Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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11 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
essential although not a masterpiece, 14 Feb 2003
Well, it is surprising me no one dared to review the album debut of, probably, Sheffield finest.
Forget the "Dare" sound and immerse you in one of the strong rings of the electronic/syntpop chain which started with Suicide, continued with Kraftwerk went through the Municsound and so on (put Soft Cell after Human League for continuity).
Dark, stark but enjoiable; on CD with bonus tracks from the singles too.
If you like electroclash you should love it, while you might love it without loving electroclash.
Next, you should check "Travelogue" and "The Golden Hour".
Remember: no guitars allowed!
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4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Tomorrow's World Today!, 9 Aug 2005
My Dad bought me this album for my 14th birthday in October 1979. I'd heard the "Empire State Human" single and droned on and on that I wanted the LP (sounds great that, doesn't it?!) and he eventually relented, just to shut me up, I imagine.On it's first play, I did think "mmm...where are the other catchy pop tunes", but I soon realised that The Human League weren't pop, they were the future, men of science. On subsequent plays, I began to "get" the Human League. "Blind Youth" is the standout track on this album for me. Three minutes of colliding synth and drum machine, that had one of the catchiest choruses my ears had ever had the pleasure to hear. My Mom even liked their version of "You've LOst That Loving Feeling". I didn't know if that was a good thing or not, and 26 years later, she still talks about the album "with the babies on the front". Me? I play "Reproduction" in the car on the way to the Match or on the way HOME from work, NEVER on the way - Reproduction is the kind of album I need to hear when I have time to appreciate all it's beauty. The added bonus tracks such as "I Don't Depend On You" are a nice touch, but I still have difficulty in listening to the tracks from a "Dignity Of Labour", probably because they're so scary! Buy this CD and listen to the future of rock and roll, circa 1979. Enjoy!
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17 of 29 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent reissue of League#1 debut plus..., 4 Aug 2003
Reproduction remains a powerful debut, maybe not as potent as the follow-ups Travelogue (1980) or Dare! (1981), but with the eight bonus tracks it remains a classic collection of early electronica. Human League#1 came out of the same Sheffield electronic movement as Cabaret Voltaire- a band they would have much in common with in their early incarnation (for the roots see The Golden Hour of the Future)Listening to Reproduction now it's surprising how much HL#1 have in common with other proto-electronic/post-punk bands of their era, notably CV, OMD, Simple Minds, Suicide & Throbbing Gristle. Perhaps it was the aftereffect of the Winter of Discontent, or maybe it was the zeitgeist of genocide & war- but Reproduction fits well with the rise of Cold War paranoia: the League at one with their grim surroundings, reminding you of Pere Ubu when they recorded The Modern Dance. Here they were then cutting edge- much further ahead than Joy Division were & preceding acts such as Depeche Mode & Soft Cell. A very pure electronic sound is heard thoughout- from single Circus of Death (two versions) to the po-faced take on You've Lost That Loving Feeling (which recalls the Future cover versions)- this is like a whole album of Warm Leatherettes! Perhaps it was the curious haircut, too much Kafka, but Reproduction remains kind of heavy- the ideal music to read JG Ballard to! (Ballard's so-called 'urban disaster' trilogy being the ideal reading matter: Crash, Concrete Island & High Rise)Blind Youth as 1980's Life Kills show how indebted early Soft Cell were to the League & has the amusing line "dehumanisation is a big word/it's been around since Richard the third!" The best track from Reproduction remains single Empire State Human (which they memorably performed on the Whistle Test)- a kind of Nietszhean ambition thing that precedes (or predicts?) Madonna (we also get Empire's b-side Introducing...which is as good as anything from the second side of Low) The Dignity of Labour (Parts 1 to 4) remains interesting & can easily be traced in a forward movement to many electronic artists since (...the usual suspects I expect) Flexi Disc remains another post-modern joke, which is nice...Finally we get the Fast-versions of Being Boiled & Circus of Death- which are superior to later takes; this is the same Being Boiled that Midge Ure's Fade to Grey would remain rather indebted to & the same one recently sampled on Liberty/Richard-X's Being Nobody. Its theme of sericulture remains a curious choice in those bleak times- but bless Phil Oakey anyway! Like Eno's synths of Virginia Plain, the electronic sounds here still sound like something from the future, rather than the lazy-assed nostalgia routinly applied to the 80s. Reproduction remains an album worth tracking down for anyone who has a passing interest in electronic music- though it's hard to reconcile the band here with the bland material they would put out a few years later (eg Mirror Man, Sunset Now!) But that's a different story I suppose...The bonus tracks make this a worthy purchase, as The Golden Hour of the Future- though the true classic albums (Travelogue,Dare& Penthouse & Pavement) would still follow. Pity it would influence kack like electroclash (that's soooooo 2001!)- as like albums such as Empires&Dance, Fourth Drawer Down & Replicas, there is much more interesting music here than a vague blend of goth & romo would suggest!
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