Replicas - Gary Numan & Tubeway Army
Posted: Thu May 19, 2005 7:29 amTime for another review...
Replicas is by far the finest Gary Numan album- it takes the stilted, jerky structure of the first Tubeway Army album to the next logical level: synthesizers replace guitars as the driving force behind the music, and Numan’s obsession with syncopation makes each track blend seamlessly into the next. Critics complain that Numan’s music sounds horribly dated today, but no one sounded like him then and no one sounds like him now- if that means it’s dated, then dated is a good thing in my world.
Numan’s detached, sci-fi lyrics coupled with his Bowie-esque yelping vocal style helped create an image of futuristic doom. His melodies are robotic and sound cold and dejected. The nod to Kraftwerk is understood, as is the incorporation of Glam and post-punk, but Numan packaged it all like it was brand new. The opening track, “Me, I Disconnect From You”, encompasses everything brilliant about Gary Numan: his isolated and paranoid lyrics are delivered in a semi-robotic lilt that somehow sounds genuinely profound despite the obvious affectations.
“Are Friends Electric?” had to sound alien when it topped the charts in England in 1979. The minor-keyed yet upbeat synth riff plays a call and response game with the heavily affected guitar while Numan barks out his disjoined machinations: “so I found out your reason for the phone calls and smiles/and it hurts and I’m lonely/and I should never have tried/and I missed you tonight/it must be time to leave/you see it meant everything to me.”
The high point of the album, though, is “Down In The Park”, which became a live staple and the quintessential Gary Numan song. The downtrodden beat plods behind swirling synthetic melodies and Numan’s strangest batch of lyrics: “I was in a car crash or was it the war/but I’ve never been quite the same/little white lies like ‘I was there.’” Numan hadn’t altogether abandoned the guitar, though, as evidenced by “You Are In My Vision”, which takes one simple riff and churns out a classic post-punk rocker. Never afraid of repetition, Numan pounds the riffs into your subconscious without losing appeal.
It’s a shame that Gary Numan is only known in this country for the fluke one hit wonder “Cars” because his first few records are the foundation upon which the music of the eighties is based. The re-issue of Replicas features several bonus tracks that were b-sides and outtakes from the Replicas sessions, including “We Have A Technical” with its gorgeous intro and the brilliant “We Are So Fragile.” If you are not acquainted with this underrated genius, Replicas is the best place to start.
Replicas is by far the finest Gary Numan album- it takes the stilted, jerky structure of the first Tubeway Army album to the next logical level: synthesizers replace guitars as the driving force behind the music, and Numan’s obsession with syncopation makes each track blend seamlessly into the next. Critics complain that Numan’s music sounds horribly dated today, but no one sounded like him then and no one sounds like him now- if that means it’s dated, then dated is a good thing in my world.
Numan’s detached, sci-fi lyrics coupled with his Bowie-esque yelping vocal style helped create an image of futuristic doom. His melodies are robotic and sound cold and dejected. The nod to Kraftwerk is understood, as is the incorporation of Glam and post-punk, but Numan packaged it all like it was brand new. The opening track, “Me, I Disconnect From You”, encompasses everything brilliant about Gary Numan: his isolated and paranoid lyrics are delivered in a semi-robotic lilt that somehow sounds genuinely profound despite the obvious affectations.
“Are Friends Electric?” had to sound alien when it topped the charts in England in 1979. The minor-keyed yet upbeat synth riff plays a call and response game with the heavily affected guitar while Numan barks out his disjoined machinations: “so I found out your reason for the phone calls and smiles/and it hurts and I’m lonely/and I should never have tried/and I missed you tonight/it must be time to leave/you see it meant everything to me.”
The high point of the album, though, is “Down In The Park”, which became a live staple and the quintessential Gary Numan song. The downtrodden beat plods behind swirling synthetic melodies and Numan’s strangest batch of lyrics: “I was in a car crash or was it the war/but I’ve never been quite the same/little white lies like ‘I was there.’” Numan hadn’t altogether abandoned the guitar, though, as evidenced by “You Are In My Vision”, which takes one simple riff and churns out a classic post-punk rocker. Never afraid of repetition, Numan pounds the riffs into your subconscious without losing appeal.
It’s a shame that Gary Numan is only known in this country for the fluke one hit wonder “Cars” because his first few records are the foundation upon which the music of the eighties is based. The re-issue of Replicas features several bonus tracks that were b-sides and outtakes from the Replicas sessions, including “We Have A Technical” with its gorgeous intro and the brilliant “We Are So Fragile.” If you are not acquainted with this underrated genius, Replicas is the best place to start.