"Bombers" is the second single by

Tubeway Army Tubeway Army were a London-based new wave band led by lead singer Gary Numan. Formed at the height of punk rock in 1977 the band gradually changed to an electronic sound. They were the first band of the electronic era to have a synthesiser-b ...

, released in 1978.

Content

"Bombers" is considered by some to be one of the most popular songs by Tubeway Army, a Punk band popular in the 70s and 80s. The song enjoyed brief popularity in the 80s and is featured in several books cataloging iconic songs of the period. The song is in a somewhat more conventional

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

style than their

punk Punk or punks may refer to: Genres, subculture, and related aspects * Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres * Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...

-oriented debut, "

That's Too Bad "That's Too Bad" is the debut single by Tubeway Army, the band which provided the initial musical vehicle for Gary Numan. It was released in February 1978 by independent London record label Beggars Banquet. On the day of its release, Numan qu ...

", and features

sound effect A sound effect (or audio effect) is an artificially created or enhanced sound, or sound process used to emphasize artistic or other content of films, television shows, live performance, animation, video games, music, or other media. Traditi ...

s simulating

air raid siren A civil defense siren, also known as an air-raid siren or tornado siren, is a siren used to provide an emergency population warning to the general population of approaching danger. It is sometimes sounded again to indicate the danger has pa ...

dive bomber A dive bomber is a bomber aircraft that dives directly at its targets in order to provide greater accuracy for the bomb it drops. Diving towards the target simplifies the bomb's trajectory and allows the pilot to keep visual contact througho ...

s, and

machine gun A machine gun is a fully automatic, rifled autoloading firearm designed for sustained direct fire with rifle cartridges. Other automatic firearms such as automatic shotguns and automatic rifles (including assault rifles and battle rifles) a ...

fire. Like its predecessor, the single earned indifferent reviews and failed to chart. It is one of the few recordings in his career which Numan did not produce himself. The B-sides were "Blue Eyes", which harked back to the fast-paced punk style of "That's Too Bad", and "O.D. Receiver", a slower piece whose lyrics reflected a Burroughsian world of

drug addiction Addiction is a neuropsychological disorder characterized by a persistent and intense urge to engage in certain behaviors, one of which is the usage of a drug, despite substantial harm and other negative consequences. Repetitive drug use of ...

. All tracks on the original vinyl single were credited to 'Valerian', the name that Numan (born Gary Webb) had chosen for himself prior to Tubeway Army's début album; these would be his last releases using that ''nom de plume''; henceforward he would call himself Gary Numan.

Critical reception

In his review for

Record Mirror ''Record Mirror'' was a British weekly music newspaper between 1954 and 1991 for pop fans and record collectors. Launched two years after the ''NME'', it never attained the circulation of its rival. The first UK album chart was published in ''Re ...

in October 1978, Robin Smith stated that "..the market for this sort of heavyweight monotony has died."

Reissue

"Bombers" was later released as a gatefold with the single "

Track listing

# "Bombers" (Valerian) – 3:52 # "Blue Eyes" (Valerian) – 1:43 # "O.D. Receiver" (Valerian) – 2:37

Production credits

Producers Producer or producers may refer to: Occupations *Producer (agriculture), a farm operator *A stakeholder of economic production *Film producer, supervises the making of films **Executive producer, contributes to a film's budget and usually does not ...

: ** Kenny Denton *

Musician A musician is a person who composes, conducts, or performs music. According to the United States Employment Service, "musician" is a general term used to designate one who follows music as a profession. Musicians include songwriters who wri ...

s: **

Gary Numan Gary Anthony James Webb (born 8 March 1958), known professionally as Gary Numan, is an English musician. He entered the music industry as frontman of the new wave band Tubeway Army. After releasing two albums with the band, he released his d ...

Vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

Guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

Paul Gardiner Paul Andrew Gardiner (1 May 1958 – 18 February 1984) was a British musician who played bass guitar with Gary Numan and Tubeway Army, as well as creating material under his own name. Biography Paul Gardiner was born in Hayes, Middlesex. In e ...

Bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

** Barry Benn:

Drum The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel-Sachs classification system, it is a membranophone. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a she ...

s ** Sean Burke: Guitar

Versions

Six recordings of "Bombers" have been released: *The original demo version, recorded 7–9 March 1978 at Spaceward Studios, near

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

. This recording was not released to the public until October 1984, on an album of previously unissued tracks from the same sessions called '' The Plan''. These sessions featured Gary Numan,

, and Numan's uncle

Jess Lidyard Jess is a unisex given name, often a short form (hypocorism) of Jessica, Jesse, Jessie, etc., and a surname. It may refer to: Given name * Jess Atkinson (born 1961), American football player * Jess Cain (1926–2008), American radio host * Jes ...

drum The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel-Sachs classification system, it is a membranophone. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a she ...

s. *The single version recorded on 15 April 1978 and released in July the same year. This session was produced by Kenny Denton, and featured a short-lived band line-up of Numan, Gardiner, Barry Benn, and Sean Burke. It has since appeared on CD reissues of ''The Plan''. The single features a slightly revised lyric: on the demo, the third verse starts with "All the junkies pulling needles from their arms." Beggars Banquet feared that the word "junkies" would prevent the song receiving airplay and so, for the single, Numan changed the line to "All the nurses pulling needles from their arms."Steve Malins (1998). ''The Plan''
CD liner notes
An ink tracing by Garry Robson of Numan's face on the single's sleeve would provide the design for the 1979 reissue cover of Tubeway Army's eponymously titled debut album. *A live version recorded 28 September 1979 at the

Hammersmith Odeon The Hammersmith Apollo, currently called the Eventim Apollo for sponsorship reasons, and formerly known as the Hammersmith Odeon, is a live entertainment performance venue, originally built as a cinema called the Gaumont Palace. Located in Ha ...

, London (during 'The Touring Principle' concerts) and released on the B-side of the single "

Complex Complex commonly refers to: * Complexity, the behaviour of a system whose components interact in multiple ways so possible interactions are difficult to describe ** Complex system, a system composed of many components which may interact with each ...

" later that year. This arrangement differed from the earlier recordings, featuring a

Roland CR-78 The Roland CompuRhythm CR-78 is a drum machine launched in 1978. Although primitive by later standards, the CR-78 represented an important advance in drum machine technology at the time, in particular by allowing users to program and store thei ...

drum machine,

violin The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...

, and

synthesizer A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and ...

, along with

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

, bass, and conventional

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

(predominantly

tom-tom A tom drum is a cylindrical drum with no snares, named from the Anglo-Indian and Sinhala language. It was added to the drum kit in the early part of the 20th century. Most toms range in size between in diameter, though floor toms can go as l ...

s). The track was included as a bonus track on various CD re-releases of '' The Pleasure Principle'', as well as on an expanded version of Numan's live album ''

Living Ornaments '79 ''Living Ornaments '79'' (1981) is a live album by British musician Gary Numan recorded at the Hammersmith Odeon on 28 September 1979. It was also released as a Special edition, limited edition box set with ''Living Ornaments '80'' (1981). An e ...

'', where it appeared as the first of three songs utilising the same CR-78 preset drum pattern, the others being "Remember I Was Vapour" and " On Broadway". The Hammersmith recording was also released on the limited edition bonus disc issued with ''The Pleasure Principle'' 30th anniversary edition. This edition shows that it was originally supposed to have been released as part of a Live E.P. in January 1980. *Live version, recorded 31 May 1980 in

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

, Australia (the last show of 'The Touring Principle') and released on the live album ''Engineers''. This album was available exclusively and for a limited time on Numan's official website in early 2008. *Live version, recorded 6 November 1993, and released on the album '' Dream Corrosion'' (1994). This rendition resembles the original, rock-oriented version of the song rather than the slowed-down version from 'The Touring Principle'. *Live version, recorded on the Machine Music Tour at the Dome,

Brighton Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...

on 3 June 2012, and released on ''Machine Music Live'', June 2013.

References

{{authority control 1978 songs Tubeway Army songs Songs written by Gary Numan Beggars Banquet Records singles 1978 singles