Howard Jones - One To One

By 1986 Howard Jones had already had the hits. Human's Lib and Dream Into Action made him one of the defining synth-pop figures of the early eighties, a one-man band with a bank of keyboards and an unfashionably optimistic worldview. One To One is the record where he stepped away from doing everything himself.

Arif Mardin produced, bringing session players and a warmer, more organic sound than the sequenced precision of the earlier albums. The result divided listeners at the time and has aged better than the reaction suggested. "You Know I Love You, Don't You?" and "All I Want" are as sharply written as anything in his catalogue. "Little Bit Of Snow" is the quiet highlight, a piano song that sounds nothing like the man who wrote "What Is Love?". "No One Is To Blame," reworked here, became his biggest American hit after Phil Collins added drums and backing vocals to the single version.

It marks the end of Jones's imperial phase and stands as the most human-sounding album he made in it.

Limited UK import pressing on 140-gram translucent blue vinyl, from Cherry Red.