The Human League – Love Action (I Believe In Love)

What a tune Love Action is perfect for playing in a strip club or a Lady or Ladies doing a sexy dance or just with your Lady doing it. I personally think it is one there best along with Being Bolied and Move To The Sound but it is the 12 inch version of Move To The Sound for me. Bless G Beats England's Bristols very finest and own.

When they played this in the night clubs at the time, the 'glitch' part used to somehow go inside your head - really weird experience!

Both sides consist of a suite of the semi-non album track "Hard Times" to the Dare track "Love Action", but each side is a different experience.

Side 1 begins with "Hard Times", this version I don't like very much, it just seems to monotone and sterile to me, as opposed to the cold yet human style of THL at the time. It then goes into a slightly extended version of the album cut of "Love Action", a sublime track that might've the high light of Dare.

Side 2 begins with yet again "Hard Times", but it's actually different this time. It's a different mix that I've heard refered to as a "Dub Mix", and I muh prefer it I the other version. It claims to be instrumental, but actually has vocals starting a bit after half-way into the track. It then goes into "Love Action", which is also somewhat different. It's mosty instrumental, and has some difference in the mixing, but stays in the style of the original. About 3/5ths into the track, it decides to glitch out and make you think your system is dying, with some distorted vocals while you're at it. Not as good as the original, but still interesting.

Both sides have their ups and downs, but each side has the best version of the opposite track , so it gives you something to look forward to and keeps it from getting stale.

4/5

The segue of tracks A1-2 is very nice, as it adds a few more of the intro 'meow' loops to "Love Action"! We all know by now that the 'instrumental' version of Hard Times is actually a vocal, but a much improved mix (that ended up on Love and Dancing LP). The 3" CD single re-issue indexes 4 tracks, but plays as per the 12".

Great tracks from their greatest era, Love Action is a classic subversive pop song, those bleeps and noises were like nothing else the chart had heard. Classic!

this is really a seminal release for what concerns synth-pop/electro disco. George Michael sampled the verse "I believe, I believe what the old man said/Though I know that there's no lord above/I believe in me, I believe in you/And you know I believe in love" in his 2002 release "Shoot the dog", though i think Human League theselves got an inspiration of this song from 1978's Sphinx single "Love Infection" by Candy De Rouge/Gunther Mende