Bill Nelson was Howard Jones?

Age Of Reason is extreme pop like HJ's pop and it would've blown up the radio, at least in the SFBA.

"Age of Reason" for me is a good song and quirky with the sax/synth descending line. In my mind the background should be stripped back. There is something almost murky there that chugs (SHHH-SHHH) along like a train -- and who knows maybe Bill was going for Bowie's Station to Station -- he even uses that line. It's almost like there is too much percussion, things rattling along on a train, cups and saucers banging each other. But it is a good song and maybe longer held chords and less sax. The trick for me would be to find the right sounds for the song, things that I like or I think will bring out the underlying emotion. Bill can use long notes and I wish here he had done so. It's still very good but less banging around in the backing tracks.

All of that's rendered subservient to the sensual/repetitive bass part and horn hooks, the emotional content in the lyrics as delivered by the vocals, the melody itself. These elements also contribute to the gooseflesh-inducing pop of Rise Like A Fountain.

With you on Howard's falsetto on Things Can Only Get Better. It's a good one and the section of the song where the falsetto appears makes the song for me. There's a bass note that is just so low that I always get the gooseflesh up my arms whenever it rolls 'round.

Who knew that there was a connection! "Things Can Only Get Better" is my favorite Jones song. It has all the BN ingredients I mentioned earlier. The only thing is that in the video Jones skips and dances around and I can't see Bill doing that, especially while wearing his guitar. I don't know if Bill ever wrote an up beat dancing kind of song where you skip along from one end of the stage to the other. There's a challenge!

Yeah, I remember those times and albums. I think Tears for Fears' "Songs From The Big Chair" and their previous album were great. I use to do a solo guitar version of "Mad World." There was also a BN album and it had a picture women's legs in black fish net stockings. That was on my wall real quick.