blackleatherbookshelf | My Amazon Reviews: The Human League "The Very Best Of"

They're Only Human
4 Out of 5 Stars

The Human League had one moment of pure genius in their heyday. In the 80's, when the flood of cheap synthesizers made every art student in the UK into a pop-wannabe, most of them channeled arty-angst into their music. They even started that way, with future Heaven 17 members Martyn Ware and Ian Marsh. But after they left and Phillip Oakley took charge of the band, The Human League dumped the Kraftwerk/Can influences and decided candyfloss was more fun. Oakey recruited schoolgirls pals Susanne Sulley and Joanne Catherall to handle additional vocals. Before you knew it, they'd come up with the first all-synth 'boy-meets-girl-boy-loses-girl' hit, "Don't You Want Me."

Thus was a revolution born. They may have already had a few singles in the UK ("Sound of The Crowd," the artier "Being Boiled"), but the international floodgates were open. Hookish ditties like "Keep Feeling Fascination" (US Cart Position #8) might have made it on the US Charts, but great singles like "Mirror Man" and Oakley's great collaboration with Giorgio Morodor, "Together In Electric Dreams," missed. It seemed that The Human League were on their way to washing out with most of the rest of the early 80's new wave.

Then they pulled a hard right that no-one was expecting; they teamed up with red-hot R'n'B producers Terry Lewis and Jimmy Jam, who wanted to prove they were more than Janet Jackson's producers and former Time-men. The duo pulled a Minneapolis on The Human League, gave them a perfect break-up ballad and "Human" went to number one. However, that was all the momentum the band could muster. The next album, "Romantic?" did not even chart in America and the single "Heart Like A Wheel" got little attention. However, the big and memorable songs are spread well across this 17 song collection. It's probably all The Human League you'll need.