The Human League are from the UK, as is Gary Numan, Gary Numan was way more than a one-hit wonder there. However, I totally disagree that it was opportunistic Junk.
I really wanted to like this album as I love the title track and bought the 45 in 1982. But sadly it was a let down - nothing near the level of Homosapien. Good album but not close to being as good as Dare. Yes they were - Kraftwerk of course came earlier but weren't commercial. Dare and Don't You Want Me showed that synth pop could be poppy and commercial and not robotic and sterile (love Kraftwerk btw) Their debut was in 1979 - same year as Cars. They were the apex of the vanguard
Great pop album. It tapped in perfectly to what people who were into that type of music wanted at the time. It sounded really fresh and there was nobody around doing quite what they were. Martin Rushent's production was innovative in 1981. His work for other artists was also excellent, particularly Altered Images & Pete Shelley. As for this comment about Gary Numan: "One hit wonder" sounds rather disparaging of someone who may have only had one hit single in America, but has had a really long, successful and varied career elsewhere. To disregard him because the Americans didn't appreciate his music is rather short-sighted. Arguably Gary Numan is one of the pioneers of Electronic music and certainly that is true as far as the general public are concerned in the UK. Prior to "Are Friends Electric?", there are very few instances of electronic synth based singles making the pop charts. Yet, this single went to No. 1 in the UK and so did "Cars". In the UK, Gary has had 5 top 10 albums (3 of which went to No. 1). Since then he has had a total of 24 albums on the UK top 100 and his latest album went Top 20 here in 2013. So, for someone with an almost 40 year career and who has reinvented himself for a new generation, he's done amazingly well.
Great album. Definitely one of the great synthesizer pop albums of the '80s. The track Darkness is one of my favorites, and deserves to be cranked on each listen. On a sidenote, which is the preferred pressing, for both CD and Lp?
I'm American. He had a novelty hit here. The Human League were much more of a major act here, which is the largest pop music market. That is my perspective. I don't research someone's history in every smaller market every time I post.
Would Dare have been less offensive if Oakey had opted for a new band name? Similarly, how would Penthouse and Pavement have been received if it had been released by BEF? I'm familiar with the pain of a much-loved group completely losing what attracted you to them in the first place in pursuit of sales, but none of 'my' bands of that sort of era who let me down (Echo and the Bunnymen, Simple Minds, Talking Heads and REM all immediately come to mind) made such an abrupt jump in either style or personnel. The closest analogy I can think of would be the collected works of Matt Bianco being released by Blue Rondo à la Turk. The very thought of which has made me be a bit sick in my mouth. EDIT: I was 13/14 when Dare was released, knew next to nothing about the group, and my main memory is of getting very bored of the singles on the radio. I now consider Dare to be a pinnacle of early 80s synth pop, although I've absolutely no interest in their earlier or later work.
Natcat for compact disc recommended the old West German Virgin CDV 2192 No Barcode , I trust her on this one. Not sure if that mastering is on later pressings. LP, I have the old US Gatefold (SPO in the wax). Nice warm dynamic sound to it
I love Rick! (RIP ) "Then I shall write to the lead singer of Echo & the Bunnymen... Dear Mister Echo..."
Agree with overrated point Scott. I also like it, but I was stunned to see that Classic Pop magazine rated it #1 of the entire decade. What???
Fair enough, but I'm also an American and I would never say Numan is regarded as a novelty act here, certainly not anymore. Hip hop and dance music have been sampling his early albums heavily for years, and you can find albums like Replicas, The Pleasure Principle, and Telekon just about anywhere (all recently reissued on LP for the next generation) because they're freaking essential. The first time I heard Replicas after years of not paying attention to it, it changed my perspective on just about everything. Electronic and goth music both revere him as a godfather and have for decades. If you like early synth-based pop music (though early on he rocks, too) then you're in for a treat. The Human League was active around the same time, but Dare definitely exploded them into the mainstream. But I'm not sure it's because they were on the vanguard; it's because they were on MTV and MTV was the vanguard.
I love the way you put that. For an album that's so purely pop, it does still have that little bit of a "dark" sound, giving it the tiniest bit of anxiety. I also agree on the sequencing. I think it's a great album.
Listen to this BBC interview with Ian Curtis and Stephen Morris of Joy Division (skip to about 2 minutes) :- ..Stephen Morris "With all due respect to Gary Numan...." There was definitely a feeling in the UK at the time that Gary Numan was a Johnny come lately. Bands like Joy Division and The Human League that been around for a while and seemingly paid their dues were shocked by the sudden electronic direction of Numan. Having said that I can now appreciate Gary almost as much as the stuff by JD and HL. Numan did seem to come out of nowhere, probably didn't help he was from the Home Counties.
Not a huge fan of Human League but I do like this album and the two before it as part of the synthesizer New Romantic Movement. Catchy as heck, sme great lyrics as well. It's still a tremendous pop album but I prefer the more Kraftwerk influenced sound of the first two.
