Secrets

Listening to the Human League is much like inspecting the metatarsal of a dinosaur in some dusty museum. You wonder how the artefact survived, then you wonder what purpose it can possibly serve in today’s world.

Kitsch appeal may have latterly salvaged at least one of the Human League’s ’80s hits (‘Don’t You Want Me, Baby?’), but Secrets must depend on the quality of its material alone.

This is not a good thing. While the electronica driving the record’s sixteen tracks proves melodic, if anachronistic, the band’s lyrics would make even Stock, Aitken and Waterman recoil in horror.

On the god-awful ‘Love Me Madly’, the chorus runs: “Love me well or love me badly/Do you have to love me madly?”. To add salt to the wound, founder member Phil Oakey sings as though he is imparting information that will prevent the world from blowing up.

The instrumentals which pepper the album come, comparatively speaking, as a blessed relief. Trancey and likeable, they showcase the band’s gift for moulding electronica into memorable soundscapes.

Ultimately, though, the Human League are a (very) poor man’s Depeche Mode. Depeche Mode circa 1983, that is.