Travelogue
Encyclopedia
Travelogue is the second full-length studio album released by the British synthpop
band The Human League
, released in May 1980 before the band achieved any degree of commercial success.
For Travelogue, the band worked with a new producer, Richard Mainwaring, who went on to produce OMD
's platinum selling Architecture & Morality
the following year. Travelogue entered the UK album chart at #16, which was also its chart peak, and remained on the chart for 9 weeks in 1980. Although a vast improvement on their debut album, Reproduction
, which had failed to chart at all the year before, the lack of high success precipitated the departure of founding band members Martyn Ware
and Ian Craig Marsh
, who went on to form Heaven 17
. Their departure led to remaining members Phil Oakey and Adrian Wright
moving The Human League in a new musical direction with a new line-up. As the new band then began to make a commercial impact the following year, Travelogue re-entered the chart in August 1981 for a further 33 weeks, eventually being certified Gold by the BPI
in May 1982.
Two songs were released as singles from the album; a re-recorded version of the band's first single, "Being Boiled
" (this time as part of the Holiday '80
EP released a month before the album), and a cover of Mick Ronson's "Only After Dark
" (which was ultimately given away as a free single with a re-issue of the band's 1979 single "Empire State Human
" in June 1980). Neither of these were successful ("Being Boiled" became a UK Top-10 hit in 1982, but it was a stereo remix of the old single version, not the Holiday '80
/Travelogue version). The album also featured a cover of the famed advertising jingle for Gordon's Gin
, written by Jeff Wayne
.
Virgin Records remastered and re-issued Travelogue on CD in 1988, with an expanded track listing which included the Holiday '80
EP, the disco single "I Don't Depend on You
" (originally released under the moniker "The Men"), and the single "Boys and Girls", which had been produced by Oakey and Wright after the line-up split.
The Canadian issue of Travelogue was released in a different sleeve, similar to the Holiday '80 front cover, and the tracklisting also differed: The Voice Of Buddha (the re-recorded version of Being Boiled under a different name), The Black Hit Of Space, Only After Dark, Life Kills, Dreams Of Leaving b/w Crow And A Baby, The Touchables, Gordon's Gin, Rock 'N' Roll/Night Clubbing, WXJL Tonight. Similarly, the Australian issue also featured a different tracklisting, though the original sleeve and song titles were retained for this release:
Being Boiled, The Black Hit Of Space, Only After Dark, Life Kills, Dreams Of Leaving b/w Crow And A Baby, The Touchables, Rock 'N' Roll, Marianne (alternate version), Gordon's Gin, WXJL Tonight.
Synthpop
Synthpop is a genre of popular music that first became prominent in the 1980s, in which the synthesizer is the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s and early 1970s by the use of synthesizers in progressive rock, electronic art rock, disco and particularly the "Kraut rock" of...
band The Human League
The Human League
The Human League are an English electronic New Wave band formed in Sheffield in 1977. They achieved popularity after a key change in line-up in the early 1980s and have continued recording and performing with moderate commercial success throughout the 1980s up to the present day.The only constant...
, released in May 1980 before the band achieved any degree of commercial success.
For Travelogue, the band worked with a new producer, Richard Mainwaring, who went on to produce OMD
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark are a synthpop group whose founding members are originally from the Wirral Peninsula, England...
's platinum selling Architecture & Morality
Architecture & Morality
Architecture & Morality is the third album by Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, released in 1981. It is the group's most commercially and critically successful album, selling over 3 million copies. Released just eighteen months after their debut album, it demonstrated both OMD's continuing musical...
the following year. Travelogue entered the UK album chart at #16, which was also its chart peak, and remained on the chart for 9 weeks in 1980. Although a vast improvement on their debut album, Reproduction
Reproduction (album)
Reproduction is the debut album released by British synthpop band The Human League. The album was released in October 1979 through Virgin Records Ltd....
, which had failed to chart at all the year before, the lack of high success precipitated the departure of founding band members Martyn Ware
Martyn Ware
Martyn "Teddy Bear" Ware is a British musician and music producer. He is the chairman of a local football team: PPA. As a founder member of both The Human League and Heaven 17, he was partly responsible for hit records such as "Being Boiled" and "Temptation"...
and Ian Craig Marsh
Ian Craig Marsh
Ian Craig Marsh is a former English musician. He was a founding member of the electronic band The Human League, writing and playing on their first two albums and several singles, until leaving in 1980 to form B.E.F...
, who went on to form Heaven 17
Heaven 17
Heaven 17 are an English synthpop band originating from Sheffield in the early 1980s. The trio comprises Martyn Ware , Ian Craig Marsh and Glenn Gregory...
. Their departure led to remaining members Phil Oakey and Adrian Wright
Philip Adrian Wright
Philip Adrian Wright is an English musician, also known as Adrian Wright.Wright had studied film making at Sheffield Art College and was a friend of Philip Oakey. In 1978 he was invited to join the new avant-garde electronic band The Human League which composed of Oakey, Martyn Ware and Ian Craig...
moving The Human League in a new musical direction with a new line-up. As the new band then began to make a commercial impact the following year, Travelogue re-entered the chart in August 1981 for a further 33 weeks, eventually being certified Gold by the BPI
British Phonographic Industry
The British Phonographic Industry is the British record industry's trade association.-Structure:Its membership comprises hundreds of music companies including all four "major" record companies , associate members such as manufacturers and distributors, and hundreds of independent music companies...
in May 1982.
Two songs were released as singles from the album; a re-recorded version of the band's first single, "Being Boiled
Being Boiled
"Being Boiled" is a song composed by Sheffield musicians Martyn Ware and Ian Craig Marsh, with lyrics by Philip Oakey, and recorded by them as The Human League...
" (this time as part of the Holiday '80
Holiday '80
Holiday '80 is an EP released by the original line-up of the British synthpop band The Human League. The EP was issued by Virgin Records in the UK in April 1980, a month before the release of the band's second album Travelogue. The EP peaked at no. 56 in the UK Singles Chart in May 1980, but was...
EP released a month before the album), and a cover of Mick Ronson's "Only After Dark
Only After Dark
"Only After Dark" is a song by the British Synthpop group The Human League. Taken from the band's second album, Travelogue, in 1980, it is a cover version of the Mick Ronson song originally found on his 1974 debut album Slaughter On 10th Avenue...
" (which was ultimately given away as a free single with a re-issue of the band's 1979 single "Empire State Human
Empire State Human
"Empire State Human" is a song by the British Synthesizer group The Human League. The song was written by Philip Oakey, Martyn Ware and Ian Craig Marsh...
" in June 1980). Neither of these were successful ("Being Boiled" became a UK Top-10 hit in 1982, but it was a stereo remix of the old single version, not the Holiday '80
Holiday '80
Holiday '80 is an EP released by the original line-up of the British synthpop band The Human League. The EP was issued by Virgin Records in the UK in April 1980, a month before the release of the band's second album Travelogue. The EP peaked at no. 56 in the UK Singles Chart in May 1980, but was...
/Travelogue version). The album also featured a cover of the famed advertising jingle for Gordon's Gin
Gordon's Gin
Gordon's is a brand of London Dry gin produced in the United Kingdom and under licence in New Zealand, Canada and several other former British territories. The top markets for Gordon's are the UK, US, Greece and Africa...
, written by Jeff Wayne
Jeff Wayne
Jeffry "Jeff" Wayne, born in Forest Hills, Queens, New York, is a musician best known for Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the Worlds, his musical version of H. G. Wells' The War of the Worlds...
.
Virgin Records remastered and re-issued Travelogue on CD in 1988, with an expanded track listing which included the Holiday '80
Holiday '80
Holiday '80 is an EP released by the original line-up of the British synthpop band The Human League. The EP was issued by Virgin Records in the UK in April 1980, a month before the release of the band's second album Travelogue. The EP peaked at no. 56 in the UK Singles Chart in May 1980, but was...
EP, the disco single "I Don't Depend on You
I Don't Depend on You
"I Don't Depend on You" is a disco-influenced song by the British Synthpop group The Human League released under the pseudonym The Men. It was released as a single in the UK in July 1979, but failed to chart...
" (originally released under the moniker "The Men"), and the single "Boys and Girls", which had been produced by Oakey and Wright after the line-up split.
The Canadian issue of Travelogue was released in a different sleeve, similar to the Holiday '80 front cover, and the tracklisting also differed: The Voice Of Buddha (the re-recorded version of Being Boiled under a different name), The Black Hit Of Space, Only After Dark, Life Kills, Dreams Of Leaving b/w Crow And A Baby, The Touchables, Gordon's Gin, Rock 'N' Roll/Night Clubbing, WXJL Tonight. Similarly, the Australian issue also featured a different tracklisting, though the original sleeve and song titles were retained for this release:
Being Boiled, The Black Hit Of Space, Only After Dark, Life Kills, Dreams Of Leaving b/w Crow And A Baby, The Touchables, Rock 'N' Roll, Marianne (alternate version), Gordon's Gin, WXJL Tonight.
Track listing
- "The Black Hit of Space" (Ware, Marsh, Oakey, Wright) – 4:11
- "Only After DarkOnly After Dark"Only After Dark" is a song by the British Synthpop group The Human League. Taken from the band's second album, Travelogue, in 1980, it is a cover version of the Mick Ronson song originally found on his 1974 debut album Slaughter On 10th Avenue...
" (Richardson, Mick RonsonMick RonsonMichael "Mick" Ronson was an English guitarist, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, arranger and producer. He is best known for his work with David Bowie, as one of The Spiders from Mars...
) – 3:51 - "Life Kills" (Ware, Marsh, Oakey, Wright) – 3:08
- "Dreams of Leaving" (Ware, Marsh, Oakey, Wright) – 5:52
- "Toyota City" (Ware, Marsh, Oakey, Wright) – 3:21
- "Crow and a Baby" (Ware, Marsh, Oakey, Wright) – 3:43
- "The Touchables" (Ware, Marsh, Oakey, Wright) – 3:21
- "Gordon's Gin" (WayneJeff WayneJeffry "Jeff" Wayne, born in Forest Hills, Queens, New York, is a musician best known for Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the Worlds, his musical version of H. G. Wells' The War of the Worlds...
) – 2:59 - "Being BoiledBeing Boiled"Being Boiled" is a song composed by Sheffield musicians Martyn Ware and Ian Craig Marsh, with lyrics by Philip Oakey, and recorded by them as The Human League...
" (Marsh, Oakey, Ware) – 4:22 - "WXJL Tonight" (Ware, Marsh, Oakey, Wright) – 4:46
Bonus tracks
- "Marianne" (Marsh, Oakey, Ware) – 3:17
- "Dancevision" (Marsh, Ware) – 2:22
- "Rock 'n' Roll/Night Clubbing" (Gary GlitterGary GlitterGary Glitter is an English former glam rock singer-songwriter and musician.Glitter first came to prominence in the glam rock era of the early 1970s...
, Mike LeanderMike LeanderMichael George Farr professionally known as Mike Leander was an arranger and record producer for Decca Records in the 1960s and Bell Records in the 1970s and worked with such artists as Marianne Faithfull, Billy Fury, Marc Bolan, Joe Cocker, The Small Faces, Van Morrison, Alan Price, Peter...
/David BowieDavid BowieDavid Bowie is an English musician, actor, record producer and arranger. A major figure for over four decades in the world of popular music, Bowie is widely regarded as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s...
, James Osterberg) – 6:23 - "Tom Baker" (Oakey, Wright) – 4:01
- "Boys and GirlsBoys and Girls (Human League song)"Boys and Girls" is a song by the British Synthpop group The Human League. It was released as a single in the UK in February 1981 and peaked at number 48 in the UK Singles Charts...
" (Oakey, Wright) – 3:14 - "I Don't Depend on YouI Don't Depend on You"I Don't Depend on You" is a disco-influenced song by the British Synthpop group The Human League released under the pseudonym The Men. It was released as a single in the UK in July 1979, but failed to chart...
" (Marsh, Oakey, Ware) – 4:36 - "Cruel" (Marsh, Oakey, Ware) – 4:45
Chart performance
| Chart (1980) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| UK Albums Chart | 16 |