ON SPECIAL REQUEST
the Human League : "the taverner tape"
? Records
CDHL 040
Made in the UK
?
tracklist :
01. Jason Taverner dialogue
02. blind youth first demo version
03. dominion jingle not mentioned on the cover
04. interface
05. dominion jingle not mentioned on the cover
06. again the eye again
07. dominion jingle not mentioned on the cover
08. Jason Taverner dialogue
09. Toyota city alternate edit
10. dominion jingle
11. path of least resistance vocal demo version
12. dominion jingle not mentioned on the cover
13. zero as a limit first demo version
14. dominion jingle not mentioned on the cover
15. Jason Taverner dialogue
16. you've lost that lovin' feelin' Radio One version
flac version
Enjoy the music
for more information about this cd you must read the comments thanks to Dave Sez
3 comments:
Many thanks indeed for the FLAC version of this classic from the vaults! Some information thanks to Second Chameleon:
"Human League - The Taverner Tape 1979
It was the Spring of 1979. Martyn Ware, Ian Craig Marsh, and lop-haired vocalist, Phil Oakey, had already scored a surprise success with their first single, the inscrutable but irresistible, "Being Boiled." Recorded for the princely sum of two and a half pounds ("And that was for the Letraset for the sleeve," Martyn would later claim), the first pressing of "Being Boiled" had sold out in a matter of days. John Peel played it on his show, they appeared on the cover of the NME, and David Bowie
called them the "future of music." But they were broke. "Being Boiled" was, after all, released on their manager's tiny independent label, Fast Records. To move to the next stage, to become the all-conquering pop stars they imagined themselves
being, they needed help getting a record contract with a major.
The trio gathered home-made demos of several of the tracks they had been playing live, in support of bands such as Siouxsie and the Banshees and The Stranglers, and asked local network television personality Jason Taverner to introduce them on a
tape to be sent round to the labels. Taverner was an avuncular figure; when they appeared on his show, he liked to call Ian, Martyn, and Phil, "the lads," and praised their youthful optimism when other bands "were just trying to shock people." In
return, the band had recorded a hit album, There'll Be A Good Time With Taverner Tonight. This was sure to get the attention of the A&R men.
Of course there was no Jason Taverner. The League had never been on TV, let alone recorded a hit album. It was all an elaborate ruse, somewhere between Situationist prank and Monty Python skit, with Phil playing the part of the regional
television personality to a tee. To further confound matters, they inserted the same fifteen second theme, the so-called "Dominion Jingle," after each song. An obscure reference to a fictional drug, and sounding like a lost sound cue from a low
budget horror movie set in an abandoned amusement park, the jingle cast an ominous shadow over the demo's collection of pop songs and futuristic instrumentals.
And it worked. The Banshee's label, Polydor, expressed interest. Soon Virgin and Fiction, home to both The Cure and The Associates, were in a bidding war for the synthesizer band from Sheffield. Finally, in April, The Human League signed with
Virgin. "I was really taken with their version of 'You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin,'" recalls A&R man Simon Draper. "They were very original, and Phil had his amazing asymmetrical hair; I immediately wanted to sign them. But they were very avant
garde and I wondered whether they were going to be successful or not.""
Cheers and thanks, Dave Sez.
you are more welcome
enjoy the music
Not entirely sure that this is a truly lossless recording of the tape (unless the poor technical characteristics of the FLAC files betray the poor sonic qualities of the primitive instruments the band used for the recording), but many thanks anyway for this version!
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