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Crash
Studio album by the Human League
Released	8 September 1986
Recorded	1986
Studio	Flyte Time (Minneapolis, Minnesota)
Genre	Pop, R&B
Length	44:38
Label	Virgin
Producer	Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis
The Human League chronology
Hysteria (1984) Crash (1986) Romantic? (1990)
Singles from Crash
"Human" Released: 11 August 1986 "I Need Your Loving" Released: 10 November 1986 "Love Is All That Matters" Released: 3 February 1987

Crash is the fifth studio album by English synth-pop band the Human League, released on 8 September 1986 by Virgin Records. The album would provide the band with their second US number-one single, "Human", the same year. It was produced by the American production team of Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, who also wrote several tracks.

Background

After spending two years recording their fourth album Hysteria, which met with only moderate commercial success, the band struggled to record further material. They recorded some new material with producer Colin Thurston in Utopia Studios in London, who previously worked with them on the Reproduction album. However, the slow progress in the studio was wearing his patience thin, so once he left for his honeymoon he let his assistant Paul Rabiger take over the rest of the sessions, who would be credited for keyboards and arrangements on the final album. By 1985, musician/songwriter Jo Callis had left the group. Virgin Records, 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-based production duo Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. Jam and Lewis had written for and produced the S.O.S. Band, Cherrelle and Alexander O'Neal, and had just finished working on Janet Jackson's breakthrough album Control. 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 flew 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 lack of musical technical ability. The basic arrangements for the band's material were worked out in England using sequencers, which Jam and Lewis had re-cut with the parts all played by hand for a more natural feel: the liner notes reinforce that "there are no sequencers on this album."

After four months in Minneapolis, a sidelined Philip Oakey pulled the band out of further recording. They returned to Sheffield leaving Jam and Lewis to complete the album using session musicians. Oakey said later:

We like to be in control in the studio. We don't like giving that up to a producer. That's why we had a big, final argument, and we just decided to go home and leave them to finish it off. It just got to the point of who had the power, and in that instance...They were the men behind the mixing console, so they had ultimate control.

Keyboard players Philip Adrian Wright and Ian Burden also had been sidelined by Jam and Lewis. "I really wished we were back in Berkshire (where Dare was recorded) with Martin Rushent, making a Human League album," Burden recalled. "It was gratifying to get a US number one with 'Human', but otherwise the album was a crashing bore in every sense." Wright would not recover from the humiliation and left the band upon their return to the UK. Burden eventually quit in 1987.

The album name was taken from a moment in the studio during the recording. Oakey described it thus:

It's from a crash cymbal, because it's a disco album again with lots of cymbals. One day somebody said "what sorts of cymbals do you want, a ride or a crash?", and we thought, "what a great title!"

The album quickly became an unexpected success. One of Jam and Lewis's compositions, "Human", became the Human League's second number-one single on the US Billboard Hot 100 and their first UK top 10 single in over three years, peaking at number eight. Follow-ups "I Need Your Loving" and the 1988 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 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 the issue of background vocals. Jam thought Sulley and Catherall were good singers, but wanted to use them for the spoken parts on "Human". Jam and Lewis brought in their session vocalist Lisa Keith, who – 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. 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:

The next day we got to the studio. Phil was seeing one of the girls in the group named Joanne. And she was the one raising a stink about the other girl being on the song. Phil walked in and told us, "I have to say. I don't like the idea of another girl being on our record." We said, "What?" He repeated, "I have to say. I don't like the idea of another girl being on our record." We said, "Oh. We get it. We got you. You just have to say it. We got it. Perfect." We called the record company and told them, "We either have your first single or a record that is off the album. And you guys can figure out how you want to handle it." I told Jordan Harris, who was the Virgin/A&M Records A&R at the time that, "We think the song is perfect the way it is. We don't want to change anything about it. And by the way, the songs we wrote, we're going to finish them the way we want to finish them. That's the way it should be. The songs they wrote they can finish them however they want to, but our songs we're going to finish them the way we want to finish them." And he said, "That sounds fair. It makes total sense." I said, "So we're not taking the girl off 'Human' because we think the song sounds perfect the way it is."

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 cover style of Dare artwork for Crash. He had persuaded Virgin Records to finance a studio photo shoot of the band with Vogue's Paris-based photographer Guy Bourdin. 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 and Joanne Catherall. Matters came to a head when Bourdin ordered Sulley to do a handstand wearing a mini-skirt, 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

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic
The Boston Phoenix
Deseret News
Number One
The Philadelphia Inquirer
Q
Record Mirror	5/5
Rolling Stone
Smash Hits	7½/10
Windsor Star	B+

Ken Tucker of The Philadelphia Inquirer gave the album a two stars out of four rating, stating that the groups collaboration with Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis "should have been exciting, but instead they are merely fitfully enjoyable since the melodies are wispy and the vocals weak." AllMusic'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, but still not on a par with Dare."

In the 2004 edition of The Rolling Stone Album Guide, 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 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 the perfect middle ground ".

Track listing

Personnel

The Human League

• Ian Burden
• Joanne Catherall
• Philip Oakey
• Jim Russell
• Susan Ann Sulley
• Philip Adrian Wright

Additional musicians

• Paul Rabiger – keyboard parts, arrangements

Technical

• Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis – production
• Steve Hodge – engineering
• John McClain – executive production

Artwork

• Gavin Cochrane – photograph
• The Human League – cover design, layout
• Ken Ansell – cover design, layout
• The Design Clinic – coordination

Charts

Certifications

References

1. ^ Williams, Chris. "Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis have become synonymous with recording excellence". Wax Poetics Magazine. Archived from the original on 8 February 2015. Retrieved 7 February 2015.
2. Kolling, Neils (November 2015). "The Paul Rabiger Interview". Retrieved 15 August 2024.
3. Chin, Brian (20 December 1985). "Hitmaker Jimmy Jam: No Secret To Success". Billboard. p. 24.
4. Human League - Crash (CD, 1986) on Discogs
5. Buckley, David (October 2003). "The Human League". Mojo. No. 119. p. 55.
6. "The Human League | full Official Chart History". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 22 July 2022.
7. Humberstone, Nigel (April 1995). "Phil Oakey: The Human League". Sound on Sound. Retrieved 23 June 2013.
8. Hibbert, Tom (February 1987). "Dynasty!". Q. Retrieved 22 October 2021 – via The Black Hit of Space.
9. ^ "The Human League Crash". AllMusic. Retrieved 7 July 2012.
10. Guterman, Jimmy (6 January 1987). "Off The Record". The Boston Phoenix. 16 (1): 28. Retrieved 10 August 2023.
11. Sprangler, Jerry (21 November 1986). "Plenty of first-rate rock records for under-the-tree gifts". Deseret News. Retrieved 1 June 2022.
12. Naughton, Anthony (13 September 1986). "Albums". Number One. No. 169. p. 38.
13. ^ Tucker, Ken (26 September 1986). "Albums". Section J. The Philadelphia Inquirer. p. 28. Retrieved 25 May 2020.
14. Shaar Murray, Charles (October 1986). "The Human League: Crash". Q. No. 1.
15. Culp, Nancy (13 September 1986). "Albums" (PDF). Record Mirror. p. 18. Retrieved 1 June 2022.
16. DeCurtis, Anthony (20 November 1986). "Talking Heads tell 'True Stories'; Fogerty's 'Zombie' misses mark". Rolling Stone. No. 487. p. 125. Retrieved 1 June 2022 – via The Tuscaloosa News.
17. Heath, Chris (24 September 1986). "Albums". Smash Hits. pp. 56–57.
18. Shaw, Ted (27 September 1986). "Pop spins towards Christmas". Windsor Star. p. 24. Retrieved 1 June 2022.
19. Tucker 1986.
20. The New Rolling Stone Album Guide. New York: Simon & Schuster. 2004. pp. 397–398. ISBN 0-7432-0169-8.
21. Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 (illustrated ed.). St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. p. 143. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
22. "Top RPM Albums: Issue 0755". RPM. Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved 16 April 2020.
23. "Dutchcharts.nl – The Human League – Crash" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 20 June 2012.
24. "European Hot 100 Albums" (PDF). Music & Media. Vol. 3, no. 40. 11 October 1986. p. 17. OCLC 29800226 – via World Radio History.
25. "Offiziellecharts.de – The Human League – Crash" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved 16 April 2020.
26. "Charts.nz – The Human League – Crash". Hung Medien. Retrieved 20 June 2012.
27. "Swedishcharts.com – The Human League – Crash". Hung Medien. Retrieved 20 June 2012.
28. "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 16 April 2020.
29. "The Human League Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved 16 April 2020.
30. "The Human League Chart History (Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved 16 April 2020.
31. "Canadian album certifications – Human League – Crash". Music Canada. 28 November 1986.
32. "British album certifications – Human League – Crash". British Phonographic Industry. 6 October 1986. Retrieved 30 June 2021.

External links

• The-black-hit-of-space.dk

• 1986 albums
• A&M Records albums
• Albums produced by Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis
• The Human League albums
• Virgin Records albums