Replicas & The Plan
(BEGA 152CD)
© 1993 Beggar's Banquet Records

Replicas Liner Notes:

"When The Machines Rock" is not only the title of one of the tracks on REPLICAS but it also aptly describes Gary Numan's approach to making this ground-breaking album, which was to become the launch pad for the first star of the eighties. "Down In The Park" was the first song that Gary had conceived solely on the synthesizer and was unlike any other sound he (or anyone else) had made before on record; this was a milestone and he was proud of it. Despite the fact that it received no radio play at all, it reached the lower regions of the charts. Something at long last was beginning to stir - the electronic revolution had begun. "Are 'Friends' Electric?" followed and once again, without airplay, it gained a healthy chart position with the help of being available on a limited edition picture disc. Then it happened: two national television shows, "The Old Grey Whistle Test" and "Top Of The Pops", in the same week. The rest, as they say, is history as virtually overnight Gary Numan became a household name and remained at the top of the charts for an amazing four weeks, a feat rarely achieved by any artist, let alone a newcomer.

REPLICAS soon followed and Gary Numan was in the enviable position of holding the Number One spot with both the single and album simultaneously. The album's chilling mixture of cold sci-fi futurism and self-conscious vulnerability captured the public's imagination. Gary had the courage to break away from the traditions of punk and make his own music the way he wanted. He had anticipated perfectly the mood of his generation, who wanted a future and had tired of punk's false rebellion. It was time for the 'star' to return; Numan's time had come.

- Francis Drake

("We Are So Fragile" was recorded at Regents Park Recording Studios on 18 February 1979, engineered by Rob Arenstein and released as the B side of "Are 'Friends' Electric?" in May '79. "Do You Need The Service?" and the alternate version of "I Nearly Married A Human (2)" were released earlier in March on the 12" B side of "Down In The Park". These two, and the remaining three tracks, are out-takes from the REPLICAS recording sessions.)

The Plan Liner Notes:

These songs were recorded in the early part of 1978, the intention was not to release them in this form, if at all, but to give the record company a rough idea of the songs that we had at the time. I wrote the 'punky' songs with the sole intention of obtaining a recording contract. It seemed at the time that contracts flowed like water for this kind of music. I soon found out that it wasn't quite that easy, but did, eventually, manage to sign a deal with Beggar's Banquet. My thanks and gratitude to them forever. It was interesting to me to see how some of these songs, or parts of them, had developed into others that today are quite well known and how the transition from guitar to synthesizer began. I'd forgotten that I'd ever written half of these.

- Gary Numan (from the original sleeve notes, 1984)

In just three days, Tubeway Army recorded the fifteen songs that became THE PLAN which is good going by anyone's standards. There's a level of urgency about these recordings that seems to give them an edge, probably due to the fact that in those early days studio time was a scarce commodity to Gary Webb (as he was then called), and he was determined to make the most of it. The recordings feature early versions of what are now considered Numan classics, including "My Shadow In Vain" and "Bombers". Other standout tracks are "Something's In The House" and "Steel And You" which show where Gary's fascination for the synthesizer began.

Numan's loathing of, and disappointment with, the darker side of human nature is already coming through in his lyrics. "Mean Street" was written after his former band of the same name sacked him for being 'too creative', and his dislike of cynical hacks was in evidence even then - "Critics" was almost prophetic, but poor Gary wasn't to know that they hadn't even started yet and worse was yet to come.

Gary's music has always generated extreme reactions; I don't think I've ever heard anyone say that his music is 'o.k.', people either love or hate what he creates. When these demos were produced for Beggar's Banquet, 'the plan' may well have been to become a successful musician, a 'star' even, but young Gary didn't know then that he would succeed beyond his wildest dreams.

- Francis Drake

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