The Human League - Dare (1981)/Love And Dancing (1982)

Note: Dare! was received as a gift as an LP, later replaced by the 2002 CD reissue.

As summer begins, it's time to pull out the CDs that I consider to be "summer listening." I consider Dare to be one of said summer albums. Even though it was released in the fall of 1981, the hit single Don't You Want Me hit #1 on the US singles chart in July, 1982 which means it was all over the radio that summer. My buddy Jim gave me his copy of this album and I was immediately drawn to it not because the musicianship was good (it isn't) but because I had never heard anything like it before. (I wouldn't hear Gary Numan's 1979 album, The Pleasure Principle for several more years although I can now hear its obvious influence on Dare.)

For me, Dare ushered in the synthpop era and started a lifelong love affair with the genre. In other words, that free album has cost me a lot of money. As I listen now, I'm fighting the urge to pop this disc in the car player and ride around with the windows down, forcing classic synthpop on my unsuspecting (and, I would imagine, unappreciative) neighbors. Brilliantly produced by Martin Rushent, this is a stiff, cold collection of accessible, mediocre pop songs that are pushed over the edge and into legend by technology and a classic '80s #1 single. No guitars, no drums, just analog synths and drum machines.

Ironically, Don't You Want Me is the band's biggest hit despite the fact that its producer and writer thought it was rubbish and didn't want to release it as a single. They should know better - just because a song is rubbish doesn't mean it can't be a hit. Ofttimes, quite the opposite.

Exclusive CD longbox photo courtesy of
Dirk Digglinator of the Hambonian Archives.

Album chart peaks:

• US Billboard 200: #3
• Billboard Rock: #6
• CashBox: #5
• Rolling Stone: #3

Press of the time:

• Rolling Stone (★★★½ ): "strikes an appealing balance between modern technique and tuneful charm"
• Trouser Press: "little more than an agreeable dull diversion."
• Musician: "Abba may have some serious competition"
• Smash Hits (8 out of 10): "memorable melodies delivered with soul, style and humour"
• High Fidelity: "If Abba hailed from English art-school circles"

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In 1982, Rushent would take the Dare tracks, rework them using delays and phasers, then release Love And Dancing under the name The League Unlimited Orchestra, nod to Barry White's disco-era Love Unlimited Orchestra. It's a techno dance experiment and if you grew up in the era of 12" dance singles, you'll love hearing the variations on familiar songs. I can't believe I didn't own Love And Dancing when I was 16.

Press of the time:

• Rolling Stone (★★½): "too much of a clever thing"
• Trouser Press: "Used to be when you made a record it stayed made."
• Smash Hits (6 out of 10): "An odd item."

Album chart peaks:

• US Billboard 200: #135
• CashBox: #117

Tracks:  For Dare, my picks are The Things That Dreams Are Made Of, Open Your Heart, Darkness, Seconds, Love Action, I usually skip Do Or Die and I Am The Law. For Love And Dancing, it's full of fun trashy dance remixes so why would you want to skip any of that?

Personal Memory Associated with this CD:  In June of 1982, I went on a trip to Florida with my high school band. I remember Don't You Want Me being everywhere we went, from bus stations to hotels to theme parks. 30+ years later, it is still fairly ubiquitous.

Previously revisited for the blog:
Original Remixes & Rarities (2005)
Secrets (2001)
Greatest Hits (1988)

Hot Gossip - Geisha Boys and Temple Girls (1981)

This whole joint is hard to explain so I'll let the liner notes do the talking:

So this is a covers album by a dance troupe. Completed in two weeks? You don't say! In case you couldn't guess, Hot Gossip is a hot mess. But since I'm a Heaven 17/BEF fan, I had to check it out to satiate my curiosity.

Peak on the US Billboard Top 200 chart: Did not chart.

Tracks:  The "best" track on this disc is the cover of I Don't Depend On You although the string quartet arrangement of I Burn For You is interesting to hear at least once. It's not on this disc, but I know you're curious about I Lost My Heart To A Starship Trooper with vocals by a young Sarah Brightman. It may very well rival Billy Squier's Rock Me Tonite for the title of worst music video of all time. If you make it to the end, you made it farther than I did. Here you go:

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: None. I didn't pick this up until 2008. This is the second time I've listened to it all the way through.

Previously revisited for the blog:
Heaven 17
British Electronic Foundation
Human League

The Human League - Original Remixes & Rarities (2005)

UK import

Only for the serious Human League fan. I guess that means I fit that category. OK, I'll own that; I loves me some technopop. As the disc title suggests, this is a mixed bag of b-sides and extended versions. This is risky business: an extended version is great if you like the song, but a painful 6 minutes if you don't and most b-sides are b-sides for a reason. This was purchased more out of curiosity than anything else. As the critic from allmusic.com says, "Original Remixes & Rarities is a useful accessory for fans but -- unsurprisingly -- it's not the least bit essential for anyone else." Come to think of it, some of the "rarities" aren't even that rare, having been released in 2003 on the remastered Dare/Love & Dancing CD.

Tracks:

1	Being Boiled (Album Version)	1980
2	The Sound Of The Crowd (12" Version)	1981
3	Hard Times (Love Action B-Side)	1981
4	Non-Stop (Open Your Heart B-Side)	1981
5	Don't You Want Me (Special Extended Dance Mix)	1981
6	Mirror Man (Extended Version)	1982
7	You Remind Me Of Gold (Mirror Man B-Side)	1982
8	(Keep Feeling) Fascination (Improvisation)	1983
9	Total Panic (Fascination B-Side)	1983
10	The Lebanon (12" Extended)	1984
11	Life On Your Own (Extended)	1984
12	Together In Electric Dreams (Extended)	1984
13	Human (Extended Version)	1986
14	Heart Like A Wheel (Extended Mix)	1990

My favorites here are Hard Times (the B-side from the 1981 single Love Action), and the extended versions of (Keep Feeling) Fascination and The Lebanon. One of the better songs isn't even a Human League song: Together In Electric Dreams is a collaboration between the League's Philip Oakey and über-producer Giorgio Moroder. Written for the 1984 film Electric Dreams, the song was a bigger hit than the movie. It's one of the best upbeat, feel-good songs of the '80s. You'll want to stay away from the other tracks, particularly Non-Stop, You Remind Me Of Gold, Total Panic, and the dreaded Human.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: None.

Previously revisited for the blog:
Secrets (2001)
Greatest Hits (1988)

Human League - Greatest Hits (1988)

GREATEST HITS WEEK (JANUARY 17-23, 2011)

To me, the League is a hit-or-miss band. Their good stuff is really good techno-pop dance music, but their bad stuff sounds like a junior high kid playing a Casio keyboard bought for 50 cents at a garage sale. But since I like the good stuff, this is a welcome listen for me. I had 3 or 4 of the group's albums in the '80s, but didn't think any of them except Dare! were worth replacing with a CD, so this compilation gives me some of my favorite HL tracks, including...

Peak on the US Billboard Top 200 chart: Did not chart

Tracks:

	Title	Year	UK	US Hot 100	US Dance
1	Mirror Man	1982	2	30
2	(Keep Feeling) Fascination	1983	2	8	1
3	The Sound Of The Crowd	1981	12		27
4	The Lebanon	1984	11	64	19
5	Human	1986	8	1	1
6	Don't You Want Me	1981	1	1	3
7	Being Boiled	1978	6
8	Love Action (I Believe In Love)	1981	3		37
9	Louise	1984	13
10	Open Your Heart	1981	6
12	Love Is All That Matters	1988	41
13	Life On Your Own	1984	16

To be honest, (Keep Feeling) Fascination is one of my favorite songs not only of this CD, but of the entire decade. I also like the tracks Louise, Love Action, Open Your Heart, and The Lebanon. I understand the band's need to become relevant again in the later '80s and I can understand why they would choose to work with the hot production songwriting team at the time in Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, but their 1986 single Human doesn't even sound like them (add Love Is All that Matters to that list, too). If I wanted to hear that music, I'd buy something from Janet Jackson. It's not necessarily bad music, it's just not the Human League to me.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: When the group's hit Don't You Want Me became a huge hit, there was nothing else like it playing on the radio. Looking back, I can't believe there was a radio station in Houston that would play it. In any case, that one song turned my interest from groups like Journey, Styx, and Foreigner to techno-pop/New Wave/New Romantic bands.

B.E.F. - Music for Listening To (1981)

This release and B.E.F. are difficult to explain, so I'll just let Wikipedia do the work:

B.E.F. (British Electric Foundation) are a band/production company formed by former Human League members Martyn Ware and Ian Craig Marsh who later became Heaven 17 (with lead singer Glenn Gregory). Ware and Marsh's first release as B.E.F. in 1980, a collection of instrumentals entitled Music For Stowaways, was initially available only on cassette and was inspired by the appearance of the first Sony Walkman (at first marketed in the UK as the Sony Stowaway). There was also a vinyl release, Music For Listening To, mainly targeted for export sales, which was slightly truncated (though with the addition of a track not found on the cassette). In the late 1990s, a CD release with this title contained the complete contents from both versions.

Being a fan of both Heaven 17 and Human League, I picked up this instrumental CD out of curiosity, but it isn't that good. I'm sure the synths and production were groundbreaking at the time, but when the writing isn't good, nothing else matters.

Peak on the US Billboard Top 200 chart: Did not chart

Tracks: Most of the music sounds like bad Kraftwerk (yes, I realize the phrase "bad Kraftwerk" is redundant to some of you). The only track that is remotely tolerable is Groove Thang, to which lyrics were later added and it became the Heaven 17 song (We Don't Need This) Fascist Groove Thang. Not surprisingly, the worst cut is probably the poorly named Music to Kill Your Parents By.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: None, but it does remind me that I always try to buy CDs when I first see them because some releases, like this one, quickly go out of print and then you're left with the choice of not having the CD or paying exorbitant prices on eBay. I know I might be able to buy the songs on iTunes, but I'm still stuck in the past and have to have the physical CD.

Human League - Secrets (2001)

You can never have enough '80s music, even in the year 2001. This CD could easily be one of Human League's best. Instead of trying something new, they've gone back to their old analog synths and created something that I want to hear - '80s music! There's nothing on the disc that would have sounded out of place on a vinyl LP in 1985, and that's a good thing. I read that after recording this release, the group auctioned off the synths used on this disc; that's too bad. I would hope for more of the same. If you liked Dare, you'll like this disc.

Billboard, November 3, 2001, p. 41

Peak on the US Billboard Top 200 chart: Did not chart

Tracks: My two favorites are Shameless and Reflections, but I think its a disc that is very listenable from start to finish (if you like synthpop). The songwriting is remarkably good, but the lyrics are typical League stuff (what do you expect from synthpop? Shakespeare?!?).

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: I listened to this CD often after I purchased it online. It kept me company as I drove to work in El Maton or to graduate classes that were inexplicably held at the El Campo public library. Of course, I would sing along to the songs, which made me appreciate classic lyrics such as: "You're like a cocktail set Attilla/A kind of halcyon guerrilla"