‘Only After Dark’ should have been the second single released from the ‘Travelogue’ album in the UK – and indeed copies were pressed up, complete with a long version of ‘Toyota City’ on the B side, catalogue number VS351. But it appears that it was a record company choice and so much to the displeasure of the band that they objected to its release (as told in the wonderful Blind Youth website). Instead, Virgin went with the re-press and re-release of ‘Empire State Human’ instead (and also on 12” too this time) with the same VS351 catalogue number as ‘Only After Dark’ and shrink-wrapped copies of that and ‘Only After Dark’ together as another value for money double-pack limited edition (15,000, apparently) like the ‘Holiday ‘80’ EP before it. That’s the version I bought anyway and I must admit, I never realised that officially it was ‘Empire State Human’ as the lead single – I always assumed it was ‘Only After Dark’.
^ Human League – ‘Only After Dark’ West German 7″ front cover design
