Reproduction (album)

Reproduction is the debut studio album released by British synthpop group The Human League. The album was released in 1979 through Virgin Records.

Reproduction
Studio album by The Human League
Released	October 1979
Studio	Workshop Studio in Sheffield
Genre	Synth-pop[1]
Length	43:33
Label	Virgin
Producer	The Human League, Colin Thurston
The Human League chronology
Reproduction (1979) Travelogue (1980)

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[1]
The Great Rock Discography	5/10[2]
Muzik	[3]
Q	[4]
Record Mirror	[5]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide	[6]
Smash Hits	8/10[7]
Spin Alternative Record Guide	2/10[8]
Uncut	[9]

Overview

Reproduction contains nine tracks of electronic/synthpop with some elements of industrial music, and was recorded during six weeks at The Human League's studio in Sheffield. The recordings were co-produced by Colin Thurston, who had previously worked on some key new wave recordings such as Iggy Pop's Lust for Life and Magazine's Secondhand Daylight, and who went on to produce numerous hit albums of the 1980s, most notably for Duran Duran. The album was composed and engineered by The Human League (Oakey/Ware/Marsh) and Bob Last for Virgin Records. The album includes The Human League's cover version of "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'", a hit single in 1965 for The Righteous Brothers.

Artwork

The cover shows the feet of a man and two women seemingly standing on a number of naked babies. This was at the instruction of the band, but band member Martyn Ware described how the band's brief was misinterpreted by the record company's art department:

"We said we wanted an image of a glass dance floor in a discotheque which people were dancing on and beneath this, a lit room full of babies. It was meant to look like a still from a film – like some kind of dystopian vision of the future – but it just looks like they're treading on babies. We were quite upset but at that time, it was too late to change it."[10]

Commercial performance

The album's initial release in October 1979 was a commercial failure, but it was re-issued and entered the charts almost two years later in August 1981, earning a Silver disc by the end of the year and peaking at #34 in early 1982. The album spent a total of 23 weeks in the album chart and was certified Gold by the BPI in 1988.

The only single released from the album was "Empire State Human" which initially failed to chart. It was re-released in June 1980 (with a free single taken from the band's second album, Travelogue) and reached #62. The band's first single from 1978, "Being Boiled", was not included on the original release of Reproduction, but was added as an extra track on all CD issues from the late 1980s onwards. However, a re-recorded version of that single's B-side, "Circus of Death", was included on the album.

Track listing

1. "Almost Medieval" – 4:43
2. "Circus of Death" – 3:55
3. "The Path of Least Resistance" – 3:33
4. "Blind Youth" – 3:25
5. "The Word Before Last" – 4:04
6. "Empire State Human" – 3:17
7. "Morale...You've Lost That Loving Feeling" – 9:39
8. "Austerity/Girl One (Medley)" – 6:44
9. "Zero as a Limit" – 4:13

The following tracks were first added when the album was released on CD in 1989, increasing the album's runtime to 74:38:

1. "Introducing" – 3:19
2. "The Dignity of Labour part 1" – 4:22
3. "The Dignity of Labour part 2" – 2:53
4. "The Dignity of Labour part 3" – 3:56
5. "The Dignity of Labour part 4" – 3:52
6. "Flexi Disc" – 4:11
7. "Being Boiled" (Fast Version) – 3:54
8. "Circus of Death" (Fast Version) – 4:38

"Introducing" was originally the B-side of the "Empire State Human" single. The master tape of this recording probably got lost since a digitized vinyl recording was used for the CD. The instrumental "The Dignity of Labour" tracks had been released as an EP in 1979 with "Flexi Disc" (a tongue-in-cheek in-studio meta-conversation between the members of the band and their manager, Bob Last, about their plans to include a flexidisc with their EP and what to put on it). The last two tracks were the A- and B-sides of the band's first single, "Being Boiled", released before they signed to Virgin. The 'Fast Version' (so-called because of the label the single was released on – Fast Product) of "Circus of Death" is shorter than the original single version as it does not have the spoken end of the song.

The original vinyl release of the album included some musique concrète-style vocal recordings, seemingly from the radio or television, between some tracks. Of note, 'knit one, purl one' could be heard on side one. These elements were not included in subsequent CD reissues.

Charts

Chart (1981–82)	Peak position
UK Albums (OCC)[11]	34

Certifications

Region	Certification	Certified units/sales
United Kingdom (BPI)[12]	Gold	100,000^^
^^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

References

1. Bush, John. "Reproduction – The Human League". AllMusic. Retrieved 4 November 2020.
2. Strong, Martin C. (2004). "Human League". The Great Rock Discography (7th ed.). Canongate Books. ISBN 1-84195-551-5.
3. Bell, Duncan (February 2003). "Human League: Reproduction / Travelogue". Muzik. No. 93. p. 88.
4. "The Human League: Reproduction". Q. No. 100. January 1995.
5. Westwood, Chris (13 October 1979). "Popular League?". Record Mirror. p. 18.
6. Considine, J. D. (2004). "The Human League". In Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian (eds.). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (4th ed.). Simon & Schuster. pp. 397–98. ISBN 0-7432-0169-8.
7. Starr, Red (18–31 October 1979). "Albums". Smash Hits. Vol. 1 no. 23. p. 29.
8. Sheffield, Rob (1995). "Human League". In Weisbard, Eric; Marks, Craig (eds.). Spin Alternative Record Guide. Vintage Books. pp. 186–87. ISBN 0-679-75574-8.
9. "The Human League: Reproduction / Travelogue". Uncut. No. 71. April 2003.
10. Steven, Rachael (11 October 2013). "The Human League and a vision of the future". Creative Review. Archived from the original on 11 October 2013. Retrieved 4 November 2020.
11. "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 4 November 2020.
12. "British album certifications – The Human League – Reproduction". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 4 November 2020. Select albums in the Format field. Select Gold in the Certification field. Type Reproduction in the "Search BPI Awards" field and then press Enter.