Replicas: The First Recordings by Gary Numan

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Synth pop icon Gary Numan began his career in the late '70s fronting the punky outfit Tubeway Army. The band would quickly produce just two albums before Numan broke through internationally with his synth-based 1979 solo album The Pleasure Principle and its ubiquitous hit, "Cars." The time leading up to this was hyperproductive for Numan, however, with final Tubeway Army album Replicas coming just months before The Pleasure Principle, and falling stylistically very much in line with the robotic rock, sci-fi lyrical themes and android funk that Numan would build much of his career from. The First Recordings collects versions of the songs that found their way onto Replicas from an earlier studio session that wasn't used, for whatever reason. Along with early versions of hit songs like "Are Friends Electric?," and "Me! I Disconnect from You," the collection includes three songs from a live BBC Peel session and several songs that didn't make the final track listing of Replicas at the time of its initial release.