Anyone else like me have many of the Human League's albums? Many, like me agree that Dare is a great LP but I find Crash and Octupus to be great underrated efforts. Also fascinating how the two female members of the band turned out to be recruited almost randomly but turned out to be such an integral part of the band.
I love Crash and Octopus as well ~ Even Credo has some good moments on it , always enjoyed their live shows as well .
I saw The Human League last summer on Huntington Beach, fortunate to be watching from the front of the stage. They gave a terrific performance although I was struck by how awkward Joanne's moves were in contrast with the sultry smoothness of Susanne. Yes, I noticed because it really was a contrast. At any rate, Dare is a stone cold classic, pun fully intended. The Fascination EP was pretty great as well and although I like Hysteria a lot, it is admittedly a step down and it doesn't get any better from there. I have all the albums but there are some seriously diminishing returns as you root around their catalogue. Still, I'm glad they keep on carrying on and will always give any new Human League music a chance to be added to my collection.
Have Reproduction Travelogue and Dare. Hysteria was a massive let down. Wasn't impressed with Crash. Still to check out Octopus Credo and Secrets. The post Dare /pre Hysteria singles were also fantastic.
I agree that Dare is fantastic and one of the best albums of the 80s. I like the first two albums as well which are quite different to Dare although you can hear them gradually moving towards that more commercial sound. The Boys and Girls single is the bridge between them. After Dare I really only like the singles. The 1988 Greatest Hits album is the best compilation and includes their amazing first single Being Boiled...
For the record, I find Reproduction and Travelogue to be outstanding as well but in the context of Dare and everything after, those are essentially by a completely different band. Those first two can be called proto-Heaven 17 just as much as proto-Human League whether you are looking at them from an instrumental versus vocal point of view.
Too bad they couldn't have kept the original line up -but then we wouldn't have Dare. Fascinating though to imagine what the third album would have sounded like
We ended up with twice the music given that Heaven 17 charted a very similar style trajectory as Human League. From a strength of album standpoint, I think Heaven 17 is the winner. More of their albums are satisfying start to finish when compared with Human League.
Overall perhaps but Heaven 17 never made an album as great or as important as Dare. In 1981 Dare / "Don't You Want Me" were game changers.
Looking at the songs from the first three Heaven 17 albums, I'd say it is darned close. Granted Dare must have sold a bunch more records but there are at least as many important Heaven 17 singles spread across their first three albums...perhaps more, than we saw out of Dare/Fascination/Hysteria. If I had to choose one three-pack of albums or the other, I'd be hard pressed not to select Heaven 17.
Agree. I’d rate Penthouse a 10, Luxury Gap a 9 and How Men Are an 8.5. Dare gets a 10 as well with Fascination falling to an 8 (only an EP with two great songs and some filler). I really like some moments on Hysteria but as an album it drops to a generous 7.5, the last Human League album to rate that high. Significant diminishing returns since while Heaven 17 continued with very decent albums until the generally lousy Before and After.
Dare / "Don't You Want Me" were the blueprint for 80's Synth pop. Heaven 17 had some very good singles / albums but none that come close in terms of influence. I've listened to a fair bit of Heaven 17 and nothing much has really grabbed me with the exception of "Temptation" which is a killer track and up there with the best of the Human League. Well I'd disagree but it's all subjective
Playing Dare and Penthouse back to back is one heck of an innovative synth-pop 1-2 punch. It is hard to argue influence when it comes to an album such as Dare but as much as I love The Human League, I'd be hard to turn down the career that Heaven 17 has put together. At the end of the day, the epic split led to two different camps producing some pretty great music. I'd say it is a win-win for us fans.