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| It's
likely that New Pink Floyd was simply a working title
for this track, though as no other title was listed on the tape
box when it was recently rediscovered, it has been released
with this title. |
| The
track is a discordant instrumental, featuring little in the
way of conventional melody and using harsh metallic sounds,
probably achieved by the application of distortion and gating
effects to the synthesizer's outputs. |
| Released
on The
Golden Hour Of The Future |
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The
first time the League attempted to cover this Iggy Pop / David
Bowie composition, they found themselves writing Circus Of
Death
instead. On the next attempt, they came up with a similar arrangement
to the original version (found on Iggy's first album of 1977,
The Idiot), which they would regularly perform live. |
| When
the group decided to create a medley of this track and Rock
'N' Roll
for live performance, it wasn't long before the odd coupling
found its way onto record, as the closing track on the Holiday
'80 double single. However, this release was quickly deleted
in favour of a single record, from which all trace of Night
Clubbing was removed. |
| Although
the League would sometimes play Rock 'N' Roll separately
at concerts after this, the medley was still performed live
from time to time; they even rehearsed an extended eight-minute
version in which Night Clubbing was performed at a slower
speed, but it's not clear whether this arrangement was ever
played live. |
| Compared
to Iggy's version (which is actually titled Nightclubbing,
i.e. one word), the League's recorded version is slightly faster
and more crisply produced, and naturally omits the original
closing guitar solo. |
| Lyrics |
| Released
on Holiday
'80 double single and Travelogue
(CD only) |
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| An
early version of The Word Before Last,
with only minor lyrical and musical differences. The track was
recorded during the group's session for BBC Radio One DJ John
Peel. |
| The
earlier demo of this song had been titled Again The Eye Again,
though it's likely that the demo appeared on some editions of
the 'Human
League cassette' under the name of No Time. |
| Lyrics |
| Radio One
session version released (unofficially) on In
Darkness |
|
| Once
Upon A Time In The West [Funeral March] |
|
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| This
is the League's version of Ennio Morricone's instrumental Funeral
March from Sergio Leone's epic western, Once Upon A Time
In The West (1969). |
|
As might be expected, the piece is a slow-paced, brooding affair,
in a similar vein to the League's other cover of music from
a movie soundtrack, King Of Kings. |
| Released
on The
Golden Hour Of The Future |
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| A
version of the Ronson / Richardson composition, originally found
on 1974's Slaughter On 10th Avenue, the debut solo album
by David Bowie's Ziggy Stardust-era guitarist, Mick Ronson. |
| Whereas
the original was heavily rooted in Ronson's classic Spiders
Of Mars style, the League present the song as an uptempo electro-bop,
which is arguably equally as effective. This was almost released
as a single in the UK, but the group persuaded Virgin to instead
package it as a free disc with the reissued Empire
State Human
single. |
| Lyrics |
| Released
on Travelogue
and Only
After Dark |
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| The
original title for the song Blind Youth.
The first recording was released on early demo cassettes circulated
to record companies, and was introduced by the mythical Jason
Taverner as an "optimistic anthem". |
| Lyrics |
| Released
as Blind Youth (demo) on the 'Human
League cassette' and (unofficially) on In
Darkness |
| Also included
as Blind Youth on the 'Taverner
tape' |
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| This
track was recorded three times by the League before evolving
into Introducing.
However, the first two versions bear very little resemblance
to that track, and the only thing all four recordings have in
common is a fast tempo and the use of the same notes in the
riff which occurs throughout, though even the riff is played
very differently on the first two versions.
|
| Opening
with around thirty seconds of bleeps, explosions and incoherent
words, the first version then cuts to dialogue from John Carpenter's
film Dark Star ("Hi guys... glad we got your message.
You'll be interested to hear it was broadcast live all over
Earth in primetime..."). The track then switches to a minute
or so of galloping percussion, which sounds remarkably like
something which might have emerged from the techno scene a decade
or more later. Chess champion Garry Kasparov also appears on
the track; he happened to be giving an interview on the television
while the League were recording the track, so they decided to
throw in an excerpt from the programme. |
| The
second version is around twice the length of the first, using
the same opening sequence with added effects, followed by a
much-extended version of the track's main body. This section
is less sparse than the first version, as it features repetitive
synthesizer overdubs and some of the sound effects and dialogue
which would later appear in Introducing. However, the
overall effect is slightly tedious as the track seems to go
on and on without ever changing a great deal until it speeds
up and ends with a synthesized 'explosion'. |
| This
third recording is far more recognisable as Introducing,
using a very similar rhythm track, the same ominous three-note
bass pattern and sharing many of the sound effects, such as
sirens, alarm bells and explosions. The only major differences
are that Introducing ends with dialogue not used on this
track, and this recording is split into three distinct parts
(listed separately on some bootlegs as Overkill Disaster,
Crash and Overkill Disaster reprise). |
| The
first part lasts around three minutes and its arrangement is
generally similar to the released version of Introducing,
if a little less powerful. The second part uses a slowed-down
version of the familiar percussive tape loop as a base, and
is dominated by a buzzing synthesizer sound. |
|
Although initially fairly menacing, this sound soon begins to
grate, especially towards the end, when it seems as though the
player is simply ad-libbing, meandering around with no particular
place to go, or tune to play. The final part is simply a 47-second
reprise of the first part, on which Philip sings eight lines
of lyrics, half of them almost indecipherable and none of retained
for Introducing. This is what they probably are: |
| "Here
it comes, once again |
| Disaster
strikes beasts and men |
| The building
burns, the vehicles crash |
| The
bridge will fall, two tankers smash |
| Suburbs
will quake, waves will tide |
| Sharks
will bite, worlds collide |
| Submarines
sink, airships fall |
| Parachutes
fail and tigers maul..." |
| (Words
and music by Marsh / Oakey / Ware, published by Virgin Music
[Publishers] Ltd.) |
| First
version released on The
Golden Hour Of The Future |
| Second
and third versions unreleased |
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