Dare

2014年BACK TO BLACKシリーズ!オリジナル・アナログ・マスターからのアビイ・リード・スタジオでのデジタル・リマスター音源。180-GRAM HEAVY WEIGHT仕様。

Rolling Stone - rated #78 in Rolling Stone's "100 Best Albums Of The Eighties" survey. (November 1989) Rolling Stone (2/6/03, p.65) - 3 stars out of 5 - "...Tuneful and oh-so-charmingly dated pop..." Q (6/00, p.64) - Ranked #69 in Q's "100 Greatest British Albums" - "This glorious daft creation is as Northern as FA Cup Giant killing....they conquer the world with a slightly wonky brand of techno that was more Norman Wisdom than Giorgio Moroder..." Uncut (11/02, p.140) - 4 stars out of 5 - "...A timeless pure pop fusion of deadpan heartache and noirish electronica..." CMJ (1/5/04, p.10) - Ranked #2 in CMJ's "Top 20 Most-Played Albums of 1982". Q (Magazine) (p.111) - 5 stars out of 5 -- "[A] record that nonchalantly pulls off the rare trick of capturing its moment while never seeing to age." Mojo (Publisher) (p.102) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "Urbane, futuristic, and just a bit silly, it still sounds fantastic." NME (Magazine) (9/25/93, p.19) - Ranked #18 in NME's list of The 50 Greatest Albums Of The '80s. Paste (magazine) - "The band's music relied heavily on synthesizers, but it was DARE where their more avant proclivities met with pop and even elements of Bowie-esque glam."

Dare! captures a moment in time perfectly -- the moment post-punk's robotic fascination with synthesizers met a clinical Bowie-esque infatuation with fashion and modern art, including pop culture, plus a healthy love of songcraft. The Human League had shown much of this on their early singles, such as "Empire State Human," but on Dare! they simply gelled, as their style was supported by music and songs with emotional substance. That doesn't mean that the album isn't arty, since it certainly is, but that's part of its power -- the self-conscious detachment enhances the postmodern sense of emotional isolation, obsession with form over content, and love of modernity for its own sake. That's why Dare! struck a chord with listeners who didn't like synth pop or the new romantics in 1981, and why it still sounds startlingly original decades after its original release -- the technology may have dated, synths and drum machines may have become more advanced, but few have manipulated technology in such an emotionally effective way. Of course, that all wouldn't matter if the songs themselves didn't work smashingly, whether it's a mood piece as eerie as "Seconds," an anti-anthem like "The Things That Dreams Are Made Of," the dance club glow of "Love Action (I Believe in Love)," or the utter genius of "Don't You Want Me," a devastating chronicle of a frayed romance wrapped in the greatest pop hooks and production of its year. The latter was a huge hit, so much so that it overshadowed the album in the minds of most listeners, yet, for all of its shining brilliance, it wasn't a pop supernova -- it's simply the brightest star on this record, one of the defining records of its time. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine