Dare (album)
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| Dare! | ||
 |
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| Studio album by The Human League | ||
| Released | 1981 | |
| Genre | Synthpop, New Wave | |
| Length | 40:30 | |
| Label | Virgin Records | |
| Producer(s) | Martin Rushent The Human League |
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| Professional reviews | ||
|---|---|---|
| The Human League chronology | ||
| Travelogue (1980) |
Dare! (1981) |
Love and Dancing (1983) |
Dare! (or Dare!) is the third album released by The Human League, and the first following the split of the original line-up. The album spawned four hit singles, and was a huge commercial success.
Following the loss of the musical driving force of the band (Ian Craig Marsh and Martyn Ware, who had left to form Heaven 17), Phil Oakey and Philip Adrian Wright hastily recruited a pair of teenage girls, Susanne Sulley and Joanne Catherall, as dancers and backing vocalists, and musicians Ian Burden (bass player in Sheffield band Graph) and Jo Callis (guitarist in Scottish punk outfit The Rezillos).
Virgin Records sent them into the studio with producer Martin Rushent, who had produced the first three highly successful albums by The Stranglers.
The infusion of new musicians (particularly Callis' songwriting talent) and Rushent's innovative production skills, plus Oakey's freer reign to steer the group in a pop direction, resulted in a groundbreaking synthesizer pop album, which became one of the highest selling records of the genre.
The singles "The Sound of the Crowd", "Love Action (I Believe in Love)" and "Open Your Heart" were released in advance of the album. "Don't You Want Me" was released after the album and became the UK's biggest-selling single of the year. The latter single was also reissued in 1994, with new remixes by Red Jerry and Snap! to promote the group's Greatest Hits CD.
The instrumental track "Get Carter" is a minimalist cover version of Roy Budd's theme tune for the film of the same name, played with a single voice on a Casio VL-1.
Dare's U.S. release added an exclamation point to the title, making the American title of the album Dare!
In 2000 Q magazine placed Dare at number 69 in its list of the 100 Greatest British Albums Ever. It was also ranked 100th in a survey held by British television's Channel 4 to determine the 100 greatest albums of all time.
Lester Bangs died of an accidental drug overdose while listening to "Dare."
[edit] Track listing
- "Things That Dreams Are Made Of" (Oakey, Wright) – 4:14
- "Open Your Heart" (Callis, Oakey) – 3:53
- "The Sound of the Crowd" (Burden, Oakey) – 3:56
- "Darkness" (Callis, Wright) – 3:56
- "Do or Die" (Burden, Oakey) – 5:23
- "Get Carter" (Budd) – 1:02
- "I Am the Law" (Oakey, Wright) – 4:14
- "Seconds" (Callis, Oakey, Wright) – 4:58
- "Love Action (I Believe in Love)" (Burden, Oakey) – 4:58
- "Don't You Want Me" (Callis, Oakey, Wright) – 3:56
[edit] Personnel
- Ian Burden: synthesizer
- Jo Callis: synthesizer
- Joanne Catherall: vocals
- Philip Oakey: vocals, synthesizer
- Susanne Sulley: vocals[1]
- Philip Adrian Wright: slides, occasional synthesizer
- Martin Rushent (assisted by Dave Allen): drum programming & sequencing
[edit] Equipment used
- Casio M10
- Casio VL-1
- Korg 770
- Korg Delta
- Linn LM-1
- Roland Jupiter-4
- Roland MC-8
- Roland System 700
- Yamaha CS-15
