The Human League 'Human'

Chart Peak: 8
YouTube

Charted at No. 19 on 19th August, made No. 8 on 2nd September becoming the group's 11th Top 20 hit in Britain.

Another Jam & Lewis production, though in this case it was also written entirely by the producers with no input from the group themselves, whereas Janet Jackson had contributed to her own single. Although this was recorded immediately after the Jackson album (and therefore before it had been success) the American duo had already made a bit of name for themselves with the likes of SOS Band and Alexander O'Neal so it's obvious why the League would have wanted to work with them. In practice, though, they apparently fell out in the studio, with the group walking out before the production was even finished and largely disowning it. Well, at least until this got to Number One in America anyway.

In the previous post I mentioned the contrast between the heavily programmed production and a human vocal, and whilst this is already an inferior song it could have worked fairly well in a similar production. The trouble is that, as Spin magazine noted at the time, the Human League don't really do that, they're more about emotional detachment and self-conscious straightfacedness. When Phil Oakey croons, "I'm only human," you don't totally believe him. It doesn't help that Joanne Catherall can't decide what accent to use for her brief spoken section either. They certainly made worse records than this but it's a right-place-right-time sort of hit.

Also appearing on: Now 1, 13, 30, 31, 32
Available on: The Best Of

The Human League 'Tell Me When'

Chart Peak: 6
YouTube

Originally formed back in 1978, the Human League's ingenious marriage of pop sensibility and synthesiser technology spawned numerous 1980s hits... 'Tell Me When' saw them return with a Top 10 smash in January '95.

Third act in a row with their last Top 10 hit, although unlike the previous two tracks this isn't a final Now appearance. Despite the rather defensive tone of the Wikipedia article on this song, 'Tell Me When' has some strong claim to be a comeback hit, their highest-charting track in the UK since '(Keep Feeling) Fascination' way back on the first Now album, albeit assisted by release in what was then the "dead" week between Christmas and New Year. It was also the first fruit of their new contract with Eastwest, and their first single as a trio. Remarkably, it even went Top 40 in the US "after the early-1990s grunge movement had essentially eliminated their genre from the mainstream," as that Wikipedia article puts it.

So, an eventful single in the band's history. Not that eventful to listen to though, as it's a pale rewrite of 'Love Action' with anything that was distinctive about that track in favour of a very slick production and some boringly competent singing - even the rough edges that were once the most interesting thing about them have been sanded off. I don't hate this track but only because it provokes no reaction at all beyond recognition.

Also appearing on: Now 1, 8, 13, 31, 32
Available on: Octopus

Human League 'Soundtrack To A Generation'

Chart Peak: UK 77
YouTube

Apologies for the break in transmission, but somehow this track failed to inspire me greatly. Still, I want to get his album finished so I can go on to the next one. Obviously this is another example of a single that failed in the UK (and lost them their record deal) but must have made more of an impact in SA. Possibly the sound of this single, which feels rather a pastiche of what they'd been doing since they became pop stars about a decade earlier, seemed fresher over there.

As much as the song title is evidently ironic, there's always a lot of baggage around the League, the sense that they're far too pleased with themselves and think writing a very inane song is actually very clever. It isn't really, especially when it's not even all that catchy and 1990-1 was about the only time since 1989 when 80s nostalgia wasn't a marketable concept.

Available on: All the Best

The Human League 'Don't You Want Me? (Red Jerry 7" remix)'

Chart Peak: 16 [original version 1 in 1981]

YouTube

Well, it's another record that's making its second visit to chart here, but the gap's been a little longer than for Goldie, since 'Don't You Want Me' was of course the Christmas Number One 14 years earlier. By the mid-90s, the League were on another label and enjoying their most successful run of singles in ages, so inevitable their former record company cashed in with a Greatest Hits album and re-release of the most famous track on it, as was still the fashion in those days. In an apparent attempt to attract a younger audience, the lead track on the single was aSnap remix, and the disc also included the similar mix by Red Jerry (who I freely admit I'd never heard of) that appears here. It's only listed as such inside the booklet though, so woe betide anyone who bought the album and expected to get the original.

I really do mean that. As I mentioned in passing when referring to the Farm version, I don't actually like the original version of this record at all, but I'll spare you the full rant here. One thing I will give it credit for, though, it that it's pretty much in time with itself, whereas neither of these remixes seems to stay in sync properly. It's tempting to suspect that neither of them put a lot of time or effort into it. What they've ended up with is something that will please neither fans nor haters of the original; even that chart position belies a pretty short run, only three weeks in the entire Top 75.

Oh, and I've spent two days trying to remember which instrumental trance hit that intro reminds me of, but it's not exactly an easy thing to check. Anyone else know?

Also appearing on: Now 1, 8, 13, 30, 31
Available on: Greatest Hits [includes the Snap mix]

The Human League '(Keep Feeling) Fascination'

Chart Peak: 2

YouTube

And meanwhile, the rest of the Human League had been pretty busy too. Phil Oakey had made a conscious decision to pursue a more pop-oriented sound; and a lucrative one too, this being their sixth consecutive Top 10 hit. For me, though, it's mostly annoying (with the exception of the revived 'Being Boiled', which is odd enough to be forgivable), because I often get the impression of a band looking down their noses at the audience, pretentious in their dismissal of seriousness, self-important in their heavy-handed lack of importance. As I've tried to keep in mind throughout this blog, I don't think there's anything at all wrong with simple or meaningless pop music; the very problem I have with the League is that they seem to be trying to impress you all the time with how lowbrow they are. Of course they weren't alone in that at the time, but the fact that they're still trying to do it now, and their apparent insistence on being recognised as some sort of pioneers, as well as the fact that so many people actually seem to do so, just exacerbates it and makes them feel like the start of something I dislike. I'd be less concerned about any of this, of course, if I felt that it worked as pop music but for me the vast majority of it doesn't. I'll surprise nobody by saying that they weren't a great reserve of vocal talent, but nothing else has ever drawn me in either. Now I know that persuading the relatively primitive synthesisers of the era to play in time with themselves let alone each other was more of a challenge than we realised then; but I don't think much of it was worth the effort.
All of which said, I tend to find 'Fascination' one of their more tolerable ones, so I was glad that it was this I had to listen to rather than any of those others. It seems odd to say that they're playing to their strengths when I've just implied that they didn't have many, but perhaps they're playing against their weaknesses - they spread the vocals around a bit, and that's an undeniably catchy riff despite or maybe because of the the fact that it's a bit out of tune. And not a bad bassline too, albeit a bit like 'Shake Your Body (Down To The Ground)'. Maybe that's why this single actually managed to reach the US R&B chart.

Also appearing on: Now 8, 13, 30, 31, 32
Available on: The Very Best of the Human League