Gary Numan Announces 40th Anniversary First Recording Editions of “Replicas” and “The Pleasure Principle”

Electronic music pioneer Gary Numan has announced that this October he will be releasing 40th Anniversary editions of his two albums Replicas and The Pleasure Principle that show the evolution of both record’s development through the track’s first recordings.

Beggars Arkive are releasing these First Recordings editions to commemorate the 40th anniversary of these two groundbreaking albums Gary Numan/Tubeway Army issued in 1979.

The first release, issued originally as a Tubeway Army LP is titled Replicas – The First Recordings, and the second, which was the first to debut under Gary Numan’s own name, is The Pleasure Principle – The First Recordings.

They are both available to order on 2XCD and colored 2XLP. Replicas is pressed on sage green and The Pleasure Principle is on orange.

According to the press release, while both of these albums have remained in print, these releases concentrate on the early recordings made prior to the completed albums and present the evolution of the albums. The tracks have been sequenced as they appeared on the original tapes and the audio has been taken from the high-resolution digital transfers made by John Dent in 2007. One of the Freerange studio tapes suffered irreparable print through damage on two tracks so they were not used in the 2009 30th anniversary release. However, an alternative source has been located so the tapes can now be presented as complete for this release.

Both releases are scheduled for October 11th for released in the UK and US via independent retailers and Beggars Arkive mailorder, with an October 25th wide US release date.

See tracklistings below 

Preorder links:
Replicas First Recordings
Pleasure Principle First Recordings

REPLICAS – THE FIRST RECORDINGS

“In late 1978, Gary Numan was booked into a small studio in London’s Chinatown with the same musicians that had played on Tubeway Army’s debut album, released a month earlier. Two stereo master tapes were compiled of eleven tracks. A month later they again went to Gooseberry Studio and recorded an additional three tracks, including “Are ‘Friends’ Electric?” and “Replicas”. At the same time, the band recorded a session for the BBC’s John Peel show, taping alternate versions of three songs from the December recordings. Finally Numan returned to an upgraded studio, Marcus Music, in February to overdub and remix the Gooseberry recordings into their released versions. Only one alternative outtake still exists (“Down In The Park”) which is included in this release.”

CD DISC 1
1. You Are In My Vision (early version)
2. The Machmen (early version)
3. Down In The Park (early version)
4. Do You Need The Service? (early version)
5. The Crazies
6. When The Machines Rock (early version)
7. Me! I Disconnect From You
(early version)
8. Praying To The Aliens (early version)
9. It Must Have Been Years (early version)
10. Only A Downstat
11. I Nearly Married A Human 3 (early version)
12. Replicas (early version)
13. Are ‘Friends’ Electric? (early version)

CD DISC 2
1. Replicas (early version 2)
2. Down In The Park (early version 2)
3. Are ‘Friends’ Electric? (early version 2)
4. We Have A Technical
5. Replicas (early version 3)
6. Me! I Disconnect From You (BBC Peel session)
7. Down In The Park (BBC Peel session)
8. I Nearly Married a Human (BBC Peel session)

SAGE GREEN DOUBLE LP
A1. You Are In My Vision (early version)
A2. The Machmen (early version)
A3. Down In The Park (early version)
A4. Do You Need The Service? (early version)
A5. The Crazies
A6. When The Machines Rock (early version)
B1. Me! I Disconnect From You (early version)
B2. Praying To The Aliens (early version)
B3. It Must Have Been Years (early version)
B4. Only A Downstat
B5. I Nearly Married A Human 3 (early version)
C1. Replicas (early version)
C2. Are ‘Friends’ Electric? (early version)
C3. We Have A Technical
C4. Down In The Park (outtake mix)
D1. Are ‘Friends’ Electric? (early version 2)
D2. Replicas (early version 2)
D3. Me! I Disconnect From You (BBC Peel session)
D4. Down In The Park (BBC Peel session)
D5. I Nearly Married a Human (BBC Peel session)

THE PLEASURE PRINCIPLE – THE FIRST RECORDINGS
 

“Even before the single “Are ‘Friends’ Electric?” was released, Numan had recruited a permanent drummer and keyboard player and demoed an album’s worth of new material between April 9-12, 1979 at Freerange Studio in London’s Covent Garden. This was supplemented by a second session, probably the following June, that yielded four further songs and two re-recordings. Following the hectic schedule of promoting “AFE?”, Numan recorded a new session for John Peel the day after the single hit #1 on the UK charts. Rather than record as Tubeway Army, the session was credited to Gary Numan and the group name abandoned at the peak of it’s success. As before, rather than promote the current album, Numan chose to record four new songs. While the album Replicas hit #1, Numan was busy recording a follow up in Marcus Music Studio. From the surviving tapes there are six mixes marked as out-takes and these have been included in the CD package. The discs have been sequenced with the stronger, second Freerange demo preceding the first session but all tracks are in the order of the tapes. Six of the tracks have previously been unreleased (6 on cd version, 2 included on LP version).”

CD DISC 1
1. Cars (demo version 2)
2. Films (demo version)
3. Complex (demo version)
4. Random (remastered 2009)
5. M.E. (demo version)
6. Conversation (demo version 2)
7. Tracks (demo version) * previously unreleased
8. Cars (demo version 1) * previously unreleased
9. Metal (demo version)
10. Airlane (demo version)
11. Trois Gymnopédies No.1 (demo version)
12. Observer (demo version)
13. Conversation (demo version 1)
14. Engineers (demo version)
15. Asylum (remastered 2009
16. Oceans (remastered 2009)
17. Photograph (remastered 2009)

CD DISC 2
1. Airlane (BBC Peel session)
2. Cars (BBC Peel session)
3. Films (BBC Peel session)
4. Conversation (BBC Peel session)
5. Tracks (outtake mix)
6. Complex (outtake mix) * previously unreleased
7. M.E. (outtake mix)
8. Engineers (outtake mix) * previously unreleased
9. Airlane (outtake mix) * previously unreleased
10.Cars (outtake mix) * previously unreleased

ORANGE DOUBLE LP
A1. Cars (demo version 2)
A2. Films (demo version)
A3. Complex (demo version)
A4. Random (remastered 2009)
A5. M.E. (demo version)
B1. Conversation (demo version 2)
B2. Tracks (demo version) * previously unreleased
B3. Cars (demo version 1) * previously unreleased
B4. Metal (demo version)
B5. Airlane (demo version)
C1. Gymnopédie No.1 (remastered 2009)
C2. Observer (demo version)
C3. Conversation (demo version 1)
C4. Engineers (demo version)
C5. Asylum (remastered 2009
C6. Oceans (remastered 2009)
C7. Photograph (remastered 2009)
D1. Airlane (BBC Peel session)
D2. Cars (BBC Peel session)
D3. Films (BBC Peel session)
D4. Conversation (BBC Peel session)