Romantic? [Vinyl]

Human League | Format: Vinyl

Product Details

• Vinyl (September 4, 1990)
• Label: A&M
• ASIN: B00008ENXP
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Worth Getting? Yes!, October 4, 2004

By 

Steve Juhase (NYC) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Romantic? (Audio CD)

I'm a Human League fanatic. When this album was released in 1990, I was one of the first to own it. And one of the first to love it and play it over and over. Unlike it's predecessor "Crash", which sent the League on a musical departure to the left (due to the Terry Lewis/Jimmy Jam Production), "Romantic?" gets back to the Human League style and sound(s). Although at times, the album sounds a bit under produced, it's a keeper. My favorite tracks include: "A Doorway?", "Rebound", and "The Stars are Going Out". There is a CD single out there somewhere with an amazing remix of "Soundtrack to a Generation". If you should see it, buy it. It's worth getting, as is "Romantic?".

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Romantic a classic?, January 12, 2004

By 

Matt Crazed "crazed outlook" (New York, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Romantic? (Audio CD)

After seeing Human League live in Harrisburg,PA in the summer of 2003, I became more interested in their post-Crash catalog. Subsequently, I bought a used copy of Romantic? at a cheap price. In retrospect, I wouldn't regret having paid the full list price. Romantic? is an overlooked gem. It has the songwriting flair of Dare, combined with the dance/pop sensibility of Crash. A previous reviewer wishes the album would've had more male/female duets, but the vocals are fairly interactive on several tracks, such as "Heart Like a Wheel" and "Men Are Dreamers". Romantic? does space out a bit around the second half of the album, but the track sequence flows cohesively as a full-fledged body of work. "Get It Right This Time" provides the perfect upbeat closing track. Overall, Romantic? is a very solid album that showcases The Human League's trademark sound in an early 90's context.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars There's A Reason Why This Album Has A Question Mark, April 28, 2011

By 

Andre S. Grindle "Andre' Grindle" (Brewer Maine) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Romantic? (Audio CD)

Personally I feel that this album's title is loaded with irony. It's not that this album doesn't have it's share of bright lyrics but without the production of Jam/Lewis as on Crash there's just a little something missing. Now I realize especially this close to the 80's a lot of humanity had been drained out of dance/pop music. And that had a lot more to do with performance spirit than with electronic instrumentation. From the aloof,mopey image presented on album cover art one wonders if Phil Oakey and company were turning more from androgynous electronic post-disco towards some type of goth-dance style ala The Cure or something. But image sometimes says something different than what it seems to because,actually this album contained many of the same type of bright melodics hooks as the previous one. Rhythmically however,it's altogether different.

"Kiss The Future","Heart Like A Wheel","Mister Moon And Mister Sun","Soundtrack To A Generation" and "Get It Right This Time" are all sprightly sounding synthesized dance pop with a pronounded late 80's flavor (it's only 1990 remember) but while the melodies and harmonic ideas are as rich as ever the music and vocal arrangements all have a rather stiff quality for music so heavily crafted. But neither do they have the same kind of magical sounding synth washes of earlier Human League either so the effect is a bit remote sometimes. That's especially true on tunes such as "Rebound" which has a chilly,repetitous vocal chant and a somewhat monotonous structure anyway. In the end they retain the dance edge but it's far more of an late 80's/early 90's pop/disco feel overall than the tighter and more elegantly produced funk of the previous time out.

Never much on recording consistantly from the early 80's on The Human League were always looking to reinvent their established sound in a manner similar to David Bowie,always searching for the perfect groove and beat to go along with their strong melodies,traded vocals and and longing lyrics. Of course the one thing that makes this a good Human League album as opposed to a great one is that with all the effort put into bringing strong songs together with strong grooves on the previous albums they decided to flatten everything out on the rhythmic end as opposed to toughening it up even further than it had been before. But it's happened before: sometimes an artist finds a new direction that works and doesn't really know how to grow from there. All the same this isn't by any means their worst album but just maybe not the appropriate follow up to the previous release.