— Mark Ellen
The eighties revival would indeed occur. Grunge, MTV Unplugged and rockist notions that the guitar was all that mattered weren't able to make it out of the nineties. The "decade that taste forgot" (wasn't that also they would describe the seventies?) would be back in retro nights at clubs. We would ironically enjoy the music of Journey and Toto. Groundbreaking eighties' videos from the likes of A-ha, Michael Jackson and Dire Straits made us long for a time when promos were an event in themselves. The nineties had been all about authenticity but it only succeeded in making us want to have more artifice than ever. But "The Sound of the Crowd" would soundtrack very few retro parties and revivalists weren't seeking it out. It would be a Human League single from the end of the year that would provide the basis of their legacy.
The Human League had been toiling away for four years and had become leaders of Sheffield's music scene. On a national level, however, interest in them had been minimal. A potentially fatal schism over the group's direction led to the departures of founding members Ian Craig Marsh and Martyn Ware, leaving the duo of Philip Oakey (who was always more a singer than musician) and Adrian Wright (then still in the very un-muso role of 'film technician') to figure out the group's next move. A lot has been made of the recruitment of teenage girls Joanne Catherall and Susanne Sulley but keyboardists Ian Burden and Jo Callis joining up was just as important. Now a sextet, it was time for them to start performing and recording.
Sulley has said that her and Catherall were resented by "blokes" on their first tour and it's likely that calls of "sell out" were directed at them. Nevertheless, their concerts were well-received and the singer felt that they had "turned the corner". Yet, this new incarnation of the League was still clouded in uncertainty. The typically avant garde single "Boys and Girls" (performed by the duo of Oakey and Wright) appeared and only just missed the Top 40, a sign that perhaps their time was coming. The critics, however, weren't impressed with David Hepworth expressing doubt that the group had any intention of ever crafting a hit record.
As if heeding Heps' warning to "shape up", Burden and Callis were signed up (the former initially on a trial basis around the same time that Catherall and Sulley turned up). Oakey and Wright had been determined to make it as DIY as possible, the compliance of machines being favoured over the potential hassles of session musicians. Then, the pair did an about face, one that was so abrupt it ended up being chronicled by Ian Cranna in the May 14 issue of Smash Hits (they commenced the interview still determined to go about it themselves, took a meeting with record company execs and producer Martin Rushent and returned to Cranna suddenly embracing the concept of proper musicians).
All this led to their next move, the charts. "The Sound of the Crowd" is a terrific dance record that has 1981 pop trends written all over it. On the other hand, there's a distinct harshness to it as well, a quality that had been retained from the Marsh-Ware era of "Being Boiled" and "Empire State Human". That said, even The Human League's most radical works were still grounded in pop music values (for all of its avant garde qualities, The Dignity of Labour, their EP dedicated to Soviet space exploration, has its moments of pure catchiness, particularly its irresistible third part). If new members were signing on and new approaches were being considered, the very essence of The Human League seemed to be intact. The synths could've been smoothed over and the impressionist lyrics could've been reconsidered if they were really trying to bend over backwards to get that elusive hit single.
The pace of their trajectory suddenly seems startlingly fast. It is the spring of '81 and they were still trying to figure out where they would be heading next. Eight months later they would have the UK Christmas Number One and LP Dare would be the consensus album of the year. It's easy to look at "The Sound of the Crowd" as an odd choice for the first single — surely any one of "Love Action (I Believe in Love)", "Open Your Heart" or "Don't You Want Me" would've been stronger if they had really been serious about finally cracking the Top 40 — but this ignores the fact their future hadn't been set that April. "The Sound of the Crowd" had to be their next single since there was nothing else at hand.
When fans complain that their favourite group has "sold out" they seldom consider the context. It seems Oakey and Wright were out to prove that they could keep The Human League going in spite of the Marsh and Ware having left. They then attempted to work out what they were capable of and then looked to Catherall, Sulley, Burden and Callis for help. Their finest single yet resulted and from there the floodgates would open. Things had been looking up but success wasn't guaranteed. The attractive girls Oakey had recruited weren't being exploited and it would be a while before they would become the focal point of the band (the same May 14 edition of ver Hits includes the lyrics to "The Sound of the Crowd" with an accompanying photo of Oakey, Wright and Callis; the girls did feature in a snap on the second page of the Cranna interview albeit in pre-pinup mode). Meanwhile, Marsh and Ware were busy with their B.E.F. pet project and they would soon form Heaven 17: any longtime Human League fans who wished to take the self-righteous high ground about selling out would've been disappointed by the direction of the much more serious faction of their beloved group.
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Also Reviewed This Fortnight
Japan: "The Art of Parties" / "Life Without Buildings"
Like ver League, Japan had been putting out a string of singles for years that hadn't managed to catch on but they looked to be finding their way with the modest Top 50 success of "The Art of Parties". Ellen calls it a "safety shot" which probably seemed a lot more apparent at the time then it does more than forty years later. For sure there's this melange of Scary Monsters-era Bowie, Talking Heads energy, the atmospherics of late-period Roxy Music and horns that evoke white boy soul but this hardly seems like the safest hand to play — or if this is an example of them capitulating to commercial pressures then they managed to sell out with as much of their integrity as possible. The Human League had turned the corner and so too had Japan. (The two songs are listed as a double A-side but that appears to be a mistake on the part of either Smash Hits or the group's PR. "Life Without Buildings" is a fine work in its own right but there's no way it would've been considered for single status. David Sylvian barely being on it doesn't help)
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