TS: Human League's "Hysteria" vs "Crash"

IIRC there was a "lost album" between the two. but i can't remember any more about this right now, and can't be arsed googling either :p

http://www.humanleague.dk/content/downloads/magazines/musician/musician85-02.jpg
http://www.humanleague.dk/content/downloads/magazines/musician/musician85-03.jpg
http://www.humanleague.dk/content/downloads/magazines/musician/musician85-04.jpg
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Is it weird that Crash has ended up becoming my favorite HL record?

Not at all. "Jam" is my...jam. I LOVE that sound.

Re-listening to Hysteria now, and...

...there are some follow-up's to classic albums that sell well but ultimately turn out to be New Jersey's, and some that get released to a negative reception and get praised in later years.

This album, 'The Lebanon' aside, is just fucking awful, isn't it? Has there ever been a follow-up to a classic album that's nosedived in quality this much!?

(Anyway, their "best album since Dare is obviously Secrets, IMO)

(Anyway, their "best album since /Dare/ is obviously /Secrets/, IMO)

Secrets is such a wonderful album and it breaks my heart that most people will never hear it. Jesus, even Romantic? was added to the streaming services the other week, but Secrets is left in legal limbo. Totally the best album since Dare, and very much deserves to be talked about in the same breath.

And between the two albums here, Crash is definitely the better one as it has the courage of its convictions. Are You Ever Coming Back and Love Is All The Matters are great, and the rest is good in a "what if Oakey made a US synth r'n'b album" kind of way. Whereas Hysteria really feels like it's casting around for an idea, to very little effect, with some very thin production to boot.

Hysteria is obviously not as good as Dare, but I don't think it's as bad as Turrican is claiming, other than The Lebanon, I've got soft spot for Life On Your Own and I'm Coming Back, and tbh I like Hysteria a lot more than Crash or Romantic?.

I've never heard Secrets!

Secrets is such a wonderful album and it breaks my heart that most people will never hear it. Jesus, even Romantic? was added to the streaming services the other week, but Secrets is left in legal limbo. Totally the best album since Dare, and very much deserves to be talked about in the same breath.

― bamboohouses, Sunday, March 26, 2017 9:31 PM (nineteen minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Produced by Dave Clayton and Kerry Hopwood too, who both also worked on Depeche Mode's Ultra... Hopwood is part of Depeche Mode's live crew now and has been for a few years now, if I remember correctly!

This album, 'The Lebanon' aside, is just fucking awful, isn't it?

"Louise" is the best song on the album!

surprising how little love Life On Your Own gets tbh.

The three singles on Hysteria are brilliant. I Love You Too Much is the only other song I have any time for but the version on the Fascination EP was a lot better. Human and Love Is All That Matters are the keepers on Crash. Neither of the albums are essential.

Totally agree about Secrets. Definitely their best album since Dare. I have a lot of time for Octopus too. I feel like people never really talk about that album even though it was a big success for them. Houseful Of Nothing is so good. It has one of their best choruses. Tell Me When, Words and These Are The Days are great songs too. I really wish Credo had been better.

not enough discussion of Swang itt

this is my "jam":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7q0PBEPK6k

Rarely a night goes by when I don't dream about The Human League, but I have to admit that for a huge long period after Dare the idea of the band was more interesting than the music. Hysteria was released in the same year as Thriller, Make it Big, Welcome to the Pleasuredome, Touch, Purple Rain, Private Dancer, and it was supposed to compete with them - it took years to make and cost a fortune, but it sounds cheap and dated. Half of the songs only have one note. "The Lebanon" stands out but just feels like a standalone single that was tacked on at the last minute.

"Fascination" and "Mirror Man" demonstrated that despite their limitations they could still put out great songs, but imagine handing over £7.95 for your cassette of Hysteria in 1984 and the first song is "I'm Coming Back", which is a plodding dirge with really crap production. It came out a few months after Propaganda's "Dr Mabuse", which sounds awesome. This was roughly the same time as Bronski Beat's "Smalltoy Boy", which has the same kind of musical simplicity but again sounds terrific. "I Love You Too Much" has a perfunctory one-note melody. "Rock Me Again" sounds like something from Queen's Hot Space. It's not obviously funny enough to work as a joke and it's impossible to take it seriously as a funk song.

The basic idea of The Human League hiring external soungwriters is interesting - Heaven 17 hired different vocalists, The Human League could have hired different songwriters - but they really needed to do it in 1984, in Britain. Not because I'm a nationalist but because Britain had a pool of interesting songwriters working in The Human League's style at that time. By 1986 Britain was going through the post-Live Aid Dire Straits / Genesis / Simply Red period and the United States wasn't really compatible with them. Crash works surprisingly well and I'm still amazed that they had a number one single.

Therefore in my opinion Crash is the better album but it's basically Jam and Lewis with hired vocalists. Hysteria is the authentic voice of The Human League but it's crap. And not crap in a funky skillo sort of way, it's just crap. I keep seeing former Your Sinclair writers in newspapers. Most recently Rich Pelley. Like the delayed echoes of dead suns.

Thriller came out long before those other albums!

I agree though, Hysteria is appalling. They should never have fired Martin Rushent - I still think that was a huge mistake.