Gary Numan Replicas - The First Recordings CD

Gary Numan is a pioneer and his influence on so many artists is unmistakable and grand. Gary’s style connects him with fans of multiple genres - electronic, industrial, indie rock, metal... He remains an innovator and his fan base continues to grow. • Beggars Banquet release two special titles to commemorate the legendary albums Gary Numan/Tubeway Army issued in 1979. • While both of these albums have remained in print, these releases concentrate on the early recordings made prior to the completed albums and present the evolution of the albums. The tracks have been sequenced as they appeared on the original tapes and the audio has been taken from the high-resolution digital transfers made by John Dent in 2007. One of the Freerange studio tapes suffered irreparable print through damage on two tracks so they were not used in the 2009 release. However, an alternative source has been located so the tapes can now be presented as complete for this release.

‘Replicas: The First Recordings’: In late 1978, Gary Numan was booked into a small studio in London’s Chinatown with the same musicians that had played on Tubeway Army’s debut album, released a month earlier. Two stereo master tapes were compiled of eleven tracks. A month later they again went to Gooseberry Studio and recorded an additional three tracks, including ‘Are ‘Friends’ Electric?’ and ‘Replicas’. At the same time, the band recorded a session for the BBC’s John Peel show, taping alternate versions of three songs from the December recordings. Finally, Numan returned to an upgraded studio, Marthus Music, in February to overdub and remix the Gooseberry recordings into their released versions. Only one alternative out take still exists (‘Down In The Park’), which is included in this release.

‘The Pleasure Principle: The First Recordings’: Even before the single ‘Are ‘Friends’ Electric?’ was released, Numan had recruited a permanent drummer and keyboard player and demoed an album’s worth of new material between April 9-12, 1979 at Freerange Studio in London’s Covent Garden. This was supplemented by a second session, probably the following June, that yielded four further songs and two re-recordings. Following the hectic schedule of promoting ‘AFE?’, Numan recorded a new session for John Peel the day after the single hit #1 on the UK charts. Rather than record as Tubeway Army, the session was credited to Gary Numan and the group name abandoned at the peak of its success. As before, rather than promote the current album, Numan chose to record four new songs. While the album ‘Replicas’ hit #1, Numan was busy recording a follow up in Marcus Music Studio. From the surviving tapes there are six mixes marked as outtakes. The discs have been sequenced with the stronger, second Freerange demo preceding the first session but all tracks are in the order of the tapes.