CRASH

C R A S H

UK Release date: 06.09.86
Label: Virgin Records
LP: V2391
Cassette: TCV 2391
CDV 2391

Track Listing

01: MONEY
02: SWANG
03: HUMAN
04: JAM
05: ARE YOU EVER COMING BACK?
06: I NEED YOUR LOVING
07: PARTY
08: LOVE ON THE RUN
09: THE REAL THING
10: LOVE IS ALL THAT MATTERS

PRODUCED BY JERRY JAM & TERRY LEWIS

UK Chart position: 7

Purchase CRASH from amazon.co.uk

Singles released:

Human (11 August 1986)
UK Chart position: 8
(U.S, Number 1 - November 86)

I Need Your Loving (November 1986)
UK Chart position: 72

Love is All That Matters (26 September 1988)
UK Chart position: 41
Released to promote 1988 Greatest Hits album

NOTES:

After the album Hysteria (which was considered a half-failure by the media and the industry), The Human League were directed towards up and coming producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, who at the time were in search of a band that would allow them access to the new segments of the market. So, The Human League went to classic recording ground in Minneapolis, USA to record what was to become the album "Crash".

The sound of "Crash" was to further alienate the original fans of the band, as this album contained plenty of funk elements. Still, with the epic hit single "Human" the band once again reigned the charts all over the world - a song that even to this date can be heard more or less daily on any radio station. The rest of the album contained no immediate follow-up singles and flopped rather drastically, and many people in the music industry counted the band out thinking they were finished.

In terms of sound though, in many ways this album is one of the bands more timeless efforts and has managed to gain in popularity over the years, and gathered new fans to the band. Tracks to take a closer listen to include: "Human", "Are You Ever Coming Back?" (another great League moment, flooded with melancholy and synthetic winds!), and "Love Is All That Matters (which was later to be released as a single promoting the Greatest Hits album in 1988).

Choice Tracks:

Human
Love Is All That Matters
Are You Ever Coming Back
Love On The Run

Krister Malm

Human League reflections in 1988...

Human

Philip: "We identified the best producers in the world before anyone else, Jam & Lewis hadn't worked with Janet Jackson when we approached them. We both compromised because we wanted to break America and they wanted to crossover. I think Crash is great."
Susan: "Since Dare, everyone's been waiting for Dare II and it's never happened."

Love Is All That Matters

Philip: "There were no more singles on Crash and Virgin wanted something to proceed the Greatest Hits thing. This is exactly what has sabotaged our career around the world: if there's ballads on albums they pick them as singles."
Joanna: "They chose singles by committee."