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Second album for Tubeway Army, "Replicas" was released in 1979 and brought success to Gary Numan's band, who a few months later came out with his solo record "The Pleasure Principle." Both of these works are the British response to German kraut-rock.
With a glacial and androgynous look, a sharp and cutting voice, Gary Numan has the intuition to marry rock and post-punk sounds with electronics, producing music that successfully combines various influences, starting with a certain glam-rock from the early '70s: not just Bowie, but especially Marc Bolan and his T.Rex. In this album, this is evident when listening to tracks like "The Machman" (which, just in the title, nods to Kraftwerk's "The Man Machine," released the year before), "You Are in My Vision" and "It Must Have Been Years": solid guitar riffs, hard-hitting drums, obliging bass, and the rockers are satisfied.
But "Replicas" is above all the album of "Are Friends Electric?" and "Down in the Park", both emblematic examples of the "synthetic" rock that Numan has in mind: here, he is indebted especially to Kraftwerk (whom he draws inspiration from both in look and in futuristic and machiniste poetics) but also to emerging British bands like Ultravox, among the first to bring together traditional rock instrumentation with synthesizers.
The two previously mentioned tracks contribute to creating a particular aura around the character of Numan, who perfectly fits the role of the solitary and detached android: fans, struck by his alien appearance, call themselves Numanoids. The title-track "Replicas" and the two instrumental tracks with which the album concludes (at the time, no. 1 in UK charts) reaffirm the album's electro-rock approach, representing a very original solution in the transition between the ashes of punk and the coming decade, especially the one where the use of electronics will dominate, even if for more commercial and entertainment purposes. Thus, Gary Numan, from the opposite side - that of creative experimentation - was a forerunner.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
02 Are 'Friends' Electric? (05:24)
It’s cold outside
And the paint’s peeling off of my walls
There’s a man outside
In a long coat, grey hat, smoking a cigarette
Now the light fades out
And I’m wondering what I’m doing in a room like this
There’s a knock on the door
And just for a second I thought I remembered you
So now I’m alone
Now I can think for myself
About little deals
And *issues*
And things that I just don’t understand
Like a white lie that night
Or a slight touch at times
I don’t think it meant anything to you
So I open the door
It’s the `friend’ that I’d left in the hallway
"please sit down"
A candle lit a shadow on a wall near the bed
You know I hate to ask
But, are `friends’ electric?
Mine’s broke down
And now I’ve no one to love
So I find 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
So it’s time to leave
You see this means everything to me
03 The Machman (03:08)
I saw him turn on
Like a machine in the park
Saying `please come with me’
But you’ve been there before
I saw him whirr away
Into the night
Like a nightmare on wheels
Saying `never again’
I’d give it all up for you
I’d even be a number just for you
The strangest living boy
You could ever wish to see
`that’s me’
Yellowed newspapers
Tell the story of someone
`do you know this man? ’
Tomorrow the cure
Only police ever
See night time for real
Turn on the light
And cry `no more, no more’
I was standing outside your door
Waiting for the grey men to go
When my mind turned on me
With a vengeance I had never known
My own
Everyone heard
The voice on the radio
Saying `why move around
And waste my time’
There are no
Independents anymore
The tape is a circle
But who really cares
I saw you behind the wall
I even heard you laugh at me
You disgust me tonight
With your answer to something new
That’s you
04 Praying to the Aliens (04:00)
Slowly the thought
"there is no one to replace"
Came into view
And he began to cry
Now only boys
That love only boys
The perfect picture
Of a boy/girl age
I’m praying to the aliens
I’m praying to the aliens
Grey overcoat
And he could be anyone
A random poll check
"do you ever think of women? "
They broke him down
Into a torn old queen
Living somewhere
Between dead and dying
I’m praying to the aliens
I’m praying to the aliens
There are no more
Do you begin to see?
The corner of my eye
Could give me away
Isn’t it strange
How times change?
I can’t imagine
Living any other way
I’m praying to the aliens
I’m praying to the aliens
06 You Are in My Vision (03:15)
Fade to screens of violence
Like a tv screen but silent
Where the victims are all paid by the hour
Staring at the ceiling
That she gyrates all around me
I am trying to forget she’s done this all before
Far too many people
For a quiet night with myself
Oh I could be anyone tonight
Focus on a feeling
I’ve detected while I’m sleeping
Sing a chorus of "on broadway" and deny it all
You are in my vision
I can’t turn my face
You are in my vision
I can’t move my eyes
You are in my vision
I can’t move at all
You are in my vision
Delicate bodies
That decay beneath their clothing
Play cards in an empty house in paris
The wreckage of a hero
Lies broken in a corner
And everyone pretends they like to live that way
You are in my vision
I can’t turn my face
You are in my vision
I can’t move my eyes
You are in my vision
I can’t move at all
You are in my vision
07 Replicas (05:00)
It was hard to avoid
I suppose it was the shame
But they didn't even try
You see we'd never met
And they didn't have names
There was nothing I could do
So I turned on the crowd
And I screamed "you and you"
"it could have been you"
And they seemed to think
That I looked that way
Or maybe I was wrong
So I said do you know mr. wall
And they looked the other way
And then they smiled at me
But the police came
And I said it was me
And I just walked away
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