Howard Jones - Dream Into Action (Expanded & Remastered Edition) (1985/2018/2024) [Official Digital Download]

Newly remastered and expanded edition. Released in March 1985, “Dream Into Action” reached No.2 in the UK Album Charts and achieved Gold Album status. Like its predecessor “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 album 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.

"Dream Into Action begins with Howard Jones singing "Things Can Only Get Better," a sentiment that only hints at the good vibes touted by the synth pop singer on his second album. On his debut, 1984's Human's Lib, Jones sang about positivity, but this sequel plays like a self-empowerment manifesto, filled with cautionary tales and anthems of hope. "No One Is to Blame," a cavernous ballad of encouragement which was given a hit revision with the assistance of Phil Collins, exemplifies the latter but it doesn't typify the album, which trades in peppy pop tunes of self-actualization, best represented by the chipper hits "Things Can Only Get Better" and "Life in One Day." Synthesizers retain their place in the spotlight but Dream Into Action doesn't feel like a synth pop album, not in the way the sleekly electronic Human's Lib did. Instead, this is a big, bright album that epitomizes the sound of the mainstream in the mid-'80s, a time when computers worked overtime to disguise themselves as human sounds. And that's why Dream Into Action is, in many ways, the apotheosis of Howard Jones' career: he'd yet to drift into softened adult contemporary, and he still had enthusiasm for his hooks, his machines, and his positivity, the very things that distinguished him from the legions of synth poppers in the mid-'80s." (Stephen Thomas Erlewine, AMG)

Tracklist:
Disc 1
01 - Things Can Only Get Better (2018 Remaster)
02 - Life In One Day (2018 Remaster)
03 - Dream Into Action (2018 Remaster)
04 - No One Is To Blame (2018 Remaster)
05 - Look Mama (2018 Remaster)
06 - Assault And Battery (2018 Remaster)
07 - Automaton (2018 Remaster)
08 - Is There A Difference_ (2018 Remaster)
09 - Elegy (2018 Remaster)
10 - Speciality (2018 Remaster)
11 - Why Look For The Key (2018 Remaster)
12 - Hunger For The Flesh (2018 Remaster)
13 - Bounce Right Back (2018 Remaster)
14 - Like To Get To Know You Well (2018 Remaster)
15 - No One Is to Blame (Remake)
16 - Like to Get to Know You Well (Demo Recorded In Howard's Front Room)
17 - No One Is To Blame (The Long Mix)

Disc 2
01 - No One Is to Blame (Single Mix)
02 - Like to Get to Know You Well (International Mix)
03 - Things Can Only Get Better (Extended Mix)
04 - Look Mama (R.H. Version)
05 - Life in One Day, Pt. 1 (2018 Remaster)
06 - Life in One Day, Pt. 2
07 - No One Is To Blame (Extended Mix)
08 - Learning How to Love (2018 Remaster)
09 - Boom Bap Respite
10 - The Chase
11 - No One Is to Blame (Lambs & Planes Mix)
12 - Bounce Right Back (Cause And Effect Remix)


Thanks to the Original customer!