The Essential Human League

Music from the 80’s remains hugely popular and The Human League’s unique take on ‘pop’ played a huge part in creating the soundtrack for the decade. They’d actually formed in 1977 in Sheffield, initially as an experimental electronic outfit and by May 1980, as spring turned to summer, had be making their mark on the UK single and album charts. They would be a constant presence on both for the next 8 years scoring 11 top 20 singles (all included here) and 5 top 20 albums from which many fan favourites have been taken for inclusion on this 3CD set. Disc 1 commences with the timeless No.1 Don’t You Want Me, followed by the equally infectious (Keep Feeling) Fascination (UK No.2), whilst the robust The Sound Of The Crowd (UK No.12) makes it a hattrick of hits to kick things off. With Open Your Heart (UK No.6), the haunting Life On Your Own (UK No.16) and Louise (UK No.13) the hits keep coming before firm fan favourites from their 7 studio albums issued between May 1980 and September 1990, start to take this collection beyond simply a ‘best of’. Disc 2 opens with Love Action (I Believe In Love) (UK No.3) which begins with that eerily distinctive sci-fi keyboard. Mirror Man (UK No.2) and The Lebanon (UK No.11) keep the hits coming. Love On The Run may not have been a single but it’s pure 80s pop, so is Are You Ever Coming Back? Soundtrack To A Generation, Rebound and The Stars Are Going Out display the bands ability to evolve musically in sync with the decade whilst disc 2 closer Dreams of Living reminds us just how they’d started it. This is certainly ‘New Pop’ as their music was known back in the 80s. Disc 3 starts with front man and main writer, Phil Oakey’s adventure outside of the band with legendary disco writer and producer (Donna Summer, Blondie, David Bowie to name just 3), Giorgio Moroder. Oakey’s distinctive and dominant vocals have meant Together In Electric Dreams is considered by most as yet another glorious Human League single. It would reach the UK No.3 spot in the autumn of 1984. UK top 10 single Human follows along with legendary early outing Being Boiled, which took the band to No.6 when issued in 1982, 4 years after the original (and their vinyl debut) 1978 release. A mix of classic album tracks, their earliest adventure with Virgin records as The Men with the disco influenced I Don’t Depend On You and more make up disc 3. In the 1980s The Human League were rarely off our TV screens because of their unusual, striking videos and shows like Top Of The Pops. MTV championed them across the globe and in particular in America which helped place them in the vanguard of British music and where they would be seen as part of the 2nd British Invasion of the USA, so named after the 60’s invasion spearheaded by The Beatles and involving The Rolling Stones, The Kinks etc. They still regularly tour to this day and along the way have influenced and been covered by artists including Pet Shop Boys, George Michael and Robbie Williams.

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