The Human League – Romantic?
Tracklist
1 | Kiss The Future | 4:13 | |
2 | A Doorway? | 4:21 | |
3 | Heart Like A Wheel | 4:30 | |
4 | Men Are Dreamers | 3:54 | |
5 | Mister Moon And Mister Sun | 4:43 | |
6 | Soundtrack To A Generation | 4:36 | |
7 | Rebound | 3:57 | |
8 | The Stars Are Going Out | 4:05 | |
9 | Let's Get Together Again | 5:01 | |
10 | Get It Right This Time | 4:12 |
Companies, etc.
- Phonographic Copyright ℗ – Virgin Records Ltd.
- Copyright © – Virgin Records Ltd.
- Published By – Virgin Music (Publishers) Ltd.
- Published By – Channel Music Publishing
- Published By – Luzuli Music
- Recorded At – Genetic Sound
- Mixed At – Sarm West Studios
- Mixed At – Genetic Sound
- Mixed At – Guerilla Studios
- Mastered At – CBS Studios, London
- Glass Mastered At – DADC Austria
Credits
- Engineer [Resident] – David Dodd*
- Guitar, Synthesizer, Percussion, Vocals – Russell Dennett
- Keyboards, Percussion, Synthesizer – Neil Sutton
- Mastered By – Tim Young
- Percussion, Synthesizer – Mark Brydon, Martin Rushent, Robert Gordon
- Percussion, Synthesizer, Programmed By – Jo Callis
- Photography By – Simon Fowler (2)
- Synthesizer, Percussion, Vocals – Philip Oakey
- Vocals – Joanne Catherall, Susan Ann Sulley*
Notes
℗ 1990 Virgin Records Ltd. © Virgin Records Ltd.
CD states "Manufactured in Austria".
Cat# CDV 2624 and 260 984 on booklet and rear insert; cat# CDV2624 on CD label.
Jewel case with 8 page booklet.
Initial copies has a circular sticker on jewel case stating "INCLUDES THE HIT Heart Like A Wheel CDV 2624".
CD states "Manufactured in Austria".
Cat# CDV 2624 and 260 984 on booklet and rear insert; cat# CDV2624 on CD label.
Jewel case with 8 page booklet.
Initial copies has a circular sticker on jewel case stating "INCLUDES THE HIT Heart Like A Wheel CDV 2624".
Barcode and Other Identifiers
- Barcode (Text): 5 012981 262426
- Barcode (Scanned): 5012981262426
- Price Code (F-): PM 518
- Matrix / Runout (Mirrored - Variant 1): CDV-2624 11 MASTERED BY DADC AUSTRIA
- Matrix / Runout (Mirrored - Variant 2): CDV-2624 21 MASTERED BY DADC AUSTRIA
- Matrix / Runout (Mirrored - Variant 3): CDV-2624 11 A2 MASTERED BY DADC AUSTRIA
- Matrix / Runout (Mirrored - Variant 4): CDV-2624 11 A1 MASTERED BY DADC AUSTRIA
Other Versions (5 of 36)
View AllTitle (Format) | Label | Cat# | Country | Year | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Recently Edited | Romantic? (CD, Album) | A&M Records, Virgin | 75021 5316 2 | US | 1990 | ||
Recently Edited | Romantic? (LP, Album) | Virgin | 210984 | Spain | 1990 | ||
Romantic? (LP, Album, Stereo) | Virgin | V 2624 | UK | 1990 | |||
Recently Edited | Romantic? (Cassette, Album) | Virgin | TCV 2624 | UK | 1990 | ||
Recently Edited | Romantic? (LP, Album) | Virgin, Virgin | 210 984, V 2624 | Europe | 1990 |
Recommendations
Reviews
- Lovely album. Probably my fifth favourite of theirs after the first four. Critics trot out the tired cliched criticism of 'dated' - as if everyone wants the trendiest hippest thing. 'Dated' means it belongs to a time - belonging, and belonging to a time past is a beautiful thing. Hence the 2500 or so people who own this album and bothered to catalogue it.
- Edited 3 years ago"Romantic?" should have been a return to form - "Heart Like a Wheel" that announced the comeback already sounded like johnny-come-lately in the year 1990, still it had all the perfect ingredients of the group's spot-on hit work (after all, it was Martin Rushent who worked on this particular song). Secondly, judging from the production team the group joined forces with at the time, "Romantic?" really should have delivered - alongside Rushent, there's Mark Brydon, Robert Gordon, William Orbit and Bob Kraushaar but sadly, with "Kiss the Future" (a promising title though), the shot on the very front cover was immediately evident of a group so tired and desperate for creative recovery.
With the MKII-era line-up long gone, the core-trio maintained some of its image consistency, but the aforementioned opening song with its cheesy horns and trendy beat of the day, immediately reflected the forced sound of "Crash". Somewhere between Jam & Lewis and LA Reid & Babyface, "Kiss the Future" would have passed for any newcomer's attempt at imitating the likes of Bobby Brown...
But there's still mediocre-to-the-core to come - "Let's Get Together Again" is arranged in the worst of the Eurosong fashion, a cheap electro-contender that would have ended up with zero points regardless. And just when we thought it couldn't get any sadder, along comes "Soundtrack to a Generation". After exposure to this particular song, one cannot help but wondering why the album didn't bear the title "Ironic?". "Get It Right This Time" is actually rather good a song that would have fitted in better with "Hysteria" (instead of "Don't You Know I Want You") or the "Electric Dreams" soundtrack album - however, on a 1990 album it sounded ever so hopelessly dated (additionally, it very much resembled "Love on the Run" from 1986), despite Martin Rushent's involvement. "Men Are Dreamers" only added to the landslide, a dull and utterly forgettable ballad, where Oakey & Co. were emulating the worst of the omnipresent fifth-rate mainstream pop formula.
Some of the songs did get a grip on the League's post-1981 successes; "The Stars Are Going Out" showed some promise, as did "Rebound" - this one is actually the second strongest to "Heart Like a Wheel", slightly darker in tone, radiant with the League's well-known synth-pop charm; both "Heart Like a Wheel" and "Rebound" were cleverly coupled for the single release - and as such, these two remain the only material from "Romantic?", worth repeated listening. The rest equals a painfully rhetorical question in the album's title.
Release
For sale on Discogs
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