Reproduction, released in 1979 through Virgin Records, is the debut studio album by English Synth-Pop group The Human League. Originally formed by Martyn Ware and Ian Craig Marsh and existing under varying names before hiring Philip Oakey as frontman, the band slowly built up a cult following in Britain's musical underground through continuous live performances, eventually catching the attention of indie label Fast Product with a demo tape. The band released one single, "Being Boiled"/"Circus of Death", and an EP, The Dignity of Labour, under Fast, further ending up on the radars of other musicians and journalists, which in turn boosted their exposure and ability to reach more audiences on-stage, even playing in the BBC Radio One booth for John Peel.
Eventually, the band caught the eye of several bigger labels enticed by the band's growing visibility, ultimately accepting an offer from Virgin Records CEO Richard Branson, who promised full creative control. However, Branson went back on his word almost immediately by pressuring the band to put out a disco single, "I Don't Depend on You"; the band did, however, convince Virgin to put it out pseudonymously as "The Men," not wanting to alienate their established fans. When it failed to chart, the band immediately went back to their prior electronic style with Iggy Pop and Magazine collaborator Colin Thurston as co-producer. The resulting album is very much representative of the band's initial style before their later move to glossy dance music, featuring an ominously minimalist, pseudo-industrial sound and lyrics riffing on contemporary trends in British society.
Despite the band's early cult following, the album and its sole single, "Empire State Human", failed to chart. That same year, Gary Numan rose to prominence as the new leading success in Synth-Pop, and this change in public attention would inform the Human League's subsequent work on Travelogue and especially Dare. Following the success of the latter album, Virgin would re-issue Reproduction, at which point it found more sustained success; the 1981 reissue charted in the UK for 23 weeks, peaking at No. 32, and was certified silver by the BPI at the end of the year. The BPI would later award it a gold certification in 1988.
Tracklist:
Side One- "Almost Medieval" (4:43)
- "Circus of Death" (3:55)
- "The Path of Least Resistance" (3:33)
- "Blind Youth" (3:25)
- "The Word Before Last" (4:04)
- "Empire State Human" (3:17)
Side Two
- "Morale... You've Lost That Loving Feeling"note (9:39)
- "Austerity/Girl One (Medley)" (6:44)
- "Zero As a Limit" (4:13)
Blind youth take hope, you're no Joe Trope:
- 20 Minutes into the Past: According to the spoken-word intro on the Fast Product version, "Circus of Death" takes place in 1962; the song itself was first released in 1978 and was re-recorded for Reproduction a year later.
- Alternate Universe: "Circus of Death" is set in an alternate version of Earth where humanity was eradicated in the 1960s by a Monster Clown and his living circus.
- Boléro Effect: "Zero As a Limit" starts off slow and quiet before building up in speed and intensity as it goes on, representing the fearfulness of being run over by a car.
- Circus of Fear: "Circus of Death" depicts a monstrous Eldritch Abomination that takes the form of a constantly-growing circus led by a Monster Clown, who placates the circus' victims with the Fantastic Drug "dominion" before annihilating all of humanity.
- Clap Your Hands If You Believe: "Empire State Human" revolves around a kid who grows as tall as a building simply by concentrating hard enough.
- Continuity Announcement: Since "Circus of Death" is set during an episode of Hawaii Five-O, the re-arranged version in the single's B-side starts with a continuity announcement that mentions the aforementioned show.
- Cover Version: The second half of "Morale... You've Lost That Loving Feeling" is a rendition of a Righteous Brothers song.
- Downer Ending:
- "Circus of Death" ends with the titular circus wiping out all of humanity, with the last words of the song being a radio broadcast from the final victim just moments before his death.
- The album ends with "Zero As a Limit", a frantic piece about a violent car crash.
- Dress Rehearsal Video: The music video for "Empire State Human" depicts the band performing on a soundstage, using highly skewed camera angles to make the band members appear taller or shorter in reference to the song's lyrics.
- Drugs Are Bad: The Monster Clown in "Circus of Death" gets people addicted to a Fantastic Drug so he can keep them under his thumb before he wipes them out.
- Early-Installment Weirdness: The album's sound is much more minimalist compared to Travelogue and the Mk. II incarnation's output.
- Eldritch Abomination: The title being in "The Circus of Death" is heavily implied to be sentient, with the Monster Clown ringleader serving as its direct mode of interaction with humanity.
- Epic Rocking: "Morale... You've Lost That Loving Feeling" clocks in at nine and a half minutes (mainly due to it being two songs sequenced together), while "Austerity/Girl One (Medley)" lasts just under seven.
- Fantastic Drug: In "Circus of Death", the Monster Clown leading the titular circus uses a drug called "dominion" to keep victims subservient.
- Final Solution: The titular being in "Circus of Death" aims to slaughter all of humanity and successfully does so with the help of a Fantastic Drug.
- Gratuitous Panning: The synth bass in "The Path of Least Resistance" plays exclusively in the left channel during the verse and chorus before a second synth bass appears in the right channel during the reprise of the verse.
- Height Angst: The narrator of "Empire State Human" has loathed being "human-sized" since childhood and desires to grow to the size of a skyscraper.
- Hitler Cam: In the music video for "Empire State Human", the second verse sees Philip Oakey viewed from the ground-up to make him appear taller than he actually is, tying in with the narrator's superhuman growth.
- Monster Clown: In "Circus of Death", the titular circus' ringleader is an all-powerful clown who keeps victims under his thumb with a Fantastic Drug.
- Production Throwback: The intro to "Circus of Death" includes the Dominion Jingle from the band's demo album The Taverner Tape.
- Rearrange the Song:
- The album includes a re-recording of "Circus of Death", the B-side to the band's debut single. The album version removes the spoken-word intro explaining the meaning of the songs and individual verses, replacing it with a Continuity Announcement for Hawaii Five-O, and features a more layered production with echo effects at the end of each line in most of the verses.
- The CD release replaces the "knit one, purl one" intro on "The Path of Least Resistance" with a synth bass riff and adds distortion effects to the second verse's vocals. The LP mix would eventually be restored on a 2017 Japanese CD reissue.
- Re-Cut: CD editions of the album remove most of the musique concrete interludes and add the B-side "Introducing" and the band's Fast Product output as bonus tracks.
- Shout-Out:
- "Circus of Death" is set during an episode of Hawaii Five-O, with the first verse explaining that Steve McGarrett was flown out to Britain to investigate the titular circus. The song additionally begins with a Continuity Announcement for the show.
- The music video for "Empire State Human" includes projections of various pop culture figures, including the title character of Columbo, the Man With No Name, and Batman & Robin as they appeared in the 1966 TV series.
- Siamese Twin Songs: "Morale... You've Lost That Loving Feeling" is the original song "Morale" and a Cover Version of the Righteous Brothers' "You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling" played back-to-back and sequenced together as one track.
- Take That!: "The Word Before Last" ends with a sample of a newscaster stating how an unidentified party "described Mrs. Thatcher's first three months in power as disastrous."
- The X of Y: "Circus of Death" and "The Path of Least Resistance".
