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Down In The Park

Along with many of my generation I watched, transfixed, as Gary Numan made his debut TV appearance performing 'Are "Friends" Electric?' as part of Tubeway Army on Top of the Pops in 1979. To my ten-year-old eyes it seemed thrillingly otherwordly. By rights I should have spent some pocket-money on the single, but it wouldn't be until years later that I felt any need to acquire music of my own.

Some forty years afterwards, I picked up a copy of Replicas, the breakthrough Tubeway Army album, and, a little more recently, a copy of the 'Down in the Park' single: both charity shop finds. As I hardly ever listened to the album, I let that one go, and ordered a copy of 'Are "Friends" Electric?' on 7", so I at least had the two stand-out tracks from it should I feel the need to hear them.

Both belong to a current in late '70s / early '80s British music with something of a dystopian sci-fi feel (and, more specifically, a strong Ballardian influence). Early Human League; 'Warm Leatherette' by The Normal; and John Foxx's 'Underpass' are some other examples that come to mind. The B-side 'Do You Need the Service?' is also on Replicas and draws from similar themes, albeit in a more upbeat, less ominous way.
 

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