HISTORY

Love Me Madly
We’re licensing it from the people who licensed it from the people who own the people who own it.

“Why is that?” I hear you ask. “What gives?” Here’s what happened.
In 2001 The Human League released an album called ‘Secrets’ on Papillon Records, a division of Chrysalis Records. A wonderful work of pop music meeting electro, the kind that The Human League invented in 1981 with their masterpiece “Dare!” but with a 21st century twist. A first single was issued, “All I Ever Wanted”, and it should have been a hit. But it wasn’t, for a number of reasons.

Firstly, Papillon folded. Not as such, but Chrysalis decided not to fund Papillon anymore. This happened very shortly after the release of the single and in the same week the album was released. No funding meant no promotion, and the single got stuck in the lower regions of the UK charts. Chrysalis had licensed ‘Secrets’ and its single to Arcade Roadrunner in Europe, and there the single fared just as badly because that company was in the middle of being sold as well.

Secondly, while most of the serious music press recognized the album for its brilliance, the ones that mattered in getting the material to the public (i.e. the radio people) couldn’t care less. They had no respect for the band’s history or significance and waved the album away in jokes about Philip’s lop-sided haircut which he hasn’t had in twenty years. And so it happened that nobody noticed that The Human League had made an electro album one year before the genre was resurrected. Nobody noticed that popular outfits like The Gorillaz, Richard X, and Felix The Housecat were sampling The Human League to get that cool electro sound.

In those days The Human League came to the Netherlands to do a personal appearance in Amsterdam for an anniversary party that Dutch music magazine Oor held. It was a lovely little festival, with bands like Royksopp, Arling & Cameron and Zoot Woman playing,who would afterwards mingle with the crowd. As did Philip Oakey of The Human League.

I am a fan. Not the crying screaming kind, not the kind that is totally uncritical, but the kind that has everything and in knowing that still pops into every record store to check the Human League section. On top of that, in discovering The Human League I have discovered a passion for synthesizers and music that has led me to and through a career as a composer and a music producer. Be advised: I am not a musician. I am a DIY guy who is helpless without a computer hooked to the synthesizer, but once you know how to work the big knobs and wires your imagination is the limit. The Human League taught me that. When I saw Philip Oakey standing in the crowd at the Oor party, loosely holding a beer and enjoying Sister Bliss’s DJ set, I decided to thank him and tell him how his band had shaped my life.

A discussion ensued about The Human League and its future, and what the new single would be. ‘Love Me Madly’, he answered. I offered my card and my services, because I really really really wanted to work with the band. He graciously accepted the card, and ofcourse never called me. I never expected him to, either.

Instead, I started to bother David Beevers, the band’s resident engineer, through email. I referred to my talk with Philip and pointed out they had nothing to lose. I wanted to do this, for free, no cure no pay. Not being a man of many words, he wrote back: “Let’s see what you come up with,” and sent me a copy of the multitracks.

I did a killer remix. You’re not supposed to say that about your own material, but I made a remix that would be what I myself would want from The Human League. Keep the song intact. Keep the vocals. Keep the girls. Danceable. Filled with analogue synths. Retrofuturistic. A mix that bleeds the fact that I breathed Human League for twenty years. The people working at the studio I co-own were shocked when they heard my Voice Of Buddha remix. “Have you been freaking out?” Some were inspired though, and they made the Cuzco mix. Two great mixes. We would be part of the legacy.

And then the news hit. No new single. I had the mixes played at some venues in Holland, Belgium and the UK and they went down well. The fans liked them a lot. I started to play around with releasing them myself but Chrysalis wouldn’t hear of it, due to some license rights issues with Arcade Roadrunner. I gave up on the idea.

And then, summer 2003, I tried again. I was in London for business (and the odd Human League concert) and I arranged a meeting. This time, Chrysalis was responsive. Arcade Roadrunner were no longer licensing. It was Disky now, a much easier company with a much easier license deal. And within weeks, thanks to the right friendly enthusiastic persons in the right places, I suddenly got the go-ahead.

So I started Nukove Records, named after my favourite divesite on the island of Bonaire. I asked Stig Olsen, a Danish designer whom I knew from the Secrets Online message board, to design a sleeve. Stig also runs his own Human League website. Within 24 hours he came up with not one but seven great designs, all based on the fact that we had no rights to decent photo material of the band. We chose two, and Stig threw in a Nukove logo. Then one of the regulars of my studio came up with his two Zenn mixes.
So here it is: The Human League, “Love Me Madly”.

Obviously I am doing something I have never done before. I lack the funds to properly promote the track, or even finance a video clip. I have the good story you just read, and some goodwill. I only have the rights to sell from the Benelux for the next three years. Since we’re licensing it from Disky who licensed it from Chrysalis who own Papillon who own the master recording, chances are I’ll never earn my money back. But that’s alright. I got to work with The Human League. I made some wonderful friends on the way, most of whom you can meet daily on the Secrets Online message board.
And most important: there is a new brilliant Human League single.
Order it now.
Let’s wake up the world.