Philip Oakey (Band member); On Hysteria we spent over a month on one bass drum. That is apparently how ELO split up. They were still having hits, but they were taking so long to record that they'd already spent the money before the record came out.

Hugh Padgham (Producer); At the time I wasn't in love with electronic music but because the band were so nice and Simon Draper offered me a good deal, I was happy to finish the album! I knew about The Human League as I then was working for Virgin at their studio in London. The Human League were signed to Virgin Records and in those days there were only about 30 people working at Virgin so every one knew everybody. In fact, I had also engineered for the band on one occasion already albeit just for one day, if I remember correctly.

Some tracks were more finished than others. I definitely did a lot of recording and then all the mixing too. It did take a long time and was therefore expensive to make but no-one thought about things like that then. We didn't seem to have budgets in those days! Especially on the back of the immensely successful Dare album. I remember that sometimes Phil's new Synclavia music computer would crash and he would say "that's it folks - it will take a day to re-start. See you tomorrow" and we would all go home. I remember one instance of this happening on on a Friday morning and I decided to go to Paris for the week-end! Just recording backing vocals on one song could take several days. I mentioned the Synclavier above. I'm not sure if we found it fun eventually. Other than that I don't recall any ground breaking stuff other than we just had all the latest synths and equipment of the day.

I would love to see them all again though. Now, so many years later, I realise how brilliant so much of their stuff was. It makes most bands and songs look rubbish today! Also, if they still take ages to make a record, I'm not sure if I would want to live in a hotel in Sheffield for months. Perhaps they could get me to mix it in my studio in London!

Ian Burden (Band member); There was clearly a conflict between Philip (Oakey) and Marti (Rushent). I'm not able to offer an explation -- without diving into conjecture and splashing about. There was obviously a tension between them, with Philip using stubborness to wrest control at every juncture. It's not something I'm qualified to explain. Only Philip can answer that. Jo (Callis) was laying some parts in the studio one afternoon, which meant I had nothing much to do. So I went into the nearby town of Reading to buy toothpaste and disposable razors etc. I got back to our hotel at Goring-on-Thames, just a couple of miles from the studio, and was surprised to find the other band members and our manager huddled in the bar. I was informed that we had split with Martin.

Me and Jo were fired up with song ideas. (We'd actually done some writing on tour -- during sound-checks and huddling in our hotel rooms). But it had suddenly become difficult to get Philip to embrace our ideas in the same way as when we'd first started working together. Since a lead singer is both the voice and principal character in a band, it seems unreasonable to expect him/her to front music which they don't fully endorse. From then on Philip was sole lyricist and sole arbiter of every musical choice.

*We had a problem with the cover design in Brazil. The full gatefold spells "Human League" of course. But when folded the back (as you can see) spells "Mangue" which is a Brazilian word for a hooker or prostitute etc. With the addition of "Hysteria" below then . . . the possible meaning is . . . er, um . . . well, whatever! *1

Jo Callis (Band member); Not to be confused with the album of the same name by that other Sheffield band, what are they called again? ..Oh yes, Def Leppard. I think their Hysteria sold by the multi millions, and ours by merely multi thousands, no mean feat as you say, but a comparitive "flop" after Dare.

A great opprtunity missed I always thought. The follow up album to Dare was going to be unlikely to get the same sort of critical acclaim, but with a more timely release it should have done well anyway, riding the crest of 'Dare's' wave. We must've had at least half of an album ready with Martin at Genetic, which would have contained; 'Fascination', 'Mirror Man' (both going to chart at no: 2 in the UK), 'I Love You Too Much', 'You Remind Me Of Gold' (always a favourite 'Phil' song of mine), and with 'Louise' and 'The Lebanon' already works in progress, just another couple of songs would have brought the track count up to the same as Dare. 'The Sign', 'Life On Your Own' and 'Don't You Know I Want You' were probably in the starting blocks at the time, so I think there would have been a reasonably strong album there, if not as groundbreaking as Dare. I've always wondered what Martins (Rushent) take on 'The Lebanon' might have sounded like. I think that if we had Hysteria out within a year or eighteen months of Dare, it would have made a world of difference.

It was a very patchy album I always thought, the good bits were good, i.e. The Lebanon', I was particularly pleased with, whereas some of the other tracks sounded unfinished and a little bland, a bit like demo recordings. I think there was a fear of finishing things off because in many cases there wasn't a clear vision of how things should sound. I think the relatively unexpected success of Dare made the group feel that the follow up had to be as good as Dare or even better, more innovative in some way, yet all it really needed was an album of good, well produced tunes with an overall consistency and identifiably 'The Human League' despit the instrumentation broadening a little.

With the benefit of hindsight I think this led to a lot of "self imposed" pressure and worry about the quality of the material, thereupon, deliberation and frustration began to set in, and it just wasn't fun or exciting anymore. The vibe was good at first, and the tunes which were being written during the buzz of touring and public activity, came out of that initial period of creativity. Thereafter, direction seemed to get a little lost and things went a bit pear shaped. I tried so hard to keep that relationship with Martin together, to no avail at the time. Oh, yeah, and Phil "accidentally" broke the kneck on my 70's vintage Gibson Les Paulguitar, the big shit! But he did get it fixed for me, and it was good as new.

I didn't leave (the band after Hysteria) on account of the guitar incident. I think I was just getting so frustrated that everything was taking so long, and the decision making process wasn't as bold and fearless as before. Again with hindsight, I think that if we had Hysteria out within a year or eighteen months of Dare, it would have made a world of difference. I had assumed that my decision to leave the group would have been documented by a press statement of some sort from the band to the music press at least, and that I would be requested to do some "spill the beans" type interviews, and perhaps a few work offers might come my way now that it was common knowledge that I was a free agent again. But alas, nothing? Nobody seemed to be acknowledging my departure. I soon learned that you very much have to blow your own trumpet in this world!

Perhaps I should have stuck around, who knows? I'd like to think that I made a significant contribution to the strength of material and direction of the group, helping steer it to where I think we all hoped it would go. I still feel a bit like part of the family, I'd be delighted to get involved again in some shape or form. I still think "The League" are capable of doing something quite radical and surprising everybody one day, and I'd love to be a part of that. Perhaps there's still some unfinished business with "The League" at some point. ....

David Motion (Engineer); I think it's misleading to say I engineered some of Hysteria. I was over-credited! I was into Human League from their Being Boiled 7" on Fast Product and saw them in their original form live several times at the Nashville, the Palais, the Lyceum. I bought their first album, produced by Colin Thurston, which I was disappointed by. I preferred the Fast Product stuff until Dare, which was definitely a classic. I was an Assistant Engineer/Tape Op at Air Studios at the time and was in the studio for one or two weeks during the making of that album. I was more of a witness. It was with the new line-up, after Dare, at Air in Studio 4. It was a very low-key week or two, everything moving very very slowly. Chris Thomas didn't come in once (I think there was some domestic stuff going on).

Phil and the girls were always very late. Then they'd go out shopping. Phil would often go to Hamleys (the toy store), then come back and try to get a sound on the Synclavier usually ending up with something that sounded like a Casio, ha ha ha. Or try a vocal. Nobody seemed to be in the mood, so they'd just go home. I'm not sure I witnessed their most productive moments. I think they needed Chris' presence. I can understand why it was such an expensive album, I think Air Studio 4 was £800 a day and they drifted in and out for weeks. I can't stress how minimal my input was! Of course I admire their success. For me the album didn't have the flow and ease of Human League at their best.

Gavin Mckillop (Engineer); I was aware of both Reproduction and Travelogue and liked them quite a bit although I must say Dare is a brilliant pop masterpiece. As you know the (Hysteria) album was started by Chris Thomas at Air Studios in London and when it was decided that Hugh Padgham would take over the production duties, he asked me if I would engineer the sessions. When Hugh and I took over a lot of the songs were already well realized. We did do additional keyboards and programming, guitars etc, but our main focus was to get all the vocals recorded then of course ultimately mix the record.

There were obviously a lot of old analogue synths around and I have to many favorites to list, the Synclavier could be quite a handful but Phil was very well versed in its operation. I very much enjoy working with vintage synths and old tube equipment as well as a lot of the newer technology. I think that the process was a little more experimental than Dare at times and the world of keyboards is enormous with regard to sonics so things just take time.

The success of Dare was so unprecedented for the band that I believe that it is almost impossible to replicate that kind of success. There are many artists who have sold 10 million copies of one album only to see sales subsequently dwindle on their follow up albums. Hysteria performed rather well and continued to keep the band relevant. I would love to work with them again. As for how they should sound? I guess like THE HUMAN LEAGUE. I find that every experience in the studio is different due to the personalities involved. I really enjoyed working with Heaven 17 as much as I did The Human League. I think that the Luxury Gap is an excellent album which did utilize much of the same Drum machines, synthesizers etc that were used on Hysteria but the albums are very different musically.I am very happy that they are still making music and wish them nothing but the best.

Simon Milne (Video Director); The band were fantastic to work with, and I think they enjoyed the whole process of developing concepts and making videos. I was a fan and had listened to all their albums.

Bob Last (manager); My recollection was that it (Rushent’s departure) was a combination of many, many factors. The first and most obvious being the pressure of scrutiny coming off such huge success. I also recall tension over the electronic purism that Phil always insisted remain at the core of The Human League. I think he understood that rigid adherence to this helped preserve their unique position whereas Martin Rushent felt that the songwriting could just as well form a base for a more varied palette including "real" sounds.

Also as ever in such small but complex groupings of people it is very difficult to manage the tension between different people as they become more and more confident or sometimes more and more confident and more and more insecure at the same time. Which is quite a common process in bands. Not naming names here because I think all involved were caught up in these emotional difficulties.

Simon Draper (Virgin A & R); All groups find it hard to follow up a hugely successful album. More of the same or a radical departure (of producer)?  Egos loom large. Martin Rushent had made the Human league sound incredible and I feel that they resented him and equally, where initially perhaps he had been very careful with their shortcomings, now perhaps he was less so.

SELECTED TRACKS

I LOVE YOU TOO MUCH

Ian Burden; That song began with some chords and bass lines which Jo and myself were toying with Adrian wrote lyrics. We worked up a strong backing track with Martin Rushent. It was far better than the released version. (Although we copied Martin's drum programming.) *I always preferred the Martin Rushent version. But what do I know?! It's interesting to hear a different opinion. I don't know who decided the choice of single releases -- except that it certainly wasn';t me.*1

Jo Callis; It was pretty much Adrian’s song. At Genetic studios there was a bungalow in the grounds which served a variety of uses over the years, from ‘Artiste’ accommodation, recreation area to office, and during the ’Hysteria’ era there was a fairly basic eight track recording set up there for ‘demoing’ purposes. As far as I can remember, somebody suggested that Ian (Burden) and myself help Adrian make a demo of his nascent song on this eight track facility, as we were pretty much twiddling our thumbs in the main studio, probably whilst Phil was doing vocals or something. So we demoed the song, which as I recall was quite fun, and Martin would have taken it from there and worked up the track in the main studio. Subsequently Phil insisted that Ian and myself were credited as co-writers for our sterling efforts.

So we demoed the song, which as I recall was quite fun, and Martin would have taken it from there and worked up the track in the main studio. Subsequently Phil insisted that Ian and myself were credited as co-writers for our sterling efforts.  I’m sure Martin (Rushent) produced the entire track with us at his ‘Genetic’ studios, -which was released on the ‘Fascination’ EP/Mini Album,  I would say it’s my favourite version of the song. RIP Martin, still miss you.

ROCK ME AGAIN (SIX TIMES)

Ian Burden; It was Philip who wanted to do Rock Me Again. I don't know why. I was always into funk, so happy to give it a go. I don't recall any other covers on the table.

Jo Callis; It was Phil’s choice, but as a James Brown fan from my ‘Boots For Dancing’ days (and before) I was more than happy to go along with it. Although originally sung by Lyn Collins, the ‘Godfather of Funk’s’ presence is evident, he did write the tune and I’m sure Fred Wesley is in there too. I rather enjoyed playing the tambourine on this one, but I didn’t ‘alf have a sore hand afterwards, there’s more to playing the tambourine than you’d think, especially with Hugh Padgham making sure I was in time.

THE LEBANON

Jo Callis; I can’t exactly remember, except for the fact that I was assuming I’d do the guitar part on the Yamaha guitar synth that we used on ‘Fascination’, so when I was making the first very basic ‘portastudio’ demo of it at home, I put my guitar through about every effect unit I had so as to emulate something of the guitar synths sound, but come the actual recording Phil wanted to use that ‘effected’ real guitar sound.

Chris Thomas, who was producing at that point was quite inspired by my little demo, and had a vision for the tune, he thought it ‘explosive’, so we layered up takes of my guitar, using a ‘flanger’ pedal which was borrowed from Paul McCartney, who was recording in the studio next door at ‘Air’ studios in London. We had an enjoyable time recording it and using an effect pedal belonging to one of my heroes (and fellow left hander) was the icing on the cake!

(The rock sound) seemed fairly logical at the time and a broadening of direction, it seemed to cross over with people who liked The Simple Minds ,U2, Big Country etc. it’s still one of my personal favourite League songs, and I also thought it had some similarities to ‘Seconds’ from Dare. It’s one of the tracks on Hysteria that for me has a ‘completeness’ and vision to it. Called it ‘The Lebanon’ as a working title, because I thought the song was in a similar vein to ‘Israel’ by Siouxsie and the Banshees, so I picked another Middle Eastern country, Phil kept the title though and wrote suitably applicable lyrics.

Hugh Padgham; I loved the Lebanon. It was quite "rocky" for The Human League. If was fun to do those extended mixes (the 12” version) as it made you think of interesting things to do outside the four minute restriction of the normal single. Plus it allowed you to mess around with silly effects on the mixing console etc.

Gavin McKillop; Life On Your Own and The Lebanon are probably my two favourite songs

Simon Milne; We wanted to showcase the band as a live act (in the video) but keep a stylized look to their performance – in keeping with their brand.

Ross Cullum (later on demo producer); The Lebanon was a surprise.

LOUISE

Jo Callis; It was greatly inspired by The Chi-Lites song ‘Have You Seen Her’ and an attempt at something of a Bill Withers vibe with a bit of that ‘balady’ side of The Stones thrown in for good measure (I think I’d been listening to the live ‘Get Yer Ya Ya’s Out’ album a lot at the time  -“Don’t want me trahsers to fall dahn now, do ya?”).  -Ya get me? Phil and myself always felt it was a song worth returning to and doing more of a soulful/ Philly production number on.

I’ve just listened to the Tony Christie (cover) version on YouTube which I didn’t really know about, it’s very heartfelt and tasteful, and indeed what an honour to have the legendary Mr Christie do a cover of version of one of one’s songs, he is one of our country’s most underrated singers, -his pitching and phrasing on Louise is faultless, especially considering the quite sparse, evocative musical accompaniment. -I remember wanting The Rezillos to do a cover of ‘Amarillo’!

I was quite thrilled when I heard about Robbie Williams doing a cover on his ‘Rude Box’ album, and he was riding high at the time. I was hoping he’d do something interesting with it and perhaps something more of a production number, but disappointingly it was pretty much a note for note carbon copy of The League’s original , even down to my Mick Taylor inspired synth solo.

Dave Allen (Engineer); Loved Louise, still do. And I've never met her, ha hah.

Luke Solomon (later on remixer): It holds a special place in my heart, I think it relates to an old girlfriend.

THE SIGN

Ian Burden; Jim Russell was working as Martin Rushent's assistant engineer during recordings of
Mirror Man, Fascination, Total Panic and some other unfinished tracks (like The Sign). After we transferred to Air Studios he was invited to bring his excellent drumming talents into the continuing
project (and also because we enjoyed his personality). We even experimented with real drums!

Bass guitar (like on The Sign) was first used on Mirror Man – initially as just a place keeper, but then ending up in the final mix. There was a sudden rush of other artists taking up our pure synth approach so we toyed with other ideas: including sampling and/or playing guitars and drums. And then Trevor Horn had the same idea and did it all better!

Jo Callis; I can’t remember that much about its development, but it was nice to collaborate with Ian for a change, and I think it was mostly his tune. I don’t remember exactly at what point Jim  Russell became directly involved (in creating the track). Jim was great and we became good mates, he had taken over from Dave Allen as engineer at Genetic when we met him, and he had quite an impressive prior heritage as drummer for Matthew’s Southern Comfort, Curved Air and other notable acts.

I suppose the big thing at the time was the advent of ‘sampling’, with the emergence of the prohibitively expensive Fairlights and Synclaviers, which heralded a huge advance in music and recording technology, I didn’t really get into the ‘sampling’ thing until a few years later when companies like ‘Akai’ were bringing out more affordable although less sophisticated sampling devices like the S900 and S1000.

Never did like the Yamaha DX7 much, they were almost impossible to programme with their multi function buttons so everyone just used the presets, and the sounds were so identifiable with that instrument. It wasn’t long before everyone wanted ‘knobs and sliders’ again and the DX7 was consigned to the dustbin! Still, I had Paul McCartney’s flanger pedal to play with for a couple of days. 

SO HURT

Ian Burden; So Hurt was developed as a rhythm track at Martin Rushent's studio. It was sounding bright and punchy. The reworking at Townhouse studios never achieved any sparkle. It became ploddy and wooden, and I recall having little enthusiasm for it. That's all I can remember. Such a long time ago!

LIFE ON YOUR OWN

Jo Callis; I think this was another of Adrian’s initial ideas which I collaborated with him on, don’t remember that much about it except that Adrian had the lines; “Christmas is a coming, The goose is getting fat” for the opening verse, -so perhaps it was originally meant to be a Christmas song! Thankfully it ultimately took a different lyrical direction. Can’t say I was ever that fond of the song though.

As likely as not, those (promo) video shoots were long days. We had part of a street somewhere in East London blocked off and turned into an ‘Omega Man’ post apocalyptic type set up complete with a mocked up crashed double deck bus, and a couple of local Bobby’s supervising. I remember chatting to one of them, we both liked TV show ‘The Sweeney’, and he was saying how he thought that the ‘villains’ in it were quite accurately portrayed, with himself of course having seen the real thing; “Ooh, ‘orrible lookin’ geezers they are!” he noted., he was also a great admirer of Greenpeace, so there were some decent sorts in The Met, bless ‘im.

I think I also ‘dragged up’ as a female shop dummy for one scene, and was mistaken for Susanne whilst on the catering bus. ha, wonderful times.

Gavin McKillop; We spent a lot of time on vocals as a decision had been made not to manipulate them so much on The Synclavier or Fairlight as I was led to believe had been more the case on Dare. Also, I think the mix really captures the energy of the song.

Dave Allen (remixer); Me. Vocal samples over the track (12” version), me. Ahead of its time and impossible to do as everyone soon got hip to the money that could be made but as far as I know no one complained or sued.

Simon Milne; Philip Oakey came up with the idea (for the video). We shot the clip early one Sunday morning in the City.

DON’T YOU KNOW I WANT YOU

Ian Burden; It began as a piece called Total Panic which I think was the B-side of (Keep Feeling) Fascination. Initially recorded with Martin Rushent, but without any vocals.

Jo Callis; We now had a ‘power trio’ within The Leagues ranks with Jim on drums, Ian on bass and myself on guitar, so we would occasionally have a bit of a jam in the studio when the recording room wasn’t in use, I think ‘Don’t You Know I Want You’ may have come out of one of these jams!

THIRTEEN (B-SIDE TO THE LEBANON)

Jo Callis; ‘Thirteen’ was a bit of an homage to John Carpenter film soundtracks, which he did himself. Phil and Adrian were particular fans of his soundtracks and I came to greatly appreciate his work also. Very moody and evocative they not only perfectly suited his films but stood up as pieces of electronic music in their own right. I also had a great time playing the screaming, neck shredding electric guitar on the outro, quite Mick Ronson inspired (natch) as I listen to it again after all these years. And also some simple but quite tasteful rhythm guitar during the track, though I say so myself.

Thirteen was great fun to record and seemed to come together effortlessly, definitely one of the more enjoyable days of recording ’Hysteria’. We seemed to be able "let go" a bit that night, and just have some fun. And I think the track worked out all the better for it.

THE WORLD TONIGHT (B-SIDE TO LIFE ON YOUR OWN)

Ian Burden; We had a few riffs that fitted together. There's a current affairs radio show on BBC 4 called The World Tonight which Philip thought was a good song title. I wrote some verse lyrics, and then Philip wrote words for the chorus sections. After using it as a B-side it seemed to vacate our radar screens.

Sadly Virgin Records hasn't re-released the album in a special version to celebrate the anniversary, so the closest you'll get to get a deluxe issue will be Caroline Records re-release from 2005. Remastered and with additional tracks like b-sides and 12" mixes. Can be found at Amazon here.

The special is created from the exclusive interviews located here, except Oakey by Simon Price*2, additionel brand new new comments kindly provided by Ian Burden and Jo Callis.

*1 Taken from the Human League Facebook Fan group

*2 taken from the Dare 2007 Tour programme and used with kind permission from The Human League management.