Lib

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. His brand of spirited keyboard-and-lyric exuberance lent itself to a large part of the mid-'80s, especially in Britain. The tracks on Human's Lib are energetic and colorful, coming to life the best on "New Song," a number 27 hit for Jones in the U.S., and on the finely structured "What Is Love?," which gave him the number 33 spot on the singles chart four months later. While both of these songs rested at the bottom end of Billboard's Top 40, they went to number three and number two, respectively, in the U.K., with the album going all the way to number one, proving that his techno-pop stylings were better-appreciated on his side of the Atlantic. Outside of the singles, the album still holds well, with efforts like "Hide and Seek," "Conditioning," and "Pearl in the Shell" following through with a buoyant but orderly techno-pop keenness mustered through his clean use of the synthesizer. Although 1985's Dream Into Action is tighter both musically and lyrically, Human's Lib acts as a well-grounded starting point for Jones' future success.

This is a really great early '70s psychedelic album. It doesn't really do much that's ground breaking or anything but it's cool nonetheless…

«Human's Lib» is the debut album by British pop musician Howard Jones. It was released in March 1984 and entered the UK Album Charts at the no. 1 spot, spending a total of 57 weeks in the charts. The album sold 100,000 copies in its first week of release and has been certified 2xPlatinum by the BPI for sales in excess of 600,000 copies. The album went gold in many European countries and was a big hit in Japan and the US.