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The
a-side of the only early League record to feature guitars, drums
or female vocals, this song was released under the name
The Men and made for an unlikely follow-up to The
Dignity Of Labour .
A sublime, sophisticated disco track, it dispenses with the
group's usual lyrical obscurity for a frank assessment of complacency
in human relationships. It also recycles the main synthesizer
riff from Being Boiled! |
| Philip:
"I can't imagine why we did The Men. We were always fascinated
by disco. It was so alien to us... I remember Martyn coming
in and saying we should do that sort of stuff, and he had Let's
All Chant by the Michael Zager Band in his hand. So we tried
to do that, but thought we'd better not call it The Human League.
It was probably a really stupid move." |
| Writing
for the New Musical Express in 1990, Stuart Maconie remarked
that the song's musical style "jars quite noticeably with
the period. Utterly commercial, the irritating bleep-content
is all but lost under lashings of catchy Euro-Pop sheen (with
prophetic female backing to boot). The HL were quite clearly
ahead of their own time, never mind anyone else's." |
| A
cover of this song was produced by Martyn and Ian in 1981 for
Hot Gossip's Geisha Boys And Temple Girls album. It was
released as a single the following year - see Miscellaneous
Releases (part one) for details. |
| Lyrics |
| Original
version released on I
Don't Depend On You, Travelogue
(CD only) and Methods Of Dance (Volume 2) compilation
- see Compilations
(part two). |
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| This
was a charming early title for the song which later became The
Black Hit Of Space.
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| Presumably,
this title was used as a temporary name for the track before
it had lyrics, as some of the synthesized sounds have something
of a 'gargling' quality...! |
| Released
as The Black Hit Of Space on Travelogue
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| An
early Human League instrumental from 1978, this featured on
many of the group's demo cassettes. On one cassette compilation
issued to record companies, Philip took on the guise of an imaginary
television presenter named Jason Taverner and introduced various
tracks; Interface was described as a track the League
had written for his best-selling record There'll Be A Good
Time With Taverner Tonight...! |
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Surprisingly, the track was never officially released, but an
MP3 of the demo is available on the Futuristic
Sounds page of this site. There has been much confusion
over the title of this track, and many know it as The Year
Of The Jet Packs,
which is a different instrumental. |
| (Note
that the MP3 is the incomplete version as included on a number
of bootlegs, and omits the opening sequence which borrows from
Elmer Bernstein's musical West Side Story.) |
| Released
on some editions of the 'Human
League cassette' and on The
Golden Hour Of The Future, and unofficially on In
Darkness (mis-labelled Year Of The Jet Packs) |
| Also included
on the 'Taverner
tape' |
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| Based
on elements of an earlier demo, Overkill Disaster Crash,
this is perhaps the sound of the League at their most perverse;
a demented mix of bleeps, sirens, alarm bells and explosions
over a sinister three-note bass riff, which still manages to
be darkly comic (it's hard to take seriously the screams into
the radio transmitter at the end of the track!). |
| Introducing
is perhaps the ideal song to play to anyone wishing to dismiss
The Human League as "that pop band who did Don't You
Want Me"... |
| 'Lyrics' |
| Released
on Empire
State Human
and Reproduction
(CD only) |
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| This
track was to have opened the League's 'unique automated cabaret'
shows, supporting Talking Heads on their 1979 UK tour (see The
Way It Was: Automatic Stations). |
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This piece
became known as King Of Kings because it is the League's
interpretation of some music composed by Miklos Rozsa for
the 1961 film of this name, directed by Nicholas Ray. The
correct title for the piece is unconfirmed at the time of
writing.
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| Released
on The
Golden Hour Of The Future |
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