Howard Jones - Dream Into Action
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CD Details
Artist: Howard JonesEdition: Music CD
CD Release Date: 2009-10-27
Music Label: Elektra/Asylum
Soundtracks:
- Things Can Only Get Better
- Life In One Day
- Dream Into Action
- No-One Is To Blame
- Look Mama
- Assault & Battery
- Automaton
- Is There A Difference?
- Elegy
- Specialty
- Why Look For The Key
- Hunger For The Flesh
- Bounce Right Back
- Like To Get To Know You Well
Music reviews of Dream Into Action
Music Review: "We must live to fight the negative"
Rating: 4 Stars
Howard Jones had several synthesizer/drum machine-driven pop hits in the 1980s, the most well-known of which were "What Is Love?" and "Things Can Only Get Better" (on this album) which can be found on a number of 80s compilations. He is also known not only for his eccentric wardrobe & hairstyle and for being a one-man show but for the positive message he incorporated in his music. I saw a television feature on him a few years back and was impressed to learn how many people were touched by his songs and how his songs helped some of his fans get through tough times. It's rather cliché and sometimes just silly when people say how some cheesy pop tune saved them from suicide, and usually they are insincere. The people in this feature, however, seemed very genuine about the ways Jones' music touched their lives. Jones also seems like a very nice fellow. I decided to check out Dream Into Action (great album title).
Several songs off this album are on his greatest hits CD. Strangely, I found most of these tracks to be the weakest on the album. I've always liked "Things Can Only Get Better" with its bouncy synthesizer hooks. "Life in One Day," though, is my least favorite on the album. It is too funky (for lack of a better word), too cutesy and cheesy for my tastes. I always skip that song. "Like to Get to Know You Well," while upbeat, is very repetitive. "No One Is To Blame" was produced by Phil Collins and, like a lot of Collins' music, it is a play-it-safe pleasant ballad with nothing too ingenious or unique. "Look Mama" (also on the greatest hits CD) is an interesting track. Lyrically, it is rather childlike ("Look mama I love you but you gotta let me live my life") but is musically a little experimental which is what I like about 1980s electronic pop.
The tracks I like the best here are the ones where the instruments take control. My favorite is "Assault and Battery." Rather than driven by synthesizers, this track is seized by the piano and sounds very innovative Joe Jacksonesque. "Bounce Right Back" is a dance track with versus sung in a street style. Think maybe Oran Juice Jones "Somebody's Watching Me" style; more talking than singing; possibly a style that was a precursor to rap. The title track is another of my favorites. It is a clever electronically experimental track. It has an industrial sound (not NIN type of "industrial" but a factory sounding synthesizer style). "Automaton" is another electronically-driven track with some innovation. Of the rest, "Elegy" is the most somber number of this mostly optimistic album ("Is it wrong to long for death? Must I cling to the thrills of life?") yet still offers a light at the end of the tunnel ("Take us forward through this tomb, there's no finish to a life"). "Hunger for the Flesh" is another slow and interesting track. It reminds me of early 1980s Genesis (a slow, toned-down "Home By the Sea," maybe). "Is There a Difference?" is the only other track that I usually skip. It is a little too cheesy, Thompson Twinesque for me. In sum, if you know Howard Jones' hits and are considering checking out his albums, Dream Into Action has plenty to offer. It offers 14 tracks (two of which are not on my copy, including "Specialty") with enough variety to please most any 1980s pop fan's tastes. The tracks I think are the best of the dozen (i.e. "Assault and Battery," "Dream Into Action," and "Hunger For Flesh") are probably the ones that are not played as often. If you are curious, give this album a try.
Description of Dream Into Action
Dream Into Action by Howard JonesThis product is manufactured on demand using CD-R recordable media. Amazon.com's standard return policy will apply.
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