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Tubeway Army

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Tubeway Army
Tubeway Army's line-up for most of their recordings (L to R): Gary Numan, Jess Lidyard and Paul Gardiner
Tubeway Army's line-up for most of their recordings
(L to R): Gary Numan, Jess Lidyard and Paul Gardiner
Background information
OriginLondon, England
Genres
Years active1977–1979
LabelsBeggars Banquet
Past members
Websitegarynuman.co.uk

Tubeway Army were a London-based new wave band led by lead singer Gary Numan. Formed at the height of punk rock in 1977 the band gradually changed to an electronic sound. They were the first band of the electronic era to have a synthesiser-based number-one hit, with their single "Are 'Friends' Electric?" and its parent album Replicas both topping the UK charts in mid-1979. After its release, Numan opted to drop the Tubeway Army name and release music under his own name as he was the sole songwriter, producer and public face of the band, but he retained the musicians from Tubeway Army as his backing band.

History

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Early years

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Aged 18 years, Gary Webb had fronted London band Mean Street in 1976 (their song "Bunch of Stiffs" appeared on the Live at the Vortex compilation, and was the B-side of the Vortex 7-inch). After leaving this band, he auditioned as lead guitarist for another band called The Lasers, where he met bass-player Paul Gardiner. The Lasers soon became Tubeway Army, and were eventually reformed with Webb's uncle Jess Lidyard on drums.[1] Webb rechristened himself "Valerian", Gardiner "Scarlett" and Lidyard "Rael".

Webb was a prolific songwriter. The band began playing gigs on the punk scene in London and managed to secure a record deal with the independent Beggars Banquet label. In February 1978 the punk rock style debut single "That's Too Bad" was released, but failed to make much impact. Shortly after the band made demo recordings (later released as The Plan) to give Beggars Banquet an idea of the songs they had. In summer 1978 a second single, "Bombers"/"Blue Eyes"/"OD Receiver",[2] was released, but failed to chart.

During this time the band went through some line-up changes, changing drummers and briefly adding a second guitarist, but due to musical differences Webb and Gardiner split with them as they wanted to move away from punk rock.[2]

By this time Tubeway Army had decided to abandon live shows – Webb was unhappy with pub-venue gigs on the often violent London punk scene. Their last gig in July 1978 (sharing the bill with The Skids) was abandoned halfway through the set because of violence and Webb decided that Tubeway Army would become a studio-only band.[1] (There are only 2 known recordings of Tubeway Army concerts – Live at the Roxy in 1977 and a London show from February 1978 – this was released as a bootleg album in the early 1980s. 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).[3]

Debut album

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Soon afterwards, the Tubeway Army album was quickly recorded by the original line-up. At this point Webb adopted the name "Gary Numan", taking his new pseudonym from a local Yellow Pages where a plumber called "Arthur Neumann" was listed, the singer abandoning the German spelling, to become Numan.[4] 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 similar to those employed by authors J. G. Ballard and Philip K. Dick, of whom Numan was a fan (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).

At this point Numan was keen to distance his music from punk rock and wanted to drop the Tubeway Army group name and release the album under his own stage name, but the idea was rejected by Beggars Banquet and the album was released with the title Tubeway Army on blue vinyl in November 1978.[1] Whilst the album's modest initial pressing of 5000 copies sold out,[5] it did not enter the album charts at that time, and no singles were lifted from it.

Replicas and commercial success

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Following swiftly on, Numan took Tubeway Army back into the studio to record their follow-up album, Replicas and also a session for John Peel in early 1979. The result was more synth and science fiction oriented than the last album. The first single from the album, the bleak, slow-paced keyboard-driven song "Down in the Park" failed to chart, although it would prove an enduring cult track in the years to come, and has to date been covered by Marilyn Manson, Foo Fighters, Flight, and nine other bands.[6]

The next single, "Are 'Friends' Electric?" was released in May 1979 and became the band's first entry on the UK Singles Chart. After a modest start at no. 71 it steadily climbed up the chart reaching the No. 1 spot in June.[7] The underlying context of this song was also a reference to another Philip K. Dick novel, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? 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 on 24 May 1979. The band, now including Ultravox keyboardist Billy Currie, Chris Payne, Paul Gardiner and drummer Cedric Sharpley, 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 remained at number one in the UK charts for four weeks, with Replicas following suit in the album charts.[8] By the end of 1979 "Are 'Friends' Electric?" had become the fourth highest selling single in the UK that year.[9]

At the peak of success, a John Peel session in June 1979 was credited as Gary Numan, and the Tubeway Army group name was dropped.[10] Numan would however keep the same musicians as his backing band on his subsequent solo releases and tours.

Personnel

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Members

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  • Gary Numan (a.k.a. "Valerian") – guitar, lead vocals, synthesizers (1977-1979)
  • Paul Gardiner (a.k.a. "Scarlett") – bass, backing vocals (1977–1979; died 1984)
  • Jess Lidyard (a.k.a. "Rael") – drums (1977, 1978–1979)
  • Bob Simmonds – drums (1977–1978)
  • Barry Benn – drums (1978)
  • Sean Burke – guitar (1978)
  • Billy Currie – synthesizers (1979)
  • Trevor Grant – guitar (1979)
  • Chris Payne – synthesizers (1979)
  • Cedric Sharpley – drums (1979; died 2012)

Lineups

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Years Lineup Albums
1977
1977–1978
  • Gary Numan – guitar, lead vocals
  • Paul Gardiner – bass, backing vocals
  • Bob Simmonds – drums
1978
  • Gary Numan – lead vocals, guitar
  • Paul Gardiner – bass, backing vocals
  • Sean Burke – guitar
  • Barry Benn – drums
1978–1979
  • Gary Numan – guitar, lead vocals, synthesizers
  • Paul Gardiner – bass, backing vocals
  • Jess Lidyard – drums
1979
(Old Grey Whistle Test and
Top of the Pops performances)
  • Gary Numan – lead vocals, guitar, synthesizers
  • Paul Gardiner – bass, backing vocals
  • Trevor Grant – guitar
  • Billy Currie – synthesizers
  • Chris Payne – synthesizers
  • Cedric Sharpley – drums

Timeline

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Discography

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Studio albums

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Year Details Peak chart positions Certifications
(sales thresholds)
UK
[11] 		AUS
[12] 		NZL
[13] 		SWE
[14] 		US
[15]
1978 Tubeway Army 14[A] — — — —
1979 Replicas
  • Released: 6 April 1979
  • Label: Beggars Banquet, Atco
 1 11 8 37 124
2009 Replicas Redux
  • Released September 2008
  • Label: Beggars Banquet
 96 — — — —
"—" denotes releases that did not chart

Compilations

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Year Details Peak chart positions
UK
[11]
1984[B] The Plan
  • Released: September 1984
  • Label: Beggars Banquet
 29
2019 Replicas - The First Recordings
  • Released: December 2019
  • Label: Beggars Banquet
 31

Singles

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Year Single Peak chart positions Certifications
(sales thresholds)
UK
[11] 		AUS
[12] 		AUT
[17] 		GER
[18] 		BEL
[19] 		IRE
[20] 		NED
[21] 		NZL
[13] 		US[22]
1978 "That's Too Bad" 97[C] — — — — — — — —
"Bombers" — — — — — — — — —
1979 "Down in the Park" — — — — — — — — —
"Are 'Friends' Electric?" 1 12 12 23 14 3 9 8 105
"—" denotes releases that did not chart

Notes

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  1. ^ The album Tubeway Army did not chart upon its first release in 1978, but following the success of Replicas, it charted in August 1979 and reached No. 14.
  2. ^ The demos were recorded in 1977 and 1978 but not released until 1984. Beggars Banquet have re-released and re-mastered these recordings numerous times. Current CD editions supplement the original album tracks with all single A and B-sides, 12-inch bonus tracks, studio out-takes, and recovered bootleg live material.
  3. ^ Charted in 1983.[11]

References

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  1. ^ a b c Gary Numan (R)evolution: The Autobiography Constable 2020, Chapter Four.
  2. ^ a b "Tubeway Army The Early Years". numanme.com.
  3. ^ "Tubeway Army - Tubeway Army". Discogs. Retrieved 24 April 2022.
  4. ^ Synth Britannia. 16 October 2009. BBC Four.
  5. ^ "Tubeway Army". numanme.com.
  6. ^ "Cover versions of Down in the Park by Tubeway Army | SecondHandSongs". SecondHandSongs.
  7. ^ "Tubeway Army full Official Chart History". Official Charts. Official UK Charts Company.
  8. ^ "Tubeway Army full Official Chart History". Official Charts. Official UK Charts Company.
  9. ^ "Top 100 1979 - UK Music Charts". www.uk-charts.top-source.info. Retrieved 25 July 2019.
  10. ^ Gary Numan The Pleasure Principle - The First Recordings Beggars Arkive
  11. ^ a b c d "Tubeway Army - Full Official Chart History". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 20 January 2016.
  12. ^ a b Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 (illustrated ed.). St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. p. 314. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
  13. ^ a b "New Zealand chart positions". charts.nz. Retrieved 7 December 2009.
  14. ^ "Swedish chart positions". swedishcharts.com. Retrieved 7 December 2009.
  15. ^ "US charts". AllMusic. Archived from the original on 30 November 2012. Retrieved 7 December 2009.
  16. ^ a b "UK certificates: searchable database". bpi.co.uk. Archived from the original on 24 September 2009. Retrieved 7 December 2009.
  17. ^ "Austrian chart positions". austriancharts.at. Retrieved 7 December 2009.
  18. ^ "German single positions". musicline.de. Retrieved 7 December 2009.
  19. ^ "Belgian single positions". dutchcharts.nl. Retrieved 13 November 2013.
  20. ^ "Irish charts: searchable database". irishcharts.ie. Archived from the original on 21 July 2011. Retrieved 7 December 2009.
  21. ^ "Dutch chart positions". dutchcharts.nl. Retrieved 7 December 2009.
  22. ^ "Tubeway Army Songs - Top Songs / Chart Singles Discography". Musicvf.com. Retrieved 12 August 2023.

Further reading

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  • Goodwin, Paul (2004) Electric Pioneer: An Armchair Guide To Gary Numan
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