Metamatic Forums Socialising The Green Room The Human League

After threads dedicated to other artists such as Gary Numan, Blancmange and, er, Zaine Griff thought it was about time we had one dedicated to the mighty Human League.
I was inspired by reading this about yet another "80s revival" tour .. aren't The Human League really worth more than this?
Your views please ladies and gentlemen..

The League are worth much more than that! Sadly though, they've been playing those nostalgia package tours since the late 90s. I guess its a good earner for them.

But are they going to play greatest hits forever?

I work opposite the building their private studio is in - think we ought to formulate a plan to kidnap them, and lock them in with their synths and a tape recorder!!

They should start thinking about doing more tours in their own right again. If artists like John and Numan dont like to get tied down to their own 'album gigs and nostalgia tours' too much, then the League should take note and stay away from these 'package tours'.

Holy cow! ..and do they actually go in there sometimes??

Not as much as they should do these days.

In 8 years I've only ever seen Phil outside once! Though I have seen his car more than once... though that doesn't necessarily mean he's in the studio! He could be in the Red Lion or anywhere!

I saw The Humming Leg a couple of times in 1980 when they were still a good band, just the three of them on stage with Adrian (?) doing the slide shows. That's when they used to do their awesome cover of Perfect Day. I never liked their stuff after Travelogue, really lost interest.

Fast forward to 2006 (I think) and me and my mate went to a Human League gig at Barrowlands in Glasgow. We walked out after the support act finished and the bouncers explained to us, with a look of concern on their faces, that we wouldn't be able to get back in if we left now. We just laughed and walked away to the nearest pub. Who was the support act? Some guys called John Foxx & Louis Gordon. And believe me, that's the only way you'd get me to a Humming Leg gig these days!

Ô¿Ô

You have no idea how much I loved this band. But you just have to let some things go.

It was the 'Secrets' tour for me that was the final nail in the coffin. Superb album - a real return to form. So my heart sank when I saw them on the tour which was essentially the same set of songs they've been plundering for years now, with just one or two tracks from 'Secrets' thrown in and I suspect this was only done for legal reasons to avoid the trade descriptions act.

I want to see a pioneering synth band, performing new material, if I wanted to see a cabaret act with a Bontempi, I'll get the ferry to Dublin.

It's just not The Human League anymore. Only the name remains.

I've seen the Human League the last 5 years running and they do their own shows as well as these money spinning here and now things.

My last 2 reviews

The Human League

Newcastle Academy 10/12/06

4th Christmas in a row that I've seen the League and every time they are the model professionals pumping out in their own inevitable style exactly what the majority of the crowd want to hear. You can't fault them in that respect as the stage show was easily the best so far, the sound was fabulous and since Phil has got his ear piece in he doesn't ruin his voice early on in the tour any more leaving the rest to suffer his strained tones.

But

I must be honest now in IMHO it's all turned very predictable and over safe... where was the spark....the electricity...the excitement? It's now just a Christmas disco and badly needs an injection of new material. Come on they must be getting a tad bored doing the same stuff year in year out? I know Secrets wasn't the hit it deserved to be but it must be time now to head back to the studio and try something new or it will all just fade away.

Good one after which just goes to show how peoples perception is iffy as overheard 2 blokes talking about the size of the audience.

'How many here 3000....4000?'

'Nearer 3000 and at that they will be making £5k each. Not a bad nights work'

Well then let's take this apart. For a start The Academy hold's just under 2000 and there were 4 people in the balcony seats which holds around 400. I can tell you from experience of the place as I've been 10 times since it opened last year that it was not packed down stairs by any stretch of the imagination so that's probably only about 1000 to 1200 people in there and tickets were £20. So £20 to £24k max between 7 of them on stage not to mention the promoters, sound and light engineers and the road crew.

You work it out.

Human League

Sage Gateshead 11/12/07

It must be Christmas (Ho yes it is!) because as regular as panto the League are on tour again. It's the 5th year on the trot I've seen them and last year I did say that they were becoming stale and boring and needed new material....well has anything changed??????

Truthful answer is this year Yes and No?

On reading the notes in the programme they claim they had been considering doing there seminal album Dare in it's entirety but had decided against it. So why change their mind now?

I think the answer is cynical as this may sound is the success OMD and Gary Numan had last year doing the same with Architecture and Morality and Telekon all albums being from the same time frame. Difference is this when the others did it the re-arranged the songs to suit a live performance where the League played the album track by track and even tried keeping the breaks in between the songs as it was on the album. This to the purist would seem the thing to do but it didn't let the gig flow like it should have and had the effect of getting the slightly stuffy sage audience up and down like yoyo's when the songs went from the up beat dance pop stuff to the slower more serious stuff the album contains. I just got fed up and made my mind up to stand after the first 2 songs but others just persisted until the album part of the gig finished.

The stage show was the best so far by a mile and the League where as professional as ever and I really had a good night but it still needs freshening up. The sound was brilliant and it was a sell out which they have failed to do anywhere in the last 5 years (Not that it's been empty by any means). The problem is that they already play Darkness, Love Action, Sound of The Crowd, Things that Dreams Are Made Of, Open Your Heart and what's that other one .......Don't You Want Me which is the majority of Dare during a normal set and It ready summed up when they did there 'Greatest Hit's' section of the show and Phil introduced All I Ever Wanted as the latest song....2001 for Christ sake.

In Short

-ive's.... Diss-jointed song selection... Same material

+ive's.... Venue....Sell Out.... Good Stage Show....Great Fun!

All in all 6 out of 10.

Yes they do their own shows Gary, but i just wish they would not do the nostalgia to such a degree. And going in that studio to make a new album could only help.
Unlike some artists who enjoy a bit of retro, they seem to be stuck in it. Its a shame, as their one of the greats in the field of synth music.

Much as I loved the League, and probably still do in a way, it has been very sad to see them more or less become their own tribute band. I don't doubt for a second that there are harsh economic realities at play but to see them embarking on another of these package tours is particularly sad. A far better route is that taken by Messrs Foxx and Numan recently of briefly revisiting an old classic on their own terms but then moving on again. Would love to see Phil and Co back with a new album and a decent tour of their own.

I must confess I lost interest after 'Sound Of The Crowd'. A friend made me a CDR of Dare and a couple of tracks struck me as OK. Much prefer the first two albums.

Went to the bar after Foxx/Gordon at that gig to watch HL from there and belive me you didn't miss anything!!

Still,I've got Susans towel from that gig signed by the band!!

We figured we wouldn't miss much. My mate had seen The League a couple of times in the nineties and said he wasn't impressed and I was happy enough to have seen them in 1980 when they were, IMHO, at the peak of their creative output. They got complacent after Don't You Want Me became a hit - they found a money making formula and stuck to it.

However, it was the first time I'd seen John live in the 26 years I had been listening to his music and to be honest, even if The Beatles and Elvis were the headline act, I would still have left after John & Louis' set!

Ô¿Ô

Apparently they did another show in hometown last week...greatest hits blah blah .. .

Yeah it was to open the new Sheffield Academy. I'm not in the least bit surprised to hear they did another greatest hits thing.

I guess Phil needs to start thinking about his pension!

For those interested:
STEEL CITY TOUR





PS anyone heard the new ABC album?

Got my tickets for the Wolverhampton show.

I'm normally very anti-retro tour packages, but this one, all being Sheffield bands does sound very good. Too bad they couldn't reform the cabs to join them!

Maybe THL n H17 will get together at last! ..Ladies and gentlemen give it up for..The Human Seventeen!

10 years ago I would have sold organs to see this...so why am I so despairing of it now?

Methinks we care too much about our organs now .. that said I also fail to be able to whip up any kind of enthusiasm, save a little for M Fry who at least has made a NEW ALBUM..UNLIKE SOME!!! (hint hint..)

I'm not one for ruining surprises , but a special encore appearance by Def Leppard is on the cards !!!
You off to Moscow then my cider drinking Wurzel listening pal ?

NIET!.. ..rather watch it on telly anyway.

Back OT here's a rather spiffing HL fansite which I'd forgotten about but which seems to have quite a lot of news and some quite good remixes etc 8it's all now 30 years old apparently)...
The Black Hit of Space


Steel City promo photo shot:

What's going on with that hat?!

It really is the 'we need a pension' tour....

More pre-Steel City publicity in your soaraway Mirror (oh no sorry that's the Sun isn't it?).

Godfathers of 80\'s pop...

Heaven 17 did a gig on the roof of the University where I work last week.

They also had a double spread in this weeks Sunday Times Culture section.

Phil Oakey where's your hair gone!

http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/music/article4429358.ece

Don't you just miss the asymetrical haircut days?

What's with all the finger-pointing? Do Fry and Gregory now do local second-hand car trade adverts on Calendar or something?

"This tour needs YOU!"
(er, and yer cash)

cf. the 'steel city' posing of yore..


The Human League



Vice Versa (soon-to-be ABC)

and where's Marsh? Is it just Ware and Gregory now?

still twiddling his knobs?

'Glenn reveals that H17 only finished paying off recording debts from 1983's lush album 'The Luxury Gap' as recently as 18 months ago'



25 years to pay off a recording studio debt!? Were the fairlight's gold-plated or something?

http://www.heaven17.com/news.html

Surely they sold more than a few copies of The Luxury Gap

Very stylish indeed!

..and they were angry ! ..

anyone heard Stilyagi / Eyes of christ?

No - would like to though! Along with '1980: The First 15 minutes'

'The Golden Hour of The Future' gets the re-issue treatment - and details of a podcast featuring Martyn Ware discussing the recordings, here's the official PR blurb;

Way back in 2002, Richard X's label Black Melody secured the rights to release previously unheard gems recorded by The Future and Human League MK 1 prior to the release of 'Reproduction' in 1979.

A few thousand CDs were pressed and within a year, copies were ending up on Ebay for extortionate prices.

Black Melody now plans to re-release a remastered 'Golden Hour' for those who missed this blueprint of electro things to come.
Influential producer Richard X contacted us with a few more details...

'After much demand, there is a remastered edition of 'The Golden Hour Of The Future' due out on September 8th 2008 on Black Melody.
The album covers the early electronic recordings of the band pre-their international superstardom.
We've been back to the original 1977 (cassette) mastertapes and what with the advancement of audio restoration software, a little more quality has been squeezed out for your pleasure.
Its going to be available for the first time digitally online through all the usual outlets as well as CD.

There will be more news soon at http://www.myspace.com/thegoldenhourofthefuture. Sign up there for the mailing list, they'll be pre-ordering info shortly.'

An extended podcast with League founder Martyn Ware will be available via the Black Melody website soon in which the electronic innovator explains the ideas behind these early 'Golden Hour' gems

Links to podcast and the blurb here;

http://www.league-online.com/

I've no idea why they've gone to the extra expense of cleaning the tapes up as the hiss, noise and the whole DIY nature is a considerable part of the recordings charm.

Gazza

ok I'll see what I can rustle up!

Wo-hoo!

Thanks for this Garry. Excellent stuff. BTW You fell for the old 'full-stop-at-the-end-of-link' trick. Here is the link: -

http://www.myspace.com/thegoldenhourofthefuture

No. Do they sound like who they were soon to become?

Nay, not a bit. They were still very experimental à la Future / Human League Mk 1. Must get those tracks up somewhere for all to enjoy.

edit: maryann please pvt mail me.

The 'How much is Art worth? debate could rage on; Dare is to be given away free this week in the Daily Mail. Another album also being given away is Heaven 17's The Luxury Gap.

Spandau Ballet's True was also given away free on Saturday. On a personal level, this means I did finally lose an argument I had 20+ years ago when I said that you couldn't give Spandau Ballet away.

Well, I suppose thats all part of having become part of the status quo, any art aspect of it is quickly forgotten, and its accessibility is an ever open door, but the real danger is in the likelihood of being taken for granted, and then possibly becoming completely forgotten for whatever the original art was,
(this is not necessarily my opinion about any of the albums quoted! )

Well they did the same with Tubular bells some months ago didn't they so I s'pose it was only a matter of time.
Is this a 'Virgin' thing BTW?

There's a few Virgin albums in there but it looks like a joint effort between CBS and EMI. The Virgin albums are:

Culture Club - Colour By Numbers
Simple Minds - Once Upon A Time
Human League - Dare
Heaven 17 - The Luxury Gap

Someone at work has kindly just given me today's offering: Adam And The Ants: Prince Charming. I'll give it a wirl tonight.

Dare is the giveaway album today in the Daily Mail.

Just pre-ordered a copy of 'The Golden Hour of The Future' from WH Smith

According to the MySpace info, the CD is out on 22/09 (download already available on Play)

Richard X talks about putting the forthcoming The Future/The Human League CD HERE;

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2008/sep/12/popandrock.electronicmusic

This must be a reissue, as I bought it a few years ago. Great album!!

Hi Alex,

Yes it is a re-issue with, apparently, better sound quality. As I've mentioned on this thread earlier though, I'll be sticking with my trusty 2002 edition.

Yeah.. somehow the rough and raw quality brings something extra to the music. It really does sound like a dusty old tape that's just been unearthed!

...Blank clocks....

I see they're doing a digital release of the stuff that was only on 12" vinyl last time around, so hurrah for that.

Is it worth getting though? Here's the tracklist;

1 Dance Like a Star V.1,
2 Dance Like a Star V.2,
3 Dance Like a Star V.1(Almost instrumental version),
4 Dance Like a Star V.2(instrumental),
5 Dance Like a Star (Incidental Music),
6 Titled U.N,
7 Treatment,
8 C'est Grave,
9 Last Man On Earth,
10 Martyn Ware interview

you really really need to like Dance Like A Star then!

12" vinyl got longer version of 'Last Man On Earth' than CD. Haven't listen either very much. 'Blank Clocks' and 'Last Man On Earth' (and few others) are nice tracks though.

Heaven 17s The Luxury Gap is the giveaway album today in the Daily Mail.

...is there no end to this?...

Yeah...the last one is Marillion tomorrow!
*boom* *tish!* I'll get my coat...

but seriously folks - what do the 'League or the '17 get out of it?

Most labels have a clause in arttists contracts that they can give away recordings for promotional purposes - so I'm not sure HL/H17 will earn anything from this.

Quite a sad state of affairs when you consider that Gregory recently said that they only paid the studio bill for The Luxury Gap only 18 months ago! (Yes, I know I've mentioned this before but I'm still shocked at that...it also makes me wonder if the League ever finished paying for Hysteria which took two years to record!)

..well perhaps that's why the 17 are givin' it away in the soaraway Sun or whatever it is...next time get your FREE copy of 'The Golden Hour of the Future' to pay off their reel-to-reel 4 track tape recorders or whatever..

"His Mum bought him a synthesizer,
Got the Human League in to pay for it.....not!"

Connected, but slightly off topic...

I had a vinyl version of Reproduction by the Human League which had a curious addition. Before "Path of Least Resistance", which happens to be my favourite, someone says "Knit one, pearl one". I'm sure I wasn't dreaming each time I heard it (4-5 thousand times???), but it isn't on my later version, nor on my CD version. Anyone with ideas on why it was there?

Not OT at all! This is where meet and discuss the pioneering synthesizer outfit The Human League and their future 21st Century tribute band, also conveniently called The Human League!

There's quite a few differences, some noted on the fantastic Human League Mk1 website Blind Youth http://www.blindyouth.co.uk/

The CD re-issues usefully add all the tracks from the first three Human League singles (not including I Don't Depend On You, which was released under the pseudonym of The Men). Note though that some of these tracks are not taken from the original master tapes, but have been transferred from the original records, and surface noise is occasionally audible.

Curiously, the CD version included small changes to two of the original album tracks - Almost Medieval and The Path Of Least Resistance. Also, the Fast Product version of Circus Of Death lacks the short sample of dialogue included at the end of the Being Boiled B-side.

One other small point - the extra track Being Boiled does not fade out, as on the original single release and the 1988 Greatest Hits compilation, but is presented in its entirety. It's possible that the master tape for this track no longer exists, at least in its original form, as synthesizer overdubs and new vocals were added to the track for one of the group's demo tapes, though hopefully this is not the case.

Note: initial copies of the 2003 remastered CD listed Circus Of Death as Circus Of Love (!). This was rectified on later copies.

Another difference that I noted on The Path of Least Resistance vinyl & CD ('88 issue) was the intro section: the vinyl version, the song comes in on the synth, whereas on the CD the song comes in on the kick drum.

Wow .. Human League Mk 1 geeks in anoraks...love it!
Must swot up on Blind Youth site..was always an excellent source.

BTW is it at the beginning of 'The Word BEfore Last' that there's a voice - possibly Jim Callaghan - saying
"You'll notice that very appropriately I'm left-handed" .. ??

..always wanted to know that.

from THE GOLDEN HOUR OF THE FUTURE myspace

The Golden Hour... re-issue now available;

The Golden Hour of The Future... EBay page

Mine's on its way from WH Smith at £7.99 delivered. Thanks Garry for letting us all know about this release in the first place (I'd missed the news completely).

Thanks for the news on this Garry. Ive heard the original and bootlegs from poor mp3s, so looking forward to this release.

Speaking of mp3s I downloaded the mp3s of the 10 track sampler (previously only on vinyl) off 7Digital and the quality is really quite good all things considered.
They've really pumped up the bass (I believe that's how you say it)and opened it all up a bit (def not how you say it) on the various versions of Dance Like a Star although 4 versions of said track do tire a little. The first one is fairly definitive with the spoken intro, laughable off key falsetto and Oakey's 'hear the guitar!' cry(ooh the irony) although I suppose making 'disco / instrumental' versions of a song was fairly innovative at the time.
One day all music will be made this way.

"There are no guitars"
("...or drums!!")

That bit always cracks me up.

Ha! Ha! .. 'We're the Human League and we're much cleverer than you..!"

The promotion and the "unusual" audience (sorry, very stereotypical thing to say, very naughty) that might be tempted into the back catalogue - a few more royalties?

Not much else though.

I am more interested in the pre-girls version of the Human League so this should be something to look into I guess.

'Dare' Daily Mail edition now available on e-bay for 99p *only*..

..don\'t all rush at once

On a slightly more serious note:

new digital edition of Fascination EP, with added track ..

UK 7 digital .. also available in euros in euro-countries..

If you've already got the original vinyl or the Original Remixes and Rarities CD which is cheaper and better value, this seems really unnecessary, so I'm curious as to why it's been re-issued in this manner. Very odd.

Good point Rads ..

I see the girls were also interviewed on Radio 4 'Woman's Hour' last week ... 21/11/08

Not being a regular listener (ahem) I downloaded the podcast on itunes .....the girls' interview is about 10 mins in..after the bit about teenage pregnancy

...Dare also discussed by Radcliffe & Maconie last night on Radio 2 apparently but I haven't listed to this.

Now look what you made me do

Just ordered Original Remixes and Rarities (Human League) and Penthouse and Pavement (Heaven 17) from Amazon.

£6.96 delivered!

80s Xmas Party at Mike G's then!

Don't forget the Party 7!

Ok c'mon now everyone...
Put your hand in a party wave...
Pass around!


..

Ive always liked The Human League, even with the girls in the group. I could never put my finger on it, but it never stopped me knowning why i liked them.

The poppy sound perhaps?
I have tried but really don't like the with-girls HL.

Hey boys and girls, for the 80s party I've found out how to get the perfect look!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/totp2/ugotthelook/human_league.shtml

Sadly no mention of "..a hat with alignment worn inside" ..

thanks for posting that

Nice pic here:

http://www.list.co.uk/article/14547-human-league-abc-and-heaven-17/

Thank you for posting this Garry! I never heard about this CD and I love the early Human League. Will order a copy next!!

You are joking...aren't you!? Lordy - that's a terrible sight - a bunch of mid-life synth crisis still posing after all these years (and beers looking at some of them) - at least Ware isn't posing (he's gone for the 'Hi Mum! I'm on t'telly!' school of posing - good work fella!)

Dear ABC/H17/HL - Please stop! Just stop! Quite frankly you're scaring the children...

Excellent articles Garry and Mr D.

Yeah Ok well I was being ironic .. .I think the only one who can really carry it off still is Phil cos he's so tall tall tall ... Gregory is soooo out of it!

PS where's I. Craig Marsh? Setting up the new 21st century beer guard?

more press here

this is nottingham

".....Duran were always a little bit rocky for me. I was really into Japan and John Foxx...."

and here
The Guardian

""I still hate rock music," says Oakey, defiantly..."

Like the interviews D! Death to rock 'n roll!
And yes Garry, they look like midlife-crisis poseurs. But what's the alternative? Sitting on a rug doing yoga?

...or use robots?

About time for a new album from the League. What was it, seven years since 'Secrets'. :rolleyes:

There is something in the pipeline apparently. It gets hinted at now and then by Oakey and associates. Don't get saving your record tokens just yet tho.

Ha!Ha!Ha! Beer guard – good one!

Craig Marsh hasn’t appeared in any of the photos – is he still in Heaven 17?

Yoga/Swimming/Running is de rigeur for the poseur – but I think Martyn Ware’s got the right attitude!

I find I have been playing The Human League an awful lot lately, from the classics Dare(!) and Travelogue to the great bits of Hysteria and the three good songs on Crash to even Phil's album with Giorgio Moroder. I must give Secrets another try.