Replicas Redux

Most fans of Gary Numan & The Tubeway Army know their 1979 sophomore long-player for the new-wave synth-pop hit “Are Friends Electric?,” but Replicas began as a concept album, based on a book that Numan never finished about a futuristic metropolis where androids with cloned human skin called “Machmen” team up with machines to keep citizens controlled under fear and force. Replicas opens with “Me! I Disconnect from You,” an angular piece of futuristic pop punctuated by distorted Moogs and robotic beats that hammer mechanically as Numan’s robotic voice sings from a defecting Machmen’s point of view. Aside from being the most popular tune on the album “Are Friends Electric?” furthers the storyline as Numan muses on the empathy of androids. The cold and haunting ballad “Down In the Park” is an often overlooked gem. This Redux version boasts a complete earlier version of the album that began recording in 1978, including a different take on the instrumental “When The Machines Rock” that features a previously lost vocal track by Numan.