The last few years of the 70's signaled a huge explosion in music genres. One of them was the introduction of Techno, or Synthpop. Mostly relegated to Disco and soft-Jazz in the early 70's, Techno branched out and crossed paths with Experimental and turned what was formerly a dance genre into something new.

Human League were at the forefront of the movement. Along with bands like OMD and Ultravox!, Human League embraced a cool and detached approach - stripped down and basic. Initially their was more akin to the German techno of Kraftwerk, rather than Tangerine Dream and it eventually paved the way for the New Wave and New Romantic genres.

Tonight it's a session Human League did for the BBC, recorded on August 8, 1978 when they were relatively new and finding their musical voice.

Here's what they perform:

1. Being Boiled
2. No Time
3. You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling (yes, THAT one).
4. Blind Youth

It's interesting, the inclusion of a song made famous by The Righteous Brothers and iconic in its production by Phil Spector. Done by Human League the warmth is stripped away and the message seems sinister in comparison, becoming almost an anti-love song. Which, considering the times, was probably the intention.

Further evidence the playing field was up for grabs and it was open season for everything.

A few months ago I ran an early track from Ultravox, during what as known as their John Foxx period. After Foxx left the band in 1979, Midge Ure joined the band as lead singer and the direction of the band underwent a dramatic change. During Foxx's period, the band were experimental, taking their cues from many of the German experimental/progressive bands of the early 70's. But when Ure entered the picture, the rough edge of their experimentalism transitioned into a hybrid of New Wave and New Romanticism and it turned out to be huge commercial success for the band. It also coupled with the new direction Music Video's were taking, from the straightforward performance-oriented film to the highly-stylized and scripted format which Ultravox derived huge notoriety from.

Tonight's track, Passing Strangers is from October 1980 and was issued as a single which achieved modest success, reaching #57 on the charts. It would be followed less than three months later with the milestone Vienna, but Passing Strangers is kind of an overlooked track.

Though the band packed it up for a while in 1987, they have recently reunited and have been touring from late 2009 to earlier this year. No word if an album is in the works.

(Ultravox - in 1979 they dropped the ! and it went on from there)

Reading reports that Ultravox have gotten back together, albeit for a "one-off tour" reminded me that they went through several incarnations before arriving at where they are now.

Tonight's track, Quiet Men is from incarnation Number 2 where they dropped the Punk mantle and warmed in the direction of Techno. The result was Systems of Romance, a milestone album (although it didn't do all that well at the time) produced by German Electronica-wizard, the late (and much lamented) Conny Plank, it announced a decided direction change.

Sadly, this incarnation didn't last all that long as they were dropped by their label Island shortly thereafter and the band was left adrift until Midge Ure came on the scene and it became Incarnation Number 3.

Incarnation Number 3 is probably what most people remember of Ultravox. But that middle point, where they were finding their direction and they were trying new things, to me was the most exciting.

But then, I'm a big fan of the process anyway - so pay no attention to me.