Almost
Medieval
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Morale... |
Circus
Of Death
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You've
Lost That Lovin' Feeling |
The
Path Of Least Resistance
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Austerity
/ Girl One [medley] |
Blind
Youth
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Zero
As A Limit |
The
Word Before Last
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Empire
State Human
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additional
tracks on CD:
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The
Human League's debut album was recorded at the Workshop studio on
Sheffield's Love Street between the 4th and 21st of July 1979, and
was mixed and overdubbed at producer Colin Thurston's Red Bus studio
in London. The
group had mixed feelings about the results.
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Ian: "Doing it was great. We thought 'Wow, this sounds fantastic,
great'. But it was only a few months later when we listened to it
on our normal systems that we decided it was lacking in quite a
major way in several areas."
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The
album also received lukewarm reviews in many music publications
and the sleeve, depicting the trampling of babies (one of them apparently
the child of Slade vocalist, Noddy Holder), was deemed distasteful
by the public. As a result, the album did not immediately sell as
well as the group and Virgin had expected (though it did eventually
enter the UK charts on 22nd August 1981, peaking at Number 49 and
spending a total of 23 weeks in the Top 75).
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This
initial cool reception was a pity, as the album featured many innovative
ideas, and when the melodies were not overpowered by the sometimes
harsh percussion and stark electronic sounds, the overall effect
was quite stunning.
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The
second track, Circus Of Death, is a re-recorded version of
the Being
Boiled B-side. You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling is a cover
of the song made famous in the 1960s by The Righteous Brothers.
Empire
State Human was the only single released from the album.
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The
CD re-issues usefully add all the tracks from the first three Human
League singles (not including I
Don't Depend On You,
which was released under the pseudonym of The Men). Note though
that some of these tracks are not taken from the original master
tapes, but have been transferred from the original records, and
surface noise is occasionally audible.
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Curiously,
the CD version included small changes to two of the original album
tracks - Almost Medieval and The Path Of Least Resistance.
Also, the Fast Product version of Circus Of Death lacks the
short sample of dialogue included at the end of the Being Boiled
B-side.
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One
other small point - the extra track Being Boiled does not
fade out, as on the original single release and the 1988 Greatest
Hits compilation, but is presented in its entirety. It's possible
that the master tape for this track no longer exists, at least in
its original form, as synthesizer overdubs and new vocals were added
to the track for one of the group's demo tapes, though hopefully
this is not the case.
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| Note:
initial copies of the 2003 remastered CD listed Circus Of Death
as Circus Of Love (!). This was rectified on later copies. |
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All
tracks written by Marsh/Oakey/Ware, except You've Lost That Lovin'
Feeling (Spector/Mann/Weil) and The Dignity Of Labour [Parts
1-4] (Marsh/Ware)
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Produced
by The Human League & Colin Thurston, except *The Human League
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Available
on: Reproduction CD (Virgin CDVR 2133)
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