I fancied a bit of Tubeway Army tonight to fulfil the Numanoid side of my brain which is still relatively intact and gently throbbing away in my psyche, at least is was right up to the 1980 LP ‘Telekon’ which was released around the same time as the 7″ singles ‘We Are Glass’ and ‘I Die You Die’ which were great synth pop material.
After this LP in 1980 Numan disappeared from the Penguin radar, not to be sighted that much again, although saying that I vaguely remember something about him crunching a plane up…getting married to the top ranking Numanoid in his personal fan club, and driving around in superb Italian sports cars!
I loved the period from 1979 – 1980 from this band, I was just a tad too young to remember, or to have owned these two early 7″ singles when they were originally released, but I managed to purchase them off the back of the Tubeway Army ‘Down In The Park’ and ‘Are Friends Electric’ success, ditto the first Tubeway Army LP.
Bandwagan jumper? Hell yes!
Heres a short bio courtesy of wikki pee’d e eh:
Gary Webb, aged nineteen, had fronted London band Mean Street in 1977 (their song “Bunch of Stiffs” appeared on the Live at the Vortex compilation, and was the B-side of the Vortex 7″). Leaving this band acrimoniously, he auditioned as lead guitarist for another band called The Lasers, where he met bass-player Paul Gardiner. The pair left The Lasers soon after and formed Tubeway Army, initially with Webb’s uncle Jess Lidyard on drums. Webb rechristened himself “Valerian”, Gardiner “Scarlett” and Lidyard “Rael”.
Webb was quite a prolific song-writer and ambitious for commercial success. The band began playing gigs on the punk scene in London and managed to secure a record deal with the independent Beggars Banquet label. They released two guitar-heavy, punk-style singles in the first half of 1978 (“That’s Too Bad”/”Oh! Didn’t I Say”, and “Bombers”/”Blue Eyes”/”OD Receiver”). These failed to chart.
Soon afterwards, the Tubeway Army album was released on blue vinyl. Webb had now adopted the name “Gary Numan”. Apparently Numan actually got his new pseudonym from a local Yellow Pages where a plumber called “Arthur Neumann” was listed.Rather than continue with the German spelling,Numan dropped the “e” and the second “n” and became Gary Numan. Whilst still largely guitar/bass/drums-based, the album saw his first tentative use of the Minimoog synthesizer, which he had come across by accident in the recording studio during the album sessions. Lyrically the record touched on dystopian and sci-fi themes, Numan being a fan of authors such as Philip K. Dick (the opening lines of the song “Listen to the Sirens” are a direct lift from the title of Dick’s book Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said). Whilst the album’s modest initial pressing (which included a large batch of warped editions) sold out, it did not enter the album charts at that time, and no singles were lifted from it. By this time Tubeway Army had decided to abandon live shows – Numan was unhappy with pub-venue gigs on the often violent London punk scene (the only known recording of a Tubeway Army concert – a London show from February 1978 – was released as a bootleg album in the early 80s; it was later officially included under the title Living Ornaments ’78 as bonus tracks on the 1998 CD re-release of the Tubeway Army album).
Following swiftly on in early 1979, excited by the possibilities of synthesizers, Numan took Tubeway Army back into the studio to record a follow-up album, Replicas. The result was more synth and science fiction orientated than ever. The first single from the album, the bleak, slow-paced keyboard-driven song “Down in the Park”, failed to chart. However, the next single, “Are ‘Friends’ Electric?” was more successful. A special picture-disc helped boost sales but what particularly grabbed the British public’s imagination was Tubeway Army’s appearance on the BBC show The Old Grey Whistle Test, followed soon after by a slot on Top of the Pops. The band appeared all dressed in black and near-motionless, Numan in particular giving a performance often referred to as being “like an android” (a style that was later reported to have been a means of covering stage nerves but which then became his trademark). The single climbed steadily to stay at number one in the UK charts for 4 weeks, with Replicas following suit in the album charts. With Tubeway Army still avoiding live shows, Numan recruited some additional musicians to make these television appearances (see above).
Numan became the first synth-based artist in Britain to break through into major commercial success. At this point, he dropped the Tubeway Army name and subsequent releases were made under the artist name Gary Numan.
Thomp
September 3, 2008 at 12:04 amI recall the TOTP experience of Tubeway Army, my age 12 in ’79, and Are Friends Electric sat neatly between The Ruts, Babylons Burning and UK Subs, Tomorrows Girls, alphabetical order, how not very punk, fuck sake I was 12! Anyhow I bought this as a double single thing released by Beggars Banquet, along with some Lurkers singles if I recall from my now ancient age of 42. Nevertheless twas punk to me and a big influence on my outlook on life. Are Friends Electric? Actually Mr Numan they are…
alistairliv
September 3, 2008 at 6:38 amGary Numan was the best act at this year’s Wickerman Festival according to young whelps EL Puppy and AL Puppy (Junior).
Carl
September 3, 2008 at 12:54 pmFrom my ancient age of 41, I recall the bloke being a bit of a wanker !!!
Never mind eh !
rickdog
September 3, 2008 at 6:37 pmYou have a great music blog here! I’ve added you to my mp3blog list and custom search, check it out.
Rickdog’s collected over 5,000 mp3blog links, accessible from the alpha menu at page top. You can open frames on these blogs to view them directly on my site, and you can also view the feeds in a frame.
The newest mp3blogs
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You can search your blog and all the others in my custom google search:
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I add new blogs to the alpha lists once a week, but your site is immediately added to the custom google search engine.
Stewart
September 7, 2008 at 7:44 pmI LOVED the first two Tubeway Army singles and the first album in particular, plus Down In The Park. I blush to recall now, but I used to write to Mr Numan as one of his only two fans at the time, lol! I even phoned up Beggars Banquet once as a schoolboy to see if Gaz would like to accompany me to the Buzzcocks/Penetration/ATV gig at the Roundhouse (in Camden) that week. Sadly, he declined my kind offer…
I also told him he would never get anywhere with the sort of music he was playing… 🙂 Which is why I don’t have my own pilot’s licence or drive flash Italian sports cars…
Stewart
September 7, 2008 at 7:47 pmPS Now how about sticking on some Ultravox? They were also a fantastic fucking band doing very different stuff for the time… (and yes, I’m talking about when John Foxx was the singer…)
Thomp
September 7, 2008 at 9:50 pmAh yes, they were a great band until they had midge ure fronting them. Have all three albums and some singles, Young Savage, Hiroshima Mon Amour, Quite Man. John Foxx did one decent album Metamatic and two singles from it underpass and no ones driving. All those early Kraftwerk influenced bands were good, until they discovered their sisters makeup bag!
kperry
September 8, 2008 at 3:34 pmAlways like the ol’ tubeway army. I wasnt so much a fan as almost embarrassed by the electonic stuff. Cars was very disappointing to me although it was a monster hit. A self indulgent bit of kraftwerk-esqe drivel.
Bombers is still a fav though. I still have the LP about somewhere, have to dig it out sometime.
Cheers
Thomp
September 9, 2008 at 12:48 amIndeed, the electronic stuff didn’t click until visage and the like turned it into a nightclub with the usual suspects heroin etc came along. Funny that how a good vibe turns nasty when someone introduces a bit of brown, whatever they call it nowadays. I have a copy of the Pleasure Principle by Mr Numan and still listen to ‘Films’ from that cos it’s a good tune and Telekon. I like the more ‘desolate’ vibe from early Numan. Ultravox and Kraftwerk. Me embarresed? Er yeah maybe… What the fuck, I don’t care…eyeliner anyone?
kperry
September 9, 2008 at 1:08 amEarly Ultravox was brilliant, couldn’t get enough of that stuff , was always looking for boots but they were fairly hard to come by over here in Toronto. Kraftwerk I loved , still do. Recently picked up a radio broadcast from Bremen from 1970 71 period. Kraftwerk and Neu! damn near wet myself over that one but then again I’m old. Still relatively amazed at the responses I get from the younger crowd whenever I play some of the old stuff invariably it ranges form wow thats stuff is brilliant to you were a reak when you were younger. Mostly get that when i dust of the old Gloria Mundi, Doctors of Madness ATV or Crass LP’s.
Chris
September 9, 2008 at 2:29 pmYes, John Foxx era Ultravox is great, but on the subject of bands of this ‘ilk’ how about some Japan? I f**kin’ LOVE some Japan stuff, absolutely brilliant band, and David Sylvian is still making fantastic music. Saw him twice on his last tour and the ‘Nine Horses’ album is stunning.
kperry
September 9, 2008 at 7:54 pmJapan were truly an amazing band saw them twice when they played in Toronto. Some live Japan stuff would be amazing to hear again, the old LP’s have gotten very worn and I have to replace them eventually.
Chris
July 31, 2010 at 4:54 pmI remember hearing Are Friends Electric for the first time and thought WOW! I have been a loyal fan of Gary Numan ever since. Saw him at the o2 last December, He was brilliant.