Category: The Human League

Human League – Sound Of The Crowd (UK 12″)

BURNING THE GROUND EXCLUSIVE 1981

“The Sound of the Crowd” is a song by the British synthpop group The Human League. It became the band’s commercial breakthrough, reaching #12 on the UK Singles Chart in May 1981.

Written jointly by lead singer Philip Oakey and keyboard player Ian Burden, the song was recorded at Genetic Sound Studios, Reading, in March 1981. Originally released as a stand-alone single in April 1981, it was subsequently re-recorded and incorporated into the studio album Dare, later in the year.

“The Sound Of The Crowd” was the first Human League song to feature female vocals, from new band members Susan Ann Sulley and Joanne Catherall, interacting with Philip Oakey’s baritone lead.

Apart from the catchy imperatives such as “Get in line now!” and “Get around town!”, the song contains some more obscure lyrics such as “Make a shroud pulling combs through a backwash frame” and “Stroke a pocket with a print of a laughing sound”. Discussing the song in a 2009 interview Ian Burden said:

On The Sound of the Crowd I scribbled down some stream-of-consciousness words so that I could demonstrate the vocal parts to him (Oakey) without having to do the naff la-la-la-hum-hum-hum type of explanation. He went off and wrote a new chorus vocal, but surprisingly kept my verse lyrics!

The single was the first to feature a distinctive, though short-lived, marketing tactic, where Human League singles were labeled ‘Red’ or ‘Blue’ to help buyers differentiate between the band’s musical styles. ‘Red’ was for dance tracks, ‘Blue’ for pop songs. “The Sound Of The Crowd” was designated ‘Red’. When asked to explain the system, vocalist Sulley explained that “Red is for posers, for Spandy (Spandau Ballet) types.” Oakey added: “Blue is for ABBA fans.”

The group first appeared on Top of the Pops to perform the song on 30 April 1981 when it was at no. 53 in the UK Singles Chart. The single entered the UK Top 40 a week later at no. 34 and after three weeks it reached its peak position of no. 12. A second Top of the Pops performance took place on 21 May 1981 when the single was at no. 15.

The original 7″ B side “The Sound of the Crowd (Add Your Voice)” is an instrumental remix of the A-side, an edit of which was later used as the closing track of the remix album Love and Dancing, issued in 1982 under the name of The League Unlimited Orchestra. A longer instrumental version of “The Sound of the Crowd” was featured on the B side to the 12″ release.

SIDE A:
The Sound Of The Crowd (Complete) 6:28

SIDE B:
The Sound Of The Crowd (Instrumental) 4:10

VINYL GRADE:
Vinyl: Near Mint
Sleeve: Near Mint

RELEASE INFORMATION:
Label: Virgin ‎– VS 416-12
Format: Vinyl, 12″, 45 RPM, Single
Country: UK
Released: 20 Apr 1981
Genre: Electronic, Pop
Style:Synth-pop

CREDITS:
Mastered By [Disc Cut At Tape 1 By] – Denis Blackham
Photography By [Photographs By] – Adrian Wright*
Producer – Martin Rushent, The Human League
Written-By – Burden*, Oakey*

NOTES:
RED

“Still vocals and synthesizers only.”

Etched in A-side runout groove: A BILBO ELECTRONIC BOPPA!

Find the 12″ on DISCOGS

VINYL RESTORATION BY:
-DjPaulT
burningtheground.net

EQUIPMENT USED:
Turntable: Pro-Ject Debut Carbon (DC)
Cartridge: Ortofon 2M
Stylus: Ortofon 2M Bronze
Isolation: Auralex Acoustics ISO-Tone Turntable Isolation Platform
Platter: Pro-Ject Acryl-It platter
Stabilizer: Pro-Ject Record Puck 
Phono Pre-amp: Bellari VP130 Tube Phono Preamp
Tube: Tung-Sol 12AX7 TubeGold Pins
Soundcard: Novation Audiohub 2×4 Audio Interface
Record Cleaning: VPI HW 16.5 Record Cleaning Machine
Artwork Scans: Epson Workforce WF-7610 Professional Printer/Scanner

SOFTWARE USED:
Recording/Editing: Adobe Audition 3.0 (Recording)
Down Sampling: iZotope RX Advanced 2, ocenaudio
Artwork Editor: Adobe Photoshop CS5
Click Removal: Manual
FLAC/MP3 Conversion: dBpoweramp
M3U Playlist: Playlist Creator

RESTORATION NOTES:
All vinyl rips are recorded @ 32bit/float
FLAC (Level Eight)
MP3 (320kbps)
Artwork scanned at 600dpi

The Human League – Don’t You Want Me (UK 12″)

BURNING THE GROUND EXCLUSIVE 1981

“Don’t You Want Me” is a single by British synthpop group The Human League, released on 27 November 1981 as the fourth single from their third studio album Dare (1981).

It is the band’s best known and most commercially successful recording and was the 1981 Christmas number one in the UK, where it has since sold over 1,560,000 copies, making it the 23rd most successful single in UK Singles Chart history. It later topped the Billboard Hot 100 in the US on 3 July 1982 where it stayed for three weeks. In 2015 the song was voted by the British public as the nation’s 7th favourite 1980s number one in a poll for ITV.

The lyrics were originally inspired after lead singer Philip Oakey read a photo-story in a teen-girl’s magazine. Originally conceived and recorded in the studio as a male solo, Oakey was inspired by the film A Star Is Born and decided to turn the song into a conflicting duet with one of the band’s two teenage female vocalists. Susan Ann Sulley was then asked to take on the role. Up until then, she and the other female vocalist Joanne Catherall had only been assigned backing vocals; Sulley says she was chosen only through “luck of the draw”. Musicians Jo Callis and Philip Adrian Wright created a synthesizer score to accompany the lyrics which was much harsher than the version that was actually released. Initial versions of the song were recorded but Virgin Records-appointed producer Martin Rushent was unhappy with them. He and Callis remixed the track, giving it a softer, and in Oakey’s opinion, “poppy” sound. Oakey hated the new version and thought it the weakest track on Dare, resulting in one of his infamous rows with Rushent. Oakey disliked it so much that it was relegated to the last track on side two of the (then) vinyl album.

Before the release of Dare, three of its tracks—”The Sound of the Crowd”, “Love Action (I Believe in Love)”, and “Open Your Heart”—had already been released as successful singles. With a hit album and three hit singles in a row, Virgin’s chief executive Simon Draper decided to release one more single from the album before the end of 1981. His choice, “Don’t You Want Me”, instantly caused a row with Oakey who did not want another single to be released because he was convinced that “the public were now sick of hearing The Human League” and the choice of the “poor quality filler track” would almost certainly be a disaster, wrecking the group’s new-found popularity. Virgin were adamant that a fourth single would be released and Oakey finally agreed on the condition that a large colour poster accompany the 7″ single, because he felt fans would “feel ripped off” by the ‘substandard’ single alone.

The Human League often added cryptic references to their productions and the record sleeve of “Don’t You Want Me” featured the suffix of “100”. This was a reference to The 100 Club, a restaurant/bar in Sheffield.

Today, the song is widely considered a classic of its era. In a retrospective review, Stephen Thomas Erlewine, senior editor for AllMusic, described the song as “a devastating chronicle of a frayed romance wrapped in the greatest pop hooks and production of its year.” Oakey still describes it as over-rated, but acknowledges his initial dismissal was misguided and claims pride in the track. Oakey is also at pains to point out another misconception: that it is not a love song, but “a nasty song about sexual power politics”.

“Don’t You Want Me” was released in the UK on 27 November 1981. The B side was “Seconds” another track lifted straight from the Dare album. Like previous singles, a 12″ version was also issued featuring the original version of “Don’t You Want Me” and “Seconds” on the A side and an “extended dance mix” lasting seven and a half minutes on the B side. This mix is also features on the Love and Dancing album released under the name of The League Unlimited Orchestra in 1982.
To the amazement of the band (and especially Oakey), it entered the UK Singles Chart at No.9 and shot to number one the following week, remaining there over the Christmas period for a total of five weeks. It ultimately became the biggest selling single to be released in 1981, and the fifth biggest selling single of the entire decade. Its success was repeated six months later in the US, with “Don’t You Want Me” hitting No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for three weeks. Billboard magazine ranked it as the sixth-biggest hit of 1982. The single was certified Gold by the RIAA the same year for sales of a million copies. It is notable as the first song featuring the revolutionary Linn LM-1 drum machine to hit No. 1 on the UK charts and also the first LM-1 track to top the Billboard Hot 100.

SIDE A:
Don’t You Want Me 3:57
Seconds 4:58

SIDE B:
Don’t You Want Me (Ext. Dance Mix) 7:30

VINYL GRADE:
Vinyl: Near Mint
Sleeve: Near Mint

U.S. CHART HISTORY:

Year Single Chart Position
1981 Don’t You want Me U.S. Billboard Hot 100 #1
1981 Don’t You want Me U.S. Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks #3
1981 Don’t You want Me U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Music/Club Play #4

 

RELEASE INFORMATION:
Label: Virgin ‎– VS 466-12, Virgin ‎– VS466-12
Format: Vinyl, 12″, 45 RPM, Single
Country: UK
Released: 23 Nov 1981
Genre: Electronic
Style: Synth-pop

CREDITS:
Producer – Martin Rushent, The Human League
Written-By – Callis*, Wright*, Oakey*

NOTES:
Thank you Gangsters restaurant, Sheffield.

Side A: Taken from the album “DARE”

Mastered at The Town House

Find the 12″ on DISCOGS

VINYL RESTORATION BY:
-DjPaulT
burningtheground.net

EQUIPMENT USED:
Turntable: Pro-Ject Debut Carbon (DC)
Cartridge: Ortofon 2M
Stylus: Ortofon 2M Bronze
Isolation: Auralex Acoustics ISO-Tone Turntable Isolation Platform
Platter: Pro-Ject Acryl-It platter
Stabilizer: Pro-Ject Record Puck 
Phono Pre-amp: Bellari VP130 Tube Phono Preamp
Tube: Sovtek 12AX7LPS Vacuum Tube
Soundcard: ESI Juli@
Record Cleaning: VPI HW 16.5 Record Cleaning Machine
Artwork Scans: Epson Workforce WF-7610 Professional Printer/Scanner

SOFTWARE USED:
Recording/Editing: Adobe Audition 3.0 (Recording)
Down Sampling: iZotope RX Advanced 2, ocenaudio
Artwork Editor: Adobe Photoshop CS5
Click Removal: Manual
FLAC/MP3 Conversion: dBpoweramp
M3U Playlist: Playlist Creator

RESTORATION NOTES:
All vinyl rips are recorded @ 32bit/float
FLAC (Level Eight)
MP3 (320kbps)
Artwork scanned at 600dpi

Human League – Human (US 12″)

BURNING THE GROUND EXCLUSIVE 1986

“Human” is a song recorded by British synthpop band The Human League, and released as the first single from their 1986 album Crash. The track, which deals with the subject of infidelity, was written and produced by Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis.

In 1985, the recording sessions for the Human League’s fifth album were not going well, and the band did not like the results, which was causing internal conflict. Virgin Records executives, worried by the lack of progress from their at-the-time most profitable signing, suggested the band accept an offer to work with producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, who already had material to work with; and had expressed an interest in the band from their U.S. releases. Jam and Lewis had recently emerged as in-demand talent due to their success with Janet Jackson and her Control album.

Of the ten songs on Crash, Jam and Lewis wrote three, “Human” being one of them. It is a mid-tempo ballad which lyrically is an exchange between a man and a woman in a relationship who have reunited after a separation. In the first two verses Philip Oakey is apologizing to his partner for being unfaithful during her absence, and in the song’s breakdown Joanne Catherall’s spoken-word confession reveals that she too was unfaithful. The song’s title is derived from the chorus, in which both parties in the relationship explain that they are “only human” and “born to make mistakes”. The song is a composition in common time with a tempo of 102 beats per minute. It is set in a key of A♭ major, with a chord progression from D♭-E♭-f.

“Human” became the second million-selling and final number-one single for The Human League on the US Billboard Hot 100 (after “Don’t You Want Me”) and their second chart-topper on the U.S. Hot Dance Club Play chart (after “(Keep Feeling) Fascination”). Jam and Lewis’ R&B-based production was also popular on American urban radio, bringing the Human League into the top ten of the U.S. R&B chart for the first time. The song hit #1 in the US; however, in the UK, where R&B was less popular, “Human” peaked at number eight in the UK singles chart.

SIDE A:
Human (Extended Version) 5:06

SIDE B:
Human (A Cappella Version) 2:01
Human (Instrumental Version) 5:04

VINYL GRADE:
Vinyl: Near Mint
Sleeve: Near Mint

U.S. CHART HISTORY:

Year Single Chart Position
1986 Human U.S. Billboard Hot 100 #1
1986 Human U.S. Billboard Hot Black Singles #3
1986 Human U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Music/Club Play #1
1986 Human U.S. Billboard Hot Adult Contemporary #3

 

RELEASE INFORMATION:
Label: A&M Records – SP-12197
Format: Vinyl, 12″, 33 ⅓ RPM
Country: US
Released: 1986
Genre: Electronic
Style: Downtempo, Synth-pop

CREDITS:
Executive-producer – John McClain
Producer – Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis
Written-By – J. Harris III-T. Lewis*

NOTES:
Produced for Flyte Tyme Productions, Inc.
Original version appears on the LP “CRASH”

VINYL RESTORATION BY:
-DjPaulT
burningtheground.net

EQUIPMENT USED:
Turntable: Pro-Ject Debut Carbon (DC)
Cartridge: Ortofon 2M
Stylus: Ortofon 2M Bronze
Isolation: Auralex Acoustics ISO-Tone Turntable Isolation Platform
Platter: Pro-Ject Acryl-It platter
Stabilizer: Pro-Ject Record Puck 
Phono Pre-amp: Bellari VP130 Tube Phono Preamp
Tube: Tung-Sol 12AX7ECC803-S Gold Electron Tube
Soundcard: ESI Juli@
Record Cleaning: VPI HW 16.5 Record Cleaning Machine
Artwork Scans: Epson Workforce WF-7610 Professional Printer/Scanner

SOFTWARE USED:
Recording/Editing: Adobe Audition 3.0 (Recording)
Down Sampling: iZotope RX Advanced 2, ocenaudio
Artwork Editor: Adobe Photoshop CS5
Click Removal: Manual
FLAC/MP3 Conversion: dBpoweramp
M3U Playlist: Playlist Creator

RESTORATION NOTES:
All vinyl rips are recorded @ 32bit/float
FLAC (Level Eight)
MP3 (320kbps)
Artwork scanned at 600dpi

The Human League – Mirror Man (UK 12″)

BURNING THE GROUND EXCLUSIVE 1982

“Mirror Man” is a 1982 song by the British synthpop group The Human League. It was released as a single in the UK on 8 November 1982 and peaked at number two in the UK Singles Chart. It was written jointly by lead singer Philip Oakey with keyboard players Jo Callis and Ian Burden, and produced by Martin Rushent.

“Mirror Man” was the first track written and recorded by the Human League after they returned from their World Tour, conducted in the wake of the enormous international success of their album Dare. “Mirror Man” was conceived and written as a celebration of Oakey and Wright’s love of Motown records. It has been described as electronic northern soul, with Oakey’s main verses delivered in deliberate sentences with emphasis on the last word of each sentence. Vocalists Susan Ann Sulley and Joanne Catherall feature prominently throughout the song but have no lyrics, providing backing vocals of “oohs” and “ahhs”. Recording and production was overseen by Martin Rushent, who had produced the band’s album Dare.

Speculation about who was the titular ‘Mirror Man’ was ended in 1988 when, during interviews to promote the band’s Greatest Hits album, Oakey revealed that it was about Adam Ant. Oakey had become concerned that Ant was starting to believe his own publicity, and was in danger of losing touch with reality. Oakey had avoided revealing this at the time for fear of offending the song’s subject. The song could be viewed as a reference to the 1971 Japanese TV series Mirrorman.

The song was released as a single in the UK in November 1982. It was the first new single the band had released since the phenomenal success of “Don’t You Want Me” almost a year earlier. The single was tipped by the media as their second Christmas number-one single in the UK, but peaked just short, at number two. The single did however reach number one in Ireland earlier that month and also reached the Top 10 in Canada the following February.

Its release in the U.S. was delayed until May 1983 where it was incorporated into the stop gap EP Fascination!. A&M Records, the band’s record company in the US, had refused to release it as a single “unless there was to be an album hot on its heels”. The track peaked at number 30 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the fall of 1983.

SIDE A:
Mirror Man (Extended Version) 4:22

SIDE B:
You Remind Me Of Gold 3:38
You Remind Me Of Gold (Instrumental) 3:54

VINYL GRADE:
Vinyl: Near Mint
Sleeve: Near Mint

U.S. CHART HISTORY:

Year Single Chart Position
1982 Mirror Man U.S. Billboard Hot 100 #30

 

RELEASE INFORMATION:
Label: Virgin ‎– VS522-12
Format: Vinyl, 12″, 45 RPM, Single
Country: UK
Released: 08 Nov 1982
Genre: Electronic
Style: Synth-pop

CREDITS:
Photography By – Rob*, Simon Fowler (2)
Producer –The Human League, Martin Rushent
Written-By – Burden* (tracks: A), Callis* (tracks: A), Oakey*

NOTES:
1982 Virgin Records Ltd.

Find the 12″ on DISCOGS

EQUIPMENT USED:
Turntable: Pro-Ject Debut Carbon (DC)
Cartridge: Ortofon 2M
Stylus: Ortofon 2M Bronze
Isolation: Auralex Acoustics ISO-Tone Turntable Isolation Platform
Platter: Pro-Ject Acryl-It platter
Stabilizer: Pro-Ject Record Puck 
Phono Pre-amp: Bellari VP130 Tube Phono Preamp
Tube: Tung-Sol 12AX7ECC803-S Gold Electron Tube
Soundcard: ESI Juli@
Record Cleaning: VPI HW 16.5 Record Cleaning Machine
Artwork Scans: Epson Workforce WF-7610 Professional Printer/Scanner

SOFTWARE USED:
Recording/Editing: Adobe Audition 3.0 (Recording)
Down Sampling: iZotope RX Advanced 2
Artwork Editor: Adobe Photoshop CS5
Click Removal: Manual
FLAC/MP3 Conversion: dBpoweramp
M3U Playlist: Playlist Creator

RESTORATION NOTES:
All vinyl rips are recorded @ 32bit/float
FLAC (Level Eight)
MP3 (320kbps)
Artwork scanned at 600dpi