The Human League Albums (9)
What The Critics Say
The Human League's first album in more than six years isn't a complete success, but it's a welcome return from Sheffield's finest synth pop band. Only a handful of songs, among them "All I Ever Wanted," "Love Me Madly?," "Never Give Your Heart," "Liar," and "Reflections," stand up against the band's finest work from the past, but these songs are wholly endearing in their marriage of modern technology and the band's romantic sound. "Love Me Madly?" is particularly engaging, as it throttles along aggressively thanks to Phil Oakey's mad, repeated chant of the title and lyrics like "I'm getting ready for a freak-out." It's simultaneously an urgent and exhilarating grasp at the past and a gaze into the future. Updated technology adds more dimension and bite to "Liar" as well. The song's crunchy bass and racing electronic sounds make for punchy fun. "Reflections" might be the standout track, its weird samples and loopy style recalling past glories like "Empire State Human." The album's Achilles' heel is its seven instrumental tracks. Some of them are quite interesting, but they feel too much like meandering song fragments. Secrets is a minor work against the band's masterpiece, Dare, but it's still a fine introduction into the 21st century for Oakey and company. ~ Tim DiGravina, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Credited to "The League Unlimited Orchestra" in homage to Barry White's Love Unlimited Orchestra, Love and Dancing carried a sleeve note that read, "This album contains instrumental versions of previously released songs by the Human League specially remixed and produced by Martin Rushent." (Actually, one song was new, and there are a few vocal choruses.) The songs had been released previously on Dare, so if you always thought "Don't You Want Me" was a great track with obnoxious vocals, this is the album for you. ~ William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
The Human League turned to American R&B producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis in the wake of their success with Janet Jackson's Control, and the combination brought the group its second number one hit with the Jam-Lewis composition "Human," which harked back to the earlier "Don't You Want Me," albeit with a gentler tone. The album's second single, the Control-soundalike "I Need Your Loving," was also a Jam-Lewis song (as was the U.K.-only third single, "Love Is All That Matters"), but the bulk of the album was made up of group-written songs with appealing backing tracks that maintained their dance appeal while eschewing the overtly synthesized sound of previous albums. That made Crash an improvement over the lackluster Hysteria, but still not on a par with Dare. ~ William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
The Human League followed Dare! with more success, at least when it came to singles. The Motown-inspired "Mirror Man" and the frivolous (in a borderline-genius way) "(Keep Feeling) Fascination" maintained the group's momentum. When recording commenced for the full-length successor to Dare!, however, things got ugly. Martin Rushent, the producer who either receives all or no credit for the Human League's mainstream breakthrough, left the sessions. The slate was wiped clean, but the process was halted once more when another producer, Chris Thomas (Roxy Music, Sex Pistols), also split. Full of indecision and doubt, the group took forever to finish Hysteria. (Two and a half years in the '80s were, in fact, equal to forever, and U.S. label A&M intervened with the Fascination! EP, which contained the post-Dare! singles that did not appear on this album.) Hysteria is mediocre and easily the least of the group's albums to that point. Conscious not to repeat themselves and unable to do it without sacrificing their personality, most of the changes sound forced and fussily mulled over. It was one thing to get political and introduce some uncharacteristic guitar lines on "The Lebanon" (alienating your fanbase should always be encouraged, especially when it's done with a single that looks atrocious on paper but sounds fantastic), but "Rock Me Again" is the kind of thing the group once worked against, with Philip Oakey adopting an awkward, straining rock voice. The melodies are often flat, the arrangements are frequently bloodless. With only a couple exceptions, Hysteria sounds exactly like an album made under extreme post-platinum pressure. If you were to replace your pick of two tracks with "Mirror Man" and "(Keep Feeling) Fascination" -- which really wouldn't sound any more out of place than "The Lebanon" -- you'd at least have something resembling the group's old standard. Fun fact: it was released three years before a very different Sheffield band's Hysteria. ~ Andy Kellman, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Dare! captures a moment in time perfectly -- the moment post-punk's robotic fascination with synthesizers met a clinical Bowiesque infatuation with fashion and modern art, including pop culture, plus a healthy love of songcraft. The Human League had shown much of this on their early singles, such as "The Lebanon," but on Dare! they simply gelled, as their style was supported by music and songs with emotional substance. That doesn't mean that the album isn't arty, since it certainly is, but that's part of its power -- the self-conscious detachment enhances the postmodern sense of emotional isolation, obsession with form over content, and love of modernity for its own sake. That's why Dare! struck a chord with listeners who didn't like synth pop or the new romantics in 1981, and why it still sounds startlingly original decades after its original release -- the technology may have dated, synths and drum machines may have become more advanced, but few have manipulated technology in such an emotionally effective way. Of course, that all wouldn't matter if the songs themselves didn't work smashingly, whether it's a mood piece as eerie as "Seconds," an anti-anthem like "The Things That Dreams Are Made Of," the danceclub glow of "Love Action (I Believe in Love)," or the utter genius of "Don't You Want Me," a devastating chronicle of a frayed romance wrapped in the greatest pop hooks and production of its year. The latter was a huge hit, so much so that it overshadowed the album in the minds of most listeners, yet, for all of its shining brilliance, it wasn't a pop supernova -- it's simply the brightest star on this record, one of the defining records of its time. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
The Human League's second album, Travelogue, was their first to be released in the U.S. (Not that you would have noticed at the time, given the limited distribution; the album subsequently was picked up for reissue by Virgin/Atlantic in 1988.) It was also the last to feature the nearly original lineup of Martyn Ware, Ian Marsh, Philip Oakey, and Adrian Wright. Already, the band's synthesizer textures and Oakey's mannered voice were starting to lean in a pop direction, but much of this album retained the austere tone of earlier synthesizer groups such as Kraftwerk and Tangerine Dream. The conflicting musical directions led to a split in the band after this album, with Ware and Marsh forming Heaven 17 and Oakey and Wright reorganizing a new version of the Human League. Ironically, both ventures were more pop-oriented than before. ~ William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Pop fans a bit put off by the Human League's dispassionate vocals on their breakout hit "Don't You Want Me" would have been shocked by the degree of emotionlessness heard two years earlier on the band's 1979 debut. The trio of Ian Craig Marsh, Martyn Ware, and Philip Oakey all handled vocals and synthesizers to create a set of grim, rigid tracks that revealed a greater lack of humanity than even Kraftwerk. It's a surprise that the Human League hit the British charts at all (with the single "Empire State Human"), since this could well be the most detached synth pop record ever released. ~ John Bush, All Music Guide
