The Human League enjoyed huge commercial success particularly with their 1983 album Dare which sold by the truckload and made lead singer Phil Oakey the most eligible bachelor in Yorkshire since er…Compo. However it has always been the early years of the band (1977-1980) which have interested me most and is fully documented via the Blind youth fan site.
The first two albums Reproduction and Travelogue are true pioneering classics establishing a dark, futuristic sound. Unfortunately, the original line-up of the band split in 1981 with Martin Ware and Ian Craig Marsh forming Heaven 17. This led Oakey to recruit a couple of teenage backing vocalists and go all ‘pop’ and you probably know the rest.
I’m not knocking them for it as Dare is a classic 80s synth pop record but those first two albums as well as the recent collection of earlier tracks The Golden Hour of The Future contain some of my favourite slices of early electronic tunes.
The Path of Least Resistance on BBC TV 1979
