Customer Reviews

One To One

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

 

 

This is by far my fave album from HoJO!

"You Know I Love You...Don't You" is a fast rhythm pacer with a bunch of sexy similees like "i'm the steam engine and you are the tracks...roll over me I'll be rolling right back!".

"Give & Take (Balance of Love)" is sung with backup singer Caron Wheeler I believe which creeps its way into a duet with Howard and Caron sparring really well together! This so should have been a single!

"All I Want" is a penultimate HoJo lovesong. Predating "Everlasting Love" this song became the second single from the album. This is really a sweet invitation to spend a lifetime together as only Howard can deliver.

"Where Are We Going?" has this neat little vocal sample loop that forms a sorta beat pattern. A song about refusing to conforming to others expectations and using your full potential. Very HoJo to slide in some issues here!

"Don't Want To Fight Anymore" Howard gets down and boogies! Backup singers, fast loud ranting just makes this a great song!!

""Step Into These Shoes" is a busy song with phone bells and horns which settles around the chorus'. "Step into these shoes and feel this heart...".

"Will You Still Be There" is an achy song that Howard sings so sweetly. Released as a fourth single this song went nowhere. (Meanwhile so did Howard as he went to NYC to open his veggie bistro "NOWHERE"!). Still this is such a beautiful song it remains a fan favorite.

"Good Luck Bad Luck" sparkles with synth! Howard is a bit of Taoist and you can compare this one to "Is There a Difference" on the DREAM INTO ACTION album.

"Give Me Strength" is so cool! It's as if Howard has saved the best for the later part of the album! Reggae rhythm, rapper style delivery, and a neat processed vocal sample that jumps from speaker to speaker!

"Little Bit of Snow" is the only antidrug song that could make rocks cry. Rather than preach the ill effects of drugs, Howard just basically says he wants you let people help you. "Please give you to us...don't destroy yourself in a little bit of snow".
Acoustic piano, strings and vibraphone make this musically one of his prettiest tunes. This was the third single, released only in the UK. (Around this time I believe there was a controversial article in one of the London papers that explained how crack was made which outraged many people. This song would later be put on an Antidrug Benefit record along with Bananamrama's "Hooked on love".)

"No One is To Blame" is a remade version originally from the DREAM INTO ACTION album. More synth, backup vocals and Phil Collins, this became HoJo's biggest hit! But to be honest, it's so overplayed they should have put "Roll Over", an unbelievable omission from ONE TO ONE that became a b-side later on.

This was a turning point in Howard's career where he cared less about looking kooky and focused on being a great songwriter. So...what are you doing? Go buy it!

It's fair to say that the 1980s in pop music was all about synthesizers & computers. A song wasn't considered complete unless it had the requisite bloops & bleeps that made it sound like the equivalent of a Pac-Man game. So often, those songs became dated just as soon as their 4 minutes were up & are hard to listen to today with an open mind. But not all synthesized songs were that way. Or the players for that matter. Howard Jones first came to attention with his 1984 album HUMAN'S LIB which had hits in "What Is Love" & "New Song", both of which were actually quite memorable, synthesizers aside. 1985's DREAM INTO ACTION further pushed the electronic envelope with more hits like "Things Can Only Get Better" & "Life In One Day". But by the middle of the decade, artists were realizing the limitations of pursuing a strictly-synthesized sound & Jones was one of them. So for his 1986 album ONE TO ONE, he sought to slowly phase out his synthesizers (which he played wonderfully, by the way) in favor of a more acoustic keyboard sound. The reason why this album didn't become a huge success like DREAM INTO ACTION was that none of the songs on here became top 10 hits...at first. The wonderful "No One Is To Blame" originally appeared on DREAM INTO ACTION in an acoustic, Elton John-derived ballad that is widely thought to be the superior version. But whether it was Jones' idea or his record label's, the then-hot Phil Collins was brought in to remix the song so that it could be re-released. The song became a top 5 hit in 1986 & originally appeared only on an EP called ACTION REPLAY. Later editions of ONE TO ONE had the remix of "No One Is To Blame" added on, but whether or not that was to help boost the sales of the album is hard to tell. In the end, it didn't really help. The only major hit off here was the opening "You Know I Love You...Don't You?", which isn't exactly a carbon copy of "Things Can Only Get Better", but is just as bright & synthesized-poppy as that song. It's probably understandable why it never reached higher than the top 20. Most of ONE TO ONE follows the same beat of that song: "Don't Want To Fight Anymore", "Step Into These Shoes" (although the sound effects kind of drag it down), "All I Want" & "Good Luck, Bad Luck" are rather good, just not all-out stunners. It's on slower songs that Howard does a better job on like "Will You Still Be There?" & the reggae-inspired "Give Me Strength". The acoustic "Little Bit Of Snow" is basically just Howard singing with piano & it's a good foreshadowing of the completely non-synthesized territory he has travelled with his music currently. The remix of "No One Is To Blame" may have been the hit, but the original truly is the definitive version, even though the lyrics are still truly a wonder to behold. His lyrics really proved that Elton John was Howard's biggest inspiration. In retrospect, ONE TO ONE wasn't all that different from his much-superior two previous albums. But the best parts show that Howard Jones really was starting to move on from the synthesized sound that his biggest hits were made on. 1989's CROSS THAT LINE & 1992's IN THE RUNNING would prove it even more, but ONE TO ONE was every bit of a transition effort; that being from synthesizer prodigy to acoustic keyboardist.

One to One is a very consistent album. Howard Jones has always been a good songwriter, but I've always found that a lot of his material is not very engaging. Good music, but not always very listenable. Most of the songs on here try hard, but still don't leave much of an impression on me. I like the earlier version of "No One is to Blame" better than the version on here. I really like the intro to "Balance of Love," but the rest of the song isn't that great. An okay album. Human's Lib is his best album.

After "Human's Lib" and "Dream Into Action:, I was all fired up to hear what HoJo had in store for us the next go around. What I got, was what I think, is his most disappointing album. "You Know I Love You" somewhat sounds like HoJo was trying to re-visit "Things Can Only Get Better" but it didn't work. "No One Is To Blame" was originaly on "Dream Into Action". This new version was produced by Phil Collins. The two songs that I really do like on this album are "Will You Still Be There?" and "Give Me Strength". I think HoJo spent a lot of time arranging this album, and trying new ideas and concepts. The songs seem well produced but lack the warmth and infectiousness of his previous works. Which is ironic since he began to use live musicians more on this album than on his previous two.

Considering the success of his first two albums it would've been all too easy for Howard to become as complacent as lot of other singer/songwriter/musician's believing they've reached their creative peak. But he didn't. Now on his third release he decided the best way to progress creatively was to approach his music more from a songwriter/musicians approach than a pop artist. Well he'd always rather done that anyway. But here it really takes more of a full flower. For starters this isn't possessed of some of the chillier and even lightly industrial elements you'd find on the album tracks on either Human's Lib or Dream Into Action. Instead everything is devoted more to song construction. It's not to say this album abandons any of his synthesizer/electronic elements. If anything,he actually beefed them up quite a bit. He only used them in a more complex manner on this album.

"You Know I Love You...Don't You" is actually a little rockier than usual,with a little guitar which isn't typical for this artist. "The Balance Of Love (Give And Take)" is one of those not-so-simple love songs that again balances kind of an 80's synth funk groove with a heavy pop sound. "All I Want" and the more horn packed and joyous "Step Into These Shoes" continue on a similar sort of upbeat electro funk-pop vein. On the slower,somewhat soul inflected "Where Are We Going" and the more electro hip-hop flavored "Don't Want To Fight Anymore" both come to terms with his first use of heavy sequencer/Fairlight computer style breaks and such. And he uses them in a very expressive and non gimmicky manner as well too. This shows up a bit too on the slower,funkier,lightly gospel infused "Give Me Strengh" as well. "Little Bit Of Snow" is a slower and more acoustic piano based song. That being said also bested by it's poetic,humanistic and very non preachy anti cocaine message. The album ends with the "remix" of "No One Is To Blame" from the previous album that became a hit for him.

Overall this is an excellent record that works more as an album than a collection of excellent and singular songs. Howard always tended to be more of an album artist than a singles one in as much some of his best songs didn't actually become hits. Most of the songs on this album are of a romantic nature. Luckily Howard comes at his music from a rather mature sense to begin with. So these aren't songs about adolescent love affairs and infatuations. They are more poetic and emotionally charged expressions of adult relationships. Because soul and funk elements had become an important part of his music in particular with his previous album that more adult outlook on romance was going to be part of the picture however you'd cut it. Overall this is a mildly different type of Howard Jones album-one that possess more of a flow to it without some of the colder electronic type numbers on his first two albums. But at just the right time when he should've made a slight change to his music,he did. And in the most reasonable way possible as well.

This album in my opinion is when things started going downhill a bit for Howard. His songs were falling off the charts, and he was trying to please a wider audience.
He does an alright jobs, but the songs just don't sound like he put as much feeling into them as he did in Human and Dream.
Alright for HOJO fans, but not really worth it for simple 80s pop fans.

Howard Jones distinguished himself from all the other 80's synth pop artists with his unique and talenting musical talents and thought-provoking lyrics. One to One picks up where Dream Into Action left off and gives you an even tighter cut of tracks than before. The only thing that you will notice pretty different is Howard's synth style is slowly taking a back seat on this particular album. That's not to say you don't get some killer songs. Just Mr. New Song isn't coming out to play much on this one.

One to One also starts Howards contemporary era of music with ballads like WILL YOU STILL BE THERE and the toe tapping (literally) STEP INTO THESE SHOES. The somewhat preachy lyrics from previous albums are really downplayed here, except for the very powerful song LITTLE BIT OF SNOW. While other songs with those life lesson-styled lyrics don't make as strong an impact as that one you still get a healthy dose of good advice sung to you.

While this album was a definite hit it didn't make a strong an impact as his first two albums. The thing is Howard is still going on strong with this one and continued to do so years after. If you are a Howard Jones fan this album should be part of your collection. If you are a fan of moving and poignant music you should get this one just for LITTLE BIT OF SNOW alone. Howard is still in high form with One to One.

Howard did not have as many fast techno-dance oriented tracks on this one, but the technology still shows up masterfully. There are several synth?-tricks on this album I've never heard elsewhere. He uses horns wonderfully on the firsts track "You know.." and the songwriting is still masterful and original. No two songs sound alike. Catchy hooks, great use of musical bridges and shifting moods and textures (in a modern music way), this is still an essential disc if you are exploring HoJo music. Should have gotten more credit and I wish it was remastered.

One to One--Howard Jones' third full-length album--was released in 1986 and is composed of 11 tracks. The material is in a pop musical direction. Overall, the songwriting is solid, the musicianship is skilled, and the sound quality is polished. Jones does well with the vocals and keyboard playing. Some of the songs contain brass instrumentation, female background vocals, and minimal guitar work. Four ballads are included--"Where Are We Going?," "Will You Still Be There?," "Little Bit of Snow," and "No One Is to Blame." Examples of compositions I like are the catchy and bouncy "The Balance of Love (Give and Take)," the attractive "All I Want," the pretty "Where Are We Going?," "Little Bit of Snow," which has a string arrangement, and the closing piece "No One Is to Blame." The original version of "No One Is to Blame" is on Jones' second full-length album, 1985's Dream into Action. The second rendition included here features Phil Collins on drums and backing vocals. I find both versions to be pleasing. The song lyrics and a black-and-white photo of Jones are in the CD booklet. The disc is almost 50 minutes. I recommend One to One.

I think this album deserved to be more popular than it was. The change in producers to Arif Mardin resulted in Howard's funkiest album to date (as of 2001). From this album on, HoJo went into a steady decline (notwithstanding the difficult to find release on the DTox label called "Working In The Backroom").

A note as to this cd: the original vinyl did not contain "No One Is To Blame". The cd contains this track as a "bonus track" in its hit version, produced by Phil Collins. The fade out of this track is marred by a very noisy digital fader, however, so I wouldn't recommend getting this disc for that song. The single remix of NOITB sounds better on the HoJo "best of" cd.