'The Golden Hour of The Future' documents the early stages in the formation of legendary Sheffield electro group The Human League: Original tapes from 1977 have been resurrected by none other than UK superstar producer Richard X, who has remastered 20 songs and reissued them on his own Black Melody label. The selection ranges from ambient synthesizer experiments to the marching electro rhythms known from later albums 'Reproduction' and 'Travelogue', and despite the rough edges, the classic Human League style can be clearly made out. The group's famous ironic futurism also features, and eery cover versions of Gloria Gaynor's 'Reach Out (I'll Be There)' and Ennio Morricone's 'Once Upon A Time In The West' remind of the League's famous rendition of The Righteous Brothers' 'You've Lost That Loving Feeling'. There is also a myspace page set up for the project, which features a cool interview with Martyn Ware about the early days of the band. "I was a computer operator at the time". Word.


The mainstream of 1979?:
The Human League - Path of Least Resistance (live on BBC, 1979)
The second pearl wrested from oblivion is Dez Dickerson's 'Modernaire', the only song from Prince's 'Purple Rain' movie which had never seen an official release. Dickerson was Prince's lead guitarist for much of his early career, but left the band after the '1999' album, 2 years before the release of 'Purple Rain', which was likely the reason for the song's omission from the movie's sound track. London's wonderful Citinite outfit has not only unearthed the rare 80s synth-funk song, but also asked a modern day electro dream-team for remixes: Egyptian Lover, Ed DMX and Luke Eargoggle's Faceless Mind all add their distinct style to the mix, while a definite highlight comes from the rather unknown Complexxion, who contribute a The Normal / Human League style interpretation of the original.