This is such an epic release of awesome music but also wonderful performances by Howard Jones. If you love Howard Jones music and are interested in session/live concert versions of his songs, “Howard Jones at the BBC” is highly recommended!
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ARTIST: Howard Jones
Album: Howard Jones at the BBC
DURATION: 61 songs, 5 Hours and 4 Minutes
Release Date: 2021
DISC ONE:
The Kid Jensen Show on BBC Radio 1. First broadcast on 13th March 1983
1 New Song
2 Don’t Put These Curses On Me
3 Natural
4 Human’s Lib
The Kid Jensen Show on BBC Radio 1. First broadcast on 27th May 1983
5 Human’s Lib
6 Love ?
7 Risk
8 Always Asking Questions
9 What Can I Say?
The Janice Long Show on BBC Radio 1. First broadcast on 27th January 1985
10 Things Can Only Get Better*
11 Look Mama*
12 Dream Into Action*
13 No One Is To Blame
DISC TWO:
The Janice Long Show on BBC Radio 1. First broadcast on 30th March 1987
1 The Balance Of Love*
2 Conditioning*
3 Little Bit Of Snow*
4 Don’t Want To Fight Anymore*
5 Give Me Strength*
6 IGY (What A Beautiful World)*
In Concert on BBC Radio 1 Live at the Paris Theatre, London on 5.10.1983. First broadcast on 15th October 1983
7 New Song*
8 Conditioning*
9 Dreams Of A Better Place*
10 What Is Love?*
11 Equality*
12 Don’t Always Look At Rain*
* Previously Unreleased
DISC THREE:
In Concert on BBC Radio 1 Live at Friars, Aylesbury on 7.4.1984. First broadcast 12th May 1984
1 Hunt The Self*
2 Pearl In The Shell*
3 Always Asking Questions*
4 Don’t Always Look At The Rain*
5 Change The Man*
6 Like To Get To Know You Well*
7 Equality*
8 Hide And Seek*
9 Dreams Of A Better Place*
10 New Song*
11 What Is Love?*
DISC FOUR:
In Concert on BBC Radio 1 Live at The Royal Albert Hall on 17.12.1984. First broadcast 6th April 1985
1 Like To Get To Get To Know You Well*
2 Look Mama*
3 Hunger For The Flesh*
4 Natural*
5 Hide And Seek*
6 Always Asking Questions*
7 No One is To Blame*
8 Equality*
9 What Is Love?*
10 New Song*
11 Hunt The Self*
DISC FIVE:
The Oxford Road Show on BBC Radio 1 and BBC 2.
Broadcast Live from The Manchester Apollo Theatre on 15th March 1985
1 Things Can Only Get Better*
2 Automaton
3 Pearl In The Shell 4 Hide And Seek*
5 Like To Get To Know You Well*
6 Look Mama
7 Dream Into Action
8 Hunger For The Flesh
9 Hunt The Self
10 What Is Love?*
11 No One Is To Blame*
12 Always Asking Questions
13 New Song
14 Don’t Always Look At The Rain/Things Can Only Get Better*
* Previously Unreleased
The late ’70s and early ’80s brought us Punk, New Romantic music and a synth pop musical style best known as “New Wave” (in today’s era of music and everyone who looked and sounded “New Wave” has been classified as such, to the chagrin of purists) and introduced people to bands and artists with a unique style. Many who came from Europe.
Bands and groups such as The Cure, Depeche Mode, New Order, Duran Duran, The Human League, Spandau Ballet, XTC, A Flock of Seagulls, Bananarama, OMD, A-ha, Culture Club, Frankie Goes to Hollywood, Modern English, to name a few.
But by mid-1985, established bands from the ’70s and ’80s would be the few who would continue on strong or still had staying power. Especially as interests in music started to shift towards pop music and glam rock.
It was a crowded playing field, considering that Michael Jackson, Prince, Madonna and bands such as Bon Jovi, Def Leppard, U2 and Genesis and hip hop groups such as Run DMC and Beastie Boys were dominating the charts.
But a push for a Second British Invasion in which British bands thanks to MTV and radio stations like KROQ 106.7 in Los Angeles (a legendary radio station of the ’80s and ’90s known for playing new wave and alternative rock music) would still create interested thanks to movies such as “Pretty in Pink” that brought interest to Echo and the Bunnymen, Psychedelic Furs, OMD, The Smiths, Joe Jackson and “The Breakfast Club” with Simple Minds. Pet Shop Boys, Eurythmics, and Tears for Fears were bands that benefited from the MTV and radio exposure.
But solo artists of the Second British Invasion that dominated the mid-to-late ’80s was Paul Young, Nik Kershaw and there was one man who had a string of hits, and that was… Howard Jones.
Howard Jones had ten top 40 hit singles in the UK between 1983 and 1986, 15 top 40 hit singles between 1983 and 1992 and his hits such as “What is Love?”, “New Song”, “Things Can Only Get Better”, “No One is to Blame” and more.
But what many respected about Howard Jones was that he was a person that never gave up on being an artist. In fact, despite being a musician that played the synth, many record labels were not interested in an artist who they considered a “one man band” and told him that his path of promoting his style of music, that it would never work.
So, for this surviving musician, he Invited record labels to listen to his music and performing sessions on BBC Radio One, especially for Radio One DJ David “Kid” Jensen who gave Jones his first exposure and he would be on the supporting slot for a 16 date tour with China Crisis, Orchestral Manouevers in the Dark (OMD) and Peter Gabriel.
Eventually through this positive exposure, Jones would sign to a major label with Warner Music Group in the UK and Elektra Records in the US in mid-1983.
Known in the ’80s for his cool hairstyle and the master of the synth and generating his style of synthpop, Howard Jones was a man who produced catchy music and continues doing so today through his own record label, dtox.
Needless to say, Howard Jones had success worldwide especially in the United States and Japan and he still has a legion of loyal fans around the world who listen to his music.
And Howard Jones is an artist that has no doubt connected with today’s music fans who want the best in music releases may they be Super Deluxe or Deluxe releases in CD, LP or Digitally. For those not familiar with these releases, typically they are past or current albums released with extra tracks, bonus tracks may it be demo versions, remixes or other edit versions. So, instead of an album that had 10 tracks when it was originally, released, you may find the re-release in Super Deluxe or Deluxe edition, released with 25-50 tracks.
Many of Howard Jones albums have each received a Deluxe Edition courtesy of Cherry Red and for me, since I have moved on to digital, the version I am reviewing is the digital version not the CD version.
One of the special releases that I am reviewing from Howard Jones is “Howard Jones at the BBC (Live)”. This is a beast of an album at 61 songs (5 hours and 4 minutes), so fans are in for a real treat.
These are songs featuring Howard Jones from 1983-1987 featuring the best of Howard Jones’ BBC session and live concert performance broadcasts.
Featuring nine previously unreleased session tracks including ‘What Can I Say?’ which is remastered from the original master tape for the very first time
According to Cherry Red, “all the live performance tracks (bar eight from the Oxford Road Show) are previously unreleased, including three songs from this live performance that were not broadcast at the time and are previously unheard and unreleased: ‘Like To Get To Know You Well’, ‘No One Is To Blame’ and ‘Don’t Always Look At The Rain’/‘Things Can Only Get Better’”.
In the period between 1983-87, the BBC broadcast four different sessions by Howard; two of these for the Kid Jensen Show and two for the Janice Long Show. This set contains all 19 of these session tracks including the complete ‘White Tape’ demo recordings that Howard gave to the BBC to broadcast as his second session in May of 1983. The set also includes three In Concert live performances and the previously unheard complete Oxford Road Show performance that was simulcast on BBC Radio 1 and BBC2 on 15th March 1985.
Jones said of the album, ““This set is a really valuable, historical document. You hear me before the first album was released, after I’ve had success, my evolution from a solo performer to a band-focused performer, and all of it happened across only four years from 1983-1987. There’s so much variety in the sessions, even among songs that appear multiple times. It’s a series of snapshots from a very important time in my career. It’s fascinating for me to listen to and reflect on so many years later. I hope the same holds true for the fans as well”.
For me, I absolutely love session recordings. May they be John Peel Sessions or BBC Radio 1 sessions of artists or bands. But I also love concerts in which you can hear the audience really get into the music.
Often with sessions or live recordings, you get different versions of a performance and nothing sounds alike, no matter how many times a song is presented in this set. Especially the live concert performances and hearing the audience getting into the music, screaming and clapping. I love that!
You can hear just by a second of touching the keyboard, fans are screaming for the song, as they know what’s coming up with the first note. And also, when Jones gets the audience to sing along to his songs. That’s so cool!
The fact that this set is remastered by Cherry Red from the original master tape, these songs almost sound as if they are recorded in the studio for a studio album, that’s how wonderful they sound! Even the live concert tracks, my goodness, you hear that audience crystal clear!
This is such an epic release of awesome music but also wonderful performances by Howard Jones. If you love Howard Jones music and are interested in session/live concert versions of his songs, “Howard Jones at the BBC” is highly recommended!
