🎵 AotW The Human League - DARE (SP-4892)

[LPJim]

The Human League
DARE
A&M SP-4892

Synthesizer - Ian Burden, Jo Callis, Phillip Adrian Wright & Phillip Oakey (vocals)
Vocals - Joanne Catherall & Susanne Sulley
Producer - The Human League & Martin Rushent

SIDE ONE:

The Things That Dreams Are Made Of (Oakey/Wright) 4:14
Open Your Heart (Callis/Oakey) 3:53
The Sound of the Crowd (Burden/Oakey) 3:56
Darkness (Callis/Wright) 3:56
Do or Die (Buden/Oakey) 5:23

SIDE TWO:

Get Carter (Budd) 1:02
I Am the Law (Oakey/Wright) 4:14
Seconds (Callis/Oakey/Wright) 4:58
Love Action (I Believe in Love) -- Burden/Oakey -- 4:58
Don't You Want Me (Callis-Oakey-Wright) 3:56

Programmed by Dave Allen, assisted by Martin Rushent
Recorded at Genetic Sound
Released 1981; peaked at #3 in the U.S. Top 200 Albums; charted 38 weeks
Available also as CD 4892

Please visit the official website for more information:

www.thehumanleague.co.uk/



JB

 

[jfiedler17]

Ah! An '80s classic! Definitely the strongest studio album in their catalog [all their subsequent full-lengths would suffer from an overabundance of filler, though they still have their great moments - i.e. "Louise," "The Lebanon," "Life on Your Own" from Hysteria; "Human" from Crash (I still have to marvel to this day at how Jam & Lewis were able to coax a vocal performance like that out of Phil Oakey, of all people); "Heart Like a Wheel" from Romantic?]. "Don't You Want Me?", of course, is the best and most famous song on here, but there's a lot of other fun tunes here that tend to get overlooked, like "The Things That Dreams Are Made Of," "Open Your Heart," and "The Sound of the Crowd," and I'm not quite sure how "Love Action (I Believe in Love)" missed the charts here in the States. If not for "Don't You Want Me?," "Love Action" would probably be my favorite single of theirs. (The intro is especially addictive and well-executed. That song's got a fantastic instrumental backing.)

 

[Rudy]

I remember an interview with the band, where they mentioned tapping into the KC & The Sunshine Band sound for "Don't You Want Me". You can really hear it on the chorus. This type of synth-pop was what the early 80s was all about.

The 12" single I have of this track is horrible though. It was back when remixes were in this phase of being instrumental for about 80% of the track, then having a heavily echoed refrain of the chorus to close it out. Yes's "Owner Of A Lonely Heart" did this also, along with a few others I bought. They never get into the melody.

 

[Captain Bacardi]

When this album came out I was driving an ice cream truck in the summer between semesters at Ball State. I had a radio that would only play the Top 40 tunes, and "Don't You Want Me" was constantly playing over and over and over and over. Can't stand listening to anything by this group anymore.



Capt. Bacardi

 

[Dave]

Well, like it or not, this multitude of British Groups signed to A&M in this era, did pay off, w/ this bunch...

The Human League & Dare put A&M in the best spotlight w/ "Fascination" (my fav' by HL) following right behind...


-- Dave

 

[AM Matt]

Those drum beats makes my head ache!! Matt Clark Sanford, MI

 

[A&Mguyfromwayback]

"Don't You Want Me" is one of those guilty pleasure goofy pop songs that doesn't seem to take itself too seriously.....and "Fascination" has that cool, almost creepy synth figure that fades in and out. Then they reinvented themselves with "Human" (OK, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis reinvented them......I wonder whose idea it was putting them together - Herb? Jerry?)

 

[jfiedler17]

Totally agreed about "(Keep Feeling) Fascination." Great, great song. That synth figure is kinda creepy-sounding, but it works. Actually, that whole EP (Fascination!) has a mildly creepy tone to it; I actually remember being really weirded out as a little kid by how the remix of "Fascination" that closes the EP ends mid-sentence. ("And it seems a little time is - ") Not sure why they did that, but it was a bit unsettling. I'm also not sure why they ended up revisiting - in the form of a much inferior mix, at that - "I Love You Too Much" on the next full-length (Hysteria). I've always found that strange.

Actually, I think it was Oakey's idea to work with Jam and Lewis. I remember hearing an interview with him many years ago where he talked about how he kinda got bored post-Fascination! by most of the other music coming out back then but got really hooked on (and became heavily influenced by) the S.O.S. Band albums that Jam and Lewis worked on. But then, that also could've just been a cover story to avoid admitting it was forced on them. From all the stories I've heard, the sessions did end on awfully acrimonious terms and, obviously, they never worked together again. (The band also never had another Top Ten hit again, unfortunately, though "Heart Like a Wheel" grazed the lower regions of the Top 40 and their post-A&M single "Tell Me When" did the same.)

 

[Captain Bacardi]

John McLain was the man behind getting Jam & Lewis to work with Human League as well as Herb Alpert.



Capt. Bacardi