Rocktrospectiva: The Successful And Positive "Dream Into Action" Turns 40

Released on 11 March 1985 "Dream Into Action" was the second studio album by British pop musician Howard Jones. The album reached No. 2 in the UK Album Charts and also reached the top ten in the U.S. The album achieved a gold certification in the UK and platinum status in the US and Canada.  The album spawned the hit singles "Things Can Only Get Better", "Life In One Day", "No One Is To Blame" and "Look Mama". The 1984 single "Like to Get to Know You Well" was included on the album's CD reissue and is also on the US version of the vinyl album. 

Followed up his chart-topping debut with an even better album, "Dream Into Action". A sort of those albums that you listen to from beginning to end, with nearly song taking a turn as your favorite over time, practically captured everything that was best about electronic dance pop at the time.

Howard Jones a clear communicator who makes a real connection with his audience, you can check "Life in One Day" is a self-help session, the ballad "No One Is to Blame" is simply heartbreaking, You have in "Dream Into Action" a sound advice to heal division. Throughout, Jones and producer Rupert Hine strike just the right balance between technology and humanity. Even when Jones is preaching about animal rights on "Assault and Battery", you can appreciate the music behind the message.

With "Look Mama",you have a plea for independence "Bounce Right Back" is Jones’ playful rap attack, "Elegy" could be the antithesis, and then you have perfect track to continue to balance between dark and light, ending with the atmospheric and heavy "Hunger for the Flesh."

It's fantastic to realise that the album have aged well forty years later, an album that talk about all the good things back in 1985 and still sounds fantastic today, providing great mental music, a bright album that epitomizes the sound of the mainstream in the mid-'80s, and that's why Dream Into Action is, in many ways, the apotheosis of Howard Jones' career, including his sound, machines and positivity that distinguished him from the rest of synth poppers in the mid-'80s. 

 

Dream Into Action Track List:

 

1. Things Can Only Get Better

2. Life In One Day

3. Dream Into Action

4. No One Is To Blame

5. Look Mama

6. Assault And Battery

7. Automaton

8. Is There A Difference?

9. Elegy

10. Specialty

11. Why Look For The Key

12. Hunger For The Flesh

13. Bounce Right Back

14. Like To Get To Know You Well