Are "Friends" Electric - In a Ukelele stylee

I remember the day quite clearly.

My dad's business partner had picked myself and his son up from school. They usually took turns. This day, it was Antonio's turn. He collected myself and Jason and took us back to his lovely house in the quiet Norfolk village next to ours. Jason had a sister. Her name was Maria. I loved Maria. She was gorgeous.

I wanted her. Only in the way a 9 year old (soon to be 10) boy could.

Maria was cool. She was a few years older than me and that made her totally unobtainable. She looked at me like I was the teenage toy every girl wanted. Someone who would do their bidding without question.

But she did one very big thing for me.

VERY BIG !!

She introduced me to electronic music. We were sat upstairs listening to records. Me, Maria & Jason. Jason hated it. He wanted to play silly boy games. I just wanted to be with Maria. And with the music. We sat around the record player with a stack of records. Kids today have no idea about this ritual. Nowadays it's all MP3's and playlists. Back in 1979, we had a mono record player and 7" vinyl.

Maria slid the disc out of it's black paper bag. She placed it on the turntable and, as the classic hip hop song says, put the needle on the record.

Out from that little tinny speaker came the sound of Are "Friends" Electric by Tubeway Army. The very name conjured up images of a thousand electronic warriors, beating their electronic instruments to make this glorious sound that spoke of a new age. It seemed like I was hearing the music of the future before anyone else. It sounded bold and brave, scary and dark, electrifying and intense. Numan's voice touched emotions in me I had no knowledge of. It was that one seminal moment in music. I had another about a year later when I heard Adam & The Ants for the first time. But this was so incredible. Maria couldn't believe the impact it had on me. I made her put it on again & again, over and over. I simply couldn't get enough of this.

That was it.

I was hooked.

So, 28 years later, I sit in my studio, surrounded by so much electronic equipment that I could only dream of back then, and my mate Steve (AKA Hollow Sun) sends me this clip from YouTube. I am both enthralled and amazed, sometimes a bit hurt. Watch it and you will see why....



Bordering on the brilliant and the insulting, I am bowled over by this ! :o)

This song is sooooooooooooo important to me. It's like a bible is to a christian. It's sacred. It is the word. But sometimes we have to lighten things up and these guys do just that, without disrespecting the original. Hats off to them.

And to even the balance......



Gary Numan has been a massive influence on me and my music ever since, as he has for millions of others. The tag line for this blog, "Down In The Park With A Friend Called Five", is from another classic track from the same album that Are "Friends" Electric came from; the classic Replicas.



I just loved getting this video today. It brought back some lovely memories and I thought I'd share them with you.

Enjoy :o)

By the way, Maria, having seen the enormity of the impact that this record had on me, gave me the record that day to keep. She told me should could go and buy another.

I still have this record today and treasure it dearly.