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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