Howard Jones / Best: 1983-2017

New 3CD compilation offers career overview

Cherry Red have recently acquired the Warners back catalogue of Howard Jones and in July will put out their first release, a three-CD compilation called Best 1983-2017.

This was compiled and annotated by Howard himself, although in SDE’s opinion the artist doing these things does not always deliver the optimum result (see the Phil Collins reissues).

The big claim to fame with this new retrospective is that it spans Howard’s entire career, so inevitably the first CD is hit-heavy, while most of the second disc’s content will only be well known to those who’ve stayed in touch with Howard’s newer music by going to his shows and ordering albums direct from his website (where he continues to issue them via his own Dtox label).

The third CD here is technically a ‘bonus disc’ which was only previously available as a DVD with the interactive book edition of 2015’s Engage. You do get an ‘exclusive’ bonus remix – You’re The Buddha (The Robbie Bronnimann Mix).

While it’s obviously not up-to-date, it’s hard to make a case for this being better than 2003’s two-disc The Very Best Of which gathered A-sides and B-sides, but no doubt Cherry Red are keeping content like that (B-sides) close to their chest, for future releases. Howard did a great job five or six years ago, licensing his music from Warners and putting out his own box sets (see this review from the early days of SDE!) so Cherry Red are going to have to work hard to better them. My guess is that they will work through each album one at a time, and deliver individual expanded deluxe sets.

‘Best’ 1983-2017 will be released on 28 July 2017. 150 signed copies (stingy!) were briefly available via the Cherry Red website, but went very quickly, as you’d expect.

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Howard Jones

Best: 1983-2017

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TRACK LIST

DISC ONE:
1. THINGS CAN ONLY GET BETTER
2. NO ONE IS TO BLAME
3. WHAT IS LOVE?
4. NEW SONG
5. LIKE TO GET TO KNOW YOU WELL
6. PEARL IN THE SHELL
7. HIDE & SEEK
8. EVERLASTING LOVE
9. LOOK MAMA
10. LIFE IN ONE DAY
11. SPECIALTY
12. ALL I WANT
13. YOU KNOW I LOVE YOU… DON’T YOU?
14. LITTLE BIT OF SNOW
15. THE PRISONER
16. WILL YOU STILL BE THERE?

DISC TWO:
1. LIFT ME UP
2. CITY SONG
3. ONE LAST TRY
4. COOKIN’ IN THE KITCHEN
5. NOTHING TO FEAR
6. YOU’RE THE BUDDHA
7. IF YOU LOVE
8. LET THE PEOPLE HAVE THEIR SAY
9. JUST LOOK AT YOU NOW
10. REVOLUTION OF THE HEART
11. THE PRESENCE OF OTHER
12. SOMEONE YOU NEED
13. SOON YOU’LL GO
14. ORDINARY HEROES
15. JOY
16. THE HUMAN TOUCH
17. EAGLE WILL FLY AGAIN

DISC THREE: BONUS DISC
1. BACK IN YOUR LIFE (Acoustic Live)
2. BUILDING OUR OWN FUTURE (Acoustic Live)
3. CITY SONG (Acoustic Live)
4. NO ONE IS TO BLAME (Acoustic Live)
5. EVERLASTING LOVE (Acoustic Live)
6. JUST LOOK AT YOU NOW (Electric Live)
7. DON’T WANNA FIGHT ANYMORE (Electric Live)
8. LIKE TO GET TO KNOW YOU WELL/COOKIN’ IN THE KITCHEN (Mash Up Live)
9. YOU’RE THE BUDDHA (The Robbie Bronnimann Mix)