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The Human League

Started by madhair60, May 13, 2019, 03:40:35 PM

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madhair60

good. Listened to Reproduction and Dare last night, not in that order. Old stuff interesting. Talk about The Human League please.

Quote from: madhair60 on May 13, 2019, 03:40:35 PM
good. Listened to Reproduction and Dare last night, not in that order. Old stuff interesting. Talk about The Human League please.

'Dare' is one of the best albums ever made.

MidnightShambler

Travelogue is the one for me, Crow and a Baby is fucking brilliant. Dreams Of Leaving, Being Boiled, can't go wrong. Perfect dark pop, I think Dare is when it all started to go a bit too mainstream, although obviously its got some utterly sublime tunes in it.

studpuppet

And so Louise waved from the bus
And as she left, she gave that smile
As if they were still lovers.


Twed

Quote from: madhair60 on May 13, 2019, 03:40:35 PM
good. Listened to Reproduction and Dare last night
Two equally hot but differently-shaped potatoes.

wosl

The League Unlimited Orchestra's Love And Dancing, with Martin Rushent very much in the thick of things, all good all the way through, baby.

Jockice

Joanne Catherall hugged me and gave me a kiss last time I saw her. I'm just saying this to make people jealous.

Gregory Torso

Brilliant band. Almost wrote songs as good as Charles and Eddie's.

Toyota City has been a decades long jam to put on for the morning hate traipse to work.

Long Version!

Danger Man

Dehumanisation
Is such a big word
It's been around since
Richard The Third


Nothing else need be said

gilbertharding

I think I've said this before, but anyway... (for reference/context I was born in 1969) I quite liked a few of the golden Human League hits - Don't You Want Me, and especially Keep Feeling Fascination, but by the time the 90s rolled around I was right up for the kicking they were getting, courtesy of the NME. I especially relished the mockery of the line about "where there used to be some shops..." in The Lebanon - a song I'm fairly sure I had never heard.

My opinion moderated soon after - the undeniable brilliance of Oakey, The Girls, the tunes, everthing made me get over myself (although I still haven't really dug deep into their stuff).

Fast forward 20 years and I'm listening to Pick of the Pops on Radio 2, and on comes The Lebanon by the Human League. "Oh! The 'used to be some shops' song!"

Fucking BANGER. And fuck off, The NME. You are shit.

DrGreggles

We once spent a fortnight in Ibiza with only a tape of the Human League's greatest hits to soundtrack our apartment.
Still didn't get sick of it.

Glebe

'Don't You Want Me' and it's accompanying music video were a staple of childhood... I'm actually none to familiar with there broader work.

Norton Canes

It's all about 'The Lebanon' for me too. BANGER indeed.

Squink

Nah, The Lebanon is awful. Horrible, cloying politics and sub-Killing Joke rock guitar. All the things I don't want from ver League.

gilbertharding

Quote from: Norton Canes on May 14, 2019, 02:50:08 PM
It's all about 'The Lebanon' for me too. BANGER indeed.

They are a bit ridiculous though - but that is all part of it. Obviously Oakey's appearance in The Weekenders cements this. The story of the great schism, and finding The Girls before having the last laugh is up there in terms of myth making with anything you could parody in Spinal Tap.

gilbertharding

Quote from: Squink on May 14, 2019, 03:01:35 PM
...horrible, cloying politics...

But I bet you like Being Boiled.

Squink

No mate, early stuff, it's too We Are Weird for me. I like Dare and Crash. I think that's about it.

the science eel

Quote from: Squink on May 14, 2019, 03:01:35 PM
Nah, The Lebanon is awful. Horrible, cloying politics and sub-Killing Joke rock guitar. All the things I don't want from ver League.

Indeed.

Watch this - and watch the girls in this, especially - for instant joy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OD-GGUIsXSs

gilbertharding

Or this (Fascination, 'live' on the Laura Brannigan show from a windy beach in America): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qkoF_BE8dB4

I love the way the synths sound wonky, as if the sound is being squeezed out of a playdough machine. Reminds me of the Stones sound on Sticky Fingers.

Then this (Lebanon, later that afternoon. Brrr, it's a bit nippy): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2vwZye34v4

non capisco

Let's not forget the fantastic moment on the 1981 Top Of The Pops Christmas episode where Joanne gets a load of silly string stuck in her gob and styles it out perfectly in a completely unpretentious "this is an extremely funny thing to have happened" manner while Phil pisses himself laughing. There's an incredibly endearing "my mates are on the telly having the time of their lives" vibe to Dare/Crash era Human League.

https://youtu.be/yYZ_rcxSSlA?t=179

Jockice

#20
Quote from: non capisco on May 14, 2019, 07:20:50 PM
Let's not forget the fantastic moment on the 1981 Top Of The Pops Christmas episode where Joanne gets a load of silly string stuck in her gob and styles it out perfectly in a completely unpretentious "this is an extremely funny thing to have happened" manner while Phil pisses himself laughing. There's an incredibly endearing "my mates are on the telly having the time of their lives" vibe to Dare/Crash era Human League.

https://youtu.be/yYZ_rcxSSlA?t=179

String fired by their manager/Fast Product founder, so I believe.

wosl

Harsh.  I think it should've escaped with a firm warning.

Jockice

Quote from: wosl on May 14, 2019, 08:26:54 PM
Harsh.  I think it should've escaped with a firm warning.

Ha! I forgot to put his name in. Bob Last.