In The Running
	Produced by Ross Cullum and Howard Jones
	Released on April 14, 1992
	no chart information
	Find it at GEMM
61135-4 cover

N o longer the eternal optimist of Dream Into Action, Howard Jones had matured into a serious songwriter along the lines of Midge Ure, Sting, Phil Collins, Steve Winwood, Bruce Hornsby, you’re getting sleepy aren’t you? It was a crowded field that folks like Jones, Hornsby and Ure got crowded out of. Apparently (and ironically and unfortunately), Jones was no longer in the running commercially. His fifth full-length release did produce a final Top 40 single, “Lift Me Up,” that ranks right up there with his best work, but look at it closely and the theme of lost love is anything but uplifting. Phil Collins made albums like this too: smooth on the surface, troubled underneath. In the late ‘80s, synthesizer-pop was all the rage, but Nirvana and the ‘90s put an end to that. People didn’t want contained character studies and immaculate confessionals, they wanted action, force, anger. Thus an album like In The Running slipped under the radar, despite being as good as his last two efforts. For the faithful who chased it down, they got an album of expertly produced pop music featuring high-quality musicians: Dean Parks, Robbie McIntosh, Mark Brzezicki, Richie Hayward. There have been times when I thought In The Running was a concept album because of dramatic interludes like “The Voices Are Back” (about a crazy person who hears voices) and “Exodus” (about an exodus from Earth), but they may just be blue paintings from an artist in a blue mood. The dominant theme is a man coming to terms with and trying to regain the love he lost: “Lift Me Up,” “Tears To Tell,” “Fallin’ Away,” “Two Souls,” “One Last Try.” Like I said before, Phil Collins. The trouble is that a sensitive guy like Howard Jones can come off as a little whiny sometimes. The label apparently didn’t know what to do with a jonesed Jones and released the bouncy “Two Souls” as the second single, despite the fact that “Tears To Tell” and “Show Me” are far more deserving. Sting, Phil Collins and Peter Gabriel were charismatic (or enigmatic) enough to get away with making depressing records. Howard Jones apparently wasn’t, and when he finally released an album of new material six years later, it was on Miles Copeland’s Ark 21 label.

TRACK LISTING

1. LIFT ME UP    (Howard Jones/Ross Cullum)    3:59
2. FALLIN' AWAY    (Howard Jones/Ross Cullum)    6:54
3. SHOW ME    (Howard Jones/Ross Cullum)    4:32
4. THE VOICES ARE BACK    (Howard Jones)    5:32
5. EXODUS    (Howard Jones)    4:32
6. TEARS TO TELL    (Howard Jones)    5:24
7. TWO SOULS    (Howard Jones/Andy Ross/Ross Cullum)    4:23
8. GUN TURNED ON THE WORLD    (Howard Jones)    4:39
9. ONE LAST TRY    (Howard Jones)    4:08
10. CITY SONG    (Howard Jones)    7:20

CREDITS

HOWARD JONES -- vocals, keys bass, keys guitar, piano, keyboards, organ, vocoder, backing vocals, bass, drums
ROSS CULLUM -- drums, guitar solo, guitar, engineer
CAROL KENYON -- backing vocals
TESSA NILES -- backing vocals
Sooty Bonnet -- blues mordents
Mark Brzezicki -- additional percussion, additional drums, end drums
Sam Clayton -- tambourine
Luis Conte -- percussion
Steve Farris -- guitars, lead guitar
Clare Fischer -- clarinet choir and brass arrangement
Richie Hayward -- drums
Chris Hughes -- drums
David Lindley -- slide guitars, acoustic guitars
Kevin Maloney -- synclavier editing
Robbie McIntosh -- guitars
Dean Parks -- electric guitars, soft wah wah guitar
Kevin Robinson -- trumpet
Andy Ross -- initial rhythm arrangement, wah-wah and additional guitar
Ian Stanley -- additional keyboards
Neil Taylor -- guitar solo
Midge Ure -- breakdown guitar (7)
Jai Winding -- moog bass, additional keyboards
Rupert Hine -- executive producer
Bob Clearmountain -- mixing
Steve Williams, Andy Strange, Paul Corkett, Arne Frager -- additional engineering
Janet Boye -- art direction & design
Daniel Miller/Savel Inc. -- photography

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