“I wanted to write songs that reflected the way I think,” Jones told me.
“I like to ask the big questions, and I like to understand what it is to be a human being and how difficult it is.
“I’ve always been inspired by songs that have lifted my spirits when I’m having a bit of a bad time.
“And I think music can really do that, so that’s what I’ve stuck to, really, my whole career.”
Jones is amazed that songs he wrote nearly 40 years ago, and the subject matter he tackled, remain relevant today.
“There’s the third verse of What Is Love? where it says, ‘And maybe love is letting people be just what they want to be’.
“I think that’s even more relevant now than it was when I first wrote it.
“And so, when I sing these songs live today, I still feel 100 per cent behind what I wrote because I still believe in those values.”
While his days of pop stardom are behind him, he has continued making music and touring the world.
“I think everyone has their golden era of where everyone was listening to them,” he said.
“But I didn’t want to stop there, as I’ve kept making new records.
“I very much make records today for the fans who have stuck with me throughout my career.
“I know those albums won’t travel as far as those early albums, but that’s just the way it should be in pop music.
“Things should move on; there should be a new generation that comes in and takes over.”
For all things Howard Jones, go to www.howardjones.com
Music news
Award-winning Canadian rocker Bryan Adams is set to release Live At The Royal Albert Hall on December 8. The box set features 35 songs recorded over three nights at the historic London venue in 2022.
Country music legend Dolly Parton is making her first foray into rock music, with her first rock album, Rockstar, due for release on November 17. It sees the queen of country collaborating with the cream of the rock world, including Paul McCartney, Debbie Harry, Sting and Elton John, to name but a few.
Are 1990s boyband NSYNC about to reform? They recently entered the studio to record a new single, Better Place, for Justin Timberlake’s upcoming film, Trolls Band Together, which hits screens in November.
The sole surviving member of the 1960s TV pop group The Monkees, Micky Dolenz, has recorded an EP of REM covers scheduled for release in November.
This week’s music charts
No.1 this week on the Australian ARIA Top 50 chart is Paint The Town Red by Doja Cat, who also takes the top spot on the UK Official Singles chart. In the US, the No.1 single on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart is Vampire by Olivia Rodrigo.
In retrospect: classic albums
American Recordings (1994) — Johnny Cash
The late great country singer/songwriter Johnny Cash influenced a multitude of artists spanning a diverse variety of genres, from Bob Dylan to Bruce Springsteen. And one album that best summed up Cash as an artist and the influential figure he became was recorded late in his life. Titled American Recordings, it was released in 1994, at the height of grunge, the album making quite a stark contrast to the presiding musical climate but one that would serve as Cash’s most influential outing of his long career.
Recorded during a number of sessions conducted between May and December of 1993, the album was recorded under the watchful eye of producer Rick Rubin, where he captured Cash stripped back to the bare minimum. With Cash’s rich, deep baritone voice accompanied only by his acoustic guitar, this stripped-down setting provided the perfect vehicle to express his meditations on life via a more apocalyptic side to his persona. Featuring a handful of original material along with several covers by contemporary artists such as Beck and Nick Cave, American Recordings met with much critical and commercial acclaim and won Cash a Grammy for Best Contemporary Folk Album. Overall, American Recordings showcases Cash as the master storyteller and artist he was and why he achieved legendary status.
Fun fact
Did you know that none of the members of The Beatles could read or write music? John Lennon once confirmed the fact in a 1980 interview, as did Paul McCartney in a 2018 interview.
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