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Surely
the longest track ever associated with The Human League, this
piece by Martyn and Ian lasts around 25 minutes. Interestingly,
the phrase "the last man on Earth" would crop up again
in Philip's original introduction to Circus Of Death . |
| This
excerpt revolves around a gentle, descending looped sequence,
around which various incidental effects and harmonies appear
at random. The overall effect is generally quite serene - ambient
even - although variations in the looped sequence and some of
the extraneous sounds are occasionally unsettling. |
| Released
on Dance
Like A Star and The
Golden Hour Of The Future |
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| An
urgent, dramatic number by The Human League, concerning the
stress of working life. |
| Travelogue,
the album on which this song appeared, was criticized in some
quarters for its reliance on rock 'n' roll influences, and this
track is a prime example of just that. Some of the synthesizer
sounds could easily be treated electric guitar, and the chorus
owes much to the football terrace chant style of certain 1970s
rock acts. While Life Kills is not by any means a bad
song, NME's Chris Ryan made some valid points in his
review of the album: |
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"Hey! Hey! Rock 'n' Roll! Back into the future, reverse
into tomorrow with The Human League... the Gary Glitter/Mike
Leander axis is the unseen force at work - the endless commercial
potential of the handclap, the stacked heel footstomp, the clenched
fist. |
| "The
band thrash around with [Philip K] Dick's transcendental autobiographical
style and [J G] Ballard's subjective sci-fi, but on cold vinyl
it becomes more like The Members' Solitary Confinement
/ Sound Of The Suburbs songbook (Life Kills)...
more significantly, they have fashioned nothing on this album
that could not be played as effectively by the boring traditional
line-up of three guitars and a set of drums. Why bother with
synthesizers when all you wanna play is Johnny B Goode?"
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| Harsh,
but not entirely unfair... |
| Lyrics |
| Released
on Travelogue |
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| This
Human League demo would form the basis of Marianne.
Although the instrumentation of the two tracks is almost identical,
the vocal melody differs significantly in places, and many of
the lyrics were altered before this track became Marianne.
However, the lyrical theme did not change. |
| Lyrics |
| Unreleased |
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| Looking
For The Black Haired Girls |
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| A
strange track by The Future. Opening and closing with the screams
of a woman, the content between is no less disconcerting; each
member contributes demented spoken parts, and pistol shots ring
out over the nightmarish music. |
| The
track is available in MP3 form on this site's Futuristic
Sounds page. |
| Released
on The
Golden Hour Of The Future |
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| Based
on the music of an earlier demo, Living On A Bombsite,
this song finds Philip exploring one of his favourite early
themes, the father / daughter relationship. In this song, the
lyrics are written from the viewpoint of a father disappointed
by his favourite daughter. |
| Although
the League thought this to be one of their better songs, it
seems Virgin had little faith in it; when the Holiday '80
double single it headed failed to chart, the label were quick
to re-package the EP without this track, taking the safer option
of the Rock 'N' Roll
cover version as the a-side. When the group produced an alternate
version of Marianne, they were unable to persuade Virgin
to release it as a single in its own right. |
| Lyrics |
| Original
version released on Holiday
'80 double single and Travelogue
(CD only) |
| Alternate
version released on Australian Travelogue
LP |
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| This
is simply an early title for Austerity.
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|
The song was still known by this title when the League recorded
their debut album, as it is labelled on the original master
tape's box as 'The Martyr / Girl 1'. |
| Released
as Austerity on Reproduction |
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| This
slightly unsettling track relies heavily upon Philip's vocal
performance, as there is only minimal instrumentation involved. |
| Before
it came to serve as Reproduction's prelude to You've
Lost That Lovin' Feeling,
this song had existed in two other instrumental forms. |
| The
first version sounds more like a rough sketch than a completed
track (some of the keyboard playing was noticeably out of time
in places), but the overall effect is generally quite peaceful
and sedate; there are even neoclassical elements in evidence.
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| The
second version uses softer sounds and its arrangement is slightly
less complex. The third has much in common with the second version,
but has one or two additional layers. The master tape for this
version also features Philip singing an early draft of the lyrics
(ending with the line, "I'll always be stuck here in this foul
little room with a view of the curtains"), using a noticeably
different melody to the Reproduction version. |
| Martyn
and Ian also produced a cover version of Morale... for
Hot Gossip's 1981 album, Geisha Boys And Temple Girls
- see Miscellaneous
releases (part one). This version had very slightly different
lyrics. |
| Lyrics |
| Second
demo version released on Dance
Like A Star (mis-labelled Treatment) |
| Final
version released on Reproduction |
| Other
early versions unreleased |
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