Heaven 17 were originally an off-shoot of the BEF- which Ware & Marsh formed after leaving the Human League. While vocalist Glenn Gregory sounded similar to Phil Oakey- the music was looking more towards a blend of soul & synthetics. The horrible cover apart, this is a good compilation- better than the remixes/repackages (such as 'Higher & Higher') and the 'megamix'-containing 'Endless' (which forgot to include 'Come Live with Me').
We get a healthy dose of the great 'Penthouse & Pavement'- in which H-17 took the new Thatcher-instilled Yuppie aesthetic to postmodern ends. Think of the developing London of 'The Long Good Friday' & the ethics of Gordo Gekko in 'Wall St.'. The title track & 'Play to Win' are ironic-soulful excursions on these survivalist aesthetics. Ware & Marsh had moved from the 'no future' of the cold war predicting League ('Life Kills', 'Being Boiled', 'Circus of Death')which was the result of too much JG Ballard & hanging round with Cabaret Voltaire. The future was spelt out by The Men single 'I Don't Depend on You'- which took Chic to new synthetic realms (and predated Daft Punk by close to two decades; it's on 'Travelogue'). '(We don't need this)Fascist Groove Thang' was the contoversial single that sounded like 'Head'-Prince covering The Pop Group & Magazine's 'Model Worker' at the same time. Imagine a funk band playing to lyrics from Ballard's 'Atrocity Exhibition'- the spectre of Reagan & the end of the world looms over this amusing dance number. Yes, the 80's would party away to transcend the gloom of potential apocalypse & the misery of the UK captured by 'Ghost Town'.'The Height of the Fighting' is closer to the League sound- very catchy despite the embarrasing chant. Not far from the kind of thing A Certain Ratio did. My only quibble is the abscence of 'Let's all Make a Bomb'-reason alone to buy the original album (avoid the 1983 rerecording with bagpipes on though!)...For a while H-17 got even better- the production & ambition increased accordingly- 'I'm Your Money' predated the sampledelic notions of 'How to be a Millionaire', '19', Big Audio Dynamite, Jesus Jones etc. 'Let Me Go' was a gloomy synthsoul song bemoaning the past ("it was the best years of our lives") & 'Crushed by the Wheels of Industry' was formative in the electronic-industrial front. This is as harsh as Cabaret Voltaire circa 'Crackdown', New Order circa-'Blue Monday' & would lead towards Propaganda, AR Kane & Nitzer Ebb/Front 242. It was a key party record in the experimental Sheffield scene- as the book 'Energy Flash' will tell you. It was also popular in the 'acid house'-scene and the initial eclectic Ibiza scene of the 80's. And it was on the soundtrack to 'Electric Dreams': a very disturbing film concerning a love triangle between man,woman & computer!...'Come Live with Me' was a gorgeous ballad- a kind of transcendent 'Lolita' or a futurist 'Grange Hill' plot. It still stands up as perfect electro-soul today- though the albums were decreading in quality. The final absolute classic here is the timeless 'Temptation'- probably their key single and/or albatross. This is a definite influence on the soulful-electronics of Timbaland,Destinys Child, Roger Sanchez and Aaliyah. It was around this time that Heaven 17 restarted Tina Turner's credit & in the process made her millions!...The band seemed to become blander after this- Ware producing the difficult 'Perhaps' by The Associates & the band outstaying their initial premise. They seemed to be repeating themselves, but with less imaginative music- closer to Kajagoogoo, A Flock of Seagulls or any of the new-wave bandwagon jumpers. 'This is Mine' was OK- but the rest of it is very mediocre & proof that H-17 had achieved what they had set out to do & there was no need to stick around.
So, a good budget priced introduction to an underrated band- but plenty to skip towards the end!
