: Replicas

What is Numan?

William Errickson, Jr. | Raleigh, NC United States | 10/03/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Replicas is easily one of the most unique and exciting pieces of music I own. Due to my prejudice against non-guitar-based rock, I didn't discover Gary Numan's work on my own; a much more open minded friend turned me on to this CD. I was immediately taken with it, for it sounded fresh and new and wholly original. My experience with this type of electronic, keyboard-driven music is very limited; obvious bands like Ministry and Nine Inch Nails were about as far as I went into that field before I discovered Replicas. What Gary Numan has done here is fashioned a cold, bleak, alien world of the future. Some of the synthesizer work could be straight out of THX 1138 or Blade Runner; it evokes the same sort of hopeless chill. Numan's exaggerated voice, robotic and monotone, makes one wonder if he's human. In the copious liner notes included with the new remastered CD, Numan himself explains the strange world he's created. Obviously this guy read lots of Philip K. Dick and other edgy SF masters whose vision of the coming society was one of the breakdown of human identity due to the prevalence of engineered, thinking machines. Two of Numan's trademark songs start the album off, and both have titles that could have been taken right from Philip K. Dick himself: "Me! I Disconnect from You" and "Are 'Friends' Electric?" Punchy, driving, and eerily catchy, these set the stage for the entire album. Numan easily mixes his brand of synth-rock with pop aesthetics. The lyrics stop short of being obvious, provoking thought more than confusion. "You know I hate to ask
But are 'friends' electric?
Only mine's broke down
And now I've no one to love" "Down in the Park," the hit single, reveals what happens to the few rebellious humans left in this world: they're locked in The Park, where, when it gets dark, torturous machines come out to terrorize them. "Very few people survive one night," Numan says in the notes, "no one survives two." Watching from Zom-Zoms, the elite club high above The Park, are the humans who have been deemed acceptable by the ruling machines. "Oh look
There's a rape machine
I'd go outside
If he'd look the other way
You wouldn't believe
The things they do" Other songs like "Machmen," "Praying to the Aliens" and "You Are in My Vision" continue the paranoia, the fear, and the irrevocable feeling of living in a sterile, yet decaying, totalitarian future world where machines and men--and those that are both--are at war. "The wreckage of a hero
Lies broken in the corner
And everyone pretends
They like to live that way" Really, this is an incredibly exciting, contemporary-sounding album. Being introduced to the work of Gary Numan was one of the highlights of my musical journeys last year; I hope my words on Replicas have done it justice, and I encourage you to pick it up for your own enjoyment."

Classic early synth-rock album

Pieter | Johannesburg | 10/08/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"With this album, Gary Numan & band took full advantage of the direction prepared by synth experimentalists Kraftwerk, Bowie, Giorgio Moroder and a few others. (Replicas owes a lot to Bowie's Low and Heroes but is original enough). The electronic music comes with an atmosphere of gloom and alienation as reflected in the opener Me, I Disconnect From You, and the theme runs right through songs like Praying To The Aliens and the sinister Down In The Park with its beautiful instrumental flourishes. The prominent guitars on You Are In My Vision and It Must Have Been Years make them driving rock songs, while the title track now reminds me of the band OMD that arrived on the scene some years later. Two instrumentals follow: When the Machines Rock is a powerful composition reminiscent of Kraftwerk, while the desolate and cinematic I Nearly Married A Human brings artists like Peter Baumann and Bowie to mind. The big hit Are Friens Electric? is a real gem of a song and still sounds unique after so many years. The added tracks 11 to 16 are a great bonus and have assured Replicas a 5-star rating."

Accidents and great albums

T. Storm | 03/30/2003

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Numans' second full length album, still under the name of "Tubeway Army" was part accident. Prior to his debut release in 1978, Gary Numan had never worked with synthesiszers and had really no intention to until someone from a previous band left on in the recording studio. Even more of luck was it was set on a sound that when he first hit a key it was what he called a "Eureka" moment. Even the No 1. track "Are 'Friends' Electric?" was 2 unfinished songs stitched together and a wrong note kept in for extra measure. Also for being just over 5 minutes long made it the most unlikely candidate to storm the charts.What transpired was at the time a dark, moody sound that accompanied a bit of a disjointed concept album whose subject matter was set in a disturbing futuristic world, of cyborgs,( Years before the terminator film debued ) human atrocity, and rebelious "Crazies". Some say the album still sounds fresh, and in a way it does, but time has left it's mark on this calssic, and justifiably so. I woudn't change one sound on it.Another brilliant track is "Down in the Park". The title alone doesn't suggest anything slightly abrasive, but the track is about humans that are law breakers and sent into a park where machines would hunt them down... Both the Foo Fighters and Marylon Manson did covers of the track, however I find the Foo's version much better. Subject matter aside, it's an incredible piece of music and for all those sci - fi fans out there, this is a must have in your collection. More importantly however are music fans.This disc is a reissue and comes packed with bonus tracks that were b-sides, and unreleased studio out takes that just add to it. Replicas ranks up there with Pink Floyds "The Wall", Genesis's "The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway" and Bowies "Alladin Sane""