Essential

Photographer: Simon Bowler.
Essential is a no-frills anthology covering the Human League's first four albums: Reproduction, Travelogue, Dare!, Hysteria, and Crash, as well as the non-album single "(Keep Feeling) Fascination" and the Philip Oakey/Giorgio Moroder soundtrack collaboration "Together in Electric Dreams." It could just as easily be titled Singles 1979-1986, thought it's neither complete nor sequenced chronologically. Most casual fans won't need to dig any deeper, as this features the biggest hits, including "Don't You Want Me," "The Lebanon," and "Human." That said, the group was as album-oriented as it was singles-oriented -- through Dare!, at least -- and this disc isn't quite comprehensive. ~ Andy Kellman