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 at their 24-track studio in Sheffield and later Utopia Studios in London, who previously worked with them on the Reproduction album. However, the sessions did not work out after four months, partly because of the slow progress, Thurston's and the band's combined indecisiveness and the negative atmosphere surrounding the sessions.

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. As the problem was perceived to be the lack of production progress, it was suggested that the band take up an offer to work with Minneapolis-based production duo Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. According to Oakey in a 1986 interview, for the band's songs, only the drum machine parts were kept from the London recordings with Thurston and Rabiger.

Unlike on previous albums, the band allowed Jam and Lewis assume control as producers, with Philip Oakey adding that the band "had enough respect for them musically" and felt were talented enough to take on the responsibility. However, it was towards the end that disagreements arose with Jam and Lewis, resulting in Oakey pulling the band out of the sessions. They returned to Sheffield, leaving Jam and Lewis to take over and mix the four songs they contributed. 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:

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 [Crash] 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".

Reception

Ken Tucker of The Philadelphia Inquirer gave the album a two stars out of four rating, stating that the group's 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."

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
  • Lisa Keith – background vocals

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

{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"

|+ Chart performance for Crash

! scope="col"| Chart (1986)

! scope="col"| Peak<br />position

|-

! scope="row"| Australian Albums (Kent Music Report)

| 32

|-

|-

|-

! scope="row"| European Albums (Music & Media)

| 22

|-

|-

|-

|-

|-

|-

|}

Certifications

References

  • The-black-hit-of-space.dk