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Post by Jules on Jan 7, 2016 16:57:25 GMT
Studio albums
“The Hurting” is the debut album of Tears for Fears. It was released in early 1983, more than one year after their initial single release. By this time, the band had officially expanded from the founding duo, Roland Orzabal (vocals, guitar, keyboards, synthesizers and rhythm programming) and Curt Smith (vocals, bass, synthesizers) to a quartet with the addition of electronics expert Ian Stanley (who had helped them demo some of their songs at an early stage) and drummer Manny Elias.
All the album's songs except "Watch Me Bleed" had been released on single or played to the public via radio sessions before; however, the only songs that had already been released in the same form as they would be found on "The Hurting" are "Mad World" and "Change", both of them slightly edited for single release.
The album was produced by Chris Hughes and engineered by Ross Cullum; both men were important catalysts in the album’s genesis as TFF had tried working with different producers before but hadn’t come up with satisfying results.
Musically, while the overall sound of the album owed a lot to the art pop sound of Peter Gabriel’s third album (which didn’t use any cymbals or hi-hats and combined real drums with electronic rhythms) and the synthpop wave, it also clearly showed that Roland had written most of the material on an acoustic guitar, as acoustic (and some electric) guitars are an important part of the album’s sound. The title track actually sounds more like a rock song with synths than a synthpop song with guitars. Tracks 2-5 are all crossfaded to create a continuous arc, a stylistic device that TFF would continue to employ on every subsequent album, underlining their self-conception as an album band and their desire to create albums that hang together musically as well as lyrically.
Lyrically, The Hurting is a dark album that deals with childhood traumas and how they can keep affecting us but also points towards ways of resolving them. The psychology of Arthur Janov (“The Primal Scream”) was the one important inspiration for not only the album but also the formation and name of Tears for Fears in the first place. In a way, the music served three different purposes for Roland and Curt: It was a form of catharsis (particularly for Roland as a writer), which shows e.g. in the live performances of “Start of the Breakdown”; it was a way of earning money with a possible view towards getting primal therapy in the US (which Roland later did, Curt didn’t need it according to Janov); and finally, it introduced other people to the concept, particularly teenagers and adolescents.
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Post by Jules on Jan 7, 2016 16:58:00 GMT
“Songs from the Big Chair”, released 1985, is the most successful studio album by TFF to date. It spawned numerous hit singles: “Mothers Talk”, “Shout”, “Everybody Wants to Rule the World”, “Head over Heels” and a live re-recording of “I Believe”. Compared to “The Hurting”, there was more of a band feeling to the tracks, many of which had been played live and shaped on the previous tour. Unlike “The Hurting” (which was written solely by Roland Orzabal), many of the tracks this time were co-written by keyboard player / synth programming expert Ian Stanley. Both sides of the LP are structured around one ‘anchor point’, which is a lengthy medley-type piece of music in both cases. “The Working Hour” was put together from two independent musical ideas, the main vocal part surrounded by various instances of a track called “When in Love with a Blind Man” (found, in its original form, on the “Head over Heels” single B-Side). The “Broken”/”Head over Heels/Broken” medley is built in a similar fashion, with musical themes repeated in different contexts. The second part of “Broken” was not recorded in the studio and actually comes directly from a concert in late 1983, at which “Mothers Talk”, “The Working Hour” and “Broken”(first part)/”Head Over Heels” were also already played. The entire second side of the LP is basically one piece of music with segues between every track. Upon closer inspection, tracks 1-3 of side one are also arranged without gaps. “Songs from the Big Chair” was a clear departure from the introspective, dark atmosphere of “The Hurting”, though some elements do survive (particularly in “I Believe”). But the main sound now was including elements of soul, stadium rock and progressive rock. The production has repeatedly been described as “big”. Chris Hughes was again in the producer’s, um, chair; David Bascombe this time did the engineering and would continue to work with TFF after this album. The lyrics of SFTBC don't adhere to one strict theme; however, the shadow of the Cold War and the fear of a nuclear war can be felt in quite a few tracks. “Everybody Wants to Rule the World” has an obvious reference in the title; in “The Working Hour” there is the line “find out what this fear is about”; “Shout” was partially inspired by Roland’s anger at the instalment of American missiles in Great Britain; “Listen” includes some allegories to the US/Russia conflict and “Mothers Talk” is a political anthem with lots of references like “when the weather starts to burn, then you know that you’re in trouble” and “when the wind blows” (as in Raymond Briggs’ cartoon of the same name). One could say that SFTBC takes the theories laid down on “The Hurting” and applies them to the world of politics – i.e. what are the effects of psychological problems on politicians?
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Post by Jules on Jan 7, 2016 16:58:39 GMT
“The Seeds of Love” from 1989 was the last album Tears for Fears made in the 80s. It can generally be seen as the point when they left the mainstream behind and embraced a timeless form of music that incorporates elements of blues, jazz, soul, psychedelic and progressive rock and world music. While certain parallels can be drawn to the music of mid-to-late-80s Talk Talk, TFF didn’t entirely abandon the power pop hooks that had been part of their songs from the beginning. Indeed, the lead single “Sowing the Seeds of Love” was the first really obvious reference to The Beatles, who had been an inspiration for Roland & Curt ever since they had started making music. One of the reasons why “The Seeds of Love” was such a big departure from the sound of the first two albums is that TFF were actively searching for a more spontaneous and organic form of music. Roland in particular was exhausted from having to play the same thing every night, restricted by tapes playing the programmed sequences and the confines of the songwriting which didn’t allow for long solos or much variation. One important catalyst for the way the album eventually turned out was Oleta Adams. Her soulful vocals can be heard in “Woman in Chains” and “Badman’s Song”; she also supplied blues piano to “Badman’s Song” and “Standing on the Corner of the Third World”. By this time, Tears for Fears had been reduced to the core duo of Roland and Curt. Manny Elias had already left shortly after the Big Chair tour and Ian Stanley can only be heard on the title track and some of the b-sides. Unlike the previous two albums, SOL was produced by TFF themselves and SFTBC engineer David Bascombe. Later, it also became more apparent that the lengthy recording process had created a rift between Curt and Roland that would lead to Curt leaving the band after the tour and only returning years later for the reunion album “Everybody Loves a Happy Ending”. TSOL, mostly co-written with keyboard player Nicky Holland (she had played on the SFTBC tour) completes the trilogy of psychologically-oriented albums started with “The Hurting”. “Sowing the Seeds” quotes the title track of the debut as well as “Shout” in its lyrics, perhaps ending the evolution from hurting to healing. Other tracks tackle social issues but at the same time can be interpreted as comments on interior battles (“Woman in Chains” is not just about feminism and freeing women, but also about men dealing with their feminine side; the exact same thing goes for “Standing on the Corner of the Third World” which has psychological connotations as well). “Badman’s Song” is more of a philosophical comment on searching for mistakes and badmouthing others (inspired by some very personal experiences of Roland’s). The last couple of songs are still very much rooted in the Cold War atmosphere of the 80s, with “Year of the Knife” being very aggressive and “Famous Last Words” painting a rather calm end-of-the-world scenario.
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Post by Jules on Jan 7, 2016 16:59:03 GMT
Elemental, released 1993, is the first Tears for Fears album that Roland Orzabal recorded without founding member and original duo partner Curt Smith. Roland’s new creative partner was guitarist Alan Griffiths (who’d already played with TFF on the SFTBC tour). The album reflected the changes in the music world and Roland had scaled down the bombast of SFTBC and SOL in favour of a more stripped-down approach, with some beats owing a bit to the hip-hop wave. While four singles were released from “Elemental”, only “Break It Down Again” was a real chart hit. The lyrics of “Elemental” take on a new philosophical and political direction; a lot of songs have religious references but unlike its successor, “Elemental” doesn’t seem to be very positive about religion. “Fish out of Water” is a direct stab at Curt, who Roland accused of losing his ideals and embracing the popstar lifestyle instead. Ironically, the line “you're dreaming your life away” sounds almost as if Curt had sung it himself. In the musical development of TFF, Elemental can be seen as a fork in the road. While some tracks try to continue the synth-heavy atmospheres of the 80s, others showcase a new, more guitar-driven direction that points toward “Raoul and the Kings of Spain”. The title track was based on a slowed-down loop of the main guitar riff from “Lord of Karma”, released on the 12” single of “Laid So Low” in 1992.
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Post by Jules on Jan 7, 2016 17:00:11 GMT
“Raoul and the Kings of Spain” was released in 1995 and was the second TFF album recorded with Roland as the only lead singer (excluding the return of Oleta Adams on “Me and My Big Ideas”). Unlike the electronically-grounded “Elemental”, “Raoul” was recorded pretty much live with the band that had promoted “Elemental” in 1994. This, coupled with the fact that three guitarists (Roland, Alan Griffiths, Jeffrey Trott) and only one keyboardist (Jebin Bruni on Hammond organ) were involved, led to TFF sounding much more like a rock band than ever before. Granted, Roland and Alan are also credited with keyboards but apart from piano in the ballads, Jebin’s Hammond and some atmospheric synths here and there, there really isn’t much of a keyboard sound here. RATKOS was the first TFF album that didn’t reach the Top Ten of the British charts. It also didn’t produce any big hit singles – the title track was a minor hit, the other three releases caused barely any action. Part of this might have been down to the tumultuous release story (Mercury Records weren’t happy with the album and expected something more commercial, so Sony US, who apparently liked the album, bought the band and the album, subsequently making strange promotion decisions), but also due to the fact that RATKOS didn’t have much in common with the then-popular grunge (except the singles b-sides) and Britpop (a genre that surely owed a lot to TFF and their love for The Beatles and sixties sounds in general) styles. All of this shouldn’t give anybody interested the impression that RATKOS is forgettable or easy to dismiss. Ignore the bad reviews. Written during some tough times in Roland’s personal life, RATKOS is probably the most cohesive and conceptual album he has ever written. The lyrics are often obscure on purpose, the actual personal struggles behind the songs hidden behind metaphors and cryptic lines. Musically, RATKOS flows like no other TFF album (except perhaps the second half of SFTBC) and the way the songs hang together resembles Pink Floyd in quite a few places. All of that can’t hide the fact that “Sorry” and “Don't Drink the Water” are probably the heaviest, the most aggressive tracks ever recorded by TFF. While Roland clearly enjoyed making the album and playing the songs live, it turned out to be another “end of an era” as he became frustrated with having to promote the earliest TFF material in South America. After the tour, Roland put the band on hold.
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Post by Jules on Jan 7, 2016 17:00:31 GMT
"Everybody Loves a Happy Ending” is the reunion album of Roland & Curt. While the two had started talking (and writing) again in 2000, it took some time until the finished product was released. Apart from some grungy leftovers from RATKOS and particularly “Elemental” incorporated into the mix, the main style of ELAHE is much more in the Britpop vein than anything they’d done before. Like “Sowing the Seeds of Love”, ELAHE was mainly inspired by The Beatles and other Sixties bands but the album clearly lacks the soulfulness and free-flowing improvisation parts of the SOL album. Instead, the orchestrations are layered on thicker than ever (including a lot of mellotron and even real orchestral players on “Secret World”) and the atmosphere is somewhat bittersweet and while beautiful, also dark (Curt and Roland made some allusions that the album was mainly about midlife crisis and death). One important difference to the 80s work is that Curt had a lot more to do with the song writing, which may also be due to the involvement of Charlton Pettus, who Curt had worked with before in his Mayfield project. “Who You Are”, written by Curt and Charlton, is the first-ever TFF album track not to have Roland in the writing credits. While “Closest Thing to Heaven” was a minor hit, the album didn't receive the expected success. Again, being somewhat out of sync with the mainstream as well as another chaotic release history (and a distinct lack of promotion) can be pinpointed as some culprits for that. It didn't keep the album from being a steady seller and sometimes cited as one of the most impressive pieces of old-school pop songwriting of the 21st century, despite lack of chart success.
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Post by Jules on Feb 8, 2016 22:09:26 GMT
Live albums and video releases
The Videosingles (Video compilation) is a three-track VHS that included the video clips for “Mad World”, “Change” and “Pale Shelter”, the three hit singles off the debut. Unfortunately this wasn’t included in the box set reissue for “The Hurting”, even though there would’ve been enough space on the DVD. All three videos are available elsewhere.
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Post by Jules on Mar 2, 2016 16:46:54 GMT
In My Mind’s Eye – Live at Hammersmith Odeon (Live video) was the first visual documentation of a TFF concert. It has some significant value for the band’s history as the band tried out several new tracks that would later appear on their most successful album, Songs from the Big Chair. They went as far as actually using this recording of the second half of “Broken” on the studio album. There are two downsides to the video: Despite the late tour promoting the latest single “The Way You Are”, both the a-side and the b-side “The Marauders” were cut out of the concert video. The other problem is the extreme overproduction of the visual side, with pretty much every fancy effect of the time applied to the picture. The box set of “The Hurting” includes a straight digital transfer of the master (i.e. no additional material, cleaned up video or remixed sound) on the DVD.
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Post by Jules on Mar 2, 2016 16:53:52 GMT
The "Scenes from the Big Chair" documentary tells the story of “Songs from the Big Chair”, not only the most successful Tears for Fears album to date, but also one of the 80s defining pop albums. The video contains live clips from 1985, interviews, scenes from the tour and video shoots and the video clips of “Mothers Talk”, “Shout”, “Everybody Wants to Rule the World”, “Head over Heels” and “I Believe”. It has been released on DVD twice, first as a standalone DVD in 2006 and later as part of the SFTBC box set in 2014. Both also include a bonus interview made in 2005 with producer Chris Hughes. The 2006 edition also included “Going to California”
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Post by Jules on Mar 4, 2016 22:01:09 GMT
Like “The Videosingles” for “The Hurting”, "Sowing the Seeds" is a simple collection of the four music videos released in order to promote “The Seeds of Love” (i.e. no documentary parts to join them together á la “Scenes from the Big Chair”).
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Post by Jules on Mar 4, 2016 22:05:32 GMT
“Going to California” documents the “Seeds” tour with a full concert featuring Oleta Adams as a part of the backing band and also singing on quite a few tracks. This performance clearly shows the new looser approach of TFF with long bits of improvisation and rearranged tracks like “Change”. The video was included on the DVD release of “Scenes from the Big Chair” as a bonus and will likely reappear on the upcoming box set of “The Seeds of Love”.
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Post by Jules on Apr 25, 2017 21:07:13 GMT
(Thanks stevejhb for the reminder) Live at Knebworth is a VARIOUS ARTISTS release featuring excerpts from the day-long Knebworth festival. The CD contains a different selection of tracks compared to the 3-VHS/2-DVD/1 Blu-Ray. Tears for Fears played a shortened set, of which three songs were included on the video ("Change" is missing from the CD). It was not only a huge festival but also the last TFF performance with Curt until the 2000s. Both CD and Blu-Ray are highly recommended, most of the other artists played pretty well too though it's hard to match "Badman's Song"!
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stevejhb
Young at Heart
Posts: 8
Favourite TFF Album: The Seeds of Love
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Post by stevejhb on Apr 26, 2017 6:05:07 GMT
(Thanks stevejhb for the reminder) Live at Knebworth is a VARIOUS ARTISTS release featuring excerpts from the day-long Knebworth festival. The CD contains a different selection of tracks compared to the 3-VHS/2-DVD/1 Blu-Ray. Tears for Fears played a shortened set, of which three songs were included on the video ("Change" is missing from the CD). It was not only a huge festival but also the last TFF performance with Curt until the 2000s. Both CD and Blu-Ray are highly recommended, most of the other artists played pretty well too though it's hard to match "Badman's Song"! You're welcome Jules! I did NOT know it was the last performance with Curt until the reunion... That makes it even more poignant. I believe I shall go listen to it now and crank it up very loud, if that's okay with everyone...
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Post by Jules on Apr 28, 2017 18:20:01 GMT
Tears Roll Down: Greatest Hits 1982-1992
Including the video clips to all twelve songs on the compilation CD. “Shout” is a slight edit missing the first couple of seconds, “Head over Heels” isn’t crossfaded with “Broken (Live)” as on “Scenes from the Big Chair”, “I Believe” fades out instead of seguing into “The Working Hour” and “Mothers Talk” is here in the second version (single remix). The “Laid So Low” video is rather rare.
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Post by Jules on Apr 28, 2017 18:25:25 GMT
The Best of Tears for Fears: The DVD Collection
This US DVD is a bit of an oddity, as it contains a mere five tracks. The interesting thing about it is the inclusion of the US Remix “Mothers Talk” video, which has an extra intro compared to the version on the single. (It's been released on the SFTBC box set more recently, for those who wonder.)
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