"Synth Britannia" tribute
2009-10-21 by Hal BerstramThe Human League – Flexi Disc
This post was inspired by the BBC4 documentary “Synth Britannia” which aired last Friday (still available on the BBC iPlayer for UK residents) – a good documentary on the late 1970s and early 1980s UK ‘synthpop’ scene. Well worth 90 minutes of your time.
Synth-”pop” started out as a bunch of geezers in industrial locations such as Sheffield, Liverpool and East London influenced by science fiction and early Kraftwerk and Tangerine Dream records. The Human League were right up with the best of them. This is from the commercially unsuccessful, but more quirky and probably more interesting ‘Mark I’ line-up which featured frontman Phil Oakey plus Ian Marsh and Martyn Ware (who later became Heaven 17).
‘The Dignity of Labour’ was the Human League’s second release (1979), a 4-song instrumental ep with a picture of the first man in space, cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, on the front. It wasn’t really what you’d call ‘commercial’ – certainly not compared with the reasonably catchy debut single ‘Being Boiled’. In an attempt to boost sales, the group decided to include a flexidisc with the single. For the benefit of anyone under about 30, flexidiscs were one-sided flexible vinyl sheets with a music track pressed into them which could be played with a standard record player – although the quality wasn’t great (as you can hear on this track, which was included on the remaster of the League’s debut LP Reproduction as a bonus track – sounding like it’s been remastered from an original copy.
In an inspired move, the flexidisc track features the group deciding whether to have a flexidisc or not (and what to put on it). It’s a piece of self-referential humour which shows that the League could just as easily have been an alternative comedy group as an experimental pop outfit. Oakey’s line at the end is inspired:
“What we’ve got in this is not simple like everything else, and it’s not even complex… it’s MULTIPLEX. The picture of Yuri Gagarin isn’t just about the Russian space effort and it’s not just about Russian society… it’s about the individual as opposed to the group, and it’s about human frailty; no matter how big you are, you’re gonna be dead pretty soon.”
Well you can’t say fairer than that.
Download MP3 (0:00min / 0MB)
- Blind Youth
- fansite - lots of info about the early Human League and other related Sheffield outfits
- Buy 'Reproduction'
- from Rough Trade - including 'Dignity of Labour' and other bonus tracks
Comments 
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Excellent, got this one myself – was going to write about it but I think you've said everything that needs to be said. It is as funny as fuck.
How they thought a flexi disc where they just talked about having a flexi disc would somehow boost sales is anyone's guess.
Really enjoyed Synth Britannia too. Didn't see it all so was planning to check it out on iPlayer. Deffo will now. God bless the Beeb.
And you too Dilate Choonz!
Yeah, Synth Britannia was great. Particularly cool seeing early footage of Mute records boss Daniel Miller as 'The Normal' in 1977/8. Also Throbbing Gristle whom I knew very little about, but will be checking out more of.
That Doc was good but could have included a few more brit synth guys such as Thomas Dolby but on the hole it was a good watch.
Here is another good Human League site which has a lot of remixes and stuff for download
http://www.the-black-hit-of-space.dk/menu.htm