Having signed for WEA Records in 1983, Howard Jones went on to record and release five original studio albums for them. This collection from Cherry Red Records contains all five of the original CD-format studio albums that Howard Jones released on WEA Records between 1984 and 1992. All of the albums feature the remastered versions from when they were re-issued between 2018 and 2021.
They are packaged in a deluxe clamshell box, in mini-LP card wallet sleeves. This unique release also includes a 48-page fully illustrated CD booklet containing sleevenotes for each of the five albums by music journalist, Anil Prasad. Those booklets provide a real insight into the making of each album and the process involved behind the music.
I was ten when Howard Jones’s first album was released. Having been raised on ABBA and ELO, I was more than happy listening to pop melodies, but I also had a discerning ear for songwriting and production. I can distinctly remember thinking there was something different about Howards Jones’s songs from the other music in the charts at the time. But has the music held up?
Human’s Lib (1984)
This is perfectly crafted intelligent synth-pop, catchy and immediate without being bubble-gum and throwaway. A UK number one album, that doesn’t feel like it was written solely for mass appeal, despite having four hit singles, two of which made the Top 3. I can see why he has worked with Nick Beggs so much live, as they both occupy similar spaces in the world of credible, but accessible pop from artists who could just as comfortably work in any genre.
What Is Love? is one of the defining singles of the 80s and rightly so. Even the occasionally too ‘overtly 80s’ keyboard sound can’t stop these songs landing so well. Hide And Seek is a bit like a precursor to Steven Wilson, an emotive, sad, but life affirming slice of goodness with a hint of Japan.
New Song is perfect, but it’s hard to even describe why, childhood me instinctively knew this was a cut above other songs that were on the radio. The title track has a Vangelis feel and feels prog adjacent, as does the instrumental final track.
As debut albums go this is exceptional, Jones seems to have everything right. His songwriting skills, playing and singing all come to the fore. Almost everything you hear on the record is played by him, synthesisers, keyboards, vocals and drum machines, with only the saxophone on Pearl In The Shell being played by someone else. This feels very much like one man’s singular musical vision and it’s up there with the greatest debut records of all time.
Dream Into Action (1985)
Only a year after his debut album, Jones is back and he’s added horns and backing vocals, in a distinctly Phil Collins style move. Rupert Hine returns, having produced all of Human’s Lib (aside from New Song which was Colin Thurston).
We open with another Top 10 single – Things Can Only Get Better which leans once again into Jones’s knack of writing an earworm with a hooky chorus. No One Is To Blame, re-recorded as a single with Phil Collins and Hugh Parham producing, was his biggest US hit, peaking at No 4. It’s the original album version here, which is shorter than that single.
Hunger For The Flesh is a real standout to me, again Steven Wilson would be proud of this. Bounce right back suffers from that specific mid 80s spoken word meets rudimentary rap section, which dates what is otherwise a really good song.
Another hit song for Howard Jones, Like To Get To Know You Well was a standalone single, which then appeared on his 12” album between his debut and sophomore records. That feels closest to the first album’s feel, and it is included here as a CD bonus track to round off proceedings.
Tony Banks would have loved to be credited with a solo work like this, it’s kind of AOP (Adult oriented pop) but still built around synths, if that’s a thing. It’s a bit more grown up and slightly less instant as a result, but it is still distinctly Howard Jones. It was always going to be hard to follow an instant classic like Human’s Lib, but this continues the momentum well.
One to One (1986)
The third album in as many years from the synth pop production line and another Top 10 UK record.
This is more of a full band record, with a plethora of different people on each song, including the likes of Nile Rodgers on guitar and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers drummer Steve Ferrone among the assembled legion. Backing vocalists Afrodiziak return from Dream into Action too. With a new producer in the shape of Arif Mardin and a huge list of guest musicians, I was expecting this record to push the envelope further than Jones had been able to do on his own. In reality the opposite seemed to happen, this album feels like he is playing it safe, making an almost coffee table record.
This was the album I found it hardest to connect with, there just seemed to be so much going on. And songs were either leaning sad or leaning jaunty and happy, with none of the clever in-between emotions feel that his previous efforts displayed. It sounds far more noticeably 80s and as a result holds up far less than what went before. The songs feel like they belong on a Miami Vice compilation of songs Jan Hammer wasn’t involved in. I’m sorry to say this, despite Howard Jones’s consistently excellent songwriting and vocals, felt like a major regression.
Cross That Line (1989)
Three years on, the musical landscape had changed, and Jones was back after a gap that was as long as the run of his first three albums. Album opener The Prisoner is stronger than anything on the album that preceded this one. This album seems to bridge the divide between the first two records and the more adult sounds of One to One.
Co-produced by Jones and Chris Hughes, Ross Callum and Ian Stanley, giving it a strong Tears for Fears connection. There are guitars, layered background vocals and brass, but this time around they complement what Jones is doing more and allow some space within the production. Something that was really missing on the record prior to this one. There’s an obvious through-line from the first and second album to the fourth. Sad songs that give you hope and happy songs undercut with an air of darkness. Guardians Of The Breath is a disarmingly beautiful song that I keep coming back to.
I enjoyed this and felt like it was a major return to form, with some able collaborators.
In the Running (1992)
Only eight years after his debut record was released, Jones was likely at a crossroads here. Like many 70s artists felt the need to move with the times in the 80s, what does someone so synonymous with the 80s do in the 90s?
The opening song Lift Me Up is really good, and sets the bar high. There’s still a sense of a full band on this album, where I’d prefer just Jones with synths though.
As the album progresses, we are in Billy Joel, Phil Collins or Don Henley territory. On the whole it’s a more considered, downbeat piano driven affair. Much more like a singer/songwriter lounge act than the mischievous techno-pixie that went before. But still with his excellent songwriting and interesting voice driving proceedings. On the whole, it’s just a bit too safe for my liking and leaning into comfortable shoes and Q magazine too early in his career. There is still plenty to love across the ten tracks though.
This is a fascinating five album collection that showcases the unique talent Howard Jones was able to demonstrate from the very start of his career. This isn’t a linear trajectory by any means, and the quality across the albums is variable following a world beating start. With the presentation being so well put together, the inclusion of such interesting back matter alongside the remastered albums themselves there’s much to love here. If you still buy physical products and have room for five more CDs in your collection, you could do a lot worse than to pick this up. Howard Jones is one of our greatest pop songwriters and he should be held in the highest regard as a result. This was a timely reminder of why that is the case.
TRACK LISTING
DISC ONE: Human’s Lib
01. Conditioning
02. What Is Love?
03. Pearl In The Shell
04. Hide And Seek
05. Hunt The Self
06. New Song
07. Don’t Always Look At The Rain
08. Equality
09. Natural
10. Human’s Lib
~ Bonus track
11. China Dance
DISC TWO: Dream Into Action
01. Things Can Only Get Better
02. Life In One Day
03. Dream Into Action
04. No One Is To Blame
05. Look Mama
06. Assault And Battery
07. Automaton
08. Is There A Difference?
09. Elegy
10. Specialty
11. Why Look For The Key?
12. Hunger For The Flesh
~ Bonus tracks
13. Bounce Right Back
14. Like To Get To Know You Well
DISC THREE: One To One
01. You Know I Love You… Don’t You?
02. The Balance Of Love (Give And Take)
03. All I Want
04. Where Are We Going?
05. Don’t Want To Fight Anymore
06. Step Into These Shoes
07. Will You Still Be There?
08. Good Luck, Bad Luck
09. Give Me The Strength
10. Little Bit Of Snow
~ Bonus track
11. No One Is To Blame (single mix)
DISC FOUR: Cross That Line
01. The Prisoner
02. Everlasting Love
03. Powerhouse
04. Last Supper
05. Cross That Line
06. Out Of Thin Air
07. Guardians Of The Breath
08. Fresh Air Waltz
09. Wanders To You
10. Those Who Move Clouds
DISC FIVE: In The Running
01. Lift Me Up
02. Fallin’ Away
03. Show Me
04. The Voices Are Back
05. Exodus
06. Tears To Tell
07. Two Souls
08. Gun Turned On The World
09. One Last Try
10. City Song
ADDITIONAL INFO
Record Label: Cherry Red Records
Country of Origin: UK
Date of Release: 10 th July 2026
LINKS
Howard Jones – Website | Facebook | YouTube | Instagram
Cherry Red Records – Boxset Info
