The Human League – The Virgin Years (Album – UMC / Virgin)
Genre/Influences: New-Wave, Electro-Pop.
Format: Digital, 5 Vinyl Box.
Background/Info: The title of the album speaks for itself. The Human League saw the light of day in 1977 and released their debut album “Reproduction” in 1977 followed by “Travelogue” in 1980. Both full lengths were released by Virgin, but this compilation brings the five albums with the ‘new’ line up. This is an opportunity to rediscover “Dare” (1981), “Fascination” (1983), “Hysteria” (1984), “Crash” (1986) and “Romantic” (1990). This is a box featuring five vinyls with different colors.
Content: The Human League were part of the early New-Wave movement, the song being composed with mainly electronics. This is an opportunity to get back to some of the band’s most famous hits like “Don’t You Want Me”, “The Lebanon”, “Mirror Man”, “Fascination” and the sweet “Louise”. The work also brings us to more Funky passages while both last albums were more into a kind of sweet Pop.
+ + + : The package is a nice gift for all fans while the content is a way to remind us of the genius and impact of this band. Nearly 40 years later songs like “Don’t You Want Me”, “The Lebanon” and “Mirror Man” don’t suffer from the weight of time. This is the great sound of the 80s New-Wave movement and The Human League were part of it.
– – – : I simply regret both debut albums -still being part of the ‘Virgin years’ haven’t been featured. During these years they released the legendary song “Being Boiled” which I personally consider as their best track ever. I’m not into the albums “Crash” and “Romantic” where the original magic was a bit gone.
Conclusion: This box is a little piece of music history and the New-Wave movement.
Best songs: “The Lebanon”, “Don’t You Want Me”, “Mirror Man”, “Fascination”.
Rate: 8.
Artist: www.thehumanleague.co.uk / www.facebook.com/thehumanleague
Label: www.universalmusicrecordings.com / www.facebook.com/UMRecordings / www.virginrecords.com Read the news on ‘The Virgin Years’.
About The Human League
The Human League is an English synth-pop band formed in Sheffield in 1977. The group signed to Virgin Records in 1979 and released the debut album “Reproduction” the same year, followed by “Travelogue” in 1980. After Ian Craig Marsh and Martyn Ware left to form Heaven 17, Philip Oakey rebuilt the line-up with Joanne Catherall, Susan Ann Sulley and Jo Callis for the 1981 album “Dare”, which produced the number one single “Don’t You Want Me”. “The Virgin Years” gathers the five studio albums recorded with that line-up, from “Dare” through “Romantic” (1990), across a five-vinyl box set.
Support Side-Line
More people read Side-Line than ever, and there is still no paywall and no advertising. Readers pay for it instead - from $5 a month.
Why we ask
Advertising revenues across the media are falling fast. Unlike many news organisations we have not put up a paywall, and we refuse to add annoying advertising, so we need to ask for your help. Side-Line’s independent journalism takes time, money and hard work to produce, and we do it to push the artists we like, who are equally fighting to survive.
Handled by PayPal.
I have been working for over 30 years with Side-line as the main reviewer. My taste is eclectic, uncoventional and I prefer to look for the pearls, even if the bands are completely unknown, thus staying loyal to the Side-Line philosophy of nurturing new talents.
