Recording and Music
Musically, Numan’s main influence was the commercially unsuccessful John Foxx-led incarnation of Ultravox. Tracks like "Speed of Life" and "Breaking Glass" from David Bowie’s Low have also been cited, as have Kraftwerk’s The Man-Machine, in particular the long and wistful track "Neon Lights".
The recording was a development of the sound of the first Tubeway Army album. Whilst tracks like "You Are in My Vision" and "It Must Have Been Years" recalled the earlier album’s guitar-orientated rock, the rest were built solidly around an analog synthesizer, the Minimoog. Along with "Are 'Friends' Electric?", this included "Me! I Disconnect from You", the atmospheric "Down in the Park" (released as a single prior to the album and acquiring cult status though not commercial success), the multi-layered title track and the closing instrumentals "When the Machines Rock" and "I Nearly Married a Human", the latter featuring Numan's first use of a primitive drum machine; it made an appearance the following year in Carl Sagan's TV series Cosmos: A Personal Voyage.
Read more about this topic: Replicas (album)
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“Self-expression is not enough; experiment is not enough; the recording of special moments or cases is not enough. All of the arts have broken faith or lost connection with their origin and function. They have ceased to be concerned with the legitimate and permanent material of art.”
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“Music, ho, music such as charmeth sleep!”
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