Love and Dancing is a remix album by English synth-pop band The Human League, released in July 1982 by Virgin Records.
Issued under the band name "The League Unlimited Orchestra" as a nod to Barry White's disco-era Love Unlimited Orchestra, the album was principally the idea and work of producer Martin Rushent and contains dub-style, largely instrumental remixes of songs from the band's multi-platinum selling album Dare (1981), along with a version of the track "Hard Times", which had originally been the B-side of the single "Love Action (I Believe in Love)".
Rushent was inspired by hip hop turntablist Grandmaster Flash and created Love and Dancing on a mixing board. He created vocal effects by cutting up portions of the Dare tape and manually gluing them together. In total, over 2,600 edits feature on the album.
Upon release, Love and Dancing was able to take advantage of the huge success of Dare and also work as a stopgap while the Human League worked on new material. The album received both mixed and positive reviews from music critics and was a commercial success, reached number three in the UK Albums Chart and later being certified Platinum by the BPI.
Today, the album is regarded as among the earliest remix albums ever released and has proven influential.
Synth-pop band The Human League's third album Dare (1981), produced by Martin Rushent, reached number one on the UK Albums Chart, and has retrospectively been considered one of the era's defining albums, ranking in critics' lists of the greatest albums of the 1980s and sometimes of all time.
Dare also found success in the United States, partly because of New York-based black radio stations airing music from the album.
The record's synth bass and Linn Electronics drum machine beats paralleled the electro funk music that had gained popularity on New York stations like Kiss, where according to writer Simon Reynolds, "tracks were undergoing radical remixing and be montaged into seamless segues that lasted half an hour or more."Rushent was already aware of the potential of remixing, having embedded a "dub-like spaciousness" to Human League tracks in parts where the instrumentation drops out.
The producer had been listening to hip hop DJ Grandmaster Flash and played his music to front man Phil Oakey, who also enjoyed it.
After seeing the DJ in New York, Rushent felt he could recreate his scratching style with tape scrubbing.
With this in mind, he suggested creating a dub remix of the second single from Dare, "Love Action (I Believe in Love)", by chopping the song up and adding effects.
This would allow Virgin Records to release it on the B-side of the single, as the label was eager to rush-release singles from Dare, leaving the Human League and Rushent without time to record new B-sides.Besides the "Love Action" remix, the producer ultimately created three or four other similar dub remixes to other songs from Dare.
Further inspired by the music he would hear in clubs across New York, he ultimately proposed to the Human League that he create an instrumental remix album of Dare, hoping that it would exemplify his production skills and "establish a new benchmark for electronic dance pop."
Nonetheless, both the band and Virgin Records originally relented against the idea of the remix album, not wanting to pay for or release it.
Rushent had to fight their opposition in order to create the album. Oakey remained unsure about the project and left Rushent to make the release on his own.
Neil Mason of Louder Than War wrote that "Cruel", an instrumental version of "I Don't Depend on You" (a 1979 single released by The Human League under the alternative name The Men) that was released as that single's B-side, laid the formula that would ultimately lead to Love and Dancing.
Love and Dancing is sometimes viewed as a stopgap in the Human League's discography, released to keep the band in the public profile while the band recorded new material. Band member Jo Callis has disputed this, saying: "I think that was going to happen anyway.
Soft Cell had done something similar around that time releasing a remixed album. Martin Rushent had this concept about remixing, taking a track apart and putting it back together.
It was a new idea and concept and it seemed a good idea to everybody to try it out. So the concept of the Love and Dancing would have happened regardless."
Side A
A1. Hard Times - 5:40
A2. Love Action (I Believe In You) - 5:12
A3. Don’t You Want Me - 7:18
Side B
B1. Things That Dreams Are Made Of - 5:10
B2. Do Or Die - 4:36
B3. Seconds - 2:25
B4. Open Your Heart - 2:35
B5. The Sound Of The Crowd - 2:55
Companies, etc.
- Phonographic Copyright ℗ – Virgin Records Ltd.
- Copyright © – Virgin Records Ltd.
- Distributed By – Ariola Group Of Companies
- Printed By – Mohndruck Graphische Betriebe GmbH
- Pressed By – Sonopress
Credits
- Photography By – Simon Fowler
- Producer, Remix – Martin Rushent
- Written-By – Burden (tracks: A2, B2, B5), Callis (tracks: A1, A3, B3, B4), Wright (tracks: A1, A3, B1), Oakey
This album contains instrumental versions of previously released songs by The Human League
Notes
Release: 1982
Format: LP, Vinyl
Genre: Synth-pop, Electronic
Label: Virgin Records
Catalog# 204696
Vinyl: Goed (VG)
Cover: Goed (VG)
Prijs: €15,00
0 comments:
Een reactie posten