Customer Reviews

Human's Lib

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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"Conditioning" begins his first album with the rejection of what others expect of others. "Who is to say what is what? Welcome to Conditioning". Howward shows preconceptions are a nice way of saying "brainwashing"! Completely synth and cool!

"What is Love" is a fan fave. An extended mix is presented here for extended enjoyment of this great song!

"Pearl in the Shell" is a fast paced synth brass hit. Most of the songs on this album are an expression of being yourself...being your own person. A message I completly identified with when this album came out!

"Hide & Seek" is an epic allegory that combines mysticism with sentiment. A man and a woman, a creator and the creation, existance and nonexistance play through the story. It's so beautiufl and so deep that if I wanted I could write an essay right here...but I will leave that to those who could write one better!

"Hunt The Self" is a fast drum rolling jumper about finding yourself, your identity, your meaning...such a great song!!

"New Song" is basically Howard telling his friends and fans that he doesn't care what others think of him cause then he won't be able to be himself. "Don't crack up...bend you brain...see both sides...throw off you mental chains......". I learned a lot from Howard. I learned I could be myself...in my case I can be a dork! No really cause it is so much less stressful than being cool not only that but being cool is just following others. "I don't wanna be hip and cool...I don't wanna play by the rules...".

"Always Look at the Rain" is so good live! "Let the mind shut up and the heart do the rest".

"Equality" is such an amazing song it could have been a single. Fast with synth chorus and neat repeating effects this song pleads the listener that we are all just the same!

"Natural" is so mellow and such a simple song about going with the natural flow. One of my faves on this album.

"Human's Lib" is a strange song about "going to bed with a hundred women or men". A case in point where so many people say they want to shock and be shocking....and Howard askes "why don't you then?". The sorta heavy issue song at the end says it all...forget women's lib and men's lib...concentrate on human's liberty and we can all be free.

"China Dance" is an instrumental bonus origianally from the 12 inch single for "Hide and Seek".

Hope this helps you decide to try out this amazing CD!

It's difficult to choose between Human's Lib or Dream into Action as the best Howard Jones disc, but I have to say Human's Lib. First, it's brief and to the point. 11 tracks and each one compliments the others. There's no filler on this album. Second, Howard shows off his playing and songwriting abilities inviting the listener into his world of utopian ideals. Third, the energy and enthusiasm is rampant on this disc. True, Dream into Action is just as infectious, but Human's Lib is slightly better I think. After Human's Lib and Dream into Action, Howard began to grow and change, and not necessarily in a better way. Human's Lib stands out as a classic new wave cd. It contains the American hits "What is Love" and "New Song". The other 9 tracks display a range of topics and sounds and it all still sounds great after 16 years. This is worth the money.

Human's Lib has my vote as one of the top pop-synth albums to come out of the English new-wave explosion of the early 80s. The whole album rings with insight and its beautifully crafted songs span from the instrospective to near rock-out instrumentals. Sure; you could buy his greatest hits, but then you'd miss out on equally terrific songs such as Equality, Don't Always Look at the Rain, and Conditioning (which won't appear on any hits albums). As others have mentioned, this album hangs together with the theme of Human Liberation and the concept works here, the sum greater than its parts.

The other albums at the top of my pop-synth list:
o Thomas Dolby's Golden Age of Wireless
o Human League's Dare
o Scritti Politti's Cupid and Psyche '85

I agree with others' sentiments. This is not only a great HoJo album, but a great album, period.

To clear up some points raised by others: The extended version of "What Is Love" that is included on the cd is the original 12" version. The original vinyl LP contained the single edit (as does his "Best Of" cd).

The final track, the instrumental "China Dance", was not on the original LP at all; rather, it was one of the "b" sides to the 12" of "Hide And Seek".

I still love this album. After buying it in the early 80's, I played it EVERY day for probably two years.

This CD is one of the best from the 80s, period. The quality of the lyrics and melodies is far above others often categorized with Human's Lib, but this CD it truly peerless.

Back in the fall of 1983, when I first started listening to pop radio (Z-100 here in NYC...it's amazing that it was this radio station that actually served as my first music horizon expansion medium...well, maybe that and MTV...), "New Song" from this album was in fairly heavy rotation. The synthesizer and pretty melody and catchy hook of this song got to me, and it quickly became one of those songs which I would scan the dials for. It wasn't until a couple of years later, when I had become totally hooked on Howard Jones' music with his "Dream Into Action" album, that I disregarded my "3-song rule" and bought "Human's Lib" for "New Song" alone, and figured that since "Dream Into Action" was so good, his first album would also probably be pretty good as well.

Well, I certainly wasn't wrong. This is a very strong debut album, albeit not quite as melodic as the "Dream Into Action" album, or, really, as any of his subsequent work.

The highlights of this album include the two major hits found thereon. These are the aforementioned "New Song" and the lyrically and melodically beautiful "What Is Love?". This is a poignant, plaintive song in mid-tempo. It exudes a sense of melancholy and longing while at the same time keeping an extremely catchy hook. It's one of my favorite songs from the 1980s. Another great song is the melancholy, "Don't Always Look At The Rain," which really does convey a sense of being inside looking out at the rain on a dreary day. It's a very pretty, slow song, and as usual on these types of songs, Howard Jones' voice brings forth a sense of sadness in a very pretty way. "Pearl In The Shell" is another highlight for its serious, driving beat - it's a synthesizer based song which has a really nice groove to it.

There are some other interesting songs here such as the techno, almost completely synth-driven "Conditioning" which opens the album..."Hunt The Self" is another brooding, melancholy song with pretty melody. I guess the rest of the album fits this mold - either very techno sounding, or either very melancholy sounding. It is not bad music, but it paints a somewhat bleak landscape at times and it gets just a wee bit tedious.

In sum, however, I would have to say that this is actually a pretty good album with two really excellent songs "New Song" and "What Is Love?", and two very good songs - "Pearl In The Shell" and "Don't Always Look At The Rain", and all the rest being for the most part interesting early '80s techno music, all of which brings to this listener a sense of bleak melancholy. I would say that this is a better than average album (just under the 3.5 stars which would round up to 4) rating 3.4 stars and I would round down to 3. RECOMMENDED.

Howard Jones broke through in 1983 in the UK with the huge success that were New Song And What Is Love? His image was a little odd, huge woolly jumpers, spiked hair and a keyboard. He also had Jed, a mime artist with a black and white striped face with plastic chains on his arms, who did weird dances at his earlier concerts.

This was his first album and in my view still his best. Howard has two speeds on this album  mid-tempo or slow. Both work really well to create an incredibly atmospheric album. The one thing you have to remember Howard Jones for, aside from his fantastic keyboard skills, is that he is essentially a storyteller. Every one of his songs has a real message beyond the usual boy/girl thing. One of the best illustrations of this is the brilliant Hide And Seek. Simple message, deep meaning.

Howard had help with his lyrics with the aid of a lyricist called (William?) Bryant. There was a bit of controversy with this guy not long after Humans Lib came out in the UK, thanks to one of the tabloids. Mr Bryant, who if I remember correctly was a retired school teacher, was married and had had an affair. No real problem but the UK was still under the delusion that it was the last bastion of morality and under pressure Howard had to sever his links in order to protect his reputation. I still wonder from time to time what would have happened if theyd carried on collaborating.

Picking up this CD I was surprised to see an extended mix of What Is Love?, rather the shorter version that had appeared on the original vinyl. Im guessing this is the same version that appeared on the 12 album  short-lived on CD. The extra track, also not on the original vinyl, is the instrumental China Dance. Not a bad track by any means, but a definite b-side nonetheless.

Overall this album is a good showcase for mid-80s synthpop, good intelligent writing and a few memorable hooks. Howard has done some good stuff on and off throughout the last two decades, but this is where it all started.

Fav tracks: What Is Love?, Hide And Seek, New Song, Dont Always Look At The Rain.

Human's Lib is a good debut album from Howard Jones. It contains some enjoyable and catchy material and is in a synth-pop musical direction. A total of eleven tracks is included. I find all of them to be listenable. Out of all of the tracks, there are two ballads ("Hide and Seek" and "Don't Always Look at the Rain") and one instrumental ("China Dance"). The album's musicianship, songwriting, and production are satisfying and tight. Howard Jones is a really talented keyboard player, and his vocals are good. He wrote all of the music himself. The lyrics to some of the songs are also interesting. My favorite tunes are "What Is Love?" "Hide and Seek," "Don't Always Look at the Rain," and "Equality." I prefer the extended version of "What Is Love?" on this album than the shorter version on his greatest hits package. "What Is Love?" is really cool--it's one of my favorite tunes from him. The two ballads "Hide and Seek" and "Don't Always Look at the Rain" are nice and listenable, too. "Equality" is also an energetic and bouncy one--I like how the keyboards have a smeary sound to them. Anybody that likes good synth-pop music should enjoy this album from Howard Jones. It's solid and worth a listen.

This first album from Howard Jones is a good debut with some better-than-average songwriting. I've never been a big fan of his vocals, but they still are effective and far from bad. Listening to this album all the way through is not hard to do at all. Every song stands on its own and Howard's synth playing is great. My only complaint deals with the album opener "Conditioning." That's an okay song, but it just isn't a song you would think would open the album. There are much better songs that could start the album off. "What is Love" is a great song that I've always had a lot of respect for. I found out that it's much longer than the version of it I have from his hit's collection. That was a nice surprise, I like the album version better than the hit's edited version. "Pearl in the Shell" is also a song I like except for the intro. "Don't Always Look at the Rain" is another good song. This album is not just synth music, the production and songwriting is quite good. Human's Lib is far from being a boring album, but instead is a good consistent album with listenable songs. I actually give this CD three-and-a-half stars, not three. Give it a listen.

Howard Jones rode the wave of the second British invasion and this was the album that put him on the map. He was a part of a new breed of artist that was taking full advantage of the advances in synthesizer technology and taking it to levels that might seem common now, but back then were ground breaking.

First off just about all of the music on this album is from him alone. He wrote every note and lyric. He performed just about every note (with exception to stuff like sax solos and such). As a matter of fact he was the kind of musician that would perform his songs live all by himself. Imagine one dude with a mess of keyboards, a drum machine and a mime (you read that right... an actual don't-talk-just-prance-around-doing-silly-things mime). That's a Howard Jones concert from the Human's Lib tour. And he's not relying on sequencers to play everything either. You would see one hand on a keyboard playing the bass lines and another on a different keyboard playing chords or melodies (along with all the frantic button pushing and knob turning to get the rest of it working). Fun stuff.

Okay back to this CD. You're getting a studio version of these songs he performed live, which means he was able to tweak the music a little better and add a few more instruments to fill out the composition. While it's going to feel dated by today's standards if you're into electronic music in any way this album is a rather important milestone in EDM's history.

It's light and catchy most of the time with lyrics that lean towards giving a positive message to the listener. It's like Howard knew his music is going to be heard mostly by the younger generation and he wanted to give them something to carry with them. Not preachy lyrics, but it's enough to make you think if you let it.

The songs vary in style a little with catchy hit tracks like NEW SONG, WHAT IS LOVE? and PEARL IN THE SHELL, mellow jazzy tracks like DON'T LOOK AT THE RAIN, too brooding songs like HIDE AND SEEK. It's a pretty nice mix of music even if it all has a taint of synth on them. There is a bonus instrumental track called CHINA DANCE that was never released on any LP (but it was released on one of the vinyl singles) that is a nice addition too.

This album is a must for any 80's synth pop fan. If you are one and do not have this album then shame on you because this is pretty much required listening along with early Depeche Mode, Ultravox and Men Without Hats. Howard became a huge success with this album and deservedly so.