the great albums (vii) - dare

The first Human League album after half the band left to work together as Heaven 17, Dare was a triumph, of style, of hype, of synths, of pop.


The sound is about as clean as it could be (and such a contrast to their long-delayed follow-up, Hysteria) and could be argued to be the pinnacle of the electronic pop of the day. You can sing along to it, you can dance to it and it sounded great on the radio.


What's it about? The usual stuff - life, love, loss. It isn't profound; it is mildly pretentious. And it's hugely enjoyable, as a child of its times.


For an added bonus, I've linked to the coupling of the original Dare album and the subsequent release of various 12" remixes, Love & Dancing.