Howard Jones has played with countless musical legends at this point. But the ’80s keyboardist caught some major flak when he decided to record his own version of Donald Fagen’s “I.G.Y. (What a Wonderful World)’ in the early ’90s.
“I came up against the [general] opinion, ‘Who do you think you are, covering [that song]?,” Jones recalls now during a conversation with UCR, laughing at the memory. “I literally heard DJs say that.”
In his view, he was simply trying to pay proper tribute to the music of a fellow songwriter who he had a lot of respect for. It’s something he’s had the chance to do a number of times, as you’ll read in the below interview, where he details his collaboration with Phil Collins and moments on stage with similarly major musical luminaries like Mick Jagger, David Bowie and Eric Clapton.
He has had lots of experiences along those lines, including a stint in Ringo Starr’s All-Starr Band and also, a memorable encounter with fellow keyboardist Keith Emerson. Sometimes, these interactions lead to further collaborations. That’s exactly what happened when Jones taped an episode of Daryl Hall’s popular series Live From Daryl’s House. Now, the pair are set to hit the road for a series of tour dates together that begin tonight (Nov. 7).
During a recent Zoom interview, Jones detailed what fans can expect at the shows with Hall.
I enjoyed watching you reimagine some songs from your catalog on Live From Daryl’s House. You’ve always enjoyed doing that kind of thing.Yeah, obviously, I’m mainly touring with my electric band, with sequencers and lots of keyboards and electronics. But there’s been periods of my career where I worked with a live band, with horns and strings and everyone playing together in the same room. For the Perform.00 album, actually, I was able to do kind of a live recording in my studio back in Maidenhead. So I [already] had the charts and the arrangements for a more regular type of band ready to go. I presented that to [Daryl] and the guys. It was such fun for me, because I was playing songs I play live a lot, but in a completely different way.
You mention the horns and as you all are playing “Things Can Only Get Better,” they take that long Cuban-style solo to play out the song, which is really cool.Yeah, yeah, that’s right. I’ve, I’ve wanted to do that again for so long, but, you know, I haven’t been playing with it with a brass section for quite a while. But it made me think, “Oh, I really want to do that again.”
Watch Daryl Hall and Howard Jones Perform ‘Things Can Only Get Better’
On Daryl’s House, one of the band members compliments the pre-chorus for “Things Can Only Get Better.” You said a very wise thing, that it’s just three chords. It seems important to learn as a writer that less is more, the impact that can actually have.Yeah, I think so. I mean, I think it’s what you do with those three chords. I remember speaking to Phil Collins, you know, when I was working with him on “No One is to Blame.” He said to me, “The thing I like about your writing is that you always throw in something unexpected I didn’t think was going to happen.” That’s always been my philosophy, really, with [my] songs. People think it’s going to go a certain way and then you surprised them with a new fresh direction in the middle of the song. I often have two middle eights and things like that. The pop song format, obviously, it’s changed. We’re in a different era. But my era was such a classic form. What could you do with it to give it a new twist and make it memorable? The simplicity is good, because it means everyone is going to remember it quickly. But then, there’s a few moments where you want to surprise people. That’s what I’ve always tried to do.
I think your origins as a Keith Emerson fan, people will forgive you if you throw in everything and the kitchen sink occasionally.[Laughs] Exactly. Exactly, yeah.
READ MORE: How Keith Emerson Inspired Synth-Pop Legend Howard Jones
You mentioned Phil Collins and he always feels like a guy who just loves to play. You can feel that in his performances.Yeah, that’s right. I mean, I got to know him when we were doing the Prince’s Trust shows, He was the drummer and I was the keyboard player. We got on really well and I really liked him. That’s why I felt comfortable asking him to have a go at “No One is to Blame.” For him, making records seemed pretty effortless, really.
Which is nice if it can be that way for you. It’s not that way for a lot of people.That’s right. I mean, there’s so much experience. Obviously, he really saw the value in the song and believed that we could come up with a great version of it that would work at radio, because you know, that’s a good thing. And that’s what happened. It was so much fun making it, because it was so quick. It wasn’t labored, you know. We spent two weekends [working on it]. Boom, mixed, done.
What are some of your favorite moments from doing those Prince’s Trust gigs?It was great to be playing other people’s songs. There’s a lot of pressure because, you know, the keyboard player, you’ve got to do everything. You’ve got to play [things like] the brass parts, the organ solo, I mean, there’s so much detail that people want. That was the challenge, I hope I did okay with that. But you know, things like getting to play with David Bowie and Mick Jagger on “Dancing in the Street,” [was incredible]. Mick wanted to go through the song even though they’d just recorded it and it had been a big hit. He wanted to go through it right before we actually got on stage, which is understandable.
He’s such a professional about it. It was just me and him backstage with a keyboard and he had one set of headphones. I could sort of hear what was coming through the headphones — so I could hear the piano. He was hearing the piano and I was playing through the chords with him and he was singing a lot. It’s such a treasured memory, I mean, when would that ever happen? It’s so cool. Then, I also played with Peter Gabriel doing “Sledgehammer” and the brass parts in front of that, I mean, [the highlights] are just endless, really. It was a fantastic experience and wonderful to be involved.
Watch Mick Jagger and David Bowie Perform ‘Dancing in the Streets’ at the Prince’s Trust Concert in 1986
It’s an interesting juxtaposition of bucket list moments. In the moment, it all had to feel pretty nerve-wracking at times.Yes, yes, that’s right. Exactly. Another charity thing, Eric Clapton was part of the band. We were doing one of my songs called “You Know I Love You, Don’t You?” Clapton did this incredible solo in the middle of it. It wasn’t recorded, so there’s no evidence of it — it just lives on in my head. That was brilliant. Clapton came over to me and asked, “What are the chords of the song?” Because the [way] people play, you’ve got to know the chords. Clapton’s asking me what the chords are [for one of my songs]. That was a cool thing to [experience].
You’re doing these dates with Daryl Hall. How much will you get to replicate the jamming part of what you did on Live From Daryl’s House with these shows?We had a really great time recording the show. I got to hang out with Daryl afterwards. We spent two or three hours just sitting down and chatting about stuff, getting to know each other. I think that’s one of the reasons why we all thought it would be a great pairing on tour. I listened to pretty much everything he’d ever done with Hall & Oates and also, his solo career. I just did a deep dive into everything, so I got to know him through his music as well, which was really interesting. I chose a couple of tracks I thought I would be okay at that he would think were fun as well. There’s a song called “Let Love Take Control” that he did [on the Hall & Oates album, Our Kind of Soul]. Nobody ever asked to do that on the show. In fact, he’d sort of almost forgotten the song. I said, “Daryl, that’s a really cool track.”
We had fun doing that. Then, I thought it would be good for me to sing “I’m in a Philly Mood,” because that’s a little bit out of my comfort zone and I would learn a bit more about how to get that sort of style of singing going within me. I just hit it off with the band. They’re so good and so much fun to work with and so brilliant. With the way they do what they do, I can just concentrate on my singing and my performance. These shows are going to be brilliant. I’m going to do some songs that I don’t normally do, like “I.G.Y.,” the Donald Fagen [song], “Lift Me Up,” which I never do and “Tomorrow is Now.” Also, “No One is to Blame,” but the version as recorded by Phil. Normally, I just play it as an acoustic song, but this is going to be based on the record. There’s going to be some great things I’m going to do with Daryl as well.
How did you get into Steely Dan’s music back in the day?It was the first album, Can’t Buy a Thrill and “Reelin’ in the Years.” I heard that early and just grew up with them from there. Obviously, the music got more and more complex as the albums came out. I was progressing in my own musical world as well. I was taking it all in and thinking, “Oh my God, what chords are they playing?” I tried to work out how to play those songs. They’re so amazing and I think it’s really important for a developing musician and writer to pick things that you don’t really know how they are doing it. You don’t know what those chord changes are, so learn them. You play the record over and over and educate yourself. I got to hang out with Walter Becker for a couple of hours once. I was in L.A. at A&M Studios doing some recording and he happened to be there. I had such a great time chatting with him.
Your version of “I.G.Y.” was kind of a cool Easter egg to find at the time, in the ’90s.Yeah, I came up against the [general] opinion, “Who do you think you are, covering [that song]?” [Laughs] I mean, I literally heard DJs say that, you know, not in so many words. Well, it’s an homage to somebody I love and I think I did a pretty good job on the track! [Laughs]
Listen to Howard Jones’ Version of ‘I.G.Y.’
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