Sunday Synthpop Brunch: Heaven 17

When keyboardists Ian Craig-Marsh and Martyn Ware departed from The Human League in 1980, the success of vocalist (and sole remaining member) Philip Oakey's reconsitutued lineup a year later with the international smash Dare made many people wonder if the two ex-computer operators had just made a terribly wrong-headed career move. However, Marsh and Ware wouldn't stay out of the spotlight for long.

The pair's first move was the creation of faceless ongoing production concept a la Alan Parsons under the name British Electric Foundation. A couple of heavily synthesizer-based instrumental works consisting largely of cover songs were released by BEF over the next year or so (including the exceptional Music For Listening EP and the full-length Music Of Quality And Distinction). While some of BEF's tracks were intriguing, busily-programmed instrumental workouts, others featured guest artists handling the vocal chores, including Tina Turner, who would soon find her career revitalized as a result of BEF's assistance on her remake of "Ball Of Confusion" (the success of which set up her monster comeback in 1984 with Private Dancer). Another track featured the vocals of Glenn Gregory, who soon after joined Marsh and Ware on a permanent basis under the name Heaven 17.

Over the course of their first two albums (Penthouse And Pavement and The Luxury Gap, which were then smashed together into a self-titled release stateside), Heaven 17 may not have equalled the level of massive global success that the The Human League had reached, yet they managed to create some of the most strikingly original and downright funky electropop of the era. Examples of their expertise include "Play To Win," "Crushed By The Wheels Of Industry," "(We Don't Need This) Fascist Groove Thing," "Come Live With Me," and their best-known UK hit "Temptation" (which was featured briefly in the movie Trainspotting). While none of the above songs made much of an impact on the U.S., there were a few that did, largely thanks to (once again) MTV -- these included the exhilirating, relentless drive of "We Live So Fast," the bleak gothic grandeur of "Let Me Go" and the fleet-footed electro R&B of "Penthouse & Pavement."

Like so many other acts in their genre, however, Heaven 17 burned brightly and fizzled fast. By the release of their third album How Men Are in late 1984, the bloom was already off the rose, and subsequent releases failed to make much of a splash anywhere, triggering the the band's dissolution in 1988. By that point, the production expertise of Martyn Ware was already resulting in notable albums by the likes of Erasure, ex-Soft Cell singer Marc Almond, and the one-and-only international smash by Terence Trent D'Arby.

Nearly a decade later, Heaven 17 reformed and surprised many with the release (and tour) of 1996's Bigger Than America, which found the trio creatively revitalized and still capable of cranking out dancefloor-friendly statements like "Designing Heaven," "Freak!" and "Resurrection Man" alongside more reflective works like "An Electronic Prayer" and "Dive," which may well be the most beautiful track the trio have ever recorded.