This
one deserves a bit of context, methinks, involving a deep dive into my musical
history. So here goes…
Hallowe’en
1979 was a proper musical epiphany for me, as I attended The Brunel Rooms
nightclub’s Under 18 “Nappy Night” for the first time. As a 14 year old fledgling
punkster, albeit with a knowledge of said punk genre gleaned only from “Top Of
The Pops” and the equally embryonic “Smash Hits” magazine, I was overwhelmed by
the bombardment of brilliant new music that night, hearing the likes of Killing
Joke, The Fall, Adam And The Ants, Wire, Spizz Energi and many more for the
first time. However, chief amongst my new discoveries was the track that Amphi
DJ Bill rather perversely used as his “demarcation line” between different tribal
music sessions (punk, mod, metal, then back to punk), which was unlike nothing
I’d ever heard; a robotic heartbeat pulse intro leading into a futuristic
synth-powered hypnotic rhythm, with an utterly infectious hook about wanting to
be, “tall tall tall, as big as a wall wall wall…” This was “Empire State Human”
by The Human League, and this and its’ subsequent parent album “Reproduction”,
a mix of utterly otherworldly synth sounds, quirky pop-culture loaded lyrics
and irresistible earworm tuneage (not to mention a stark, heart-cracking
version of 60’s staple “(You’ve Lost That) Loving Feeling”) became a firm
favourite of mine. Another followed in “Travelogue”, but before I could avail
myself of this music “live”, the band fractured into 2 warring factions, The
Human League Mk. 2 and Heaven 17 (via the British Electric Foundation), both
ultimately finding huge and enduring commercial success in the New Romantic pop
landscape of the 80’s, albeit with considerably less interesting music to my
then-Bunnymen infected post-punk ears (Heaven 17’s debut “Penthouse and
Pavement” partly notwithstanding). So, no chance I’d ever hear any of that
“Reproduction” or “Travelogue” material “live”, then…
Until…
late last year I bumped into Steffen, an old Brunel and Level 3 buddy, who
casually mentioned he was looking forward to seeing Heaven 17 doing the first 2
Human League albums! Further investigation revealed he wasn’t just high on
sniffing his photo development fluid (!), and that this was an actual thing, a special
40th anniversary celebration of these 2 seminal records. Wow! I
pounced straight away, and fellow “old boys” Paul and Ben needed little
persuasion to join me!
So,
we headed up to London on a sun-drenched late Summer Sunday, changing parking
plans en route due to tube closures, and eventually parking in
Hammersmith and tubing to Chalk Farm from there. Time only to get a drink and
taking a spot house left, near to one of the pillars circling the interior of
this huge ornate former railway turntable shed, before the lights smashed to
black and the sirens, alarms and pulsing synth bass of instrumental opener
“Introducing…” washed over this expectant crowd. One of only 2 such gigs, this
(the other one being the previous night in both bands’ hometown of Sheffield),
so anticipation was palpable, as was the cheer that greeted Heaven 17 vocalist
Glenn Gregory leading on the 6-piece band. Straight into the slashing
synth-punk hook of “Almost Medieval”, and immediately any concerns I had about
tonight were stamped down good and proper. It. Sounded. GREAT!
“This
has been a long time coming! Two years [due to Covid postponements] or 40 –
take your pick!” announced a clearly buoyed Gregory, before giving us a more
detailed heads-up as to the inception and gestation of this project; apparently
10 years in the making, these gigs, and also involving ultimately unsuccessful
negotiations to bring original Human League vocalist Phil Oakey on board…
actually, another later between-song preamble revealed Gregory himself was due
to be the original Human League’s vocalist, Gregory deciding on pursuing an
abortive photography career in London instead, and Oakey himself was recruited
by Ian Craig Marsh with the recommendation, “I don’t know if he can sing, but
he’s got great hair…!” Gregory was, however, the ideal frontman for this
project; a total star, stylish, louche and languid, doubtless a late night
torch singer in another life with his deep, sonorous baritone more than a match
for Oakey’s similar vocal tones, but constantly bigging up the source material,
emphasising his pure fandom for the original Human League and deflecting
attention and plaudits onto the sole remaining original Human League member on
show tonight, Martin Ware, with whom he shared an entertaining, jovial bonhomie,
and plenty of quips and humorous asides about the songs, often at Oakey’s
expense!
The
“Reproduction” run-through was nothing short of startling; “Circus Of Death”,
next up, was uneasy and creepy from the opening funereal synth death march to
its’ harrowing horror story lyric; a bouncy “Blind Youth” was accompanied by an
excellent youth culture-orientated slideshow on the 4 large screens above the
band; and whilst “Empire State Human” lacked a little musical oomph, the sheer
joy and chutzpah of the song still saw me leaving my gig buddies for a
dancing spot nearer the front. But it was the chilling, elegiac “Morale”,
segued into an astonishingly eerie rendition of “(You’ve Lost That) Loving
Feeling” which was my highlight; as heartbreakingly naked and gorgeous as the
recorded version, this saw Ware join Gregory upfront for a brilliantly observed
vocal duet. No screen backdrops here; not needed!
“Zero
As A Limit”’s accelerating hook (“this used to whip you into a frenzy, but you
were all punks in those days!” noted Ware) concluded the first album, Gregory
announcing, “It’s now time for the meat raffle!” No meat packet on offer here,
though, as the sinister synth shapes of “The Black Hit Of Space”, juxtaposed
with its’ frankly stupidly hilarious lyric, commenced the “Travelogue”
rendition. Another superb album, this for me paled slightly in comparison to
“Reproduction”, its’ instrumentals particularly feeling a little like padding
(Ware himself acknowledging this, referring to them, slightly tongue-in-cheek,
as, “commercial suicide!” whilst admitting, “if it was good enough for David
Bowie [to include instrumentals on his album “Low”], then it’s good enough for
us!”). However there were still stunning highlights aplenty, with a poignant
and uncomfortably still-relevant “Dreams Of Leaving”, accompanied by films of
refugees of today, emerging as my “Travelogue” highlight, just pipping a
superb, herky-jerky and insanely jolly “Being Boiled” and the roof raising
“whoa-oh-oh”’s of a toe-tapping “Only After Dark”.
“That
was the last track off “Travelogue”,” remarked Gregory after the conclusion of
the smoothly crooning radio broadcast of “WXJL Tonight”, “the 3rd
hour gets really interesting, we’re doing “Dare” next!” Thankfully, this wasn’t
the case, but the “Holiday ‘80” EP tracks and a funky “I Don’t Depend On You”,
which the original band released under the pseudonym of The Men, got an airing
to finish a stunning and breathtakingly swift 2 hours, before Heaven 17
actually played some Heaven 17 numbers as the encore! “(We Don’t Need This)
Fascist Groove Thang”, the sadly still-relevant yet insistently catchy call to
arms, got a singular seal of approval, particularly when accompanied by the
projected faces of those loathsome tory types Johnson, Patel, Gove and Raab
with huge black crosses superimposed over them! Then an inevitable and lengthy
“Temptation” saw heavily pregnant backing singer Rachel take the spotlight with
a searing vocal performance to this, Heaven 17’s biggest 80’s hit. I’d previously
always thought of this song as a bit cheesy, but this was actually a splendid
rendition, and a fine way to end a superb evening.
Persistence
paid off from a set-list perspective too, projectionist Malcolm Garrett handing
me a list on my 3rd time of asking (!), then a slow egress still got
us cross-town and back to the car within the hour, and home just after 1. This for
me was one of the Greats; it was just amazing to hear these songs “live” for
the first time anyway, but even better to have seen them treated with the love,
reverence and respect they deserve. Messrs. Gregory and Ware and the rest of
Heaven 17; you totally did these songs, and the seminal, ground-breaking group
that was the original Human League, full and complete justice tonight. Well
done folks!
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