Human's Lib
Studio album by
Howard Jones
Released9 March 1984[1]
RecordedSummer 1983 ("New Song"); October - November 1983[2]
StudioFarmyard Studios, Little Chalfont, Buckinghamshire, UK
GenreSynth-pop
Length42:58
LabelWEA/Elektra
ProducerRupert Hine
Colin Thurston ("New Song")
Howard Jones chronology
Human's Lib
(1984)		 The 12" Album
(1984)
Singles from Human's Lib
  1. "New Song"
    Released: 19 August 1983
  2. "What Is Love?"
    Released: 18 November 1983
  3. "Hide and Seek"
    Released: 10 February 1984
  4. "Pearl in the Shell"
    Released: 18 May 1984

Human's Lib is the debut album by the British pop musician Howard Jones. It was released in March 1984 and entered the UK Albums Chart at the no. 1 spot, spending a total of 57 weeks in the charts.[3] The album has been certified double platinum by the BPI for sales in excess of 600,000 copies.[4]

Four songs from this album were released as singles in the UK, all of which reached the top 20: "New Song" peaked at #3, "What Is Love?" at #2, "Hide and Seek" at #12, and "Pearl in the Shell" at #7.[3] "New Song" and "What Is Love?" also made it into the Billboard charts in the US, both reaching the top 40.[5]

"Equality" was released as a single only in South Africa, as a commentary about the policy of apartheid there at the time.[6]

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[7]
Encyclopedia of Popular Music[8]
Record Mirror[9]
Rolling Stone[10]
Smash Hits6½/10[11]
Sounds[12]
The Village VoiceC−[13]

Reviews of Human's Lib were generally negative, with many criticising the songs' music and lyrics as being lightweight. In Melody Maker, Colin Irwin called Jones "the aural equivalent of painting by numbers" and that although the sentiments expressed in the lyrics were worthy ones, "his sermons are embarrassingly glib". Irwin stated that only "Hide and Seek" and the title track were passable songs, and that overall "this is very shallow pop music dressed as something much more important and profound".[14] Don Watson of NME wrote, "It's as hard to distinguish his music as it is to distinguish it from your carpet; conveniently, though, the lyrics are printed on the inner sleeve so that we may fully appreciate the complete lack of any novel observation in the songs ... What's so amusing about Jones' songwriting is the glib manner in which he brandishes threadbare platitudes as unique insights."[15] In Sounds, Tibet called Human's Lib "an LP of simple/simplistic electronic-pop tunes, irretrievably lightweight, that offer nothing new except more music to tap your feet and grin inanely to". He stated that it was "not an offensive record at all", but that "people should ask for something more demanding than aural air conditioning".[12]

In the US, Christopher Connelly of Rolling Stone stated that Jones "simply doesn't demonstrate the imagination or songwriting skill to produce anything truly memorable", and that "too often, his compositions are poor pastiches of already overworked synth exercises".[10] Robert Christgau of The Village Voice panned Human's Lib as a "revolving self-help manual" marred by Jones' "ressentiment" and unadorned synth-pop.[13]

More positive reviews came from Betty Page in Record Mirror, who said the album provided "lashings of beaty, intensely danceable chunks of electropop alternated with sincere and heartfelt one-man-and-his-piano ballads. And to a point, he does it very well ... for an occupier of the Middle Earth of chart pop, he's quite a grower, if not a wrencher of guts",[9] and from Neil Tennant in Smash Hits, who commented that Jones had "a neat talent for writing melodic pop songs with clever hooks and real 1970s singer-songwriter lyrics. A must for all Supertramp fans."[11]

Mike DeGagne of AllMusic was more favourable in a retrospective review and stated that Human's Lib "is fueled by the nonstop synth-pop hooks and brightly textured melodies that went on to be a trademark of Howard Jones".[7]

Track listing

All tracks composed by Howard Jones unless indicated otherwise. Track timings are taken from the original UK LP edition.

Side One
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Conditioning"music: Jones, lyrics: Bill Bryant4:32
2."What Is Love?"music: Jones, lyrics: Bryant, Jones3:45
3."Pearl in the Shell" 4:03
4."Hide and Seek" 5:34
5."Hunt the Self"music: Jones, lyrics: Bryant, Jones3:42
Side Two
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
6."New Song" 4:15
7."Don't Always Look at the Rain" 4:13
8."Equality"music: Jones, lyrics: Bryant, Jones4:26
9."Natural"music: Jones, lyrics: Bryant4:25
10."Human's Lib"music: Jones, lyrics: Bryant4:03

Many CD editions substitute a 6:32 mix of "What Is Love?" (identical to the extended mix from the 12-inch single except that the vocal echo at 2:52 is missing) for the 3:45 album version and add "China Dance", an instrumental B-side from the "Hide & Seek" single, as a bonus track (track 11).

Personnel

  • Howard Jones – synthesizers, keyboards, vocals, drum machines
  • Davey Payne – saxophone on "Pearl in the Shell"
  • Stephen W. Tayler – engineer, mixing; saxophone on "Pearl in the Shell"
  • Ben Rogan – assistant engineer
  • Colin Thurston – producer and engineer on "New Song"
  • Rupert Hine – producer on all other tracks
  • Simon Fowler – photography
  • Steg – artwork

Equipment used

Howard Jones used the following equipment on Human's Lib:[16][17]

Various drum sounds replaced with real drum samples from an AMS digital delay.

Charts

Certifications

Region CertificationCertified units/sales
Canada (Music Canada)[29] Gold 50,000^
United Kingdom (BPI)[4] 2× Platinum 600,000^

^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

References

  1. ↑ "none" (PDF). Music Week. 3 March 1984. p. 5. Retrieved 4 June 2023.
  2. ↑ Howard Jones Risk newsletter no. 4, 1983 (pages 16-19)
  3. 1 2 3 "Howard Jones | Artist | Official Charts". UK Albums Chart.
  4. 1 2 "British album certifications – Howard Jones – Human's Lib". British Phonographic Industry.
  5. ↑ "Howard Jones > Charts & Awards > Billboard Singles". AllMusic. Retrieved 8 August 2009.
  6. ↑ "Howard Jones Discography – Singles". howardjones.com. Archived from the original on 31 August 2010. Retrieved 30 June 2010.
  7. 1 2 DeGagne, Mike. "Human's Lib – Howard Jones". AllMusic. Retrieved 22 August 2013.
  8. ↑ Larkin, Colin (2011). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music (5th concise ed.). Omnibus Press. ISBN 978-0-85712-595-8.
  9. 1 2 Page, Betty (10 March 1984). "Sniff and Jones". Record Mirror. p. 18.
  10. 1 2 Connelly, Christopher (10 May 1984). "Howard Jones: Human's Lib". Rolling Stone. No. 421. New York. Archived from the original on 1 September 2009. Retrieved 28 May 2022.
  11. 1 2 Tennant, Neil (1–14 March 1984). "Album Reviews". Smash Hits. Vol. 6, no. 5. p. 37.
  12. 1 2 Tibet (10 March 1984). "Lib and Let Lib". Sounds. p. 32.
  13. 1 2 Christgau, Robert (12 June 1984). "Christgau's Consumer Guide: Turkey Shoot". The Village Voice. New York. Retrieved 22 August 2013.
  14. ↑ Irwin, Colin (10 March 1984). "Human Failings". Melody Maker. p. 27.
  15. ↑ Watson, Don (17 March 1984). "Just an Ordinary Jones". NME. p. 33.
  16. ↑ Howard Jones 25th anniversary tour book (2008)
  17. ↑ Gilby, Ian (July 1984). "Human Evolution". Home Studio Recording.
  18. ↑ "RPM 100 Albums". RPM. Vol. 40, no. 12. 26 May 1984. p. 8. Retrieved 18 January 2019.
  19. ↑ "Dutchcharts.nl – Howard Jones – Human's Lib" (in Dutch). Hung Medien.
  20. ↑ "Offiziellecharts.de – Howard Jones – Human's Lib" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts.
  21. ↑ "Charts.nz – Howard Jones – Human's Lib". Hung Medien.
  22. ↑ "Norwegiancharts.com – Howard Jones – Human's Lib". Hung Medien.
  23. ↑ "Swedishcharts.com – Howard Jones – Human's Lib". Hung Medien.
  24. ↑ "Swisscharts.com – Howard Jones – Human's Lib". Hung Medien.
  25. ↑ "Howard Jones Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard.
  26. ↑ "Top 100 Albums of 1984". RPM. Vol. 41, no. 17. 5 January 1985. p. 8. Retrieved 18 January 2019.
  27. ↑ "Top 100 Album – Jahrescharts: 1984". Offizielle Deutsche Charts. Retrieved 18 January 2019.
  28. ↑ "Top 100 Albums". Music Week. 26 January 1985. p. 42.
  29. ↑ "Canadian album certifications – Howard Jones – Human's Lib". Music Canada.
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