''Crash'' is the fifth studio album by English
synth-pop
Synth-pop (short for synthesizer pop; also called techno-pop; ) is a subgenre of new wave music that first became prominent in the late 1970s and features the synthesizer as the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s ...
band
the Human League
The Human League are an English synth-pop band formed in Sheffield in 1977. Initially an experimental electronic outfit, the group signed to Virgin Records in 1979 and later attained widespread commercial success with their third album ''Dare' ...
, released on 8 September 1986 by
Virgin Records
Virgin Records is a record label owned by Universal Music Group. It originally founded as a British independent record label in 1972 by entrepreneurs Richard Branson, Simon Draper, Nik Powell, and musician Tom Newman. It grew to be a worldwid ...
. The album would provide the band with their second US number-one single, "
Human
Humans (''Homo sapiens'') are the most abundant and widespread species of primate, characterized by bipedalism and exceptional cognitive skills due to a large and complex brain. This has enabled the development of advanced tools, culture, ...
", the same year. It was produced by the American production team of
Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis
James Samuel "Jimmy Jam" Harris III (born June 6, 1959) and Terry Steven Lewis (born November 24, 1956) are an American R&B/pop songwriting and record production team. They have enjoyed great success since the 1980s with various artists, most ...
, who also wrote several tracks.
Background
After spending two years recording their fourth album ''
Hysteria
Hysteria is a term used colloquially to mean ungovernable emotional excess and can refer to a temporary state of mind or emotion. In the nineteenth century, hysteria was considered a diagnosable physical illness in women. It is assumed that ...
'', which met with only moderate commercial success, the band struggled to record further material. By 1985, musician/songwriter
Jo Callis
John William "Jo" Callis (born 2 May 1951) is an English musician and songwriter who played guitar with the Edinburgh based punk rock band The Rezillos (under the name Luke Warm), and post-punk band Boots for Dancing before joining The Human ...
had left the group.
Virgin Records
Virgin Records is a record label owned by Universal Music Group. It originally founded as a British independent record label in 1972 by entrepreneurs Richard Branson, Simon Draper, Nik Powell, and musician Tom Newman. It grew to be a worldwid ...
, worried by the lack of progress in one of their leading acts, called the band principals to a meeting where a solution was sought. As the problem was perceived to be the lack of production, it was suggested that the band take up an offer to work with
Minneapolis
Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...
based production duo
Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis
James Samuel "Jimmy Jam" Harris III (born June 6, 1959) and Terry Steven Lewis (born November 24, 1956) are an American R&B/pop songwriting and record production team. They have enjoyed great success since the 1980s with various artists, most ...
.
[ Jam and Lewis had written for and produced the S.O.S. Band, ]Cherrelle
Cheryl Anne Norton (born October 13, 1958), better known by her stage name Cherrelle, is an American R&B singer and songwriter who gained fame in the mid-1980s. Her signature hits include "I Didn't Mean to Turn You On", "Where Do I Run To", "Eve ...
and Alexander O'Neal
Alexander O'Neal (born November 15, 1953) is an American R&B singer, songwriter and arranger from Natchez, Mississippi.
O'Neal came to prominence in the mid-1980s as a solo artist, with eleven Top 40 singles on the US R&B chart, three of whic ...
, and had just finished working on Janet Jackson
Janet Damita Jo Jackson (born May 16, 1966) is an American singer, songwriter, actress, and dancer. She is noted for her innovative, socially conscious and sexually provocative records, as well as elaborate stage shows. Her sound and choreog ...
's breakthrough album ''Control
Control may refer to:
Basic meanings Economics and business
* Control (management), an element of management
* Control, an element of management accounting
* Comptroller (or controller), a senior financial officer in an organization
* Controllin ...
''.[ They had developed an interest in the Human League after the success of their US releases; they were also seeking an opportunity to cross over into mainstream pop and saw the Human League as the perfect opportunity.][
In February 1986, the Human League were flown out to Minneapolis to work at Flyte Time Studios with Jam and Lewis.][ After initial enthusiasm on both sides, the working relationship began to break down. Jam and Lewis had total control over the final album and insisted that their own tracks take precedence over the band's material. Jam and Lewis were also intolerant of the band's laid back working methods and their lack of musical technical ability.
After four months in Minneapolis, a sidelined ]Philip Oakey
Philip Oakey (born 2 October 1955) is a British singer, songwriter and record producer. He is best known as the lead singer, songwriter, and cofounder of British synth-pop band the Human League. Aside from the Human League, Oakey has enjoyed an e ...
pulled the band out of further recording and they returned to Sheffield leaving Jam and Lewis to complete the album using session musicians. Oakey said later:
Keyboard players Philip Adrian Wright
Philip Adrian Wright (born 30 June 1956) is an English musician, also known as Adrian Wright.
Wright had studied film making at Sheffield Art College and was a friend of Philip Oakey. In 1978, he was invited to join the new avant-garde electr ...
and Ian Burden also had been sidelined by Jam and Lewis. Wright would not recover from the humiliation and immediately left the band upon their return to the UK. Burden eventually quit the band in 1987.
The album name was taken from a moment in the studio during the recording. Oakey described it thus:
The album quickly became an unexpected success. One of the Jam and Lewis compositions, "Human
Humans (''Homo sapiens'') are the most abundant and widespread species of primate, characterized by bipedalism and exceptional cognitive skills due to a large and complex brain. This has enabled the development of advanced tools, culture, ...
", was released as the album's first single and became the Human League's second number-one on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and their first UK top-10 single in over three years, peaking at number eight. Follow-up singles " I Need Your Loving" and the 1988 UK-only release " Love Is All That Matters" were less successful, failing to reach the UK top 40. The album itself peaked at number seven in the UK (where it has been certified Gold for shipments in excess of 100,000 copies) and number 24 on the US ''Billboard'' 200. Oakey stated his discomfort with the record in 1995, saying: "The Jam and Lewis album rash
A rash is a change of the human skin which affects its color, appearance, or texture.
A rash may be localized in one part of the body, or affect all the skin. Rashes may cause the skin to change color, itch, become warm, bumpy, chapped, dry, cr ...
was just like being a puppet for four months. It was interesting to pick yourself out of the industrial north of England and dump yourself in Minneapolis. Great experience, but it just wasn't our album."
However, in 2015, producer Jimmy Jam mentioned that the primary source of tension between the Human League and Jam and Lewis was largely due to the issue of background vocals. Jam thought Sulley and Catherall were good singers, but wanted to use them for the spoken parts on the single "Human".[ Jam and Lewis brought in their session vocalist ]Lisa Keith
Lisa Keith (born 1960) is an American contemporary/ pop singer, probably best known for her work as a backing vocalist for other artists and lead vocalist on Herb Alpert's hit single from 1987, " Making Love in the Rain". In 1993 she released her ...
, who along with Lewis performed the background vocals. This caused a rift between the producers and the group, which was started by Catherall who was discussing the issue with Oakey at the time of recording ''Crash''.[ Catherall did not like the idea of another female voice on the album, while Jam and Lewis thought Keith's vocals added to the songs. Jam explained:
][
In 2005, ''Crash'' was re-issued with extended versions of the three singles.
]
Artwork
The out-of-focus cover photo was used to disguise the fact that it was taken at very short notice to meet a print deadline, after the disaster of the planned original photo shoot. Oakey originally wanted to return to the ''Vogue
Vogue may refer to:
Business
* ''Vogue'' (magazine), a US fashion magazine
** British ''Vogue'', a British fashion magazine
** ''Vogue Arabia'', an Arab fashion magazine
** ''Vogue Australia'', an Australian fashion magazine
** ''Vogue China'', ...
'' cover style of ''Dare'' artwork for ''Crash''. He had persuaded Virgin Records to finance a studio photo shoot of the band with ''Vogue'' Paris-based photographer Guy Bourdin
Guy Bourdin (2 December 1928 – 29 March 1991), was a French artist and fashion photographer known for his provocative images. From 1955, Bourdin worked mostly with ''Vogue'' as well as other publications including '' Harper's Bazaar''. He shot ...
. The band were flown out to Paris for the two-day photo sessions. However, on arriving at Bourdin's studio, it became apparent that he was only interested in photographing the two female vocalists Susan Ann Sulley
Susan Ann Sulley (born 22 March 1963), formerly known as Susanne Sulley and Susan Ann Gayle, is an English singer who is one of the two female vocalists in the synth-pop band The Human League.
Born and raised in Sheffield, England, as a schoo ...
and Joanne Catherall
Joanne Catherall (born 18 September 1962) is an English singer who is one of two female vocalists in the English synth-pop band The Human League.
In 1980, Catherall was a 17-year-old school girl when she and her best friend Susan Ann Sulley w ...
. Matters came to a head when Bourdin ordered Sulley to do a handstand wearing a mini-skirt
A miniskirt (sometimes hyphenated as mini-skirt, separated as mini skirt, or sometimes shortened to simply mini) is a skirt with its hemline well above the knees, generally at mid-thigh level, normally no longer than below the buttocks; and a ...
, a pose she considered inappropriate. After she turned on Bourdin and the two clashed angrily, the photographer refused to work with the band and they walked out of the session with the loss of all fees. Oakey would later comment that "we spent two days there, it took nine hours to set up one photograph and I daren't tell you how much money we spent."
Reception
Ken Tucker
Kenneth Tucker is an American arts, music and television critic, magazine editor, and non-fiction book writer.
Early life and education
Tucker was born in Manhattan, New York City, New York, and raised in Stamford, Connecticut. He earned a ...
of ''The Philadelphia Inquirer
''The Philadelphia Inquirer'' is a daily newspaper headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The newspaper's circulation is the largest in both the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the Delaware Valley metropolitan region of Southeastern Pennsy ...
'' gave the album a two stars out of four rating, stating that the groups collaboration with Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis
James Samuel "Jimmy Jam" Harris III (born June 6, 1959) and Terry Steven Lewis (born November 24, 1956) are an American R&B/pop songwriting and record production team. They have enjoyed great success since the 1980s with various artists, most ...
"should have been exciting, but instead they are merely fitfully enjoyable since the melodies are wispy and the vocals weak." AllMusic
AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...
's William Ruhlmann considered ''Crash'' a collection of "songs with appealing backing tracks that maintained their dance appeal while eschewing the overtly synthesized sound of previous albums", which made it "an improvement over the lackluster ''Hysteria
Hysteria is a term used colloquially to mean ungovernable emotional excess and can refer to a temporary state of mind or emotion. In the nineteenth century, hysteria was considered a diagnosable physical illness in women. It is assumed that ...
'', but still not on a par with '' Dare''."
In the 2004 edition of ''The Rolling Stone Album Guide
''The Rolling Stone Album Guide'', previously known as ''The Rolling Stone Record Guide'', is a book that contains professional music reviews written and edited by staff members from ''Rolling Stone'' magazine. Its first edition was published in 1 ...
'', in a review of the Human League's entire discography at the time, ''Crash'' was noted for featuring two sounds, one praised for "sounding like the Human League of yore, albeit with a better rhythm section", and the other criticised for "coming across like contemporary R&B
Contemporary R&B (or simply R&B) is a popular music genre that combines rhythm and blues with elements of pop, soul, funk, hip hop, and electronic music.
The genre features a distinctive record production style, drum machine-backed rhythm ...
sung by the generally soulless Oakey, Sulley, and Catherall." Of the album's ten tracks, the lead single "Human" was called a highlight for "find ngthe perfect middle ground etween the two sounds.
Track listing
Personnel
The Human League
* Ian Burden
* Joanne Catherall
Joanne Catherall (born 18 September 1962) is an English singer who is one of two female vocalists in the English synth-pop band The Human League.
In 1980, Catherall was a 17-year-old school girl when she and her best friend Susan Ann Sulley w ...
* Philip Oakey
Philip Oakey (born 2 October 1955) is a British singer, songwriter and record producer. He is best known as the lead singer, songwriter, and cofounder of British synth-pop band the Human League. Aside from the Human League, Oakey has enjoyed an e ...
* Jim Russell
* Susan Ann Sulley
Susan Ann Sulley (born 22 March 1963), formerly known as Susanne Sulley and Susan Ann Gayle, is an English singer who is one of the two female vocalists in the synth-pop band The Human League.
Born and raised in Sheffield, England, as a schoo ...
* Philip Adrian Wright
Philip Adrian Wright (born 30 June 1956) is an English musician, also known as Adrian Wright.
Wright had studied film making at Sheffield Art College and was a friend of Philip Oakey. In 1978, he was invited to join the new avant-garde electr ...
Additional musicians
* Paul Rabiger – keyboard parts, arrangements
Technical
* Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis
James Samuel "Jimmy Jam" Harris III (born June 6, 1959) and Terry Steven Lewis (born November 24, 1956) are an American R&B/pop songwriting and record production team. They have enjoyed great success since the 1980s with various artists, most ...
– production
* Steve Hodge – engineering
* John McClain – executive production
Artwork
* Gavin Cochrane – photograph
* The Human League
The Human League are an English synth-pop band formed in Sheffield in 1977. Initially an experimental electronic outfit, the group signed to Virgin Records in 1979 and later attained widespread commercial success with their third album ''Dare' ...
– cover design, layout
* Ken Ansell – cover design, layout
* The Design Clinic – coordination
Charts
Certifications
References
External links
The-black-hit-of-space.dk
{{Authority control
1986 albums
A&M Records albums
Albums produced by Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis
The Human League albums
Virgin Records albums