Mad world (Tears For Fears) (LP 4089 - 4095)

Tears For Fears  The Hurting (CD, Mercury Records, 1983) *****  

Tears For Fears  Songs from the Big Chair (CD, Mercury Records, 1985) ***** 

Tears For Fears  Sowing the Seeds of Love (Vinyl and CD, Mercury/Fontana Records, 1989) *****

Tears For Fears  Elemental (CD, Mercury Records, 1993) **** 

Tears For Fears  Raoul and the Kings of Spain (CD, Epic Records, 1995) *** 

Tears For Fears  Everybody Loves a Happy Ending (CD, New Door Records, 2004) *****

Tears For Fears  The Tipping Point (Vinyl, Concord Records, 2022) ***** 

Genre: Alt pop, synth pop, pop, new wave 

Places I remember: Fopp, HMV, Real Groovy Records

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Sowing the Seeds of Love (STSOL)

Gear costume: Head Over Heels (SFTBC)

They loom large in his legend (The Album Collection playlists): Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; Part 5; Part 6

Active compensatory factors: I have written about their singles before, and that's a good place to start because the band first came to my attention via the big hits: Mad World; Shout; Everybody Wants To Rule the World. However, those hits gave a false impression back in the eighties. It took me a while to back track to their albums and figure out what they were on about.

Tears For Fears is a duo made up of Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith. They took their name from a phrase in Arthur Janov's book Prisoners of Pain. Yes - that Arthur Janov, who also introduced his primal scream techniques to John and Yoko. 

The Hurting, their debut, was wildly successful on the back of three singles (Mad World, Change, Pale Shelter) - a number 1 album! Strange given the album is centred around Roland Orzabal's songs about childhood traumas and Janov's theories. Those traumas make for a serious piece of art but this is music, not an autobiography and the guys walk the tightrope brilliantly! Number 1 album remember.

Given its early eighties origins, the music may be inspired by artists like Peter Gabriel, Talking Heads and Joy Division, but Tears For Fears create their own sound. 

The Hurting, and second album Songs from the Big Chair have some extraordinary songs - even though the BIG eighties sound does come crashing through at times (Broken on SFTBC is an example).

Songs from the Big Chair expands on the sound of The Hurting and is more outgoing (according to Curt Smith) with a more pop rock sound. That said, there are still some beautiful prog rock passages in thoughtful songs like I Believe and Listen.

There were a number of successful singles from their second album which I wrote about in that previous post: Mothers Talk; Shout; Everybody Wants to Rule the World; Head Over Heels. 

Sowing the Seeds of Love is their third album and my third five star review. It's also my favourite Tears For Fears album, thanks to the rich Beatlesque approach. They still manage to sound like Tears For Fears though. Every song is a work of art - it's their masterpiece. Unfortunately, the album and tour also resulted in the pair splitting up for a spell.

Vocalist Oleta Adams is a revelation on the album's opening song - the amazing Woman in Chains. The rest of the album reaches similar peaks. It's remarkable.

Although Tears For Fears continued on through the nineties, it was Roland on his own with additional musicians. His first album was Elemental in 1993. It backs off from the dense Beatlesque I am The Walrus style and is more soulful, while still sounding like TFF. Roland was the chief writer and producer and co-vocalist with Curt, after all. 

Interestingly, Brian Wilson Sad sounds like 10CC doing The Beach Boys, the deliberately nasty Fish Out of water is targeted at Curt but he found it funny (which it is actually), and the best song for me is the closer Goodnight Song.

Raoul and the Kings of Spain was Roland's next (and final) solo/Tears For Fears album. It met with commercial indifference but it's not that bad (some of the lyrics are risible - it has to be said). The Beatlesque mid period has been abandoned by this point and a mainstream rock sound dominates. That doesn't mean it's a disappointment. I like the album, but he clearly needed help with the singing and the lyrics.

That help would eventually come in 2004 with a Curt/Roland reunion and the album Everybody Loves a Happy Ending. I love this album! It's unashamedly a pop album and a return to a Beatlesque hook-filled anthems and their old art pop excess stance. This album stands proudly next to Jellyfish, 10CC, ELO et al. It's a triumphant return to form, but not yet an ending, happy or otherwise, thank goodness.

Because, seventeen years later (yes, 17) they were back with The Tipping Point. Six (yes, 6) singles were lifted from the album. That tells you how commercially viable this album is - chock full of catchy pop songs. The instrumentation has been scaled back throughout and that allows the songs to shine. Many of the songs are about the recent (in 2017) death of Roland's wife, Caroline - so it's a sober (not sombre) mood that exists throughout. Somehow, they manage to walk that tightrope. Yes, it was (another) triumphant return.   

Where do they all belong? Let's hope they continue the collaboration into the future - I need Tears For Fears music in my life. That's it for the studio albums, btw - onto the live ones and compilations next.