Tubeway Army

The record labels and distribution teams at Secretly Group, Exceleration Music, Warp Records, Ninja Tune and Beggars Group came together to announce a new partnership with Music Declares Emergency and the Music Climate Pact. Dedicated to driving awareness around sustainability practices and transparency across both record stores and consumers, the inaugural campaign features a series of special edition album releases each pressed on 100% recycled vinyl material.

Beggars contribution is the self-titled album by TUBEWAY ARMY. Gary Numan’s band was formed in 1977 and their self-titled debut album was released at the tail end of 1978. In addition to Gary, the band consisted of Paul Gardiner on bass and backing vocals and Jess Lidyard on drums. The album was a segue from the punk-leaning sounds of their early singles, to the pioneering electronic music that Gary Numan became known for. The phrase “garagey sci-fi rock” was used in reference to this album. This album truly paved the way for Gary Numan to become an electronic pioneer. It was during the sessions for this album that he came across a minimoog synthesizer by accident in the recording studio, and the rest is history. Shortly after this album’s release, Tubeway Army recorded their follow-up, Replicas, which contained “Are ‘Friends’ Electric?”, which became the first synthesizer-based number 1 hit of the electronic era in 1979. After its release, Numan opted to drop the Tubeway Army name and release music under his own name, retaining the musicians from Tubeway Army as his backing band.

This LP was made with material that has been reclaimed from production and distribution: manufacturing trim, quality rejects and unsold stock, meaning that no new virgin, fossil fuel-delivered plastic was used. Through this process, each individual record looks completely unique, while still sounding as fantastic.