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The Human League "Octopus: Expanded Edition"


Re: The Human League "Octopus: Expanded Edition"

Postby negative1 » Thu Mar 12, 2020 8:10 pm

this is a review of the 2nd cd from the release.

the demos all sound pretty good in quality. the vocals are studio quality,
along with a lot of the instruments.

so, maybe the songs were further along when these were recorded.
of course using digital instruments and mixing, they would sound good
by that account. the songs were further fleshed out for the album,
by adding in more vocals, choruses, and other parts.

CD2 - The Demos / Singles / Edits
======================================
1 Tell Me When (Demo) - a much sparser version, leaving out the 'na na na' parts,
and sounding almost like an acapella version. much longer than the original by
a few minutes. the bpm is also slower.

2 These Are The Days (Demo) - again, the vocals sound great, the girls have
most of the vocals in this one. this one is actually pretty similar in tempo
and bpm with the original. it's missing some of the 'ooooh's in it. finally
there is less percussion in it. this version is much shorter than the album one.

3 One Man In My Heart (Demo) - i never liked the original of this, so i haven't
heard it that much. this might actually have more of an electronic sound to it,
though. the vocals sound the same, although there is less of a 'punch' to them.

4 Words (Demo) - the vocals are at a lower volume, and don't seem as processed
as the final one. its still sparse in sounds, so not much variation from the
original.

5 Filling Up With Heaven (Demo) - similar to the original, the slower tempo paced track,
with the full vocals though. instrumentation is little more basic though. this
version is slighter shorter.

6 Housefull Of Nothing (Demo) - previously released
this version is rearranged from the original, the intro, and tempo are different.
the instrumentation is a lot more basic too.

7 John Cleese Is He Funny (Demo) - this instrumental is not that different
from the final one. but the equalization is different, along with some of
the instruments, which were tweaked for the final mix.

8 Never Again (Demo) - previously released
this version is very similar to the final released one.

9 Cruel Young Lover (Demo) - a much shorter version from the final one,
the vocals are similar, and the tempo matches also. there are some
instrumental differences, where these aren't high in the mix.
the original sounds more upbeat, and more frantic.

extra tracks
===================================================================
10 Tell Me When (7” Edit) - a basic edit for the main single, back
when radio and 7 inch singles actually existed.

11 The Bus To Crookes - b side track, a midtempo instrumental,
thats decent. more like a throwback to their earlier output.

12 Stay With Me Tonight (Single Version) - a track that was
on their greatest hits before. one of my favorite upbeat
songs, which probably didn't quite fit in with this album.

13 Behind The Mask (YMO vs THL) - a very interesting cover song
with YMO. excellent, and glad to see it here. i think it was
very overlooked, but that was because it was hard to find
on a japanese single at the time. classic human league sounding.

14 Kimi Ni Mune Kyun (YMO vs THL) - another unusual collaboration
with YMO. it was another extra track on the tell me when
single. a nice, upbeat, happy song. concentrates more on phils
voice. i think it could have fit on the album.
======================================================================

overall, a great addition to the octopus release. I really enjoy
hearing the demos of the song.

if, in the future, they do a super deluxe version, they could then
add in all the remixes, although that would take another 3-4 cd's
to cover them all properly.

for the price of this, it is definitely worth it for those that liked
the album, and like to look into some of the creation of the tracks.

later
-1
negative1
Room at the Top
 
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Re: The Human League "Octopus: Expanded Edition"

Postby BigManRestless » Fri Mar 13, 2020 11:52 am

The Cruel Young Lover demo also has different lyrics that were excised from the released version. I think it is the one that has the most differences between the versions.
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BigManRestless
The Jet Set
 
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