Human League- Dare/Fascination Reissue

The Human League's masterpiece Dare! is released in remastered and repackaged Deluxe format this week. In addition to the remastered album the package includes the North American only Fascination! EP on CD for the first time alongside several other previously vinyl-only cuts including the Instrumental mix of Sound Of The Crowd (from the original 12") and the stunning Instrumental/Dub version of You Remind Me Of Gold which was an extra track on the Mirror Man 12.

The story of Dare! should be fairly familiar to pop and electronic fans but the tale of the hotly awaited follow up that never came is a case of what might have been... In 1982 with a world-conquering album under their belts, the League reconvened with Dare! producer Martin Rushent to make their next Global smash. The first taster of this new material was the brilliant electro Motown of Mirror Man. A new LP was expected to follow but then nothing for another year when they finally released the stunning (Keep Feeling) Fascination, a transatlantic top 10 smash. Tensions had been rising and Rushent quit the project soon after leaving behind some stunning tracks including the aforementioned You Remind Me Of Gold and I Love You Too Much. Their then US label A&M, desperate for new product, assembled these tracks alongside the two singles and put out the 7 track Fascination! EP in late '83.  It offers a tantalising glimpse of what Dare!'s follow-up might have looked like - we can only speculate as to whether it would have matched (or exceeded!) the 1981 album's success. Essential listening!

Human League - Dare: 30 Years Young!

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