Dare!

Qu'est-ce que c'est que cette pochette moche ? Bon, passé la découverte de cette pochette qui fait franchement pas envie, je lis un peu la description de l'album, qui est apparemment un album particulièrement influent dans la synthpop ? Je dois avouer que j'en ai beaucoup bouffé depuis le début de la liste, donc je commence l'écoute avec un peu d'appréhension. Et bien, je dois dire que finalement, c'est franchement très bien. C'est plus créatif et plus recherché que ce que j'ai pu entendre précédemment. J'accroche énormément aux mélodies, c'est vachement intéressant. Je comprends comment un album pareil a pu être aussi fondateur. Allez, ça sera un 4 !

The single that's a classic is still a classic, but the rest of the album is good, not great Favorite songs: Sound of the Crowd Darkness Don't You Want Me

this is a new wave pop album through and through, very much screams "this album was made in the early 80's". shoutout the hit.

I can't stand synth pop. As soon as I heard the first note of this album I knew I was in for 40 minutes of wishing it was over.

I do enjoy some synth pop, but with this album, I'm a bit disappointed. Most of the songs are fine, but don't really stand out enough. The best song on here happens to be their big hit "Don't You Want Me", but the vibe from that song isn't found anywhere else on here. "Seconds" was the only other song I found intriguing. The rest is listenable, but easily forgettable.

I was previously familiar with Don't You Want Me from this album. This is an 80s pop album. There are some complex rhythms and synthesizers that are interesting. Don't You Want Me is the best track from this album, but honestly the entire album is pretty decent. I wouldn't mind hearing this again, but I am unlikely to seek it out.

this was kind of what i needed this morning. feels very representative of the 80s style that still permeates today.

Oooooo synth pop, fun!! Hope its one of the good ones and not a cheesy one So far so good Things at Dreams are made of Sound of the Crowd is neat I am the Law Dont you want me!!!! (Banger) Classic synth pop and is a great example of it being done well GG

Couple decent songs but nothing special.

The Things That Dreams Are Made Of - This song needs to be 1 a minute and half shorter 2/5 Open Your Heart - ...to simple repetition 1/5 The Sound of the Crowd - Sigh... 1/5 Darkness - I already forget this song 1/5 Do or Die - I mean, one option there appeals to me more right now 1/5 Get Carter - ...away from this music 1/5 I Am the Law - Sylvester Stallone greatly improved this quote 1/5 Seconds - Approximate amount of time it took me to lose interest in listening to this song 1/5 Love Action (I Believe In Love) - Lyrics bad enough I can't ignore them 1/5 Don't You Want Me - I know this song! It sucks, but I know it 1/5 Thoughts that come to mind: "Well... here we go!" "I feel like their compositions are too simple to justify these song lengths, so far. They're just repeating things, but it doesn't add anything to the song. It's tiresome." "I feel like I shouldn't be getting New Wave records over 20% of the time." "The main guy is Philip Oakey. His Wikipedia page calls out that he has a Prince Albert piercing. That's more interesting than anything this music does." "I forgot I was listening to this album." "I feel like you hear everything the song is going to do in the first 20 seconds. But then it keeps going." "I'm more than halfway through and I am struggling greatly to try to focus on this. I don't like it." "The song structures all the same and repeat the same sections frequently. There isn't any movement or build up. The rhythm section keeps it simple and the synth melodies are as well and aren't interesting to me. There is nothing for me in this music. It doesn't do anything. It's for mindless 80s club dancing." "This album is only 40 minutes, but it feels like it's 2 hours long."

(Light 7/10) "Don't You Want Me" is such a bop, I was led astray into expecting the entire album to match it's lush and neon-tinged vibe. No; rather, this entire record borrows more cues from Kraftwerk than other new wave contemporaries. The synths and drum machines are much colder and more robotic than you would expect, and Philip Oakey's vocals are just as emotionless. Take "Darkness" for example, or even the chilling "Seconds" where Oakey muses over the mortality of man and how fast something as taking a life can happen as contrasted by someone's entire lived experience. Indeed, this record is surprisingly dark in tone outside of a few upbeat cuts on side A. The single of this album doesn't appear until the final track, also adding to the alienating nature of the tune. It just feels so out of place and tacked on that it also just doesn't feel like the same band. I was really hoping to hear more of the female vocalists sing lead like on "Don't you want me", but they were mainly relegated to backup vocals on only a handful of songs. Considering where this group was headed prior to the creation of this album, it's a miracle that Oakey was able to persist in the way he did, but in traditional 80's one hit wonder fashion, the majority of this album doesn't hit as hard as the hit single.

The darker side of synth pop. Excellent album with some great tracks. Perhaps stronger at the front and back ends and falling off a bit in the middle. Overall a solid 4.

Solid new wave/synth pop album. Enjoyed the listen, it’s on the verge of too synthy for me. Probably a 4.

I dare you to be a good album. You were mid as fuck, but I am feeling generous.

Cool

7/10

Very good LP. Great hit single. Well written songs. Good grooves of the 80s. A band who paved the new wave path.

Some good tunes but rather basic and repetitive. Sound of the Crowd and Don't You Want Me were great though. 3/5

Vilken besvikelse! Hade bara hört Don't you want me innan och den är en sån jäkla banger. Alla låtar utom den var ganska kassa.

Några deppsynt-bangers här men mycket snabbglömt och bjäring också. Blir en 3a storlek svagare återigen

De e okej! Human League är ett bra namn

Stod i bakfylledimman (efter det otroliga Rama Lama-jubileumet) och höll på med någon sorts evighetsdon i köket och blev plötsligt medveten om evighetsmusiken jag lyssnade på. Var tvungen att stänga av och tvaga öronen med Kind of Blue.

I'm confident they put Don't You Want Me? as the last song to force you to listen to the rest of the record. Of all the music that came out of the 1980s, this style is probably my least favorite, definitely in contention.

This was fine

I admit I have until today managed to get around this. What a failure. But what I have appreciated it in its time? Now, I was just too young then, as I was too old later. And now being back to synths since a few years, I have to admit the genious of this affair. Naivete combined with ultra reduced synths blended with actual cool songs. Considering the available tech at the time, this one is a marble. I am particularly impressed and would consider this one genre defining. Why not a 5? I cannot do that; I detest the majority of the scene from that time, as well as the attitude that prevailed back then.

Oh Dare! Don’t mind me. I’m just suckling at the teat of 80’s synth-pop.

Truly a one-hit wonder of an album

Decent enough.

One amazing fantastic song and a bunch of songs that pale in comparison.

Arrancamos la semana con este bandón del que sólo he escuchado sus hits, mas nunca un álbum completo. Gran disco, bien bailable. Muchas gracias y hasta mañana

They dared me to listened to this album. Human League went all in on the synthesizer for this record, which makes sense since they are a synth-pop band. “Don’t You Want Me” is on this one, along with nine other tracks which were pleasant although not fabulous.

Hm. I didn't much like this at first, maybe because it's coming right after Dexy's. 'Open Your Heart' kind of reminds me of the Magnetic Fields though. Better than our last album but not good enough for a 4. Highlight: 'Don't You Want Me' (would make a great mashup with 'Don't You Love Me' by Speedbump, also sounds a lot like the demo track on my tiny old casio keyboard)

This is like a John Hughes adjacent album. It was fine enough for the time, but in retrospect it's all sorts of weak.

If it wasn't for that hit there's no chance it would be on this list

When this popped up this morning, I was pretty excited and figured I'd be rating this one pretty high. I was familiar with the two last songs on the album, which were their two biggest hits (and it's strange that they are the two last songs). I grew up in the start of the MTV era, and "Don't You Want Me" was one of those videos that played non-stop on the channel. Even though I wasn't familiar with the rest of the album, I figured I would love it because 80s new wave is right up my alley. I have to say that I didn't hate it, but I didn't love it either. A little boring and really nothing that I heard that I want to listen to again. It was nice having an album in the musical genre I love for a change, but this isn't one I'll be adding to my regular playlist.

A record everyone says is very influential, something I've always struggled to fully grasp. But I think over the years, as my big-picture understanding of '80s synth-oriented music developed, this record started to make more sense. Sure, synthpop predates this record by quite a bit; groups like Blondie and The Cars released records years before this Human League album. But looking at this album from an electronic perspective - a sort of robotic, stiff, calculated record (closer to Kraftwerk), as opposed to the more raw and clearly punk-rooted approach of other "new wave" bands of its time helped snap the pieces into place and gave me a greater appreciation for what this album was trying to do. There is some incredible synth and drum-machine work here that I'd put up there with Kraftwerk as being essential to the formation of genres like techno. The outro to ‘Do Or Die’ for example, has this super propulsive and sweaty drum machine that feels like eternally dancing in some dark, crowded, hot European electro club. And the band dishes out one neat little synth ditty after another, in the same way a jazz ensemble would sequence solos or something. Loved this section. Also, Moody synth-pop acts like Depeche Mode very much owe their sound to songs like ‘I Am The Law’ and my personal favourite ‘Seconds’. And the really rich sound of the layered synths of 'Don't You Want Me' will always put me in a trance. In an era of goofy and flat FM synthesis presets usage, the warm and raw analog nature of the synth work all over this record feels like a nice breath of fresh air. So yeah, I came to appreciate this record a lot more this time around. The Human League, given their less-than-consistent discography, are still probably a bit lower on my new-wave group ranking. But the importance and impact of the brisk vocals, deep hypnotic drum programming, and rich analog synths packaged in pop form like this can't be overstated.

80s classic. Sags in the middle a bit but there are some good songs early on and the last track is one of the best songs of all time.

Super

I remember this. The hits are comforting and memorable. Well, I remember them. The phrase euro trash comes to mind.

Опять синт-поповские пиликанья. причём крайне радикальные

En mode dépêche mode mais moins dark avec les vieux synthé de l'époque là, plutôt sympa

Assez sympa le côté électro

“Don’t You Want Me” is a helluva song. Everything else is good, if not quite great. 3.5?

Another in a long string of fine albums with 1-2 great but not peak singles

Second album today and I was forced to wait almost 40 minutes for YOU WERE WORKING AS A WAITRESS IN A COCKTAIL BAR. That song is undoubtedly the reason this album is on this list at all, but the rest was solid enough.

Drugs Are Really Expensive.

Þetta var ekki neitt ofboðslega merkilegt fannst mér en hefur eflaust verið það á sínum tíma. Þetta er ekki leiðinleg tónlist, bara barn síns tíma myndi ég segja. Aðeins örfá lög sem hafa haldið lífi.

Liked this more than I thought I would! Good road trip music. Before I had only heard Don't You Want Me. Not bad at all.

It grew on me. It feels like a lesser version of lots of superior bands (Devo, Talking Heads etc. etc.).

On paper, I should like this. It sounds like the computer game music from my youth. In reality, I did not. And got very bored, very fast.

Listened to this last week. The dawning of new Romantics. Really enjoy this great tracks. Someone said they were one hit wonders well with 8 top ten singles i don't think so.

Лучшая лига - РПЛ

Mixed feelings on this one. It would be unrealistic to expect that every track would reach the level of Don’t You Want Me and it was good to find more variety than anticipated. Tracks like I Am The Law at least provided some change of pace, but there were segments of this that also sounded like they could have soundtracked games on the ZX Spectrum (showing my age!)

This was....fine. Don't You Want Me is one of the best new wave songs ever recorded, but the rest of the album is forgettable. I'm feeling generous enough to go three stars, but it probably doesn't warrant that third star.

Classic of its time and genre but not really made for repeat listening

Meh

These humans get some extra local love from me.

#7 - The Human League - Dare! From what I see this album is a bit of a one hit wonder with said hit coming at the end. I've looked at a few one hit wonder albums. Gotye's "Making Mirrors" for example. I'm eager to see if any of these songs will match up or even surpass the big one. Track 1: The Things That Dreams Are Made Of. Some of the synths in this track sound like someone doing karaoke in a factory workspace. Despite that I like this opening. Especially that earworm chorus. 7/10. Track 2: Open Your Heart. This time the synths remind me of Jethro Tull's Thick As A Brick track. Not too sure if I like this one as much. 6/10. Track 3: The Sound Of The Crowd. C'MON, C'MON, C'MOOOON! GHOST TRAIN! This might just be my Gorillaz bias coming in but I love this track even without Damon. No lie I might actually prefer this original song over Ghost Train. 9/10. Track 4: Darkness. We move on from Ghost Train to Kiss From A Rose followed by Elstree. Thankfully I also liked Elstree. I especially like the deep synths in this song. I dunno why. It just tickles my brain right. 8/10. Track 5: Do Or Die. Not much to say here other than the fact this is almost an instrumental song apart from the vocal bridges. It's alright. 6/10. Track 6: Get Carter. ...huh? I'll just count this an an interlude. Interlude/10. Track 7: I Am The Law. This is a creepy fucking sounding track. Holy shit the creeping speed of the song followed by the drawn out vocals gave me fucking tingles. 8/10. Track 8: Seconds. Probably my least favourite of the songs so far. All the others had at least something to grab my attention and hold it but this one was just nothing. 4/10. Track 9: Love Action (I Believe In Love). Woah. I really like that fast portion near the middle of the track. It was short but enough to pull me back into the last section of this album. Apart from that yeah this is another pretty average song. 6/10. Track 10: Don't You Want Me. The one-hit wonder I mentioned and...eh? It's fun. I can see why it's popular but...I dunno. Maybe I just hyped myself up for something more grandiose? 5/10. Overall: This album was a fun time even if it did slow down considerably in the second half. Don't know if I'll come back to it but I am def taking a few tracks back home with me. Favourite Track: The Sound Of The Crowd. Least Favourite Track: Seconds. Overall: 6/10 (⭐⭐⭐)

It flatlines through the middle and is a little boring by the end. Following a very creative Devo album did them no favors.

Mostly passing for Don't You Want Me

Haha I actually really found this interesting in the background driving, wasn't the greatest but kind of cool and could see why they hated their huge hit at the end, came out of nowhere as I didn't know what album you were talking about. A total departure from the rest of the album. A bit too much synth but also had some cool video game sounds, honestly torn

This was an interesting listen. Not the most exciting but not totally boring either. I obviously knew Don't You Want Me but had never listened to the verses before. Kinda developed a new appreciation for it when the female singer stepped into the second verse to correct the narrative of the first and I realized it had a lot more depth than it had at face value.

Putting your best song last is a power move that I can respect. Unfortunately I did not enjoy the rest of this

4/10

Det låter precis som man tror. Helt ok att lyssna på. Albumet avslutas med en riktig banger som alla känner igen. Solid trea.

Very happy to see this on the list. Actually listened to my vinyl copy last week. Great album. Glad I had a reason to listen to it again.

Disco année 80. Les riffs se répètent trop et trop de synthétiseur.

I was only familiar with the one hit single Don't You Want Me and I wouldn't have been able to name the band. I was blown away! Damn, what a great 80's synth pop album. They sound like Kraftwerk disciples with the repetitive beats and the cool electronica with the earworm lyrics and hooks, lots of cool ear candy. I was blown away, this has become one of my favorite 80's albums and then do some digging and find that they are a big influence on LCD which is one of my favorite bands. It is very danceable and super catchy. One of my knocks with a lot of electronic music is that it sounds soulless, they didn't fall into that trap here. I will be on the hunt for a copy of this for the collection!

Avant guard

It’s a fun album. Very of its time and a lot of it has aged a bit poorly but it’s a fun throwback with some really good tracks

There is 80's music I like better, but I do believe this feels the most like the 80's as presented by cinema and rose-tinted glasses at least. 2.5 stars, Open Your Heart was fun

Good. But prefer earlier stuff.

One of the trailblazers of synth pop and I’m here for it. Simplistic but compelling.

дуже фановий альбом, іконічно 80ті

7/10

3⭐️

No sabía que solo Don't you want me era la única buena.

There’s a lot to admire here in the production, but the big single aside I find this era of synth pop a bit impenetrable. As to Human League, I much prefer the Jam and Lewis collab.

Tellement 80's coded, pas spécialement mon style Darkness

Cool but a bit plodding

Matty said, “What is this screeching? It sounds like the background music of an 80s video game home screen.” 🤣

2 out of 5. I found this album to be pretty bland, even for the 80's.

Is "Seconds" the worst song about a historical event ever written? ... All day, hiding from the sun Waiting for the golden one Waiting for your fame After the parade has gone Outside was a happy place Every face had a smile like the golden face For a second Your knuckles white as your fingers curl The shot that was heard around the world For a second It took seconds of your time to take his life It took seconds It took seconds of your time to take his life It took seconds It took seconds of your time to take his life Seconds of your time to take his life Seconds Seconds It took seconds of your time to take his life It took seconds It took seconds of your time to take his life It took seconds For a second It took seconds of your time to take his life It took seconds It took seconds of your time to take his life It took seconds For a second It took seconds of your time to take his life Seconds of your time to take his life For a second For a second For a second

music is love

I have not heard this before. I’ve heard Don’t You Want Me before hundreds or even thousands of times before but I’ve never heard any of the other tracks on this album before. I was missing out because this is some great synth pop. The only downer on here is I Am The Law which is a good song but is so dirgey that it takes the wind out of the sails since everything else is so upbeat. It’s odd to end it on Don’t You Want Me since that was the big hit and probably the best song on the album but apparently the band didn’t think so. It ends the album on a very positive note and makes it easy to relisten to the track a few times without interrupting the flow since I never get tired of that song. I’ll have to go through the rest of their discography.

Helt ok, hørtes akkurat ut som æ forventa da æ så omslaget.

80s synth at its finest! I would argue the 80s had the most experimental music sounds of any decade and without the experimenting we would not have a lot of the music we like today. I don't particularly like this, but I do appreciate it. 6/10 Top song... Don't You Want Me

This is the best album of the 80’s, contains the best song of the 80’s and is no doubt the most recognisable album of the 80’s. I loved the album back then and played it to death. The glossy gatefold album cover is a work of art and any self respecting music lover in the 80’s just had to have it. And what a haircut Phil! I still often play the album and the only negative thing I can say about it is that by today’s standards the production and sound is a bit thin and tinny. But for the reasons in my first sentence, this album is a sure fire 5 star marvel. 5/5 18/9/26

Very catchy synths. Quite dated sounding but in a fun way.

I'll be honest, this felt a little like a psychology experiment. I found myself giggling because of the absurdity. These tunes may have been fire at one point but now they have aged like a nearly half-century old condom and will likely see as much use.

Album : 24/1089 Songs known going in : 1/10 Favourite song : Don't you want me (or darkness if i was to pick one not previously known) Cover Art: remind me of elvis on the bauble Rating :5/10 notes : I love a synthesiser where have all the synths been so far in these ratings. I cant help having a little wiggle. It's wigglable music I wouldnt put most of it on (other than my GOAT Don't you want me) but I wouldnt turn it off if it came on.

3.5 stars because i love this era of music but got real tired of it realll quick

An archetypal slice of 80s new-wave pop. It’s shimmery, glossy, and drenched in neon, gliding through your head as easily as it goes in. Most of the album is stylish but non-adhesive: pleasant in the moment, forgettable afterward. The lone exception is the closer, “Don’t You Want Me,” which radio programmers correctly identified as the only truly sticky track. It’s the one Human League song that survives on every Best-of-the-80s compilation for a reason. Overall: a perfectly fine listen, but not one that lingers. Rating: 3/5

It was all right. Bizarre that their seemingly most famous song is just dropped at the end of the album

Interesting artifact. Kind of reminiscent of 1920s and 30s blues recordings - not in sound or scope, but as a curious document of time and era, or at least as “the early days” of the genre. 2nd side is pretty much perfect with tone and tunes.

My subjectivity is showing on this one. I have a natural aversion to anything that sounds so 80's as this does. Lots of keyboards and faux electronica and not great vocals leaves me cold, although i can admit they write a good pop song now and again. On the positive side, i have a pro sheffield bias and know how high this is held. I'll never chose to listen again, but its a good example of its time and place

Pretty weak 3, feels dated

I was quite torn, idk if it's a 3 or 4/5 (it's a 3,5). I like the bass, but not many songs stood out apart from the famous single (which is awesome)

I'm 70 percent finished with this journey, and I've now discovered another album that we should all just skip to *that* song. Oh, you know which one. That clearly the reason this lackluster 1980s cheese made this list. Favorite Track: "Don't You Want Me".

This was pretty enjoyable 80s synth pop that I enjoyed a bit more than I expected I would. First side was stronger than the second side, I think though. Somewhere between 3 and 4 stars.