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Being Boiled

'Being Boiled' was one of the more unlikely hit singles of the early '80s. A song protesting the cruelty of sericulture, it was The Human League's debut single, first issued in 1978. A reworked version appeared on the band's second album Travelogue in 1980, with a re-release of the original 7" (slightly tweaked with added stereo effects) following a few months later.

Only in the wake of the League's breakthrough album Dare, did a further re-issue (seemingly identical with the 1980 one) finally achieve success, reaching the respectable heights of number 6 in January '82. Even then, it still sounded forbiddingly futuristic, despite its having been "recorded on a domestic tape recorder, in mono, in an abandoned factory, at a cost of £2.50" (wikipedia). My copy is one of the re-issued variants, very likely the later one.

The B-side, 'Circus of Death' is good too, though I'm not sure it really needed the 25-second spoken introduction explaining the lyrics to follow, or the note on the back of the picture sleeve telling us that "DOMINION is the name given to the ficticious drug administered by the ringmaster/clown to subjugate those who fall prey to his power". At least the listener is spared a further spoken recap at the end.

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