WareHouse

Happy 69th birthday to Martyn Ware, born 19th May 1956.

Founder member of both The Human League, The British Electric Foundation (B.E.F.) and Heaven 17, Martyn has also had a hugely successful career as a production, working with the likes of Tina Turner, Erasure and Terence Trent D'Arby.

Today's selection pulls together some extended examples of Martyn's production prowess, which pretty much speak for themselves. 

Have a good one, Martyn!

1) Those First Impressions (Extended Version): Associates (1984)

2) Crushed By The Wheels Of Industry (Parts One And Two) (Uninterrupted Single Version): Heaven 17 (1983)

3) Medley: Rock 'n' Roll / Nightclubbing: The Human League (1980)

4) Wishing Well (Three Coins In The Fountain Mix): Terence Trent D'Arby (1987)

5) I Don't Depend On You (Extended Re-Edited Version By gkugno): The Men (1979/2011)

6) Brilliant Creatures (Album Version): Marc Almond (1996)

7) Party Fears Two (Album Version): B.E.F. ft. Glenn Gregory (2013)

1980: Holiday '80 EP: 3

1983: Crushed By The Wheels Of Industry EP: 2

1984: Those First Impressions EP: 1

1987: Wishing Well EP: 4

1996: Fantastic Star: 6

2011: I Don't Depend On You EP: 5

2013: Music Of Quality And Distinction Volume 3: Dark: 7

WareHouse (47:00) (GD) (M)

An End To All Resistance

I stumbled across a clip of The Human League performing Do Or Die on TV in 1982 and the next thing you know....

1) Do Or Die (O.T.T., UK TV) (1982)

2) Path Of Least Resistance (Mainstream, UK TV) (1979)

3) Empire State Human (Mainstream, UK TV) (1979)

4) Open Your Heart (Multi-Coloured Swap Shop, UK TV) (1981)

5) Love Action (I Believe In Love) (Multi-Coloured Swap Shop, UK TV) (1981)

6) The Lebanon (Countdown, UK TV) (1984)

Philip Oakey, Susanne Sulley and Joanne Catherall looking super cool throughout, with perhaps the exception of The Lebanon, where Phil looks like he's just returned from a Bryan Adams gig...

Two former League members have a birthday in May, so belated best wishes to Jo Callis (2nd) and upcoming congrats to Martyn Ware (19th). Hmmm, I might have to come back to the latter in a week or so...

 

 

 

 

 

The Drug Which Gives The Clown Power

Time for The Human League, I think, with Circus Of Death. 

 

In late 1980s/early 1990s, I started picking up budget priced music video compilations on VHS, usually from my local WH Smith or Woolworths. Human League Greatest Hits (no definite article, for some reason) originally came out in 1988 to accompany the album of the same name. 

 

It was re-released on the 4Front Video label, essentially identical packaging, but with their logo and a gold trim on the front, back and spine. I should point out now that the above photo is neither my video nor my laminate flooring. I have lived in a house with both at some point in my life, but neither made the transition to the current Casa K.

 

The 13-track vinyl, cassette and CD versions of Greatest Hits kick off with Mirror Man and continue with varied shuffle through The Human League's history, the only pre-Dare song being Side 2 opener Being Boiled, and including Giorgio Moroder & Philip Oakey's Together In Electric Dreams, setting a precedent for most compilations to come.

The VHS of Greatest Hits is a different proposition altogether, the 12 videos presented in strict chronological order and strangely omitting Love Is All That Matters, from 1986's presciently titled album Crash and belatedly released as a single in 1988 to promote the Greatest Hits compilation. 

 

However, after a quick online check, the video turns out to be one of those hideous collages of previous hits, which make no sense visually or narratively, so it's absence is understandable.

Love Action (I Believe In Love) didn't have a video at the time, although one was made several years later, with Phil Oakey shorn of his trademark lop-sided haircut and singing to camera, intercut with snippets from the Don't You Want Me? video. Wisely, the compilers of Greatest Hits also ditched this version, presumably for the same reasons as Love Is All That Matters, instead including a majestic 1981 performance from Top Of The Pops.

The finest inclusion - and perhaps the most head-scratching for those who were unaware that The Human League even existed prior to Dare - is Circus Of Death. The strict adherence to a chronological track listing, and the lack of a video for Being Boiled, means that this song opens proceedings stretching the Greatest Hits title to near breaking point. 

The video omits Phil Oakey's spoken word introduction, but I'm going to share it here as it tells you all you need to know before listening to/watching the song.

This is a song called the 'Circus Of Death'
It tells the true story of a circus we met

 
The first two verses concern the actual arrival at Heathrow Airport
Of Commissioner Steve McGarrett

 

The third emotionally describes a map
Showing the range of the circus

 
The fourth and fifth were extracted from an article
In the Guardian of March the 19th, 1962

 
The last is a short wave radio message from the last man on Earth

All nonsense, of course, but don't you miss that in pop songs these days?

Circus Of Death was filmed in 1979, one of the first to be directed by 26-year old Australian Russell Mulcahy, who did pretty well for himself in subsequent years, to say the least.

I love Circus Of Death, the song and the video, and it more than made up for a VHS that achieves even greater heights, before the slippery slope to compilation closer Human.

£4.99 well spent, in my opinion.

Decade I: 1981

Side 2 of a mixtape compiled 4th February 1990.

 

After setting the bar high with side 1, could I hope to match it on the flipside? Well, this is 1981 we're talking about here...

 

Although I didn't start buying records in earnest for another few years, when I had a Saturday job and therefore money to spend, 1980 and 1981 were perhaps the two years when my love of music became an obsession. 

 

I started sticking posters on my wall, mostly from Look-In, occasionally Smash Hits or one of the other pop mags that included pin-ups and lyrics for all the chart hits. I used to send blank cassettes to my uncle so that he could borrow albums from his local library and help build my collection. I was fascinated by the New Romantic and synthpop bands that would pop up with alarming regularity on kids' TV shows. 

 

And pop videos! It was a perfect time, musically speaking at least.

Making a return visit on this side are Visage, The Human League and O.M.D., others for the first time but destined to reappear in later volumes. Again, I'm really happy with the sequencing of this selection, although I ran out of tape on the original recording and had to go back and fade out Heaven 17 early in order to squeeze in Gary Numan. No such ignominy in this digital age, so you get the full version of (We Don't Need This) Fascist Groove Thang, as intended.

I will return to this series over the next few weekends but I have to confess that Decade volumes II and III (1982-1985) were lost many years ago on my travels. I don't have a note of the track listings either so I will aim to recreate selections that reflect what was in my collection at the time.

In the meantime, get that trench coat on, back comb that hair and go stand on a street corner looking moody whilst listening to this on your Walkman!

1) Vienna (Album Version): Ultravox

2) Europe After The Rain (Album Version): John Foxx

3) Mind Of A Toy (Album Version): Visage

4) Passionate Friend (Album Version): The Teardrop Explodes

5) Pretty In Pink (Album Version): The Psychedelic Furs

6) Grey Day (Album Version): Madness

7) Bedsitter (Album Version): Soft Cell

8) The Sound Of The Crowd (Album Version): The Human League

9) Joan Of Arc (Album Version): O.M.D.

10) New Life (Remix): Depeche Mode

11) (We Don't Need This) Fascist Groove Thang (Album Version): Heaven 17

12) She's Got Claws ('Modern Dance' Edit): Gary Numan

1st March 1981: Vienna (#3): 1

22nd March 1981: Penthouse And Pavement (#45): 11

29th March 1981: Visage (#13): 3

10th May 1981: 7 (#4): 6

24th May 1981: Dare (#12): 8

5th July 1981: Talk Talk Talk (#43): 5

2nd August 1981: Speak & Spell (#11): 10

30th August 1981: Dance (#6): 12

30th August 1981: The Garden (#40): 2

27th September 1981: Wilder (#25): 4

8th November 1981: Architecture & Morality (#5): 9

29th November 1981: Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret (#4): 7

Side Two (46:24) (GD) (M)

Decade I: 1980

Side 1 of a cassette compilation, recorded 3rd February 1990.

 

In 2023, Toby Roberts dreamed of competing in the 2024 Olympics, qualifying in October and yesterday bringing home gold with an incredible boulder and lead performance, aged 19.

In 1990, 19-year old me dreamed of girls, music and getting away from the UK. As Meat Loaf once over emoted on vinyl, two out of three ain't bad. My love life was at least consistent: mostly short-lived or unrequited. But...I did eventually get away from the UK later that year, a life-changing solo experience in Australia. Gold Coast rather than a gold medal, but good enough for me.

And my relationship with music has sustained me through the years, never letting me down. Well, apart from that Simple Minds headline gig at the Ashton Court Festival in Bristol, but nothing's perfect, right?

So, as 1989 turned into 1990 I had the notion of doing a themed series of cassette compilations, looking back at the previous decade. Five C90s, one year per side, 12 songs apiece. 

I had a growing record collection by that time, mostly vinyl and cassettes, with a few CDs creeping in. I also had access to my brother's vinyl - he'd gone to uni in Bournemouth and left most of behind with my parents - and my friend Stuart's collection, to plug any gaps in my 'wants' list.

1980 is inevitably a cracking selection, if I say so myself, as there was so much good music to choose from. Pretty much all of these came from my own records, the only exceptions being Martha & The Muffins (my brother's copy of Metro Music) and Talking Heads and U2, borrowed from Stuart.

And yes, I accept that Once In A Lifetime wasn't released in the UK as a single until January 1981. However, in those pre-internet years, I went by the P&C year stated on the back sleeve and labels. Remain In Light said 1980, so that was good enough for me. I subsequently found that the info printed on records were often unreliable in this regard. in this case, I'm happy to confirm that Remain In Light came out in October 1980. Yippee, me.

A strong opener to the series, then. Could I sustain it? 

You won't have long to find out...

 

1) Messages (10" Version): O.M.D.

2) Fade To Grey (Dance Mix Edit): Visage

3) Echo Beach (Album Version): Martha & The Muffins

4) Once In A Lifetime (Album Version): Talking Heads

5) Call Me (Theme From American Gigolo) (Single Version): Blondie

6) Do It Clean (Single Version): Echo & The Bunnymen

7) Independence Day (Album Version): The Comsat Angels

8) Israel (Single Version): Siouxsie & The Banshees

9) Love Will Tear Us Apart (Album Version): Joy Division

10) My Perfect Cousin (Album Version): The Undertones

11) A Day Without Me (Album Version): U2

12) Being Boiled (Album Version): The Human League

23rd March 1980: Metro Music (#10): 3

20th April 1980: Call Me EP (#1): 5 

11th May 1980: Holiday 80 EP (#56): 12 *

11th May 1980: Hypnotised (#9): 10 

15th June 1980: Messages EP (#13): 1

13th July 1980: Waiting For A Miracle (# n/a): 7 **

20th July 1980: Love Will Tear Us Apart EP (#13): 9

24th August 1980: Boy (# n/a): 11 

5th October 1980: The Puppet / Do It Clean EP (# n/a): 6

30th November 1980: Israel EP (#41): 8 

1st February 1981: Visage (#8): 2 ***

1st March 1981: Remain In Light (#14): 4 ****

Side One (46:12) (GD) (M)

 

* Being Boiled was re-released on the back of The Human League's chart success and peaked at #6 in January 1982.  

** Neither single nor album troubled the UK charts in 1980, but a re-recorded version of Independence Day made it to #71 in January 1984 

*** Fade To Grey first entered the UK singles chart on 14th December 1980

**** Remain In Light entered the UK album chart on 26th October 1980 and that, M'lud, is my sole defence!

Off The Chart

Lace up your trainers, we're going back four decades to the Top 20 UK singles chart on 18th May 1984.

 

In January, I did a similar look back at 1974 and whilst I would hesitate to call this a series, a run of back-to-back Top Of The Pops episodes on BBC4 (kind of) inspired today's selection, although I also have to tip my hat to Jez at A History Of Dubious Taste for his delve into the early volumes of Now That's What I Call Music.

Being 1984, we're well into the era of the 12" single and the extended dance club remix frenzy. So, what you've got here are thirteen stretched out versions, some pushing the 8-9 minute mark, others bending the original songs into interesting shapes. And, honestly, could you actually dance to some of these?!

 

I'm guessing that the movie Footloose was pretty popular around this time as there are two singles from the soundtrack in the Top 20. Kenny Loggins' title theme song didn't have an extended version in 1984 so I've gone for one of the many 21st century fan-made versions that proliferate online.

Madonna's mate John 'Jellybean' Benitez remixes the other by Deniece Williams and also turns his hand to Automatic by Pointer Sisters. Benitez was ubiquitous at the time, even Talking Heads and Elvis Costello got the 'Jellybean' treatment.

Then up-and-coming writers and producers Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis kick things off with Just Be Good To Me, a new entry at #20. I don't particularly remember this song at the time but it's legendary status was sealed when Beats International covered it a few years later, securing a #1 in the process. Jam & Lewis went on to greater heights with Janet Jackson and all-new lows with The Human League.

Blissfully unaware of this in 1984, The Human League were still enjoying Top 20 hits, including The Lebanon, dropping to #12 this week from a peak of #11 the week before. An undeniably brilliant bassline, coupled with some of the most cringeworthy lyrics committed to vinyl, but I love it regardless.

Speaking of bass, there's some funk to make Mark King of Level 42 give a heavily insured thumbs up, from Jeffrey Osborne and Jocelyn Brown. If the latter sounds familiar, it's been sampled to death by artists such as George Michael (Too Funky), Utah Saints (Ohio) and OutKast (Spaghetti Junction).

 

If you prefer your guitar histrionic, look no further than Queen at #4. Thanks to Lady K's early obsession with Queen's Greatest Hits, I am now more familiar with the back catalogue of Mercury and co. than I ever wanted to be. This 12" version is rumbling along quite nicely until in the last minute or so it decides to go all Stars On 45 and give the listener a chopped up Greatest Hits medley. 

Blancmange and O.M.D. respectively deliver one of my favourite and least favourite singles by said artists, I'll leave you to decide which is which. In a bizarre twist of fate, I will have seen both bands live in 2024, O.M.D.in March and Blancmange at the end of this month.

Just the one reggae hit in the Top 20 but it's a goodie. One Love/People Get Ready was a posthumous smash for Bob Marley & The Wailers, peaking at #5 in it's fifth week and promoting the compilation Legend, released two weeks before. Suffice to say, it's one of the greatest greatest hits albums ever.

So, to the top spot and enjoying the third of four weeks at #1 is Duran Duran with The Reflex. Heavily remixed from the album version, the 12" version takes things even further. Mrs. K and I have enjoyed many a slightly tipsy lounge disco dance to this one.

As with the 1974 selection, I've gone for a Marvel UK comics header. The Mighty World Of Marvel was on it's second incarnation by this time. The May 1984 issue actually came out in April but I've included this one for the gorgeous painted art by Alan Davis, whose epic Captain Britain storyline with Alan Moore was coming to an end. 

 

At the other end of the spectrum was The Thing Is Big Ben, in which Marvel UK decided that what kids really needed was the rocky one from The Fantastic Four in his own weekly comic, with a title that tenuously linked him to the iconic London landmark. Add to that reprints of Iron Man and Captain America (the latter replaced by Power Man & Iron Fist) and you can understand why editors felt the need to throw in a free cap to convince kids to hand over their 18p. The cover price was prescient: 18 weeks later, the kids remained unmoved and the title quietly folded into the ongoing Spider-Man comic, as so many others before it had done.

 

1) Just Be Good To Me (Album Version By Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis): The S.O.S. Band (#20)

2) I'm Falling (Album Version By Colin Fairley & Bob Andrews): The Bluebells (#19)

3) Stay With Me Tonight (Extended Remixed Version By Bill Bottrell): Jeffrey Osborne (#18)

4) Somebody Else's Guy (Remix By John Morales & Sergio Munzibai): Jocelyn Brown (#13)

5) The Lebanon (Extended) (Remix By The Human League, Chris Thomas & Hugh Padgham): The Human League (#12)

6) Don't Tell Me (U.S. Dance Remix By Mark Kamins): Blancmange (#9)

7) Let's Hear It For The Boy (Extended Remixed Version By John 'Jellybean' Benitez): Deniece Williams (#8)

8) Locomotion (Razormaid Remix By Joseph Watt): O.M.D. (#7)

9) Footloose (VJAR 2016 Extended Dance Remix By Alex Ritton): Kenny Loggins (#6)

10) One Love/People Get Ready (Dub Version By Godwin Logie): Bob Marley & The Wailers (#5)

11) I Want To Break Free (Extended Mix By Queen & Reinhold Mack): Queen (#4)

12) Automatic (Special Remix By John 'Jellybean' Benitez): Pointer Sisters (#2)

13) The Reflex (Dance Mix By Nile Rodgers & Jason Corsaro): Duran Duran (#1)

Off The Chart (1:27:14) (KF) (Mega)

Pioneer

Celebrating Ryuichi Sakamoto 坂本龍, 17th January 1952 to 28th March 2023.

 

I was born in 1970 so it's little surprise that my entry point to Sakamoto's music wasn't Yellow Magic Orchestra but Japan, although I wasn't particularly aware of it at the time, and the follow up singles Bamboo Houses/Bamboo Music and Forbidden Colours with David Sylvian.

 

My brother had a giant poster of Japan on his bedroom wall, featuring honorary band member Masami Tsuchiya and I appreciated the beautiful synchronicity of a band called Japan having a Japanese musician in their line up. It was probably from reading my brother's copies of Smash Hits (delivered every week by the paper boy) that I read that Ryuichi Sakamoto had performed with Japan on their Sons Of Pioneers tour in 1982.

 

That seemed the natural starting point for this selection, which I've wrestled with since news on Sunday of Sakamoto's inevitable and heartbreaking passing, following a long battle with cancer. One of my favourite Japan songs, Taking Islands In Africa, from 1980's Gentlemen Take Polaroids, is credited to Sakamoto and David Sylvian and features Ryuichi on keyboards. In researching this post, I came across a fascinating post by David J Nibloe on his Vista blog which reveals some of the deeper story behind the Sakamoto's meeting with Japan and the recording of the song.

I've skipped the aforementioned Sakamoto/Sylvian collaborations as they both appeared on my recent David Sylvian selection (which I've made available again via a link below), but the two worked together many many times over the subsequent years and decades. I've picked Midnight Sun, arguably a lesser known, bluesy track from Sylvian's 1999 album Dead Bees On A Cake, featuring Ryuichi Sakamoto and Marc Ribot. 

 

The main, instrumental theme from Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence, in it's vocal version better known as Forbidden Colours, also makes an appearance alongside The Last Emperor. I was incredibly moved by both films when I first watched them, not just for the striking visual narrative but also Ryuichi Sakamoto's soundtrack which is a character and voice in it's own right. I've barely dipped into his film composition work outside of these two but it's incredible to think that Sakamoto was creating something on the scale and power of The Last Emperor in 1987 whilst also releasing the poppier Risky with Iggy Pop. 

 

Ryuichi Sakamoto's capacity to ignore boundaries, to blend genres and create new ones, has been a constant source of fascination even if I've only intermittently followed his career. I draw parallels with John Cale, who to me has similarly pursued a desire to explore new paths, different ways of (musical) expression and artists to collaborate with.

So this selection ended up not being a straightforward Ryuichi Sakamoto selection at all, including not just his work with Yellow Magic Orchestra and as a solo artist but also his remixes, co-writes and appearances on other people's songs. This is how I discovered his wider body of work and it felt appropriate to try to capture that feeling across a mere 80 minutes. The original 'shortlist' was over two and a half hours, so some tough choices along the way.

 

Some of these songs will be familiar, though not necessarily in the versions presented here, there are frequent changes from upbeat to downtempo, quiet to loud, vocal to instrumental, pop to something harder to define.   

 

Having started with the band that first introduced me to Ryuichi Sakamoto, it seemed somehow fitting to close with a remix that he produced for his daughter Miu. Hard to believe that this alone is now 25 years old. Harder still to believe that Sakamoto-san has gone, but his vast musical legacy leaves much to discover and re-discover in the years to come.

 

Rest well, 坂本龍

 

1) Taking Islands In Africa (Album Version By John Punter): Japan (1980)

2) Fatalism (Ryuichi Sakamoto & Yukihiro Takahashi Remix): Massive Attack ft. Guy Garvey & Martina Topley-Bird (2010)

3) Rocket Factory: Sheena & The Rokkets ft. Yellow Magic Orchestra (1979)

4) Firecracker (Special DJ Copy): Yellow Magic Orchestra (1978)

5) Risky (Extended Mix By Julian Mendelsohn): Ryuichi Sakamoto ft. Iggy Pop (1987)

6) eena ferroix (Ryuichi Sakamoto Mix): CoH (2014)

7) The Last Emperor - Theme Variation 1: Ryuichi Sakamoto (1987)

8) Midnight Sun: David Sylvian ft. Ryuichi Sakamoto & Marc Ribot (1999)

9) Love & Hate (Message Mix - Single Edit): Ryuichi Sakamoto ft. Holly Johnson (1994)

10) Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence: Ryuichi Sakamoto (1983)

11) Behind The Mask (Remixed By Mark Gamble): YMO Versus The Human League (1993)

12) 0318: Fennesz + Sakamoto (2011)

13) Completion: Willits & Sakamoto (2012)

14) Drip Dry Eyes (Album Version): Sandii ft. Yellow Magic Orchestra (1980)

15) Field Work (Long Tokyo Mix): Ryuichi Sakamoto ft. Thomas Dolby (1985)

16) solari (Jóhann Jóhannsson Rework): Ryuichi Sakamoto (2017)

17) Awakening (Endo Mix By Ryuichi Sakamoto): Miu Sakamoto (1998)

Pioneer (1:21:28) (KF) (Mega)

If, like me, this leaves you wanting to hear more Ryuichi Sakamoto then you may be happy to know that I've re-posted a few of my previous Dubhed selections where he makes an appearance. 

 

David Sylvian: Nostalgia Burns (February 2023)

Mick Karn: KarnAge (January 2023)

Various: Big In Japan (March 2022)

Another Happy Jolly Tape Thing

Side 2 of a mixtape, recorded sometime in 1992 for my then-girlfriend.

 

We went on a couple of camping holidays, the first of which was a return to Bowleaze Cove in Weymouth where my parents used to keep a static caravan for several years. There's a photo in a dusty album somewhere of me as a baby, having a bath in the caravan's tiny sink. I suspect I looked as bemused as I do now. 

 

We also used the take the cat with us, which seems bizarre in retrospect, but I guess we just didn't have the money to afford the luxury of a cattery for a week. I remember one trip where the cat hadn't returned from their daily patrol on our last day and we were actually driving (albeit very slowly) along the track out of the holiday park, windows open, shouting their name, when they suddenly appeared at the top of the hill, racing down to join us. I don't think my parents really would have left without the cat...would they? The cat was named Sacha, after the popular French singer, although my folks had never shown any particular fondness for his music. Parents are weird like that.

 

We swapped a caravan for a tent in 1992. I hadn't admitted to my girlfriend that I'd actually done very little camping at this point in my life and putting up a tent almost proved to be beyond my capabilities. Relatively early in our relationship, she may not have experienced quite the level of expletives that undoubtedly burst forth as I took about four times longer to get the darn tent up and staying up than any other complete novice.

 

Little had changed in the decade and a half since I'd last visited Weymouth, not least the shift from pebble (& tar) beach at the Bowleaze Cove end to golden sand as you got further along the promenade and into town. At the far end of the beach, before the pavilion and pier, the sand sculptor was still at work, creating scenes and still life art to wow and delight. We ventured into town to the fishmongers, sampling jellied eels (still disgusting) and whelks. All in all, a great few days away and some happy new memories to treasure. 

 

I've been back a couple more times since with Clan K and whilst the town and seafront have experienced more dramatic changes - and the beach-based sand sculptures have now moved slightly inland and upscaled to become Sandworld - we have had a great time, each time.

I like to think that Happy Jolly Tape Thing was playing on the drive from Bristol to Weymouth and home again, back in 1992. It's certainly chock full of travelling, sing-a-long tunes from Depeche Mode, Primal Scream, Talking Heads and Prefab Sprout. The Undertones are the only act to appear on both sides of the cassette, whilst my girlfriend was a huge fan of The Smiths and liked The Doors, although I think that was more to do with Jim Morrison in leather trousers than their music in particular.

Tacked onto the end of the compilation was a hidden track that played out following the closing seconds of the final song on Adam & The Ants' 1981 album, Prince Charmng. Sounds of waves lapping on a beach, guitar strums and a 'wimoweh' refrain, what better way to end, then and now?

 

1) Boom! There She Was (Sonic Property Mix By Steve Thompson & Michael Barbiero) (UK Edit): Scritti Politti ft. Roger Troutman (1988)

2) (Keep Feeling) Fascination (Extended Version): The Human League (1983)

3) The Meaning Of Love (Single Version): Depeche Mode (1982)

4) Movin' On Up (Album Version By Jimmy Miller): Primal Scream (1991)

5) Tell All The People: The Doors (1969)

6) Road To Nowhere (Album Version): Talking Heads (1985)

7) Downtown ('Shag Times' Album Version): The Justified Ancients Of Mu Mu (1988)

8) It's Going To Happen! (Album Version): The Undertones (1981)

9) Faron Young (Truckin' Mix By Thomas Dolby): Prefab Sprout (1985)

10) Ask: The Smiths (1985)

11) Streets Of Your Town (Album Version): The Go-Betweens (1988)

12) untitled: Adam & The Ants (1981)

 

Side Two (46:55) (Box) (Mega)

Side One here

New York, Ice Cream, TV, Travel, Good Times

Long overdue on these pages, here's The Human League with a selection of 12" versions, remixes and re-edits spanning 1981's classic album Dare to their most recent (though hopefully not final) album Credo in 2011.

The selection kicks off with The Things That Dreams Are Made Of. I first came across the US-based blog DreamTime in the mid-2000s, where predominantly 1980s songs would be spliced and re-edited to create super extended versions. Sometimes they just didn't work, either due to using incompatible mixes or variable vinyl sources; sometimes, they hit the spot. I'd place The Things That Dreams Are Made Of in the latter category, taking elements from the Dare and Love And Dancing* versions to create nearly ten minutes of synthpop greatness. The blog is long gone, but DreamTime is still going strong on Soundcloud, currently featuring the likes of Simple Minds, Heaven 17, Kate Bush, a-ha, Talk Talk and David Bowie.

 

* Yes, I know that the latter is officially The League Unlimited Orchestra and not The Human League, but I'm not complaining.

 

DreamTime's re-edits pay homage to Razormaid and Hot Tracks (in turn inspired by 1970s innovators such as Tom Moulton, Larry Levan and Walter Gibbons) and I've included a couple of examples here. Steven Tucker (Hot Tracks) stretches out (Keep Feeling) Fascination whilst Art Maharg (Razormaid) remixes 1990 comeback single Heart Like A Wheel.

 

There are a few original 1980s extended versions, too: Love Action (I Believe In Love), co-produced with Martin Rushent, appears as the penultimate song on Dare and was segued with Hard Times on the original 12" single in 1981. The Sign first appeared on follow-up album Hysteria and was remixed by Nigel Walker for the 12" single B-side for Louise in 1984. Love Is All That Matters was released as the final single from Crash, produced and co-written by Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, fresh from working with Janet Jackson on the super successful Control. It was a testing time for the band and fans alike.

 

The Human League's most recent album of new material was Credo, preceded by the single Night People in 2010. Again, there appears to have been a mixed response to the album and it didn't reclaim the commercial success of previous albums, but I like it a lot. Here, the legendary French producer Cerrone (who turned 70 in May - belated happy birthday wishes!) amps up the heavy disco sound of the original.

 

Last but not least, the intriguingly named T.O.E.C. - an acronym for Two On Each Camel, apparently - remix big mid-1990s hit One Man In My Heart, a rare outing for Susanne Sulley on lead vocals. T.O.E.C. are/was Swedish production duo Joakim Björklund and Sören Elonsson and when I hear this remix, I can't help but be reminded of fellow Swedes Ace Of Base and All That She Wants, not a huge surprise as T.O.E.C. produced a couple of tracks on the same album, Happy Nation.

 

I've never seen The Human League live in concert mainly because they had an annoying habit of playing in Bristol on or around my birthday, when I was otherwise engaged. They've just announced an open air concert at Dreamland in Margate in July 2023, featuring support from none other than Marc Almond. I've no plans to go, but it sounds fantastic.

 

1) The Things That Dreams Are Made Of (DreamTime Mix) (2007)

2) (Keep Feeling) Fascination (Digital Mix) (1997)

3) The Sign (Extended Re-Mix) (1984)

4) Love Action (I Believe In Love) (12" Edit/Album Version) (1981)

5) Love Is All That Matters (Extended Remix) (1988)

6) Night People (Cerrone Club Mix) (2010)

7) Heart Like A Wheel (Razormaid Mix) (1990)

8) One Man In My Heart (T.O.E.C. Extended) (1995)

1981: Dare: 4

1984: Louise (12" single): 3

1988: Love Is All That Matters (12" single): 5

1990: This Is Only A Test! Volume 9 (Razormaid CD): 7

1995: One Man In My Heart (CD single): 8

1997: Hot Tracks: The Edge Level 03 (Hot Tracks CD): 2

2007: The Things That Dreams Are Made Of (bootleg MP3): 1

2010: Night People (promo CD): 6

 

New York, Ice Cream, TV, Travel, Good Times (54:28)

I Wanna Tell You What I Found To Be True

Because, sometimes, there's nothing for it but to pop a 12" single by The Human League on the turntable...

 

Hard Times / Love Action (I Believe In Love) (12" Version): The Human League (1981)

Hard Times / Love Action (I Believe In Love) (Live @ O2 Academy, Leeds, 8th December 2014): The Human League

Love Action (I Believe In Love) (Performed On The Multi-Coloured Swap Shop, BBC TV): The Human League (1981)