The band then performs in the main hall of the Wallenstein Palace, surrounded by lit candles and candelabras. Tell Me When" was the first Human League single to be released from Octopus and was issued in advance of the album. In the US, it peaked at number 31 on the Billboard Hot 100, number 15 on the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart and number eight on the Cash Box Top 100. Oakey took issue with this description and said in an interview that the band had never stopped recording and performing since its formation in 1977.

head of music Richard Park welcomed the single, saying "the marketplace is just ready for a fresh dose of the Human League". It opens with Catherall and Sulley in the Wallenstein Gardens, where leaves are blowing upwards instead of downwards. It topped the Major Market Airplay charts in the UK for two weeks commencing 4 February, registering total plays of 915 for the week of 11 February. Tell Me When" became the Human League's most commercially successful single in nine years and reintroduced the band to many of the British general public. By the time of its release, the single received over one thousand plays per week across the board according to East West Records.Then there is the tendency to fiddle with the original to such an extent it almost becomes unrecognisable from the outstanding original. And the (then) mixers du jour Utah Saints sprinkled their magic dust over what was already an accomplished slab of gorgeousness to churn out an even bigger dancefloor stonker. Dave Thompson of AllMusic said it echoes earlier material, likening it to " Fascination" and " Mirror Man".

Released in a variety of vinyl and CD single formats, these variously included remixes of "Tell Me When" by contemporary electronic acts Utah Saints, Development Corporation and Red Jerry, a non-album B-side ("The Bus to Crookes"), and a track from the band's recent collaboration with Yellow Magic Orchestra. I actually bought this cd for the instrumental track BUS TO CROOKES which is the last track on this cd single and a great tune.In his weekly UK chart commentary, James Masterton said, "It may not be the biggest new hit of the week but it is certainly the most significant", concluding with that it is "sounding like typical Human League of old".

A music video was produced to promote the single, and was shot entirely on location in Prague [ citation needed] in the Czech Republic. As it was the first commercial release in the UK by the band for four years it is often incorrectly described as a comeback as many people erroneously believed the band had disbanded in 1990.To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. You can change your choices at any time by visiting Cookie preferences, as described in the Cookie notice. He went further, saying that "the real difference is found in the vignette-esque lyrics and the more complex vocals. It received considerable radio promotion in advance of its late 1994 UK release, hitting the airwaves at a time when many people started to get Christmas song fatigue. Another NME editor, Paul Moody, viewed it as "sublimely clumsy" with "this killer Human League chorus all over it, the sort that rings around your brain like a nursery rhyme from Mars.

The song was originally written for the act, "Fast Arithmetic" (Oakey–Beckett), a side project in development within the Human League environment. The song fared well on the Mainstream Top 40 chart, where it peaked at number nine on 22 April 1995. A demo version was recorded in 1991 and presented to Max, Ian and Jean [ clarification needed] at East West. They added, "But the tune is an infectious anachronism—the synthesizer trio still tinkle about as soullessly as they did in 1982, when they hit No.It peaked at number six on the UK Singles Chart in early 1995, their highest UK chart position since " (Keep Feeling) Fascination" reached number two in 1983, and spent a total of nine weeks on the chart.