Octopus (Human League album)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Octopus
Studio album by The Human League
Released	1995
Genre	Pop, Electronic
Length	51:46
Label	EastWest Records
Producer(s)	Ian Stanley
Professional reviews
All Music Guide: link
The Human League chronology
Romantic? (1990)	Octopus (1995)	Greatest Hits (1996)

Octopus is the seventh full-length studio album recorded by English synthpop band The Human League. It was produced by former Tears for Fears keyboardist Ian Stanley and issued by EastWest Records in 1995, the first new album from the Human League in five years. Octopus was the first Human League album which presented the band as a trio consisting of singers Phil Oakey, Joanne Catherall and Susanne Sulley. Human League members Jo Callis and Neil Sutton also contributed heavily to the album, however.

Octopus became a short-lived mid-1990s comeback for the Human League, who had been off the charts since their 1990 album Romantic? The first single "Tell Me When" received support from MTV in the UK and the U.S. and the song became the band's first top-ten hit in nine years, peaking at number six in the UK singles chart. It also climbed to number thirty-one on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100. The Octopus album also peaked at number six in the UK, becoming the Human League's fifth top-ten album.

The album's second single, "One Man in My Heart" was a ballad sung by Sulley which also placed in the UK top-twenty and has been noted as being one of the best songs ever recorded by the band [1]. "Filling Up with Heaven", the album's third single, was also a top-forty UK hit.

The Human League's comeback did not last long however, as the band waited another six years before the release of a new album (Secrets).

[edit] Track listing

1. "Tell Me When" (Beckett, Oakey)
2. "These Are the Days" (Oakey, Stanley)
3. "One Man in My Heart" (Oakey, Sutton)
4. "Words" (Dennett, Oakey)
5. "Filling Up with Heaven" (Oakey, Stanley)
6. "Houseful of Nothing" (Beckett, Oakey, Stanley)
7. "John Cleese: Is He Funny?" (Oakey)
8. "Never Again" (Callis, Oakey)
9. "Cruel Young Lover" (Beckett, Dennett, Oakey)