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Very Best of

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I was so excited when I heard this DVD was coming out. The League is one of my all-time favourite bands, and over the past two decades I've played their "Dare" and "Love and Dancing" albums over and over and they've always sounded just as fresh as the day I bought them. But it always brought a tinge of regret in me over the way -- I assumed -- this great group had self-destructed and disappeared with the end of the 80s. And although they were more popular here in Canada, since they only had a couple of hits in the US which it seemed everyone had long since forgotten about, I thought a DVD compilation like this was just a crazy dream for fans like me on this side of the Atlantic.

Well, not only was I overjoyed in actually getting such a DVD, but I had the most amazing surprise in store for me when I found out that they had NOT broken up after the last video of theirs ever shown in my part of the world ("Human"), and that in fact they had continued making music aaaall these years and were even still together and making music today. I had no idea! It's made me SO happy!! It's like finding out one of your best friends who you thought had died in a "Crash" (pun intended) years ago is in fact still alive and well and living just around the corner from you!

I loved seeing the two videos I've been dying to see again -- "Open Your Heart", and "Fascination" -- after all these years. Still great, great songs and classic videos. And the opening notes of "Mirror Man" made me think "Hey I know this song...wait a minute...what is it? ...Oh yeah!!" It was wonderful rediscovering a song I had TOTALLY forgotten about.

Some real treasures for me here were the Top Of The Pops performances, which I had always dreamed of owning but thought I would have to wait endless millennia for some sort of TOTP compilation to get. Thank you, Virgin!

I see the beginning of the band's decline as "The Lebanon". Still a good song, but Phil's sudden change in image -- from an avant-garde icon who led the way that others followed, to a more regulation-issue jeans and leather jacket with gritty unshaven beard and "rock star hair" kind of look -- sent alarm bells ringing in my head and told me some record company exec must have gotten hold of them and told them they had to change their image to appeal to a "wider demographic" or some such nonsense. Grrr...

It's been interesting going through the rest of the videos, catching up and following the ups and downs of their career over the years since then. The sickeningly sweet saccharine sentimentality (--whew, how's that for alliteration? ;) ) of "Louise" I can do without. And the Human League trying to be The Gap Band?? Say wha..? And the utterly conventional rock tune "Heart Like a Wheel" seems pretty uninspired. "Soundtrack To A Generation" sounds pretty good, until you get to that annoying "ooh wow -- holy cow!" chorus which puts it instead into the "what WERE they thinking???" category.

But then, miracle of miracles, things very suddenly start to improve. "Tell Me When" actually has that good old techno sound that I LOVE, and the videos for this and "One Man In My Heart" are utterly beautiful. Yeah, they're clearly directed at what the record company believes is an older, more mellowed and cappuccino-drinking audience, but still very, very good.

And then we come to the video which just blew me away -- "All I Ever Wanted". THIS is the Human League I remember, updated for the new millennium! All the elements which once made them great are back -- the fashion sense, the technology, the futurism -- plus one of their most solid songs in years! So WHY~ is this not getting the airplay it deserves and becoming the hit it should be???

Which brings me to my most favourite part of all of this DVD, which is the extended interview. It's wonderful to finally meet the people who've brought me so much musical pleasure over the years. We find the band in a rather sombre and demoralized state after having given their all and made a killer new album, but being unable to reach anyone with it due to being completely shut out from today's totally cookie-cutter radio playlists.

It's like somewhere around 1990 or so, some fat backroom exec in LA said "okay, as of today everything we've called 'New Wave' will now be called 'Old School' or 'Retro', and we'll only play the old hits of these artists but nothing new. From now on we're only gonna push Grunge, Rap and made-in-the-USA plastic pop icons." And from that day onward music descended into the utter PAP which infests the airwaves today.

So if this DVD helps the band to cut through this crap and re-connect with more long-lost fans like myself, all I can say is a huge "BRAVO!!!"

Grab it ...if you can find it. The videos are very cleaned up and beautiful to look at, (particularly Fascination). The only things missing are the original video version of "The Sound of the Crowd," from Top of the Pops TV show that appeared on previous VHS video compilations. Instead there is a different TOTP version and a live version as well. Also the rarely seen "Filling Up With Heaven", video is missing as it was from the last Best Of Double CD. This was omitted simply because Virgin couldn't get permission from EastWest Records to use it on either compilation. Sadly where the band interview is concerned, there seems to be a lot of editing going on (there are many fades to black after the band answers any given question that is asked of them). My guess is either the band just trailed off on boring tangents, or what's more likely is that Virgin didn't want some of the content to be seen or heard by viewers (remember Virgin dumped the League from their label several years ago). Anyway, if you are a fan of this band then I suggest you try to get a hold of this DVD as as I doubt another video compilation of this much under-appreciated band will ever appear again in our lifetime.

Here's the content listing:

1. Cicus of Death
2. Empire State Human
3. Love Action
4. Open Your Heart
5. Don't You Want Me
6. Mirror Man
7. (Keep Feeling) Fascination
8. The Lebanon
9. Life on Your Own
10. Together In Electric Dreams
11. Louise
12. Human
13. Love is All That Matters
14. I Need Your Loving (Yuck!)
15. Heart Like A Wheel
16. Soundtrack to a Generation
17. Tell Me When
18. One Man in My Heart
19. All I Ever Wanted

Band Interview

TV Appearances (Top of the Pops):

The Sound of the Crowd
Love Action
Open Your Heart
Don't You Want Me

Live with Jools Holland (1995):

The Stars are Going Out
The Sound of the Crowd

"The Very Best Of" Human League is what a music video dvd should be--extremely thorough, insight into the band and good videos. In fact, although I've been a Human League fan since 1981, the only videos I was exposed to were "Don't You Want Me", "(Keep Feeling) Fascination", "Human" and "Heart Like A Wheel". The other 15 videos were surprisingly good for the 1980's. The six live performances were just an added bonus. The interview with the band I found to be most interesting and it converted my wife into appreciating Human League as a cornerstone of electronic music.

Basically what you get is 19 videos ranging from guerilla film-making like "Circus Of Death" and "Empire State Human" from 1979 to solid storyline videos like "Don't You Want Me" and "Louise" to sleek videos like "Human", "Heart Like A Wheel", "Tell Me When" and "All I Ever Wanted". The videos total 1 hour and 11 minutes. There are six live performances--four from 1981 and two from 1995. Also included is a 2003 interview with the band that runs about 25 minutes. The total length of the content is approximately 1 hour and 56 minutes. It is a regionless, NTSC disc and the videos and audio have been digitally remastered with the exception of the live performances. Everything is in 2.0 sound. All in all, a little pricey for one disc, but this may likely be the only dvd compilation of videos from this band for quite some time.

I mainly bought this DVD release for the remastered audio. The sound quality featured on this release is simply stunning. Never has the sound been better on any Human League release! The improvements are striking, notably on the earlier cuts like "Love Action" and "Mirror Man." It's hard to believe that "Don't You Want Me" was originally released in 1981 with it's depth, clarity, and bass line -- which brings me to 1986's "Human." Before this release I never knew that "Human" had such a deep, rich bass. It has always sounded light and flat in previous releases. I love to just sit back and feel the depth of the remastered audio fill my room, vibrating the walls and floors. "Mirror Man" has never had so much punch and kick. It's amazing how much the audio quality can enhance the brilliance of the recordings.

It's so nice that EMI invested so much in the remastering process. It's a shame, however, that even with the latest technology the release didn't feature DTS 5.1 surround sound audio. Considering this DVD will probably be the only League video collection for a while a 5.1 treatment would have been much appreciated.

In addition to audio the picture receives a nice remaster. The video quality of "Love Action" - filmed in 1982 - is striking considering the age. Much the same can be said of the other videos. Not all the earlier cuts are as clear as "Love Action," yet whatever distortion and artifacts that exist are expected considering much of the original source material dates from the early 1980s.

The bonus features seem a bit random, but they are nice addition to the package. Also, we get a 2003 interview with the members, covering the history of the band.

Overall, it's a nice package if you want an enhanced audio treatment for your ears -- or if you want to capture a nice chunk of the League's back video catalog.

Well, it's about time! The Human League (THL) finally get a greatest hits video after umpteen greatest hits CD's and multiple album reissues. With Frankie Goes To Hollywood, Eurythmics, Erasure, Soft Cell, Naked Eyes, Culture Club and even Howard Jones crediting THL in one way or another as being the inspiration to their success, one wonders why they never became megastars in the United States the way Duran Duran or the others did. THL were among the early pioneers of New Wave. From as far back as 1977 they were strong believers in electronic music and after four years of hard work, they hit the mainstream and forced everyone to take notice. Their debut US album Dare was no joke. But they should have been bigger and more widely accepted. Well, they did have a couple of smashes here, like the immortal Don't You Want Me. And then there was Human 5 years later. The recently sampled Love Action (I Believe In Love) (sampled by George Michael for his Shoot The Dog) was featured in the 80's B-flick The Last American Virgin, but these icons were much bigger in England with new releaes easily debuting in the Top Pop 5. They represented style and class, and their video shorts showcased those achievements. This video collection shows the highs and lows of their career, and then their highs again. Don't You Want Me, Love Action, Mirror Man, Fascination, Human, the terrific comeback video Tell Me When and the incredibly stylish One Man In My Heart are the obvious highs. And then others like Soundtrack To A Generation and Heart Like A Wheel could have been left off. There is a telling interview included, and the rare-if-ever-seen video for Love Is All That Matters is a nice addition. The Human League fans out there will be pleased with this, and there are a lot of us. What Human League fan out there doesn't remember the summer of '82 in California? I rate this video 5 stars although I am an ardent Human League fan who was disappointed that the UK video featured more than the US release.

Synth pop's first international superstars, the Human League were among the earliest and most innovative bands to break into the pop mainstream on a wave of synthesizers and electronic rhythms, their marriage of infectious melodies and state-of-the-art technology proving enormously influential on countless acts following in their wake. There were some big hits in Europe and very few in U.S.. This collection covers most of their videos.

1 Circus of Death
2 Empire State Human
3 Love Action
4 Open Your Heart
5 Don't You Want Me
6 Mirror Man
7 (Keep Feeling) Fascination
8 Lebanon
9 Life on Your Own
10 Together in Electric Dreams
11 Louise
12 Human
13 I Need Your Loving
14 Love Is All That Matters
15 Heart Like a Wheel
16 Soundtrack to a Generation
17 Tell Me When
18 One Man in My Heart
19 All I Ever Wanted

This DVD collection is mighty good w/ sound, picture & visual innovation. But there is some things that are missing.
Contrary to what Phil, Joanne & Suzanne said in the interview, there was, in fact, a video made for "Sound of the Crowd", as it appeared on previous UK-only VHS collections.
& there was a 2nd version of "Don't You Want Me" made when the single was climbing the charts in America, a 2nd video was extracted from the "Electric Dreams" soundtrack album by Phil & Giorgio (Moroder) & a 2003 remix of "Don't You Want Me"
All 4 videos are missing from this otherwise entertaining DVD.
I've even sent Virgin America a letter that asks them to release this DVD in the US w/ the aformentioned videos added on.
Just wanted to point these out

I purchased this DVD because I have not heard from the Human League since "Human" and I was intrigued with what their current songs sounded like. After watching the entire DVD three times, I hated myself for not keeping up-to-date with this group because their current stuff sounds incredible!!!

My favorite songs and videos are "Together in Electric Dreams", "Soundtrack To A New Generation", "Tell Me When", "One Man In My Heart", and "All I Ever Wanted". Plus, this DVD includes past performances on Tops of the Pops and Jools Holland and an in-depth interview with the remaining three members.

It is money well-spent!!!

After finding out this DVD was in existence, I immediately got it and was pleased in the product I got. This disc has every video the League ever made (up to now), and not the most impressive number of extras in the world, but as good as you can get for the Human League.

The videos themselves are nice and sharp. Since all but a few of the League's videos were finished on film, I got a tad irked after finding out that they all the videos were sourced from videotape. You can't really remaster videotape, and I was scared that the videos would be ancient transfers to an archive format, like U-Matic. It turns out they are ancient transfers (though I doubt to U-Matic). This surprised me, because at the time some of the older videos were made (specifically, the Dare and Hysteria vdeos), other bands who were much more famous, like ABBA, were having shoddy, washed out transfers being archived. So to see a film transfer from 1981 with just about the same clarity you'd get today, that was suprising. These videos really didn't need to be original negative remasters, since they were so well transferred back when. On the other hand, ABBA's well-done Definitve Collection has every video remastered from the original film (when they were made on it), because, like I said, if Universal got lazy and used the masters for Gold and More Gold, there would be some very ugly videos on that DVD.

I won't bother to repeat what others have said about this, other than Virgin went the extra mile and put a nice 25 minute interview on the DVD. The live performances I don't really care for, since the band is just lip-synching to the songs, and there are a few overdubs thrown in just for fun. Good job, Virgin, it's just what we wanted!

I've been waiting for this great DVD to come out for a while!! I have every album of the Human League and have been major fan since I was a teenager in the 80's. This DVD even has some rare videos, such as, "Circle of Death" and "Empire State Human", which I never saw here in the U.S.(just to name a few). I do like their popular U.S. hits ---like "Fascination", but you'll enjoy this DVD collection if your a big fan of ALL of their music (Yes, even the "odd" stuff). Some of these videos/songs were popular in Europe, and it's great to have those songs in this collection. Some of the music video's I saw for the first time! I'm so glad they included "Electric Dreams", it's one of my favorites (It was filmed in San Francisco where I grew up). If you only like a couple of songs from them, like "Don't You Want Me" or "Human", then you you might get as much enjoyment out of it.
I'm glad their still around making good music--- I Love their newest song, "All I ever Wanted" -- Yes, the League is back, and better than ever! Cheers!