Reproduction (album)

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Reproduction
Reproduction cover
Studio album by The Human League
Released October 1979
Recorded Workshop Studio, Sheffield, 1979
Genre Electronic Music
Length 43:10
Label Virgin Records
Producer Colin Thurston
Professional reviews
The Human League chronology
The Dignity of Labour (1979) Reproduction (1979) Holiday '80 (1980)

Reproduction is the debut album released by British synthpop band The Human League. The album was released in October 1979 through Virgin Records Ltd.

Reproduction contains 9 tracks of electronic music/synthpop and was recorded during 6 weeks at The Human League's studio in Sheffield. The recordings were produced by Colin Thurston, who had previously worked on some key new wave recordings such as Bowie's "Heroes",[citation needed] Iggy Pop's Lust for Life and the first Magazine album, and would go on to produce numerous hit albums of the 1980s, most notably for Duran Duran.

The album sold steadily upon release and received some good reviews, but it failed to chart well in the UK (until it was re-released in 1981 and reached number 34 in the UK and was certified Gold).

The album has a decidedly experimental feel to it, and most of the songs have dark aspects to the lyrics, which are sometimes hard to comprehend.

The only single released from the album was "Empire State Human" in late 1979. It reached number 62 on the UK Singles Chart, but was still not enough to break the group into the mainstream, despite being a likeable, dancy tune. (The Human League's debut single, "Being Boiled", was not included on the original album but was added as an extra track on all CD issues from the late 1980s onwards; a re-recorded version of that single's B-side, "Circus of Death", was however included on the album.)

The album also features The Human League's cover version of "You've Lost That Loving Feeling", a hit single back in 1965 for The Righteous Brothers.

The album was composed and engineered by The Human League (Oakey/Ware/Marsh) and Bob Last for Virgin Records Ltd. 1979.

[edit] Track listing

  1. "Almost Medieval"
  2. "Circus of Death"
  3. "The Path of Least Resistance"
  4. "Blind Youth"
  5. "The Word Before Last"
  6. "Empire State Human"
  7. "Morale...You've Lost That Loving Feeling"
  8. "Austerity/Girl One (Medley)"
  9. "Zero As A Limit"

The following tracks were first added when the album was released on CD in the late 1980s:

  1. Introducing
  2. The Dignity of Labour, Part 1
  3. The Dignity of Labour, Part 2
  4. The Dignity of Labour, Part 3
  5. The Dignity of Labour, Part 4
  6. Flexidisc
  7. Being Boiled (Fast Version)
  8. The Circus of Death (Fast Version)

"Introducing" was originally the B-side of the "Empire State Human" single. The instrumental "The Dignity of Labour" tracks had been released as an EP in 1979, with "Flexidisc" included as a free Flexidisc - the latter is a tongue-in-cheek in-studio meta-conversation between the members of the band and their manager, Bob Last, about their plans to include a Flexidisc with their EP and what to put on it. The last two tracks were the A and B sides of the band's debut single, Being Boiled, released prior to their signing to Virgin.

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