How is that people can still care about the Human League so many years after their creative peak? It's not like they were brilliant or anything. I mean, yeah, they had their catchy synth-pop anthem, "Don't You Want Me," and a slew of less successful follow-up hits. But what distinguishes them from any other forgotten '80s radio staple? Like Limahl. Really, why not Limahl? He had to be at least as influential, what with hits like the theme from The Neverending Story and "Too Shy," with his band Kajagoogoo. Sure, Limahl had only one true hit song, but his hair was brilliant. Doesn't that also deserve tribute?

To be fair, the Human League actually had an incredibly long career, and a major following among industrial purists and gay club DJs. In fact, their run is apparently not over yet-- new material has been hinted at since their 1995 flop, Octopus. Still, it's been nearly 20 years since the video for their inescapable chart-topper immortalized frontman Philip Oakey's ghostly visage caked in Revlon. Do people really want to remember this?

Ah, but it's too late to bitch, 'cause here's Reproductions, an entire album of Human League songs updated for a new breed of fans. March Records offers 16 songs revamped by a legion of quirk-slinging pop stars, covering everything from the top 40 smashes to the obscure soundtrack cuts.

Stephin Merritt kicks things off with 30 seconds of heavily reverbed minimalism masquerading as a piece off the Get Carter soundtrack. But it ends as quickly as it began, leaving us to deal with the Aluminum Group's take on Dare's "Love Action (I Believe in Love)." Brothers Frank and John Navin offer a convincing, practically verbatim version of the original, which can't be said for the terrifying recreation of "Sweet Child o' Mine" that appeared on their Wonder Boy album. This is probably the most "techno" these guys have ever sounded, and honestly, it might not hurt for them to experiment a little more with this format. The Bacharach thing is a little played out, as I'm sure you'll agree.

Optiganally Yours turn out a genuinely cool remake of "Empire State Human," with Rob Crow alternating between playful falsetto and a slowed-down growl, and Pea Hix going nuts with his famed Optigan keyboard. The Future Bible Heroes' Chris Ewen pulls off a pretty neat effects-laden cover of the would-be arena jam "The Black Hit of Space," a song co-written with original Human League members Martyn Ware (later of Heaven 17) and Ian Marsh (later of Heaven 17, and on programming duties for Right Said Fred). And during the disc's second half, Momus strolls in with a truly confounding cover of "I Am the Law," backed by what sounds like manipulated cellos.

But the fun stops there! Granted, that's a hell of a lot more fun than I'd have expected to have with this record, but when you're dealing with source material like this, it can only be made better. Or so I thought. The Future Bible Heroes proper are given the honor of reworking "Don't You Want Me," on which the similarity between Stephin Merritt and Philip Oakey's sub-deep vocals seem uncanny. Otherwise, it's a straightforward representation of a terribly overplayed song, and that's not fun for anybody.

Elsewhere, Clicks, a band comprised of the Pulsars' Dave Trumfio, the Mekons' Sally Timms and good old Eric Hanna, show up with a ridiculously Devo-ized version of "Seconds"; the Superheroes sing "The Sound of the Crowd" to a pre-programmed beat I could swear was snatched out of the Thompson Twins' "Lies"; Lloyd Cole joins the 6ths for a nicely produced but ultimately melodramatic take on "Human," the Human League's only other #1 song; and don't even get me started on Lali Puna's "experimental" slaughtering of an already laughably bad Philip Oakey/Giorgio Moroder collaboration, "Together in Electric Dreams." (Yes, the theme song to the downright awful 1984 film, Electric Dreams, about a guy and his computer falling in love with Virginia Madsen.)

As unwarranted a concept for a tribute album as Reproductions is, I have to give it credit for pulling it off relatively well. At the heart of the bad synths and worse make-up of the Human League lied some decent pop hooks. Of course, this is a very hard album to recommend, since I can name at least 10,000 other records more worthy of purchase. Plus, you'd have to own a CD with a song by a band called Superheroes. Plus, it's a Human League covers album. I cannot stress the latter point enough. Anyway, I've said all I can say. It's your money.

-Ryan Schreiber