I’ve said it a few times before…don’t get me started gushing about The Human League’s Dare, quite possibly my favorite album of the ’80s. No matter how many times a track from the 1981 masterpiece pops up in my iTunes, I can never bring myself to hit the “skip” button.
Forced to nail down a favorite track (no, not that one…), I’d probably pick the widescreen beauty of the ABBA-licious “Open Your Heart”. From its en media res opening, picking up Phil Oakey’s internal (?) monologue in progress, to the soaring synth chords over the verses, from the shiny, chrome Martin Rushnet production, to the optimistic hope in the lyrics:
And so you stand here with the years ahead
Potentially calling
With open heart or with a spirit dead
You walk on
Lies the reason
Faith or treason
Playing a part
End concealing
Try revealing
Open your heart
…”Open Your Heart” just gets me each time. And the video is a shot on tape, New Romantic, meaningless symbolism hoot and a half:
If you like this site and you don’t already own it, please, I’m begging you here, get yourself a copy of Dare. It’s even been re-mastered with the long out of print Love & Dancing instrumental EP tacked on as a bonus, and the music is more relevant today than ever. Plus, through the magic of iTunes, you can even delete…that song.
That much is true.
“Open Your Heart” was not released as a single in the States.
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