Travelogue

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In 1992, Virgin abruptly cancelled their recording contract. Damaged by the failure of the album, their rejection by Virgin, harsh criticism in the media and facing financial ruin, the emotional well-being of Oakey and Sulley deteriorated badly. The band's live performances began to gain momentum and acclaim, and they were asked to support first The Rezillos (featuring future band member Jo Callis), then Siouxsie and the Banshees, as early as September 1978. In December 1978, David Bowie appeared in the audience and later declared to NME that he "had seen the future of pop music". [7] [11] [ unreliable source?] In August 1978 the band recorded a session for John Peel, including a re-worked version of "Being Boiled." [10] On 11 December 2009, the Human League signed a new recording contract with UK based Wall of Sound. [37] They also have their own studio in Sheffield [38] and are managed by Sidewinder Management Ltd. The band continue to record and play live, with regular appearances at music festivals worldwide, at many of which they are among the headliners. In November and December 2008, the Human League got together with Martin Fry's ABC and Heaven 17 for 'The Steel City Tour' of the UK. This was Philip Oakey's concept of a joint tour of all three bands celebrating the original electronic music of early 1980s Sheffield (the titular Steel City). Much had been made in the UK media [ citation needed] of the history between Heaven 17 and the Human League, the original events of 1980 and the fact they were now working together. Both Oakey and Martyn Ware said that any acrimony from that period had long since been forgotten. [36] At Falkirk festival in May 2007. From left: Sutton, Burke, Beevers, Catherall, Barton, Sulley, Oakey.

The Human League were one of the headline acts in the line-up at Spillers Wharf on 30 May 2009, in the Newcastle/Gateshead Evolution festival, and were one of the headline bands for Dubai's first music festival, the 'Dubai Sound City' festival, between 5 and 7 November 2009. Lilleker, Martin. Beats Working for a Living: Sheffield Popular Music 1973–1984. Juma March 2005. ISBN 978-1-872204-26-0 Whereas Reproduction was more or less the same, travelogue plays itself with the same instrumental sets and patch notes used on reproduction, but with more of a focus on commercial accessibility than their debut ever maintained. While this is true it is still far more different from what mainstream listeners would experience with the new lineup's next album, which by comparison doesn't sound as good or doesn't hold up as well.

In March 2014, "Don't You Want Me" re-entered the Top 20 of the UK Singles Chart, thanks to a social media campaign from the fans of Aberdeen F.C., who won the Scottish League Cup the previous weekend. They have adopted the song as a terrace chant, citing their midfielder Peter Pawlett with the lyrics changed to "Peter Pawlett Baby". [42] One of the best sounding early 80s electronic albums you can buy that doesn't sound out of date and cheesy. Although the group has been retrospectively identified with the New Romantic movement of this period, [21] according to Dave Rimmer, author of New Romantics: The Look, "at the time [they] were no such thing." [22] The band themselves have also consistently and strenuously rejected the label. The Sheffield scene in which the Human League formed predated New Romanticism and took more influence from Kraftwerk. Bands in the Sheffield scene were also referred to as Futurists, [23] although Oakey himself has said: "We thought we were the punkiest band in Sheffield." [24]

Along with its amazing cover art, the interesting side to "Travelogue" is in its "acoustic" approach and pleasant experimental/cinematic touches the group kept throughout the album; "Dreams Of Leaving" is a stunning example in reconciling experimental and pop tendencies within a song, and as such would have been the perfect opener to an album. "Toyota City" is a beautiful soothing piece of night music, ideal for wandering through the quiet city streets wrapped in neon glow.For Travelogue, the band worked with a new coproducer, Richard Manwaring, who went on to produce OMD's platinum-selling Architecture & Morality the following year.