Replicas (album)
| Replicas | ||||
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Reissued cover that credits Numan and Tubeway Army.
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| Studio album by Tubeway Army | ||||
| Released | April 1979 | |||
| Recorded | December 1978 — January 1979 | |||
| Studio | Gooseberry Studios, London | |||
| Genre | New wave, electronic, post-punk | |||
| Length | 42:02 | |||
| Label |
Beggars Banquet (UK) Atco (USA) |
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| Producer | Gary Numan | |||
| Tubeway Army chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Replicas | ||||
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| Music sample | ||||
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| Professional ratings | |
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| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   |
| Mojo | |
| MusicOMH | |
| Record Collector | |
| Smash Hits | 8/10 |
| Spin | 9/10 |
| Uncut | |
| The Village Voice | A− |
Replicas is the second and final album by British band Tubeway Army, released in 1979. 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.
A loose concept album, Replicas was based on a dystopian book Numan hoped to complete someday, 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.
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Wikipedia