The band often talk about how "we should have put an album out late 1982 or early 1983" so I wonder what might be in the vaults. A lot of the Hysteria tracks feel like songs dating back a year or more. It doesn't have the feel of a 1984 record. There was probably enough material, but for various reasons they ended up being jettisoned. Doesn't Heart Like A Wheel even date back as far as 1982? Crash is a strange one because while the Jam & Lewis production is utterly pristine and still sounds great, the songs they brought to the project were mostly clunkers. The band's own songs were better (Human aside, obviously). EG.
Felt like Dare again last night (as always I skipped Don’t You Want Me though), and another example of what I was on about above, is that moment in Love Action when Sulley and Catherall just once, distantly echo Oakey and sing “hard times” behind his line “I’ve had my hard times in the past..”. Very cool.
After Hysteria the band worked on an album with Colin Thurston again. How far that got, and what was on it is a mystery. But that was scrapped and Crash was the result. Obviously none of the Jam & Lewis songs would have been on the Thurston album but I wonder how many band written songs made it over? A track called Millions was (I think) performed live at a one off charity gig around 1985. They have thrown away songs, there's a great one from the Secrets era called Underground for example. And SH5 on the Anthology (early version of Liar) is almost a different song, the lyrics are totally different. The Anthology was disappointing in many ways, but the lack of totally unheard tracks was a real shame. Both Hard Times and Non-Stop had full lyrics at one stage, and Do Or Die began life as Love And Dancing, again with totally different lyrics.
Released today! I've ordered mine but I only wish the track list was in chronological order Still, can't complain for £5
The Human League To Celebrate 'Dare' 40th Anniversary With 2021 UK Arena Tour - Stereoboard The Human League Upcoming Tour Dates are as follows Fri December 03 2021 - LEEDS first direct Arena Sat December 04 2021 - BIRMINGHAM Utilita Arena Mon December 06 2021 - HULL Bonus Arena Tue December 07 2021 - NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE O2 City Hall Thu December 09 2021 - GLASGOW SSE Hydro Fri December 10 2021 - MANCHESTER Arena Sat December 11 2021 - LONDON SSE Arena Wembley Mon December 13 2021 - NOTTINGHAM Royal Concert Hall Tue December 14 2021 - SWINDON Oasis Leisure Centre Thu December 16 2021 - BRIGHTON Centre Fri December 17 2021 - CARDIFF Motorpoint Arena Sat December 18 2021 - BOURNEMOUTH BIC later -1
I think this was just before it changed to the magazine format. That happened in mid-1982 I think. Who’s the guy at the bottom of the photo who looks like Zoe Wanamaker?
Oh man thanks for the news. I hope the corona issue will be all settled and good to travel. Never the less me and my wife are planning to travel next year by this time. Were heading for Japan then were gonna try to go UK. Which of these venues would you say that is really good in sound? Over here in the US a lot of people goes to staple center. I never like it there. first of all the sound is not good and secondly the arena was made like a mad max arena that's full of wild animals. a commercial gimmick. The best sounding auditorium here in the west side US is the Hollywood bowl, the Greek theatre Griffith park, Santa Barbara bowl, indoor is Thomas and Mack Las Vegas, and the Orpheum Los Angeles. I saw simple minds at the Orpheum. That was a jackpot and top 5 best shows Ive seen. They announced the show only 3 days in advance ant it was still full. The sound was just incredible. What a total drop jaw experience.
Fantastic, I absolutely loved weekly music magazines and papers, it’s so strange that they have completely gone now. Looking back it’s almost like another world, fan clubs, weekly papers and magazines, TOTP, records shops everywhere. It just makes me feel rather sad....
Jo Callis that their Manager Bob Last took from the Rezillos to give The Human League more songwriting ability. He split The Human League in two, creating the two bands. Bob had originally signed the band to his Edinburgh based Fast Product label.
The Rezillos had already split when Jo Callis joined the Human League, The Rezillos split at the end of 1978 and he joined The Human League in 1981.
The Human League toured as support to the Rezillos as well - so Adrian and Philip already knew Jo. Jo also said in an interview somewhere that on that tour Adrian had shown him some lyrics he'd written and 3 years later finished the song together. I'm assuming that was either Darkness or Hellzapoppin', the vocal version of Non-Stop that's never seen the light of day as they're the only two credited solely to Callis/Wright.
I still enjoy my needle drop of the 12" single; Don't You Want Me" ...a few versions included...love the instrumental version...
So anyone know what they're up to? I enjoyed Credo even if I still like other albums from them more. Still. I'd love to have another. Are they working on anything?
There’s about 3 or 4 cuts of Reproduction that came out at the same time in the UK. I have the Utopia cut and the porky’s cut, there’s also a bilbo cut. Side 2 on the Porky cut has one of the smallest run offs I’ve ever seen, not quite 1 micron long but close.
They recently played their first live show since the pandemic on the summer festival circuit. This winter they will do a UK and Europe tour (well, places where they retain strong followings: Denmark/Germany/Netherlands) celebrating 40 years of Dare. Speculation but a superdeluxe edition of said album may well emerge around the same time. Heaven 17 will also do a Human League album show live next month in Sheffield and London - the first two records, of course, Reproduction and Travelogue. Philip declined the offer to be part of it. A long-awaited biography of the both bands is also expected late in the year (possibly pushed out to 2022 now), written by the music journalist David Buckley who has previously written fine books on Bowie and Kraftwerk. With regards to new music, I would be surprised if anything ever happens. By all accounts, Oakey potters away on his many synths but there doesn't seem to be much will to go through the rigmarole of a new record. Credo was met with a fairly muted reaction and that was also ten years in the making. They're all a decade older now and can still sell-out venues live and put on a hugely enjoyable show so there may be little imperative. Phil was a guest on Jools Holland and Vic Reeves podcast last week which was a nice surprise considering he doesn't really do many interviews anymore. He was asked what he had been up to during Lockdown. The phrase "making music" was conspicuous by its absence.
Ty for that update. Shame about the lack of new music to come. I hope that 40th anniversary tour reaches the US near me. I'd love to get a SDE of the album.
I first heard THL's single Love Action on the 7" version my sister used to play on my hifi system. I liked it, a lot. I bought the 12" version and liked it more - Side 1 had the original Hard Times & Love Action which nicely segued together using the "electonic miaow sounds" (?). I later bought the Virgin 3" CD single version of this which had the exact same content - segued HT/LA. I have never seen this version on any HL CD release - HT is always a standalone faded track. I think this is a really poor situation.
I saw mentioned on the result of my Google searching import cd versions of Travelogue (based on forum comments on Japanese recent releases being good) and found mention( importcds.com) of an October 2021 release which I couldn't find more info on. It mentioned bonus tracks making me think similar content as the previous IIRC 2017 release in Japan. Does anyone know about this supposed 2021 release in terms of compare/contrast to the 2017 one? I'm wondering if it's the same mastering and content etc just re-issued. If indeed it is since the 2017 ones are a bit pricey wondering if these will be cheaper and more available and I'd its just the one album or if others are to come. Any insight appreciated.
