Archive for the ‘The Human League’ Category

Transcontinental Covers

Tuesday, July 7th, 2015

I’ve been slightly more prolific than usual this week. I continued my Scrunged series with a look at Candlebox, and I also wrote up a quick little thing on UFO catchters in Japan and the various Mario related goods I’ve snagged in them. Check them out if you’re interested.

You know that next year marks the 10th anniversary of this stupid little blog? I wonder if I should plan something.

YMO vs. The Human League
Behind The Mask
Kimi Ni Mune Kyun
Kimi Ni Mune Kyun (Extended Version)
Firecracker～Tong Poo /東風 (Bonus Track)
A while ago I wrote a little thing about the song “Behind The Mask,” mainly tracking how it started as a jingle for a watch commercial only to find its way to Eric Clapton by the way of Michael Jackson’s keyboardist. It’s a weird story, and if you like tracing some of the more unlikely links in pop music history, I suggest you check that article out.

I cited quite a few different versions of the song when I was writing that piece, but somehow this amazing version made it past my radar. Don’t know how the fuck that happened, as this is definitely one of the better takes on the Michael Jackson version of the song. It certainly more faithful to the original from a musical standpoint than just about any other Westerner’s take on the tune – thanks to the fact that it’s actually being covered by a synth-pop act and not a white blues guitarist. Phil Oakey’s vocals oddly match up to the original’s too.

The other two songs are also YMO covers, with their version of “Kimi Ni Mune Kyun” shockingly similar to the original. Their cover of “Tong Poo” takes some pretty interesting liberties, but it still keeps the basic melody that makes the song work so well. All of these tracks were taken from the YMO vs. The Human League EP that was never released outside of Japan.

I wonder if YMO were an influence on The Human League. Of course, The Human League pre-date YMO by a couple years, but they radically changed line-ups and sound in 1981 with Dare, and part of me imagines that perhaps some of that change was inspired by YMO. While YMO were not the first electronic act in the world, the argument can be made that they were the first one that tried to move electronic pop music past something that was cold and distant and into something that was more fun and upbeat – something that The Human League were trying to do in the early 80s as well.

 

Posted in remixes, The Human League, YMO | 1 Comment »

Life is too short to be with someone who doesn’t like Gremlins.

Sunday, March 9th, 2014

See headline.

Cyndi Lauper
The Goonies ‘R’ Good Enough (Dance Re-Mix)
The Goonies ‘R’ Good Enough (Dub Version)
If you’re reading this blog today, it’s probably because of this song. When I first started this blog eons ago I was just one in a long line of countless MP3 blogs, fighting for attention and not getting any. Turned out the world wasn’t ready for subpar vinyl rips of orchestral renditions of obscure David Bowie tracks.

But that began to change in 2007 when I posted this track, as a fan of it was apparently a contributor to the once-relevant now wh0-the-fuck-cares Best Week Ever blog at VH1. They posted a short thing about it (long since deleted) and my hits more than quadrupled. It was pretty rad. That got the ball rolling on this site, making it…one of many in a sea of Mp3 blogs fighting for attention.

Eh.

Eddy Grant
Electric Avenue (12” Version)
Oy!

This is  straight-up repost and not a re-recording. I couldn’t get to it in time before I moved. Sorry! It was either this or a Breakin’ soundtrack, okay? And we all know I made the right choice. But someone requested this, so here you go.

Human League
Don’t You Want Me (Snap 12″ Extended Remix)
Don’t You Want Me (Red Jerry 12″ Remix)
These were requests as well. I think these are re-recordings. To be honest I really can’t tell. My ability to judge audio quality is still a bit compromised. I’m still working with my laptop and its crappy laptop speakers, so I just can’t pick up any decent fidelity at the moment. However, these mixes were pretty recent additions to my collection, so I’m sure they sound acceptable regardless.

 

And yes, it’s that Snap.

 

Posted in Cyndi Lauper, remixes, The Human League | 2 Comments »

Human League Conspiracy Theories and Happy Mondays

Tuesday, May 22nd, 2012

In case you hadn’t heard, I recently completely the epic-length Lost Turntable Guide to Recording Vinyl. You should totally read it. It’s almost 5,000 words though, so maybe you might want to pee first.

Happy Mondays
Bob’s Yer Uncle (The Grid Mix)
Bob’s Yer Uncle (Paul Oakenfold Mix)
These remixes are from a 12″ promo copy I snagged last week, they’re chill as shit. This song is my new jam.

The Human League
All I Ever Wanted (Oliver Lieb’s Main Mix)
All I Ever Wanted (Oliver Lieb’s Alternative Mix)
All I Ever Wanted (The Vanity Case Mix)
All I Ever Wanted (The Vanity Case Instrumental Mix)
I love it when a band’s fans obviously hi-jack Wikipedia and the moderators are none the wiser. Take The Human League for instance. Not only does their wiki have a tremendous amount of extraneous data (not to mention the most needlessly complicated band members section I’ve ever seen), but pages for individual members, albums and even songs are freakishly in-depth and filled with unsubstantiated “facts” and bizarre justifications for why The Human League is no longer the biggest band in the world. For instance, both the wiki for this song as well as the wiki for Secrets, the album from which the song came from, claim that the song/album were not hits because the band’s label was on the verge of bankruptcy when the album came out, and that the BBC had blacklisted the band. I think the whole “it’s 2001 and we’re an 80s synthpop band” had more to do with the album’s lack of success than anything else.

I’m not knocking The Human League, don’t get me wrong, I love them, I just don’t love them enough to oddly rationalize why they’re no longer popular. Shit, I love me some Toadies, but you don’t see me saying that their lack of current success is due to a conspiracy involving Clear Channel, the Freemasons and the Gin Blossoms.

Wait, I may be on to something here…

Anyways, these are good remixes, download them.

Posted in Happy Mondays, remixes, The Human League | 6 Comments »

The Human League is Totally Awesome

Wednesday, October 19th, 2011

Don’t you want me OOOOOHooooooohOOOOOOOHooooooooooooh

Sorry.

Pet Shop Boys
You Only Tell Me You Love Me When You’re Drunk (Brother Brown’s Newt Mix) 
You Only Tell Me You Love Me When You’re Drunk (Attaboy Still Love You When We’re Sober Mix)
You Only Tell Me You Love Me When You’re Drunk (The T-Total Mix)
You Only Tell Me You Love Me When You’re Drunk (Brother Brown’s Newt Dub)
I bought this, along with three other Pet Shop Boys singles today. That brings my total PSB singles count to 40. Forty. Four-zero. That is a lot of fabulous. The only artist I have more singles of is Erasure, and possibly Madonna – I have to recount. One day I’m going to get all the singles from Erasure, the Pet Shop Boys and Madonna and I’m going to open the best gay bar ever. I’m sure that’ll help me get all the women.

I don’t have much to say about these mixes, probably because this isn’t one of my favorite PSB tracks. I like the stutter edit on the title lyric, but other than that, I find it pretty bland, kind of like a slightly more upbeat (musically, not lyrically) version of “Rent.” The T-Total mix has a great beat though and they’re all still worth a listen if you like the Boys.

The Human League
Don’t You Want Me (Snap 12″ Extended Remix)
Don’t You Want Me (Red Jerry 12″ Remix)
Okay, I need help here, is the “Snap” who created this rather amazing remix of “Don’t You Want Me” the same Snap who brought us “The Power?” Someone find this shit out, it’s important. If that is the case, then this remix is automatically 8 billion times better than it already is, and that’s saying something since as it stands now it’s pretty freaking radical. Equally bitchin’ is the Red Jerry mix. I actually know who that is though, he’s a DJ from the UK. Although I only know this because he inexplicably has a Wikipedia page. Yay for needless wiki pages! They make hasty midnight research oh so much easier.

I’m going to rock out to these mixes all night. Who the fuck needs sleep? I have awesome synthpop.

Moby
Everytime You Touch Me (John Blackford Remix)
“Everytime You Touch Me” is one of my top five 90s house tracks of all time. It’s one of the most energetic, upbeat and lovey-dovey dance tunes ever and it makes me happy everytime I hear it. At least, that was the case until I heard this crazy remix, which was actually the winning submission in a fan remix contest by Moby and Elektra back in the mid-90s. This mix is nothing like the original. It strips away all of the positive feelings and energy of the original and replaces them with minimal melodies and creepy as all fuck vocal samples, including this gem:

“I always had a suspicion that it might be supremely pleasurable to be humiliated by a beautiful woman. It was only now I realized what this could entail.”

Okay…um…ew. I’m going to have to listen to those “Don’t You Want Me” remixes about a billion more times just to get this creepfest out of my brain.

Don’t you want me OOOOOHooooooohOOOOOOOHooooooooooooh!!!!!!!

Damn that song is awesome.

Posted in Moby, Pet Shop Boys, remixes, The Human League | 4 Comments »

Did I mention that Jay Leno is a piece of shit? Oh, and Human League is really good.

Friday, January 29th, 2010

Egad! I haven’t posted anything all week. Sorry about that. Combination of being out of town until Monday, getting a shitload of work done and Mass Effect 2 coming out. Hell, who am I kidding? You can blame the lack of updates this week almost solely on Mass Effect 2 coming out. Yeah, blame BioWare, not me.

You can also blame Jay Leno. Seriously, I usually write these posts while watching Conan. But since Conan isn’t on anymore then I can’t do that can I? As if you needed another reason to hate that big-chinned piece of shit. My dad actually YELLED at me for calling Jay Leno a piece of shit over the weekend. (Context: I’m 30 years old). Yeah, that was an odd thing to nearly come to blows with your father over. Thankfully my dad doesn’t give a shit about anything I write, so I doubt he’ll stumble upon this post, who knows what he would do if he found out that I was calling Jay Leno a piece of shit over the internet…where other people might read it!

I’m just kidding, my dad doesn’t think anyone reads what I write.

Yeah, I’m not bitter.

Anyways, short post tonight, but it’s good stuff if you like 80s synthpop bands who used to be one band but split into two separate bands…yeah, that made sense somehow.

The Human league
Tell Me When (Utah Saints Mix 2)
Tell Me When (Strictly Blind Dub)
Tell Me When (Overworld Mix)
This is 90s Human League, and it’s more straight-up electronic than synthp-pop or new wave. They haven’t released anything new since 2001’s Secrets have they? That’s a bloody shame. I hate it when my favorite bands turn into nostalgia acts. Hey Phillip Oakley! Get off your amazingly talented ass and record some new tunes! I’ll buy them. Sure, I don’t know if anyone else will, but fuck those people, I’m more important.

By the way, there are many more remixes of this song. If anyone wants to share them in the comment section I will be their best friend.

Heaven 17
Crushed By The Wheels Of Industry (Industrial Mix)
Crushed By The Wheels Of Industry (Dub Version)
I posted two remixes of this song before, now here are two additional ones. No matter how many times I listen to this track I am always surprised how much it doesn’t sound like I think it should. A song called “Crushed By The Wheels of Industry” should not be as “up” as this song is. Somehow the “industrial” mix is even more upbeat. It’s a fucking travesty. Good song though – even if its tone and subject matter make it bipolar.

Posted in Heaven 17, remixes, The Human League | 9 Comments »