Reproduction

by

The Human League

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I remember picking up the vinyl album of 'Reproduction' back in 1980. Now, 25 years later I decided to pick up the CD version with the wonderful inclusion of the Dignity of Labor 12" E.P. (Even including the Flexi-Disc) that I didn't get with my copy. I have had about 10-15 albums on vinyl that I went on to get the CD version of & this is one of them. Back in 1979 believe me this was a really new sound. Synthesized pop for a new generation. Actually pretty dark pop with heavy lyrics reflecting Philip Oakey's take on death and the human condition. Just check out 'Zero As A Limit' which is my favorite track. A slow echoing hand-clap repeating begins the song with Mr. Oakley's deep voice telling the story of someone going through the unfortunate motions of being run over by a car. The urgent increase in the simple hand-clap as the car approaches and the frenzied urgency of Oakey's voice brings the song to its inevitable conclusion. The whole album shows so much imagination & musical confidence and to my mind is a lesson in how to craft simply structured songs that can still work on a deeply emotional level. The whole album has great beats with beautifully programmed Synth lines. There really wasn't much else out there in the electronic field that was anything like this. Remember this is 1979. Strangely though this kind of music wasn't taking off commercially and it wasn't until some 2-3 years later with 'Dare' that the 'Human League' became popular, being lumped in with the 'New Wave' crowd. But for me this 1st release was their best. Both in terms of lyrical content and musical proficiency. And lets not forget the Cover, which at the time it came out i think was though of as rather controversial. Babies being danced on by late 70's yuppie's....Wonderful PS: Check out too the awesome rendition of 'You've Lost that Loving feeling' also. A wonderful remake.

This is not nearly as interesting as the unfortunately way out of print compilation of an early incarnation of the Human League:Golden Hour of the Future

If you're expecting Cabaret Voltaire or Throbbing Gristle you probably will be disappointed (unless you go for T.G.'s occasional synth pop songs such as "United"). Other than that, the music has a dull depressive sound that (unlike say Joy Division) doesn't go anywhere. The lyrics can be irritating ("Dehumanization. Its such a big word. Its been around since Richard the third"-huh?). And the cover of "You've Lost that Loving Feeling" shows the direction the band were headed in. Though they started off in the post punk scene, they obviously wanted to be a synth pop band and after the first two albums achieved their success as just that, though they never had the creativity of other artists who combined synth pop with aspects of punk such as say, Ultravox:Ha Ha Ha

or the essential synth masterpieces of Kraftwerk who got the ball rolling for this genre as well as many others.