Yes I know it’s out of sequence alphabetically but as it is really an extension of “Dare” then it sits here in my collection right next to its parent album. 

Taking inspiration from the name of Barry White’s Love Unlimited Orchestra, the Human League and producer Martin Hannett set about creating a remix/instrumental album out of 7 of the tracks from “Dare” and one of their B-sides (“Hard Times”).

The tracks missing from “Dare” are “Darkness”, “Get Carter” and “I Am The Law”. “Hard Times” is added I guess because it was a big club hit even as a B-side.

It’s an enjoyable, very 80’s romp through the sort of tracks that were usually hidden away on 12” remix singles, all segued together to create a non-stop dance record. Not much more to say about it really

Hard Times - https://youtu.be/011wrLtZ36k

In 1980, after some disagreements over musical direction, Martyn Ware and Ian Craig Marsh left the Human League. This left the group as singer Phil Oakey and Adrian Wright, “Director of Visuals”, whose job it was to provide lighting and slides for Human League shows. Not a lot of musicians then ! This also happened 10 days before a European tour which promoters started to threaten to take legal action over if the shows did not go ahead.

In a matter of days Oakey recruited Susan Ann (Susanne) Sulley and Joanne Catherall after seeing them dancing together at the Crazy Daisy nightclub in Sheffield and Ian Burden from Sheffield synth band Graph so that the tour could be completed. 

Post tour Oakey was introduced to Producer Martin Hannett by staff at Virgin Records. Hannett moved the group to his studio in Berkshire away from the Sheffield studio they were still sharing with Ware and Marsh who were now known as Heaven 17. In Berkshire they recorded “The Sound Of The Crowd” which became their first Top 40 hit. Finally, manager Bob Last suggested former Rezillos guitarist Jo Callis join the band and the stage was set.

“Dare” was recorded between March and September 1981 and released in October. The songwriting was pretty evenly split between Phil Oakey, Jo Callis, Adrian Wright and Ian Burden, 9 originals and a cover of the theme tune from the film “Get Carter”. The album gave up 4 Top 15 singles (“The Sound Of The Crowd” #12, “Love Action” #3, “Open Your Heart” #6 and of course “Don’t You Want Me”, the Xmas 1981 #1 single) and reached number 1 in the album charts 2 weeks after release.

Oakey got exactly what he wanted, a shiny pop sheen almost entirely removed from the groups previous sound, and hits. The singles, especially “The Sound Of The Crowd” and “Love Action”s B-side “Hard Times”, were still big club favourites, filling the floor at Romeo & Juliets and the like. But it’s musically a very different Human League from the first two albums, lyrically too. These are mostly sparkly pop tunes set in a synth-pop world and not the experimental sci-fi electronic music of “Reproduction” and “Travelogue”. There’s still darkness within (see what I did there?), “Seconds” recounts an assassination (JFK, Lennon maybe) and “I Am The Law” has a title culled from 2000AD comics superstar Judge Dread’s catchphrase.

None of this is to say that “Dare” isn’t a good album, it absolutely is, a pristine chunk of slick 80’s pop. But if you ask me to choose, I’ll take “The Black Hit Of Space” over a drunken singalong to “Don’t You Want Me” every time.

The Sound Of The Crowd - https://youtu.be/xK9uUqvpLyQ

Back when we were talking about Heaven 17 I mentioned Romeo & Juliet’s in Birmingham. It was a big, plush “normals” disco/nightclub in the City Centre. But downstairs in a little side room that probably held about 150 people max, a little scene developed based around the Bowie & Roxy nights that were springing up at the time in the early 80’s. The DJ would play Bowie & Roxy, Iggy Pop, Lou Reed, Eno, post Punk stuff like Magazine and Bauhaus, Kraftwerk and other Krautrock stuff. Neu! And La Düsseldorf, plus the developing synth-pop records by Yellow Magic Orchestra and of course the Human League.

Tracks from “Travelogue” made up a big chunk of the playlist and would cause a rush to the dancefloor where you’d find couples (boy/girl, girl/girl, boy/boy, we weren’t fussy) doing “that” dance (ask me to show you one day it’s too hard to describe) to “The Black Hit Of Space”, “Only After Dark” (a cover of a Mick Ronson song from his first solo album "Slaughter On 10th Avenue"), “Crow And A Baby” and “Being Boiled”.

The Human League of “Travelogue” (and its predecessor “Reproduction” (which featured another R&J’s dancefloor killer “Empire State Human”) were a very different animal to the poppy confection that had all those hits and produced “Dare” later in the 80’s. This is much darker, moodier stuff than that which came later. As much as I like that Human League MkII, “Travelogue” will always be the sound of the Human League to me.

Crow And A Baby - https://youtu.be/wJUvU6j51ME