So I am going to play every 45 in my collection.......(Part 3!!)

That is a great song! The only LP I have of theirs is I Caught Your Act. Looks like Hues Corporation and Grayson Hugh both added to the "want list".

 

The Hudson Brothers' love for The Beatles is so obvious on this song, too.

 

Very true. I was expecting some Harrison-esque slide guitar to appear several times!

 

So I went 1 for 2 at my local shop today. No Grayson Hugh, but I did grab this for 5 bucks!

 

Is it a Dynaflex pressing like my copy?

 

I really like The Hudson Brothers, particularly the three albums they did around the time they were TV stars. The album "Totally Out Of Control" was issued by Elton John's label The Rocket Record Co. and was produced by Bernie Taupin. It was very shortly after that, they landed a summer replacement show on CBS which led to the Saturday morning kids show that fall. This is when the Casablanca album "Hollywood Situation" was issued. After that, they returned to Rocket for another album produced by Taupin called "Ba-Fa". All three records are terrific, especially TOOC.

These guys could write, sing and play, and Mark Hudson is still very active in the biz. Bill was married to Goldie Hawn and is the father of Kate Hudson. There's a lot of bad blood floating around that family unit, and I'm not sure which side to believe, but the story gets really ugly if you Google it. Bill later married Cindy Williams (Shirley of "Laverne and Shirley".)

 

Cleaning and spinning it tomorrow.....I will check!

 

Now I want those albums pretty bad! There are a few on Discogs....I may cave! Sounds like Bill had a way with the ladies! I will have to check this story out.

 

It should say it right on the back of the cover. If the record is very thin and wobbly, it's a Dynaflex.

 

I couldn't imagine Bernie Taupin as a record producer....

 

I have a few Dynaflex Bowie and Lou Reed. I don't remember seeing it on the back of Hues Corporation the other day but I did buy a few LP's I will check later today!

 

Totally Out Of Control has a real organic feel to it and is a very fun album. It isn't perfect, the Abbey Road-ish medley that closes out side two is much more ambitious than inspired, but the rest of the record is loaded with great tunes and little snippets that give the album a homegrown feel.

Ba-Fa is polished like a poisoned apple. It's all glossy on the outside and looks beautiful but there's a real bitterness underneath that gives the impression that these guys have much more going for them than their Saturday-morning-kiddie-show personas.

The non-Bernie-produced Hollywood Situation is the weakest of the three, containing a couple filler tracks that are bouncy and fit the TV show mentality perfectly, and a very long comedy routine on side 2 that takes up way too much vinyl space, but the rest of the record has some gems on it.

All three are highly recommended and turn up occasionally in the used bins. The only CD I know of is a greatest hits pressed by Varese Sarabande and is unfortunately out of print. (So You Are A Star - The Best Of The Hudson Brothers). Do I have a copy? Of course I do!

I have several other albums by The Hudson Brothers, but I wouldn't say any of them are memorable. Hudson (they were called "Hudson" then - issued on the Playboy label right before TOOC), The Truth About Us (on Arista - post Ba-Fa) and Damn Those Hids (returning to the group name of "Hudson" and released by Elektra) are all pretty meh. Interesting that on these six albums, they span five different labels.

 

Some great info there!!! I am certainly going to hunt a few of these albums down. Thanks!!

 

Human League- The Sound of the Crowd/The Sound of the Crowd (add your voice) Non-Lp
UK ISSUE
This track reached #12 in the UK in 1981. Notice the word "red" on the sleeve. This label let fans know that this single was considered a "dance" song whereas "blue" signified a pop tune. Clever. Sparse and cold which is exactly what the group was going for. The lyrics are a bit strange. I honestly don't know what several of the lines even mean! This certainly strikes a chord on first listen. Oakey's fairly monotone yet melodic vocals blended against the inorganic musical backdrop feels like something out of a sci fi film.

 

The Human League-Love Action/Hard Times
UK ISSUE
This "red" track made it to #3 in the UK in 1981. Producer Martin Rushent was so integral to the bands sound. He really had a knack for drawing human emotion out of sounds generated by machines. Phil namechecks himself in the songs lyric, perhaps hunting that the subject matter is a bit personal? Great chorus.

 

The Human League-Open Your Heart/Non Stop
UK ISSUE
This "blue" single, aka pop, hit #6 in the UK in 1981. This track is rather mundane until the whistling keyboard melody of the chorus kicks in. That melody saves this track for me. Some of the keyboard effects make me long for my Atari 2600.

 

The Human League-Don't You Want Me/Seconds
UK POSTER EDITION
This ear worm hit #1 in both the UK and USA IN 1981/1982. That synth intro is iconic and instantly recognizable. The back and forth storytelling between Oakey and Sulley is good fun and made for a neat video as the two sides spin their side of the story while on the set of a film. Definitely a bit of refreshing girl power in that Sulley doesn't mind setting the narrative straight on how she rid herself of Oakey. My wife and I often play the respective roles while singing this in the car. A deserved all time best seller....I never tire of hearing it.

 

Man, I love the Human League. Love, love, love (but you know that). "(Keep Feeling) Fascination" is probably my favorite song, but I'd say "The Sound Of The Crowd" is probably tied for first place as well. When the Fascination! EP came out, that cassette ruled my Walkman in 1983. It was definitely a big part of a family road trip from Cleveland to visit relatives in Port Allegany, PA. That was me, the teenager in the back seat with my headphones, enjoying some Chicken McNuggets, which I believe went nationwide that year!

I saw them in early 1987 on the Crash tour, then in the early 2000s on Long Island at a club that I believe has since closed (we've talked about this before, right @Juggsnelson?) and again at Jones Beach in 2008. They're coming to LA this year; I'd love to catch them again.

 

"(Keep Feeling) Fascination" is my favorite track as well. Hoping to get to it (and others) later today....it is pouring here so a good day for records! The spoken bit by Phil in the pre-Chorus always makes me smile as I had a roomate post college who used to sing that at completely random intervals! I too saw them at Jones Beach but in 1998 with the reunited Culture Club and Howard Jones. Great show!!!

 

The Human League- Mirror Man/You Remind Me of Gold
UK ISSUE
This track hit #2 in the UK and #30 in the USA in 1982/83. This track reminds me of The Four Tops or Jay and the Techniques. Bright, upbeat soul-pop similar to what ABC would do with their own Motown tribute "When Smokey Sings". As a Motown update it works quite well. A driving beat, female backing vocals aplenty, a funky bass part etc... Catchy as can be and an excellent single. Years later Oakey would fess up that the "Mirror Man" was a reference to Adam Ant.

 

The Human League- (Keep Feeling) Fascination/Total Panic
Labeled on the sleeve as a "red" track....this means it's time to dance! This irresistible tune reached #2 in the UK and #8 in the USA in 1983. One of my all time favorites. The keyboards sound out of tune but the melody is mesmerizing. Some nifty synthesized bass parts add some muscle....especially the little run out of the middle instrumental breakdown. The spoken "and so the conversation turned" bit has been a running joke of sorts with friends for years. One night while having a few we played this track to death and we dang this portion louder each time....it had a melody that even made us sound good! For some reason it stuck....to this day my friends will sometimes answer the phone in mid lyric. Crazy.

 

The Human League- Life on Your Own/The World Tonight
UK ISSUE
This reach reached #16 in the UK in 1984. If I didn't know better I would have thought this was from 1981 or so. It kind of harkens back to the bands more sparse, dark era. The dreary verses are offset by an instantly ingrained chorus....altogether combining to form another winning track. The lush layer of stabbed keyboards was nicked by Depeche Mode to fill in the spaces in "Enjoy the Silence".

 

Virgin was distributed by CBS in Australia when these came out and they totally stuffed them up. They left out Sound of the Crowd and released it after Don't You Want Me, held back DYWM (even though radio was playing it) and kept plugging Open Your Heart. Somewhere they found time to put out the Dignity of Labour on a 12". It was a total mess.

 

Lol....the singles were a bit spotty (but not THAT spotty!) in the USA as well....often released months after it was out in the UK.

 

Definitely my favorite Human League song. I was 13 and getting into girls and girls seemed to dig this song so of course I loved it too. I seem to remember having a 12" of it, some extended dance mix but I could be wrong.