How Men Are

How Men Are
Studio album by Heaven 17
Released September 1984 (1984-09)
Genre Synthpop
Length 38:18
Label Virgin Records
Producer B.E.F., Greg Walsh
Heaven 17 chronology
The Luxury Gap
(1983)
How Men Are
(1984)
Pleasure One
(1986)
Singles from How Men Are
  1. "Sunset Now"
    Released: August 1984
  2. "This Is Mine"
    Released: October 1984
  3. "...(And That's No Lie)"
    Released: January 1985
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Smash Hits[1]
Allmusic[2]

How Men Are is the third album by the English synthpop group Heaven 17, released in September 1984 by Virgin Records. The album peaked at no.12 in the UK and was certified Silver (60,000 copies sold) by the BPI in October 1984.

Three singles were released from this album: "Sunset Now" (UK#24), "This is Mine" (UK#23) in 1984, and an edited remix of "And That's No Lie" (UK#52) in early 1985, which was the first Heaven 17 single to fail to reach the UK Top 40 since "Let Me Go" at the end of 1982.

Although digital sample-based instruments such as the Fairlight CMI and the Linn LM-1 drum machine were still responsible for most of the album's sounds, How Men Are marked the beginning of an increased usage of acoustic instruments in Heaven 17's music. A small orchestra is employed on three tracks, and two tracks make use of The Phenix Horns Esquire, Earth, Wind & Fire's famous brass section. Another notable contribution to this album was made by the vocal group Afrodiziak, who sang on four tracks.

In 2006, Heaven 17's first three albums were remastered and reissued with bonus tracks.

Track listing

  1. "Five Minutes to Midnight" (3:46)
  2. "Sunset Now" (3:35)
  3. "This Is Mine" (3:51)
  4. "The Fuse" (3:05)
  5. "Shame Is on the Rocks" (3:59)
  6. "The Skin I'm In" (3:46)
  7. "Flamedown" (2:59)
  8. "Reputation" (3:03)
  9. "And That's No Lie" (10:02)

2006 remastered CD bonus tracks

  1. "This Is Mine (Cinemix)" (8:43)
  2. "...(And That's No Lie) (Re-mixed to Enhance Danceability)" (6:17)
  3. "Counterforce II" (3:08)
  4. "Sunset Now (Extended Version)" (5:21)

All bonus tracks originally appeared on various formats of the singles taken from the album and had never appeared on CD before. "Counterforce II" was originally a B-side from the "Sunset Now" 12-inch single, and was also released under the title "Chase Runner" on the Electric Dreams soundtrack.

Chart performance

Chart (1984) Peak
position
Total
weeks
German Albums Chart[3] 31 ?
Swedish Albums Chart[4] 28 2
UK Albums Chart[5] 12 11

Personnel

References

  1. "Rimmer, Dave (27 September 1984). "Album Reviews". Smash Hits. Vol. 6 no. 19 (EMAP Metro). p. 25.
  2. Allmusic review
  3. "Charts-Surfer". Charts-surfer.de. Retrieved 2012-01-06.
  4. Steffen Hung. "Swedish Charts Portal". swedishcharts.com. Retrieved 2012-01-06.
  5. "UK Singles & Albums Chart Archive". Chart Stats. Retrieved 2012-01-06.
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