Name Howard Jones
Best known for Relentless optimism over a bed of synths.
Current city Taunton, UK
Really want to be in I would like to be in Tokyo and be visiting SGI Buddhist centers.
Excited about New album Dialogue (released September 9).
My current music collection has a lot of Hall & Oates, Tower of Power.
And a little bit of Synthwave.
Preferred format I love streaming at the moment. It gives me access to all artists and their entire catalogue.
5 Albums I Can’t Live Without:
1
Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, The Beatles
First Beatles album that I possessed and was possessed and obsessed by. My tiny little record player played the mono version thousands of times. Sitars, harpsichords, clarinets, genius songwriters, surreal lyrics mixed with achingly down to earth tropes.
2
The Best of Bob Marley and the Wailers, Bob Marley and the Wailers
If I need to be uplifted and reaffirm my faith in the goodness of human kind Bob Marley delivers. Spirituality and unbelievable reggae groove are a magical combination.
3
Cupid & Psyche 85, Scritti Politti
This album made me want to work with Arif Mardin on my third album One to One. Green and Gamson cook up a feast of electro funk grooves. Such a clear-cut aesthetic I never tire of listening to. Green Gartside’s voice is exotic silky.
4
Brain Salad Surgery, Emerson, Lake & Palmer
Keith Emerson my keyboard hero…a Jimi Hendrix of the ivories. This album has everything that a keyboard aspirant would want. Moog modular, Hammond organs, frantic tempos, unbridled virtuosity. Music genre-bending pomp. I got to play “Karn Evil 9” with Greg Lake and Sheila E. My tribute to Keith.
5
Kamakiriad, Donald Fagen
Always love Fagen’s meticulous work. This album takes me on a futuristic journey in the steam-powered Kamakiri vehicle…it’s got a hydroponic mini farm in the trunk FFS. Only Fagen could come up with the idea of a “Countermoon” which works against romantic activities. I love Donald because his work is dark matter to my “Things Can Only Get Better.”
