Whatever impression of avant-everything attitude Human League gave off with their earliest work, Dare made them a rare group whose commercial breakthrough didn’t dull their edge. Instead, they found a new one: Philip Oakey and the revamped lineup made pop sound so directly joyful (“The Things That Dreams Are Made Of”), unified (“The Sound of the Crowd”), and tense (“Don’t You Want Me”) that it felt almost alien.

It’s still one of the most unlikely stories in music — a singer from a now-fractured electronic art outfit meets two patrons at a nightclub and offers them vocal roles — but with a couple of extra recruitments and Martin Rushent’s production and studio skills, Phil Oakey, Joanne Catherall and Susan Ann Sulley created a pop landmark. Dare! is still an ur-text for the idea of electronic pop in general, the stellar single “Don’t You Want Me” in particular, but also “The Sound of the Crowd,” “Love Action (I Believe In Love),” the harrowing “Seconds” and much more.