Replicas (album)
Replicas is the second and final studio album by English new wave band Tubeway Army, released in April 1979 by Beggars Banquet Records. It followed their self-titled debut from the previous year. After this, Tubeway Army frontman Gary Numan would continue to release records under his own name, though the musicians in Tubeway Army would continue to work with him for some time. "Replicas" was the first album of what Numan later termed the "machine" phase of his career, preceding "The Pleasure Principle" and "Telekon", a collection linked by common themes of a dystopian science fiction future  and transmutation of man/machine, coupled with an androgynous image and a synthetic rock sound. Fuelled by a surprise No. 1 hit single, "Are 'Friends' Electric?", the album also reached No. 1 in the UK charts in July 1979 and was certified Gold by the BPI for sales in excess of 100,000 copies. Background. A loose concept album, "Replicas" was based on a dystopian book Numan hoped to eventually complete, set in a not-too-distant future metropolis where Machmen (androids with cloned human skin) and other machines keep the general public cowed on orders from the Grey Men (shadowy  officials). While the album's setting and lyrics were directly inspired by the science fiction of Philip K. Dick, particularly his seminal work "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?", the title was not. Although Numan's Machmen were similar to Replicants, the term used for androids in Ridley Scott's "Blade Runner" (based on Dick's book), Scott's film came out three years after Tubeway Army's album and Dick never used the word "Replicant" in his original 1968 novel. The album cover shows Numan as a Machman staring out from his room at a waning crescent moon hovering  above "The Park" as a barely visible man stands outside while Numan's reflection stares back at himself. Recording and music. "Replicas" was recorded in late 1978 at Gooseberry Studios, London and completed in February 1979 with overdubs and remixing at Marcus Music Studios. Musically, Numan's main influence was the commercially unsuccessful John Foxx-led incarnation of Ultravox. Tracks like "Speed of Life" and "Breaking Glass" from David Bowie's "Low" were also cited, along with Kraftwerk's "The Man-Machine" album, in particular the long and wistful track "Neon Lights". The recording built upon the sound of the  first "Tubeway Army" album. While the tracks "The Machman", "You Are in My Vision" and "It Must Have Been Years" recalled the earlier album's guitar-oriented rock, the rest were built solidly around an analog synthesizer, the Minimoog. Along with "Are 'Friends' Electric?", this included "Me! I Disconnect from You", the atmospheric "Down in the Park" (released as a single prior to the album and acquiring cult status though not commercial success), the multi-layered title track and the closing instrumentals "When the Machines Rock" and "I Nearly Married a Human", the latter featuring Numan's first use of  a primitive drum machine; it appeared the following year in Carl Sagan's TV series "". Legacy. "Replicas"' synthesizer sound and occasionally nihilistic lyrics greatly impacted the industrial acts that came to prominence in the mid-1990s such as Marilyn Manson and Nine Inch Nails, both of whom covered Numan's songs on record. Both Manson and Foo Fighters released versions of "Down in the Park". "Are 'Friends' Electric?" was covered by a number of artists, and was most notably the basis for Sugababes' No. 1 hit "Freak Like Me" in 2002. Numan has continued to play tracks from "Replicas" on his  live tours, with "Me! I Disconnect from You", "Are 'Friends' Electric?" and "Down in the Park" being mainstays, whilst "Praying to the Aliens" and "Replicas" have also lately become part of his live repertoire. Reissue. The 1999 and 2008 reissue editions included several bonus tracks, including three single B-sides: "We Are So Fragile" (from "Are 'Friends' Electric?"), and "Do You Need the Service?" and "I Nearly Married a Human (2)" (from "Down in the Park"). "The Crazies", "Only a Downstat" and "We Have a Technical" were outtakes from the "Replicas" sessions. Track listing. All songs written by Gary Numan . 2008 Beggars Banquet "Redux" CD reissue. Disc One Disc Two Disc Three - Replicas - Mixes + Versions (GNCD 2008) 40th Anniversary Edition. To celebrate the 40th Anniversary of the release of "Replicas", a special edition of the album, "Replicas: The First Recordings" was released on 11 October 2019. Released on 2 LP coloured vinyl and 2 CD editions.