Human League TRAVELOGUE

Originally released in 1980.
The Human League: Ian Craig Marsh, Martyn Ware, Philip Oakey.
Producers: Richard Manwaring; The Human League.
If your knowledge of the Human League begins and ends with smoothly commercial hits like "Don't You Want Me" and "Human," get ready for a shock. In the late '70s, the Human League were a much different proposition, an arty synth combo more in line with early Cabaret Voltaire, The Normal or even Throbbing Gristle. Furthermore, singers Susanne Sulley and Joanne Catherall weren't in the band yet, and most of the music was written by Martyn Ware and Ian Craig Marsh, who later left the group to form British Electric Foundation and Heaven 17.
The band's second album, 1980's TRAVELOGUE, opens with a less primitive re-recording of their 1978 debut single, "Being Boiled," and continues in that frequently gloomy vein through oddities like "Black Hit of Space," "Gordon's Gin" and "Toyota City." The results are occasionally ponderous, but surprisingly, this album sounds less dated than many of the Human League's later hits.

• Format: CD
• Genre: Pop