Gary Numan has been in the music business for well over 25 years, and is considered something of a Godfather of Electropop among music critics and listeners alike. It’s easy to see why from a brief glance at his early discography. With a handful of successful records in the late 70s and early 80s, Numan clearly defined “the shape of things to come” for the new wave movement with his musically detached coldness and introspectively written lyrics.

Along with the Tubeway Army, he recorded “Replicas” in 1979, the second in a line of successful albums. Playing a brand of innovative synthesiser-based electro-punk, Numan moved into a sci-fi inspired musical landscape, laden with the usual Bowiesque futuristic looks - presumably laden with a dose of irony - and extraterrestrial defining sounds. It’s a cold, paranoid record, full of wonderfully chilling, synth-driven tracks, including such brilliantly written songs as “Are ‘Friends’ Electric?” and “Me! I Disconnect from You”. As Numan himself says in an interview, “I don’t write music to communicate, I write it as therapy. I write for me. If people are able to identify with it in some way then I’m happy, but that is not the reason I do it. If I have any message, it’s purely by accident and most likely one of…a selfish obsession with my own problems, values and beliefs, or lack of them. Any communication is unintentional. I’m screaming in my own small room to no-one but me. It’s just that sometimes people walking by can hear me.” Nowhere is Numan’s self-interested, yet skillfully communicated vision more evident than on “Replicas”, a relevant release for music appreciators even after all these years.

Year Released: 1979
Label: Beggars Banquet
Related Link: Gary Numan Official Site
Date Reviewed: 2004-09-18
Author: Andreas