New Song
	Produced by Colin Thurston, Howard Jones
	Released on September 1983
	UK CHART POSITION #3 . . . US CHART POSITION #27 (charted Jan. 21, 1984 for 15 weeks)
	Find it at GEMM
0-66977 (ED 4944) cover [high resolution photo]

T his represents a troubling gap in my education as a new wave apostate. Blinded by science? I saw it coming from a mile away. Tainted Love? Pure inspiration, that. So why is “New Song” new to me? Maybe because R&B acts were already appropriating this sort of synthesizer pop and turning it into mindless bubblegum by 1984. As clever as it is, “New Song” adds nothing to the new wave canon but much to the synth pop bands that would follow. To even call this pop music is a testament to the rapid adoption of the synthesizer. In 1980, a synthesizer nearly branded you as a new wave band; by 1984, it was commonplace, even cute. So perhaps my brain had evolved in step, tuning this out the way it would a Michael Jackson song. Thus the mystery of New Song’s newness explained, I suppose. The American EP includes an (over)extended version of “New Song,” more limp white reggae in “Change The Man” (XTC did this sort of thing so much better) and the slightly brooding “Conditioning.” On an interesting note, Jones is pictured on the back in what appears to be a two-tone dufflebag (although I recall owning a few zipper shirts myself), a photo that might have been embarrassing except for the inclusion of a man in greasepaint and black tights wearing white chains behind him. Apparently, silliness is relative.

0-66977 (ED 4944) back cover

TRACK LISTING

1. NEW SONG
2. CHANGE THE MAN
   
   US 7-inch single
   
1. NEW SONG
2. CONDITIONING
   
   12-inch EP
   
1. NEW SONG    (Howard Jones)    4:15
2. CHANGE THE MAN    (Howard Jones)    4:27
3. NEW SONG (EXTENDED VERSION)    (Howard Jones)    5:27
4. CONDITIONING    (Music: Howard Jones, Lyrics: William Bryant)    4:06

CREDITS

Mark Lusardi -- engineer

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