Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A surefire indie/new wave favourite for any generation, 16 May 2006
This album for me easily ranks alongside other seminal new wave debut's such as Magazine's "Real Life" and The Cure's "Three Imaginary Boys".
There is a definate punk edge, but like those records things are moving on in terms of texture, atmosphere and emotion.
Sure, Numan admits that he merely welded the bleep bleep of the synths to the chunk chunk of the guitars, in a typical understatement. But there is much much more to it than that. Consider the man driving forward out of the 70's, with one eye firmly fixed on the future and one on the best of the times. Music for chameleons indeed.
Tubeway Army were like a culmination of all the greatest aspects of the decade that spawned them: Bowie, Kraftwerk, Bolan, Lou Reed, Ultravox!, Cluster, Iggy, Glam, Sci-fi, Punk, Comics, TV, Class and Trash. All packed into immediate futuristic and quirky songs wrapped in the cultish blue vinyl release of the day. How else could it be? For 1978, this to me, sounds like perfection. Now?
Well, with the likes of The Killers, The Bravery, Bloc Party etc setting the standards with a not disimilar agenda, a sizable chunk of pops alternative future no less.
So, if thats not enough to get you exitedly clicking "Add to basket", lets take a look at what you'll be missing:
There's Numans choppy guitar riffing,( think Wire, think Bolan, think Blur, think groove!). His burbling analogue moogs (think early Kraftwerk, think Devo, think Dr Who!). His rythmic acoustic guitar (think early Bowie, think isolation!). And of course his familiar love 'em or hate 'em but never ignore 'em, detatched/frail nasal vocals. Not to mention his natural suss for a rousing rock record.
The rest of Tubeway Army comprised of just, Paul Gardiner: Bass (think solid, think a bit of JJ, a bit of Hooky, think of someone who hears the song!)and Gary's Uncle Gerald "Jess" Lidyard on drums (think direct, think economy, think as always, groove!).
As for the lyrics? Well, where else can you meet your own clone, fall in love with a machine, have your dreams monitored, lose your identity, go insane, beg for the machine to be switched off, become the only one with an identity, trust your future to a test tube, be the only one who is sane, observe or become engaged in seedy sex or drug binges, switch the identity of your partner, watch your life flash past you and die everyday, all on one album?
Have you clicked the "Add to basket" yet?
No?
Then consider also, that this album was recorded in a budget studio in a matter a just a few days and I, for one have played it to death to this day. And it has lost none of its magic at all. And everyone I play it to, loves it (unless they've got cloth ears or something!) Surely that is proof that it is indeed greater than the sum of its parts.
As a bonus too, there's a historical document of Britains punk days added to the end : a guitar based Tubeway Army gig from early '78. Put on your phones, crank up the volume, slurp your pint of best and be there!
Still not convinced?
Then if you're even remotely inspired by any of the artists/things I mentioned above click "Add to basket" now or forever miss out at your peril.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
REVOLUTIONARY NEW WAVE ALBUM !!!!!!, 18 April 2006
With a heavy edge to it; be warned this is not a synth based album,it's GUITAR based with some nice minimalistic synth touches here and there,especially on intros and endings,and nihilistic,sci-fi lyrics with some personal allusions.Funnily entitled First Album,these are catchy,short songs with dry,almost minimal but superb drumming to them,courtesy of his uncle Jess Lydiard,gorgeous bass playing by friend Paul Gardiner (he'd remain my fav bass player for the next 15 years) and powerful dual guitar and lead vocals by Gary .Often regarded as a ¨punk sounding album¨ by regular people,it's far from that to my punk ears.The remastered sound does'nt take the album to today's standards but is a far cry from that on my 1978 lp album.The lower end of the spectum is a tad ¨hollow ¨ and the upper end is a little weak but nothing a good eq cannot succesfully deal with considering this was originally a low budget recording from 1978.The bonus tracks are comprised by a set of live songs taken from a horribly sounding archival bootleg called ¨Live At The Roxy ¨and are of marginal interest though I found them a nice treat for a single listen.This is seminal new wave and has to be taken at face value.If you're really hooked by this you may want to give ¨The Plan ¨(which is an early demos comp from the same author-no synth on them) a try.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Getting a foot in the door, 4 Oct 2001
By A Customer
I believe Gary Numan described this album of a way to get a record deal so that he could record the music that he really wanted to do. The music press quoted him at the time as saying that you could easily get a record deal if you had any material that was 'punky' enough.With a longtime friend as bass player and his uncle as drummer, this album was the first album of his own songs. They owe much to the post-punk era that it was recorded in, but you can see where it is heading. If you know 'Replicas', then you will hear it in its development stage here. The songs are not punk nor are they electronic music, but the style grows on you very quickly. A stand out track is 'Listen to the Sirens', but as with most of the tracks, the guitar driven sound mixes eerily with the varying levels of eclectic keyboard sounds used. If you like 'Replicas' then you will like this or if not, it will eventually grow on you.
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