For those unaware, Cherry Red Records are delighted and proud to announce the newly remastered and expanded release of Howard Jones’ second album “Dream Into Action”.

Released in March 1985, “Dream Into Action” reached No.2 in the UK Album Charts and achieved Gold Album status. Like its pre-decessor “Human’s Lib”, “Dream Into Action” contained four Top 20 hit singles; ‘Things Can Only Get Better’ reached No.6, ‘Look Mama’ at No. 10, ‘Life In One Day’ at No.14 and ‘No One Is To Blame’ at No.16.

In addition to these four Top 20 Hit singles, the original CD version of “Dream Into Action” also contained a bonus track, namely Howard’s hit single from the previous year - ‘Like To Get To Know You Well’ - which reached No.4 in the Singles Chart.

“Dream Into Action” also enjoyed massive international acclaim and success; particularly in the USA where it reached No.10 in the Billboard Album charts achieving Platinum status. It spawned three Billboard Top 20 hit singles including ‘Things Can Only Get Better’ at No.5, ‘Life In One Day’ at No.19 and a re-recorded version of ‘No One Is To Blame’ featuring Phil Collins on backing vocals and drums (produced by Hugh Padgham), which gave Howard his biggest ever US hit single reaching No.4.

As well as achieving great success in the UK (# 1) and USA, “Dream Into Action” and the various singles taken from it also enjoyed tremendous success internationally in such countries as Canada, New Zealand, Australia and throughout most of Europe.

Disc 1: Blu-Ray - 5.1 Surround Sound Mix and 96/24 LPCM 2024 New Stereo Mix
1. Conditioning
2. What Is Love?
3. Pearl In The Shell
4. Hide And Seek
5. Hunt The Self
6. New Song
7. Don’t Always Look At The Rain
8. Equality
9. Natural
10. Human’s Lib
11. Always Asking Questions
12. New Song (Farmyard Version)
13. China Dance
14. What Is Love? [Dolby Atmos Mixes]
15. New Song (Farmyard Version) [Dolby Atmos Mixes]
16. Hide And Seek [Dolby Atmos Mixes]

Howard Jones, along with Nik Kershaw, turned up in 1984 to fill a void of British male pop stars at that time. Both released albums with similar titles and both were direct competitors. The first of those records, Human Racing by Kershaw, is one of the greatest albums ever made. The other, Humans Lib, is still very worthy and, in some ways, matches the newborn enthusiasm that brought Human Racing cruising into our lives back then.

Jones was a synth wiz and a bit of a hippy (this reflects heavily in the albums lyrics). The synths are very nicely arranged here and unlike a lot of ’80s pop records, there is more to be found than just the singles. What is Love and New Song are both brilliant, but I also love tracks like Conditioning, Pearl in the Shell, Don’t Always Look At The Rain and the title track.

The main criticism though here is that being a hippy, he can get a bit pretentious in his lyrics, but I can look past this. The synths can also get a bit too heavy occasionally at times, but that doesn’t mean that the album, overall, isn’t thoroughly enjoyable, as it is most definitely still to this day one his best.

In closing, the album’s big hit New Song is Howard trying to motivate his friends to throw off their mental chains, and indeed, with its wriggly, joyous Hammond organ touches and the rather cute melody that manages to outdo Howard’s voice in terms of eager-eyedness, you totally buy into the spirited nature of whatever mental stimulation is supposed to be arising here.

Oh, and the album opener Conditioning is beautifully bouncy, speedy electropop, with sprightly staccatos, bleeps and bloops and off-kilter percussion and the almost gothic ambient-pop of Hide and Seek is dutifully enigmatic, bordering on darkwave territory, and to my mind remains Howard’s finest moment.

Disc 2: CD - 2024 New Stereo Mix
1. Conditioning 2. What Is Love? 3. Pearl In The Shell 4. Hide And Seek 5. Hunt The Self 6. New Song 7. Don’t Always Look At The Rain 8. Equality 9. Natural 10. Human’s Lib 11. Always Asking Questions 12. New Song (Farmyard Version) 13. China Dance

The Blu-Ray disc contains a 5.1 Surround Sound Mix and 96/24 LPCM 2024 New Stereo Mix of the entire ‘Human’s Lib’ album plus bonus tracks ‘Always Asking Questions’, ‘New Song (Farmyard Version)’ and ‘China Dance’.

The 5.1 Surround Sound Remix and 2024 New Stereo Mix created from the original multi-track master tapes by the original ‘Human’s Lib’ album engineer Stephen W Tayler.

The Blu-Ray disc also contains Dolby Atmos mixes of ‘What Is Love?’, ‘Hide And Seek’ and ‘New Song (Farmyard Version)’ created from the original multi-track master tapes by Bob Clearmountain.

The CD contains the 2024 New Stereo Mix of the entire ‘Human’s Lib’ album plus bonus tracks ‘Always Asking Questions’, ‘New Song (Farmyard Version)’ and ‘China Dance’.

Packaged in a digipack with a fully illustrated 12-page CD booklet containing brand new interviews with Howard Jones and Stephen W Tayler in conversation with Anil Prasad discussing the 5.1 Surround Sound Remix and 96/24 LPCM 2024 New Stereo Mix.

Official Purchase Link