Who's To Blame?...No One, That's Who(m)

Many, many years ago...perhaps dating back to the late '80s...I was all geeked out about Howard Jones.

All. Geeked. Out.

As in...as geeked out about Howard Jones then as I am about Adam Duritz now. (frame of reference for you.)

His Dream Into Action disc got miles and miles of play from me when I "discovered" Howard and bought it a couple years after its release. And then I went back and purchased his first CD, Human's Lib, which had a very bouncy track called, "New Song," and made it OK to sing along very loudly with a "lyric" like, "Whoo hoo hoooo."

Howard had a bit of soundtrack success as well. In the scene in Better Off Dead, when John Cusack's French future girlfriend is secretly fixing up his Camaro, Jones' song, "Like To Get To Know You Well," is playing.

And back when I was more of a dork than I am now, I had a lyric push-pinned to my bulletin board in my bedroom that said, "Pretend the water is champagne and fill my glass again and again," from his song, "Life In One Day." (It spoke to me at the time, or something. And I don't even really like champagne.)

His later releases went away from the synthesizer sound and became more jazzy and instrumental. And while I've been away from the Howard Jones geekdom for some time now, I like to return to it every once in a while. He always seemed like the prototypical musician to me. Sure, there are plenty of rock stars out there. Howard Jones is a musician.

I never got to see him in concert, although I faintly remember him being at the Wisconsin State Fair one year, and I didn't push too hard to go. I think now...I'd push. And I might seek out an opportunity to see him, if he's even still crossing the Atlantic to play gigs over here.

The song he's probably best known for is "No One Is To Blame," which featured Phil Collins on drums and backing vocals on the single that was released to radio stations. But there are a zillion different versions of the song, and as I searched on YouTube for a good one, I found this one instead...which might not be the best, but as I found out, it's a performance from Shank Hall in Milwaukee, a tiny venue at which I've seen about a half dozen shows. And it was recorded in January 2007. (maybe that answers my question as to whether he's still touring in the U.S.)

I must not have had Shank Hall's website feed in my Reader at that time, because if I would have known about this show, I would have been the one shooting the video!!

Next time.
If there is one.
And I hope there is.
I'm starting to get all retro-geeked out about Howard Jones again!

"And maybe love is letting people be
just what they want to be."
—Howard Jones, What Is Love?