Between 1981 and 1990, The Human League released four studio albums and one extended EP on Virgin Records. Those albums and that extended play have been collected in a special limited edition coloured vinyl box set. In addition, the remix album ‘Love And Dancing’, initially released in 1982, was recently reissued on white vinyl for Record Store Day.

The Human League ‘Mark Two’, as they have been described, arose from the ashes of the band’s first incarnation and became one of the most influential and commercially successful groups of the early 1980s. The Virgin Years box set opens with ‘DARE’, which is simply one of the greatest albums ever made. It launched the band to superstardom across the globe and despite being over 40 years old still sounds as thrilling and powerful as ever.

In the Spring of 1983, the group released the six-track EP ‘FASCINATION’, which brought together the singles ‘(Keep Feeling) Fascination’ in its extended forms, ‘Mirror Man’ along with the classic b-sides ‘You Remind Me Of Gold’ and ‘Hard Times’ along with a new track ‘I Love You Too Much’.

The group re-recorded the latter track for the ‘HYSTERIA’ album, which appeared in May 1984. The LP contained three hit singles ‘The Lebanon’, ‘Life On Your Own’ & ‘Louise’. Whilst not a multi-million seller like its predecessor, the album showed the band progressing artistically.

Two years later, the band would experiment even further by mostly recording the album ‘CRASH’ with the production team of Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis. The gamble paid off, and it returned The Human League to the top of the US charts with the song ‘Human’.

After a break in 1988 for a multi-platinum selling greatest hits album, the group returned with ‘ROMANTIC?’ which was yet another move forward with their sound, the hit single ‘Heart Like A Wheel’ saw the band reunite with ‘DARE’ producer Martin Rushent. However, after a dozen years with the label, it was to be their last album for Virgin. The band continue to record, have hits and tour the world to this day……but that’s a story for another boxset.