''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 The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts ...

at the no. 1 spot, spending a total of 57 weeks in the charts. The album has been certified double platinum by the BPI for sales in excess of 600,000 copies. 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 "Pearl in the Shell" is the fourth and final single released by musician Howard Jones from the album ''Human's Lib''. Released in May 1984, the song reached number seven on the UK Singles Chart. It features a saxophone solo by Davey Payne of Ian ...

" at #7. "New Song" and "What Is Love?" also made it into the

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

charts in the US, both reaching the top 40. "Equality" was released as a single only in South Africa, as a commentary about the policy of

apartheid Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...

there at the time.

Reception

Reviews of ''Human's Lib'' were generally negative, with many criticising the songs' music and lyrics as being lightweight. In ''

Melody Maker ''Melody Maker'' was a British weekly music magazine, one of the world's earliest music weeklies; according to its publisher, IPC Media, the earliest. It was founded in 1926, largely as a magazine for dance band musicians, by Leicester-born ...

'', Colin Irwin called Jones "the aural equivalent of

painting by numbers Paint by number or painting by numbers are kits having a board on which light markings to indicate areas to paint, and each area has a number and a corresponding numbered paint to use. The kits come with little compartmentalised boxes where the ...

" 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". Don Watson of ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...

'' 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." In '' Sounds'',

Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ) is a region in East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are some other ethnic groups such as Monpa people, ...

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". In the US, Christopher Connelly of ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its co ...

'' 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".

Robert Christgau Robert Thomas Christgau ( ; born April 18, 1942) is an American music journalist and essayist. Among the most well-known and influential music critics, he began his career in the late 1960s as one of the earliest professional rock critics and ...

of ''

The Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newspaper, alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf (publisher), Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, th ...

'' panned ''Human's Lib'' as a "revolving self-help manual" marred by Jones' "

ressentiment In philosophy and psychology, ''ressentiment'' (; ) is one of the forms of resentment or hostility. The concept was of particular interest to some 19th century thinkers, most notably Friedrich Nietzsche. According to their use, ''ressentiment'' is ...

" and unadorned

synth-pop Synth-pop (short for synthesizer pop; also called techno-pop; ) is a subgenre of new wave music that first became prominent in the late 1970s and features the synthesizer as the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s ...

. More positive reviews came from Betty Page in ''

Record Mirror ''Record Mirror'' was a British weekly music newspaper between 1954 and 1991 for pop fans and record collectors. Launched two years after the '' NME'', it never attained the circulation of its rival. The first UK album chart was published in '' ...

'', 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", and from

Neil Tennant Neil Francis Tennant (born 10 July 1954) is an English musician, singer, songwriter and music journalist, and co-founder of the synth-pop duo Pet Shop Boys, which he formed with Chris Lowe in 1981. He was a journalist for ''Smash Hits'', and ...

in ''

Smash Hits ''Smash Hits'' was a British music magazine aimed at young adults, originally published by EMAP. It ran from 1978 to 2006, and, after initially appearing monthly, was issued fortnightly during most of that time. The name survived as a brand ...

'', 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 Supertramp were an English rock band that formed in London in 1969. Marked by the individual songwriting of founders Roger Hodgson (vocals, keyboards, and guitars) and Rick Davies (vocals and keyboards), they are distinguished for blending ...

fans." Mike DeGagne of

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the dat ...

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".

Track listing

All tracks composed by Howard Jones unless indicated otherwise. Track timings are taken from the original UK LP edition. 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 David Stanley Payne (born 11 August 1944) is an English saxophonist best known as a member of Ian Dury's backing band The Blockheads, and for his twin saxophone solo on their 1978 UK No. 1 single " Hit Me with Your Rhythm Stick". He also appeare ...

– saxophone on "Pearl in the Shell" *Stephen W. Tayler – engineer, mixing; saxophone on "Pearl in the Shell" *Ben Rogan – assistant engineer *

Colin Thurston Colin Thurston (13 July 1947 – 15 January 2007) was an English recording engineer and record producer. Born in Brentford, Middlesex, Thurston played in bands in London before he "bluffed his way" into audio engineering.Pierre Perrone (24 ...

– producer and engineer on "New Song" *

Rupert Hine Rupert Neville Hine (21 September 1947 – 4 June 2020) was an English musician, songwriter and record producer. He produced albums for artists including Rush, Kevin Ayers, Tina Turner, Howard Jones, Saga, the Fixx, Bob Geldof, Thompson Twin ...

– producer on all other tracks *Stuart Fowler – photography *Steg – artwork

Equipment used

Howard Jones used the following equipment on ''Human's Lib'': *

Roland Jupiter-8 The Jupiter-8, or JP-8, is an eight-voice polyphonic analog subtractive synthesizer introduced by Roland Corporation in early 1981. The Jupiter-8 was Roland's flagship synthesizer for the first half of the 1980s. Approximately 3300 units have ...

Roland Juno-60 The Roland Juno-60 is an analog synthesizer manufactured by the Roland Corporation between 1982 and 1984. It followed the Juno-6, an almost identical synthesizer released months earlier. The Juno synthesizers introduced Roland's digitally contro ...

Yamaha DX7 The Yamaha DX7 is a synthesizer manufactured by the Yamaha Corporation from 1983 to 1989. It was the first successful digital synthesizer and is one of the best-selling synthesizers in history, selling more than 200,000 units. In the early 198 ...

(x2) * Sequential Circuits Pro-One * Sequential Circuits Prophet T8 -

MIDI MIDI (; Musical Instrument Digital Interface) is a technical standard that describes a communications protocol, digital interface, and electrical connectors that connect a wide variety of electronic musical instruments, computers, an ...

'd to two DX7's *

Moog Prodigy The Moog Prodigy was a monophonic analogue synthesizer produced by Moog Music from 1979 to 1984. Of the 11,000 produced, versions released after 1981 included a control voltage/gate input on the back that allowed the VCF to be triggered and cont ...

Roland TR-808 The Roland TR-808 Rhythm Composer, commonly known as the 808, is a drum machine manufactured by the Roland Corporation between 1980 and 1983. It was one of the first drum machines to allow users to program rhythms instead of using preset patte ...

drum machine *

E-mu Drumulator E-mu Drumulator is a sample-based drum machine by E-mu Systems. Introduced in 1983 at a price of $995 USD, the Drumulator was the first programmable drum machine with built-in samples for under $1,000, resulting in sales of over 10,000 units over tw ...

drum machine *

Simmons SDS-V The Simmons SDS 5, SDSV, or Simmons Drum Synthesizer (notated as ''SDS-V'' on the following) was the first viable electronic replacement for acoustic drums. It was developed by Richard James Burgess and Dave Simmons, manufactured initially by Mu ...

drum module /w SDS-6 sequencer *

LinnDrum The LinnDrum, also referred to as the LM-2, is a drum machine manufactured by Linn Electronics between 1982 and 1985. About 5,000 units were sold. Its high-quality samples, flexibility and affordability made the LinnDrum popular; it sold far m ...

- Rupert Hine's Various drum sounds replaced with real drum samples from an

AMS AMS or Ams may refer to: Organizations Companies * Alenia Marconi Systems * American Management Systems * AMS (Advanced Music Systems) * ams AG, semiconductor manufacturer * AMS Pictures * Auxiliary Medical Services Educational institutions * A ...

digital delay.

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

{{Authority control Howard Jones (English musician) albums Albums produced by Colin Thurston Albums produced by Rupert Hine Elektra Records albums Warner Music Group albums 1984 debut albums