Credo by The Human League (2011)

Well, it's been out a while, and the dust is settling. And a fair amount of dust was kicked up! Wildly divergent views abounded, from the howls of 'worst album ever' to awards of five stars out of five and adoration. I suppose what I'm interested in, true to my form, is the wider view. I'm interested in what I can divine in this group of 11 songs which has pop-forever qualities in it. There is a lot on Credo which is not forever, material which is very much of the now, and will make us wonder 'Why did they do that?' in time to come. Particularly there's a lot of "robo-disco" (and I use that phrase only because I read it in a review somewhere) deadening repetition, a slightly noughties-electro-clique retro which is a bit disappointing. Probably from anyone else a lot of this material would still be fairly impressive, but from a group which can really hit the heights of pop, if not belt through them, it's not quite enough. That said, the I-Monster production is very savvy in other much more alive ways; some of these songs have minor texturing and rich layers of sound which are an absolute joy.

Phil's lyrics are preponderantly good on this one. Gone is the slight lyrical awkwardness of songs like Love Me Madly? from 2001's Secrets, where an inspired notion was spoilt in tads by word-mashes which didn't quite hold up. Not the crazedness, however. Night People's talk of houses and rhyming mouses, let alone the extraordinary freezers, cheeses, Caesar's, pleases combo of the second verse is carried off with such gorgeous deadpan aplomb I, for one, couldn't be happier. Where he seems let down on this album is with the choruses - I think his weakness with them really shows up the need for the right sort of co-writer to help the League really explode to their fullest. Too many of these songs feel just a little deadened where that point is reached. Verses which have all the promise in the world are not followed up on.

It's interesting to rearrange this album on your machine of choice. I tried it in alphabetical order and all sorts of stuff came out of it. How much better the poorest song, Single Minded, sounds straight after Privilege, revealed as its bedfellow in a darker more experimental feeling. Breaking the Chains as an opener is a revelation. And so on......

The likening which is still working for me about this one is that of Body Language after Fever for Kylie Minogue. It was a slinkier softer-edged album with great interesting elements but the contrast could not have been greater in the standout-track analysis. Fever had a tranche of spectacularly pop-wise and radio-squelching tracks, Body Language none, really, or none on anything like the same level. Credo is Body Language after the Fever of Octopus and Secrets. Lots of stunning small elements and a few songs where pretty much everything comes together well, and because it's The Human League, that's a great experience. But, I don't want to say it but I will because it's true, NO absolute killer songs which will blast any listener away like Shameless could have done, or Liar, or Reflections, or Cruel Young Lover, or Never Again, or........ Night People is the closest possibility: the more I hear it the more I like it, but I still can't quite get past my first reaction. The chorus is too needly. It rips little shreds off you in a way that is just past stunning and heading toward niggling. But it's a close run thing, there are plays of it where I'm off in the clouds and dreaming it...lovely old club-voguing, late 70s retro in a good way.

Well, bloody good luck to them, even if Credo is a 'minor' HL album. They're still here after all this time. There are 'stories' circulating saying that Phil is thinking of one more album only where all old members of the group will have the opportunity to take part. I'm less interested in the old members and a lot more concerned about ONLY ONE MORE ALBUM! Aaaaaargh. No way. While you're still alive Phil, Jo, Sue, don't leave us without. You provide a soundtrack to our lives that we would sorely miss.