{"product_id":"the-essential-human-league","title":"The Essential Human League","description":"\u003cp\u003eMusic from the 80’s remains hugely popular and The Human League’s unique take on ‘pop’ played a huge part in creating the soundtrack for the decade. They’d actually formed in 1977 in Sheffield, initially as an experimental electronic outfit and by May 1980, as spring turned to summer, had begun making their mark on the UK single and album charts. They would be a constant presence on both for the next 8 years scoring 11 top 20 singles (all included here) and 5 top 20 albums from which many fan favourites have been taken for inclusion on this 3CD set. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eDisc 1 commences with the timeless No.1 \u003ci\u003eDon’t You Want Me\u003c\/i\u003e, followed by the equally infectious\u003ci\u003e (Keep Feeling) Fascination\u003c\/i\u003e (UK No.2), whilst the robust \u003ci\u003eThe Sound Of The Crowd\u003c\/i\u003e (UK No.12) makes it a hattrick of hits to kick things off. With \u003ci\u003eOpen Your Heart \u003c\/i\u003e(UK No.6), the haunting \u003ci\u003eLife On Your Own\u003c\/i\u003e (UK No.16) and \u003ci\u003eLouise \u003c\/i\u003e(UK No.13) the hits keep coming before firm fan favourites from their 7 studio albums issued between May 1980 and September 1990, start to take this collection beyond simply a ‘best of’. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eDisc 2 opens with \u003ci\u003eLove Action (I Believe In Love) \u003c\/i\u003e(UK No.3) which begins with that eerily distinctive sci-fi keyboard. \u003ci\u003eMirror Man \u003c\/i\u003e(UK No.2) and \u003ci\u003eThe Lebanon \u003c\/i\u003e(UK No.11) keep the hits coming. \u003ci\u003eLove On The Run \u003c\/i\u003emay not have been a single but it’s pure 80s pop, so is \u003ci\u003eAre You Ever Coming Back?\u003c\/i\u003e Soundtrack To A Generation, \u003ci\u003eRebound\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eThe Stars Are Going Out\u003c\/i\u003e display the bands ability to evolve musically in sync with the decade whilst disc 2 closer \u003ci\u003eDreams of Living\u003c\/i\u003e reminds us just how they’d started it. This is certainly ‘New Pop’ as their music was known back in the 80s. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eDisc 3 starts with front man and main writer, Phil Oakey’s adventure outside of the band with legendary disco writer and producer (Donna Summer, Blondie, David Bowie to name just 3), Giorgio Moroder. Oakey’s distinctive and dominant vocals have meant \u003ci\u003eTogether In Electric Dreams\u003c\/i\u003e is considered by most as yet another glorious Human League single. It would reach the UK No.3 spot in the autumn of 1984. UK top 10 single \u003ci\u003eHuman \u003c\/i\u003efollows along with legendary early outing \u003ci\u003eBeing Boiled\u003c\/i\u003e, which took the band to No.6 when issued in 1982, 4 years after the original (and their vinyl debut) 1978 release. A mix of classic album tracks, their earliest adventure with Virgin records as The Men with the disco influenced\u003ci\u003e I Don’t Depend On You \u003c\/i\u003eand more make up disc 3.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"UMC","offers":[{"title":"CD | x3","offer_id":50465572684107,"sku":"1093958","price":6.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/41e81d6a-9511-4e0d-ae82-6972e7aa0a28_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1727292519","url":"https:\/\/shop.roughtrade.com\/de\/products\/the-essential-human-league","provider":"Rough Trade","version":"1.0","type":"link"}