Track of the Week 5: 'Down In The Park' by Tubeway Army
Released 16th March 1979
On this day in 1981, Gary Numan began an attempt to fly around the world in a single engine Cessna plane. It was well-known amongst fans that he had wanted to learn to fly for a number of years before this point, and later in the year even set up his own airline, subtly named 'Numanair'.
So, to mark Numan's 'heroic' round-the-world flight attempt, this week's 'Track of the Week' is a classic tune from Tubeway Army's legendary 1979 album 'Replicas'- 'Down In The Park'. The song was the first single to be released from the album, but despite it's use of what was to become Numan's trademark synthesiser sound, as well as an intriguing b-side, it failed to make the charts.
In fact, it wasn't until the release of second single from the album- 'Are Friends Electric?'- that Tubeway Army found mainstream success; on it's release, the track hit number one in the U.K., and remained at the top spot for four weeks.
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(By the way, just in case you were wondering, the round-the-world attempt that Numan made on this day in 1981 (he attempted the feat more than once) failed. He eventually landed in India where he was arrested by local police.)
