‘Times Square’ was one of those movies that tapped into the late ‘70s music scene vibe and fashions and which I read about in the pages of ‘Smash Hits’ and ‘Record Mirror’, my two go-to music rags of 1980, rather than actually see at the time. I had been to see the UK film ‘Breaking Glass’ in August or September of 1980 (memory is hazy on dates) and this US flick while quite different and a whole other story and perspective had a similar appeal. But funds were tight back then and it passed by its cinema release and it wasn’t until a few years later that I saw it in the days of home VHS rental, which is more likely a 1982/1983 timeframe, long after the hype.
At the time of release though, one of the main points of appeal was that it included an exclusive XTC song, ‘Take This Town’. It was released as a double-A side single along with The Ruts and they’re already well known and regarded ‘Babylon’s Burning’. Sadly, the XTC single sank without trace, failing to emulate either ‘Generals and Majors’ or ‘Towers Of London’, both of which made it into the UK Top 40.
The album contains a solid selection of decent tracks by many of my favourites, the likes of Talking Heads, Roxy Music, The Cure, the aforementioned XTC and The Ruts, and Gary Numan.
Ah, Gary Numan… a particular favourite, and the reason I eventually bought this copy of the album. You see, the track featured is ‘Down In The Park’ – which technically is Tubeway Army rather than Gary Numan, but that’s how it’s credited – and it turns out that the version of the track featured is an exclusive, otherwise unavailable mix. I can’t remember quite when I found out about that – it wasn’t listed on the sleeve as being exclusive. But it is.
It is a much more basic version of the familiar Tubeway Army song. The atmospheric synth touches that tend to be found at the end of the bars before, for example, the vocals come in, are missing. Now, when ‘Replicas’ got a re-issue in 2008 as ‘Replicas Redux (Expanded 2008 Tour Edition)’, the vaults were plundered and no less than two early mixes of the song were included – the ‘Early Version’ on the second disc of this 2008 set and the ‘Early Version 2’ on the limited edition third disc, ‘Replicas : Mixes + Versions’. Now, I figured that one of these must be the version on the ‘Times Square’ original soundtrack. But, it turns out, neither one is!
These early recordings also got a release in 2019 on the album ‘Replicas (The First Recordings)’ – of note, the ‘Early Version 2’ is retitled ‘Outtake Mix’ on this release, but is otherwise the same.
The other items of interest are the versions of the track ‘Damn Dog’ performed by one of the movie’s leads, Robin Johnson. Although the film rather bombed at the time, this song would subsequently find fame courtesy of a cover version by Manic Street Preachers on their debut album, ‘Generation Terrorists’.
Although the movie itself has had an afterlife and is available commercially on DVD and Blu-ray, the soundtrack was only ever released in 1980 and there has never been any later re-release on CD or digitally. So, if you want this specific version of ‘Down In The Park’, it’s still vinyl or cassette if you want an original. Is it worth it? The version isn’t that different from the more familiar one and the other early versions – but for Numan completists, it’s a curio in its more basic form.
