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| Apparently
a spoof instrumental, of which two mixes are known to exist
(one being five and a half minutes long and in stereo, the other
being around two minutes shorter and in mono). The longer version
was almost released on The
Future Tapes and the track is also known to some as Duchamp
Duchamp Dada Vortex. |
|
According to Ian, the track had "a really strange thing occurring
that wasn't put on (the tape) by either of us. It was on my
machine, a random thing like a guitar that kept coming in and
out. It was really emotive, the most emotive thing on the tape.
But it wasn't anything to do with what I was playing at all."
Although lacking a strong melody, the overall results work well;
the track features no percussion, relying purely on intertwining
textures to create a strange but serene effect which some might
regard as 'ambient'. |
| Released
on The
Golden Hour Of The Future |
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| As
much as the League loved the better disco music of their time,
they couldn't help but be aware of all the genre's 'naff' associations.
Asked whether the group were disco-biased in 1978, Martyn replied,
"No. I'd say we were dance-biased. Disco's a bit
of an evocative word, isn't it? You see all these people going
out in Birmingham bags and shiny suits..." |
| Dance
Like A Star
could be said to have been born from these mixed feelings; although
musically it sounds like a genuine attempt to write a futuristic
disco song, the words are meant to parody the inane lyrical
content of certain disco records. Unfortunately, many people
thought the dumb lyrics were meant to be taken seriously, so
the song was dropped from the group's live set in the summer
of 1978. |
| Six
versions of the song exist - three of them (one vocal, two instrumental)
based on the first arrangement, which sounds the more polished
of the two (the vocal version is available as an MP3 on the
Futuristic
Sounds page of this site). One of the instrumental versions
is simply a minute of incidental sounds and both were almost
released on The
Future Tapes. |
| The
other three versions are based on the same backing track - two
vocal versions (each with different spoken introductions) and
one near-instrumental version, containing only Martyn's backing
vocals (suggesting this was probably just a backing track for
live performance). This arrangement has a lot more energy than
its predecessor. |
| Lyrics |
| Vocal
version of first arrangement released on Dance
Like A Star (as 'version 2') |
| Vocal
version of second arrangement released on some editions of the
'Human League cassette', and on Dance
Like A Star (as 'version 1') and The
Golden Hour Of The Future |
| All
other versions unreleased |
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| This
instrumental was recorded by both The Future and The Human League,
although it's likely that both versions feature only Martyn
and Ian. |
| Although
it was about seventy-five seconds longer than the League's version,
the Future version is otherwise very similar, using the same
basic melodies and rhythm. When released on the Holiday '80
singles, the League's version was listed on the record sleeve
as "recorded opposite Kelvin Flats, Sheffield on budget
Sony 2-track Nov 77 by Ian + Martyn as The Future". |
| Future
version unreleased |
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| This
Future track sounds a lot like the group experimenting with
their reverberation equipment. It consists of little more than
noises being processed with short, sharp echo effects, and the
only vocals used are the occasional deadpan and heavily-treated
pronounciation of the track's title. |
| It's
extremely unlikely that this track will ever be used in a commercial
for Daz washing powder. |
| Lyrics:
"Daz" (over and over) |
| Released
on The
Golden Hour Of The Future |
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This
is an alternate version of Treatment ,
featuring rough lead vocals by Martyn, who sings very different
lyrics to those which would be used when the song was again
re-titled Austerity
for the Reproduction
album. |
| This
title would have been used for Treatment, had it been
released on the cancelled album, The
Future Tapes. |
| Lyrics |
| Unreleased
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| Although
the League initially described The Dignity Of Labour
as a three-part work, the three original components were actually
created independently as separate instrumental pieces. Only
later did the group decide to link them with a theme, and when
the first part appeared on early demo cassettes, it featured
Philip describing the theme. When commercially released, this
narrative was removed from the first part, and a new fourth
part was added. |
| The
first part sets the tone for the whole EP; there's a tune there
if you listen hard enough, but most people would have trouble
persevering with the patience-testing arrangement for more than
a minute. Anyone skipping to part two in search of melody would
be disappointed; this is the most unnerving of the four segments.
Brutal sounds attack the listener throughout, with the only
respite coming in the middle of the track, when everything stops
abruptly for a moment, before fading back in. |
| Part
three chugs along without actually going anywhere until light
relief arrives halfway through the track, with some semblance
of melody. This is perhaps the only segment that is recognisable
as The Human League. The fourth part is again lacking in conventional
melody, but is thankfully considerably softer than its predecessors.
One gets the impression though that the group were simply improvising
on this track. |
| Overall,
the four-part work is easily the most difficult of the group's
official releases, and in retrospect was just about the least
likely bridge between the first and third singles (Being
Boiled
and I Don't Depend On You)
imaginable. Considering the League were keen to be accepted
as a mainstream pop group, this was a truly bizarre release.
|
| Writing
in Mojo magazine in 2003, Jon Savage had this to say
about the record: "Being Boiled gets all the attention,
but their second release - now forgotten - contained four slices
of ground-breaking electronica: melodic pulses and loops that
made the perfect soundtrack for motoring through the night.
This early slice of propulsive ambience offers a possible direction
that would not be fully explored for 15 years." |
| The
Dignity Of Labour actually takes its name from a mural seen
in one of the League's favourite films, Stanley Kubrick's adaption
of Anthony Burgess's novel, A Clockwork Orange, a movie
which would later also provide Martyn and Ian with a name for
their post-League project, Heaven 17. |
| Useless
trivia: part three of The Dignity Of Labour was apparently
used as incidental music for a drag-racing feature on the BBC
children's television show, Jim'll Fix It...! |
| Narrative |
| Released
on the 'Human
League cassette', The
Dignity Of Labour, Reproduction
(CD only) and the Rigour, Discipline And Disgust compilation
(see Compilations
part one) |
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| An
early League track, seemingly about the frustration, loneliness
and violence associated with the disco/nightclub scene. |
| The
song may never have been completed, as only a rough version
is known to exist, which is quite dark and introspective (see
the Futuristic
Sounds page for an mp3 of this recording). However, it's
unsurprising that the song never made it onto a record, as it's
certainly one of the group's less memorable moments. An instrumental
version also exists, but it's simply a slightly edited version
of the vocal version without the voices. |
| Lyrics |
| Released
on some editions of the 'Human
League cassette'
and The
Golden Hour Of The Future |
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| A
hilarious mock radio commercial for Dominion, "the drug
which gives the clown power" in Circus Of Death. |
| Philip
narrates the track, which is set to a bizarre psychedelic backing.
The League recorded it for possible inclusion on Reproduction,
but by the time they began recording the album, the idea had
been abandoned. |
| Narrative |
| Released
on The
Golden Hour Of The Future |
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| Also
known as the 'Human League jingle', this brief piece of music
was used extensively in the group's early days, at live shows
and on demo cassettes. Intended as a kind of 'signature tune',
it consisted of a few minatory chimes and other-worldly voices,
and would be used between songs. |
|
At the League's early live shows, the jingle was played after
almost every song, which the group probably realised was over-repetitive.
The jingle was soon dropped, but later reappeared in the opening
section of the album version of Circus Of Death. |
| Released
unofficially on In
Darkness (bootleg), and officially on some editions of the
'Human
League cassette' and on Reproduction
(as part of Circus Of Death), and also on The
Golden Hour Of The Future (unlisted on sleeve) |
| Also included
on the 'Taverner
tape' |
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| An
early version of this track was recorded by The Future in 1977,
at which point it was an instrumental piece with little in common
with the League's later version. Only an excerpt of this was
included on The Future's much-bootlegged demo tape, and their
full-length version has rarely been heard. When revisited for
the Travelogue album, the music was greatly expanded
and lyrics were added. |
| For
many, this song is one of the highlights of that album. Reviewing
it for Sounds in May 1980, Dave McCullogh accurately
described it as "an evocative anthem" and "astonishing,
original and totally captivating". Like many of the most
effective League songs, the lyrics fire the listener's imagination,
describing the plight of the narrator who finds himself an enemy
of a political regime and longs to escape to more congenial
surroundings. |
| Combined
with these words, the music works extraordinarily well, initially
expressing the desperation of the narrator's situation. This
develops into a harsh, driving militaristic rhythm in the central
instrumental section, which gives way to a strange dream-like
passage (incidentally, this instrumental interlude was not part
of the original Travelogue recording and was inserted
later in the sessions; when the song was performed live, this
section would be omitted). |
| The
song then ends with the optimism of the final verses and the
warmth and grace of the closing sequence - a rare moment of
beauty in the League's early output. |
| Lyrics |
| The
Future's version unreleased |
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