Today I'm wrapping up the 80's discography of The Human League. They're a band that stumbled under the original lineup, but who massively broke out upon sole remaining member, Philip Oakey taking the reigns, and guiding the band to mainstream success with 1981's Dare.
When I last left off on their history, they had released not only their 1984 follow-up, Hysteria, but Oakey had collaborated with Giorgio Moroder on not only Together In Electric Dreams for the film, Electric Dreams. The two would then release a studio album together. While it would not prove to be popular, it would contain the aforementioned hit.
Despite the success the band had found, key songwriter Jo Callis would opt to leave, though no information is noted as to why. This was followed by their manager, Bob Last, who's reason for departure also appears to be undocumented. However, he was never replaced by anyone else.
Jim Russell would join as drummer, and together, the group returned to the studio to begin work on their next album. Unfortunately, under the production of Colin Thurston, things didn't go well, and the material recorded shelved. Concerned with the lack of progress, Virgin Records paired them up with Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis to produce a usable album. This only led to more clashes as the two producers outright rejected most of the bands conceptual ideas for songs, and any subsequent material they contributed. The end result would be 1986's Crash.
While the album would prove to be a success, specifically led by the single, Human, the band would go on to say that Crash wasn't the album they wanted to make. Adrian Wright, who was essentially sidelined in the studio would leave the group after its release. Following the supporting tour, Ian Burden and Jim Russell both left, replaced by Neil Sutton and Russell Dennett. But I'm getting too far ahead now. First, let me play through the actual CD.
I'll preface by saying that Human is probably my favorite from the group. However, being penned by producers James Harris III, and Terry Lewis, it definitely sounds off in comparison to the musical styles of previous albums. In fact, this sounds more like a Janet Jackson record in retrospect. This makes sense considering their extensive work with her since the 80's. But I agree. A Human League album this is not.
That's both a pro and con. It's a con because you don't truly get an honest presentation of the band. If you were to hear this and then go back in time to their other albums, things wouldn't add up. However, if you look at it as a standalone album, it's actually a bit better, to me, then what has come before it.
There were a couple standout tracks to me, which included Are You Ever Coming Back?, I Need Your Loving, and of course, Human. However, there are also a couple of honorable mentions in there that weren't too bad. These included Jam, and Party.
The Human League, now consisting of Philip Oakey, Joanne Catherall, Susan Ann Sulley, Russell Dennett, and Neil Sutton, entered the 90's, and released their first album in four years, Romantic? While it would chart decently in the UK, overall it wouldn't prove to be a successful comeback. It would further be the last for Virgin Records, who abruptly cancelled their contract in 1992.
It would take them a couple years to produce demos and obtain a new contract, releasing Octopus in 1995 on East West. The song Tell Me When, would give them their first UK top ten since 1986, but would end up being a one and done album for the label. The reason being that it changed management hands in 1998, and their contract was once again cancelled. By this point, Dennett had also departed, having left in 1996.
Despite not having label support, they'd continue to tour, taking little to no breaks since 2000, with Oakey, Catherall, and Sulley remaining as the consistent mainstays. Further, they've released two additional studio albums, 2001's Secrets, and 2011's Credo. Presently, they've embarked on the massive Generations tour, which has them performing across the USA in 2026, and scheduled for Australia and New Zealand in 2027.
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