Dare!

Crappy synth pop. Lousy singer. And a song that I loathe. Great combo.

That was so hard to listen to and none of it was enjoyable. God, I hate early 1980’s synth-pop type music.

Es war nicht alles schlecht in den Achtzigern. Das hier allerdings ist sehr schlecht. Depeche Mode für ganz Arme. Don’t You Want Me ist der einzig gute Song.

I don’t like the eighties unless it’s ladyhawk

This is the kind of electronic music that people hear, and then they decide they don't like electronic music and write off the genre.

Seguramente tuvo alguna importancia para el desarrollo de la música y sentó el precedente de algo y tal, pero fuera de la canción muy muy conocida, este disco no me dejó nada.

I couldn’t quite put my finger on what was bothering me about Dare! until it finally hit me on the eighth track, ‘Seconds.’ Vocalist Philip Oakey, who was also involved in the collaborative writing of most of the songs, seems to be more of an observer than a participant of life. Or, at least he’s a very passive participant. The song following ‘Seconds,’ ‘Love Action (I Believe in Love)’ states as much: ‘I love your love action. Lust’s just a distraction. No talking, just looking. Watching your love action.’ On the opening track, detailing his list of things that dreams are made of- ‘like fun and money and food and love’- he manages somehow to, well, take the fun out of fun. No doubt it’s the purposefully monotonous synthesized music and vocals, the utter lack of dynamics, or instrumental solos, or a bridge, or some kind of deviation from what was just played on the song before, not to mention that one to follow. To be fair, there were two that were different, the first two on side two- ‘Get Carter,’ an odd instrumental played slowly, one note at a time, and ‘I Am the Law,’ an equally odd song void of percussion. I think it was meant to be a ‘thank you’ to the police for protecting us from the evil deeds of criminals, but it didn’t exactly exude gratitude. Philip and the League, true to form, just sounded bored. The German pioneers of this kind of danceable electronic music, Kraftwerk, are never going to win any awards themselves for stage presence (although they do offer some very interesting and creative surrounding visual accompaniments in concert), but their music does successfully communicate emotion and heart, even if in a stereotypically ‘cool’ German fashion. I’m a fan. So, maybe its because The Human League are likewise stereotypically stoic British mates simply keeping a stiff upper lip and all that rot; but, its confusing when on the first and second songs of Dare! the listener is encouraged, at least lyrically, to ‘Do all the things you’ve ever dared,’ and ‘Open your heart. Dare to feel,’ but to a sound that hardly conveys adventure, or passion, or any emotion at all other than apathy. Weird that they named themselves The Human League. Inside joke? Satire, perhaps? I don’t get it. Some of the songs did contain some melodic hooks, so important to pop music, so I’ll give ‘em that. But I dare you to try and find any kind of soul on Dare! I sure couldn’t.

Y'a peut être des albums qui méritent plus d'être sur cette liste quand même..... A bon entendeur..

No.

D sög? Lite (lite) bättre mot slutet men början av plattan var helt värdelös? Hade gärna levt klart mitt liv utan att höra denna.

Kolejny raz wyspy brytyjkie pokazuja, ze moze byc jeszcze gorzej jesli chodzi o brzmienie lat 80 i synthowe urojenia popowe, bo dare jest wlasnie uosobieniem wszystkiego co wzbudza we mnie muzyczne obrzydzenie, na blisko 41 minutach udalo sie zawrzec tak wiele, a jednak tak niewiele, muzyka oparta wylacznie na elektronicznym brzmieniu z wokalem, ktory brzmi jak kazdy inny meski wokal, ktory jest wspierany dwoma zenskimi glosami tworzy mieszanke tak nudna, ze przesluchanie tych 40 minut stanowilo jedno z najtrudniejszych listowych wyzwan, ciezko mi znalezc pozytywne aspekty tego picka, moze tylko, ze jednak album sie konczy i piec minut po zakonczonym odsluchu czlowiek nie ma pojecia co go tak ogluszalo przez ostatnie 40 minut

There's 80's and then there's "the most 80's singing ever over the background of a Casio keyboard". Stereotypical, in a bad way.

Just another typical 80’s vibe. Nothing special but it wasn’t grating.

I gave it an honest try but most of this record veered between obnoxious and forgettable. “Don’t You Want Me” is a fine single of its era, but it’s obviously the only track they seemed to focus on, everything else is under-written and poorly produced. Or maybe this era of synth pop isn’t for me. Either way this record turned me off.

Ass80s

Ass

awful hated it!