''Romantic?'' is the sixth

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

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' ...

. It was issued 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 ...

in 1990 and was the band's first album of new material in four years. ''Romantic?'' had several producers, most notably

Martin Rushent Martin Charles Rushent (11 July 1948 – 4 June 2011) was an English record producer, best known for his work with The Human League, The Stranglers and Buzzcocks. Early life Rushent was born on 11 July 1948 in Enfield, Middlesex. His father ...

, who worked with the Human League on their biggest commercial success (1981's ''

Dare Dare may refer to: Places * Dare, East Timor, a city * Darè, Italy, a commune * Dare County, North Carolina, United States * Dare, Virginia, United States, an unincorporated community Name * Dare (name), a list of people and fictional c ...

'') and had walked out of the recording sessions for its 1984 follow-up (''

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 ...

''). Also producing several tracks is

Mark Brydon Mark Errington Brydon is an English bassist, guitarist, composer, arranger, recording engineer, remix artist and producer best known as a member of the group Moloko. Previous work He comes from Sunderland, England, but established himself in ...

, who would be one half of musical duo

Moloko Moloko () were an Irish-English electronic music duo formed in Sheffield, England, consisting of vocalist Róisín Murphy and producer Mark Brydon. Blending elements of electronica and dance music, they are best known for their UK top 10 sin ...

several years later. At the time of the album's release, the Human League had reached the nadir of a decline in popularity following the success of ''Dare'' nine years prior; this fall from grace was reflected in the song "The Stars Are Going Out," in which the band reflects upon their loss of fame and its impact on them. The song one writer called a "pointless and bland filler," was ditched as a potential third single. The album signalled a critical and commercial low point for the band, which led to their long-standing contract with

being terminated. The only significant success came from the album's first single "

Heart Like a Wheel ''Heart Like a Wheel'' is the fifth solo studio album by Linda Ronstadt, released in November 1974. It was Ronstadt's last album to be released by Capitol Records. At the time of its recording, Ronstadt had already moved to Asylum Records and rel ...

", which peaked at No. 29 on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

and No. 32 on the U.S. ''Billboard'' Hot 100. The second single " Soundtrack to a Generation" charted at No. 77 in the UK. The album itself peaked at No. 24 on the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts C ...

, and as a result the band moved to

East West Records East West Records (stylized as east''west'') is a record label formed in 1955, distributed and owned by Warner Music Group, headquartered in London, England. History Upon its creation in 1955 by Atlantic Records, the label had one hit with th ...

to release their next album, 1995's ''

Octopus An octopus ( : octopuses or octopodes, see below for variants) is a soft-bodied, eight- limbed mollusc of the order Octopoda (, ). The order consists of some 300 species and is grouped within the class Cephalopoda with squids, cuttle ...

''. The Human League's live performance of "The Stars Are Going Out" on '' Later... with Jools Holland'' in 1995 was included on their 2003 ''The Very Best of the Human League'' DVD.

Track listing

Charts

References

External links

* 1990 albums The Human League albums Virgin Records albums {{1990s-pop-album-stub