It is nearly 30 years to the day give or take a week or so that one of the most important pop albums ever was released, the Human League's masterpiece Dare. The LP influenced not only the mainstream (becoming a blueprint for electronic music in the decade that followed) but also the burgeoning dance underground. The iconic singles The Sound Of The Crowd, Open Your Heart, Love Action and the worldwide smash Don't You Want Me were not only mainstays of the charts they also hit hard in the clubs of Detroit, Chicago (Ron Hardy used to play his own edit of Love Action at the Muzic Box) and throughout Europe.
The echoes of Martin Rushent's immaculate landmark production can still be heard today from the darkest recesses of clubland to the shiniest modern pop single.
Rushent, who sadly passed away earlier this year, also created the world's first remix album in the shape of Dare's sister album Love & Dancing (its version of The Things Dreams Are Made Of features on Elektro Diskow). A painstakingly created piece of manual tape splicing work, the album featured dubby re-edits of tracks from Dare. The record was a smash hit in its own right, reaching no.3 in the UK and going Platinum in the process.
Sound Of The Crowd (on Top Of The Pops)
Love Action (On Australian TV)
League Unlimited Orchestra - The Things Dreams Are Made Of
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