Tears for Fears: C or D?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1UcE36uNvoA

"Elemental" is their weakest album, and yet it still has KILLER bits like the epic "Goodnight Song". The next album, "Raoul And The Kings Of Spain", is underrated in their catalog, it's really strong all the way through.

Everybody Loves A Happy Ending is definitely worth a listen - especially anyone here likes later period XTC, although it reminds me quite a great deal of the Boo Radley's Kingsize album in places too, weirdly.

And yeah, McBoing-Boing, I completely agree about Raoul And The Kings Of Spain and prefer that one over Elemental myself, too :)

*that likes

just in case anyone was wondering, 10 years later I totally love "Woman In Chains"

I love the way that 'Woman In Chains' builds up from that tiny intro up to the "SO FREE HER" outro.

Are there any interviews/articles etc. out there documenting the making of The Seeds Of Love album? I'd be very interested in hearing the details of how this record was made, probably even moreso than Songs From The Big Chair...

ditto

Here's one.

good read! had no idea they discovered oleta adams in a hotel bar in kansas city

She was also their pianist on that tour. I think it works;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_QziJg1I-BA

I've been geeking out on ]The Seeds of Love since this thread revival btw

I've been geeking out on ]The Seeds of Love since this thread revival btw

― the little prince of inane false binary hype (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, November 28, 2012 12:03 AM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Yeah, the very same! I've been kinda stuck on it for the last few days: listening to it on headphones, analysing it, poring over it, getting lost in it... there's so much stuff in there. Funny thing is, I've had this album for quite a while now, but I can't ever recall immersing myself in it to the degree that I have over the last few days!

Cheers for the link, anyway, Alfred - just about to give it a read :)

Elemental is a pretty cool record, i get that goofy "bring to me my big old sweater" song stuck in my head all the time

"Cold" is the jam.

DOG'S MY BEST FRIEND'S DOG however

An enterprising deejay should play it after Pearl Jam's "Pilate."

lol

Christ almighty, they spent 10 months working on the record (The Seeds Of Love) with Chris Hughes and then junked the whole lot before starting afresh? Assuming those tapes haven't gone missing/been overwritten/been erased, just imagine the amount of alternate takes and versions there must be of these tracks!?

Over two weeks spent editing various takes for the drums together for 'Badman's Song'!? Talk about meticulous.

The Seeds of Love is Talk Talk's Spirit of Eden beholden to boomer notions of love, peace, and jammin'.

With a bit of Skylarking thrown in, too.

Over two weeks spent editing various takes for the drums together for 'Badman's Song'!? Talk about meticulous.

― The Jupiter 8 (Turrican), Tuesday, November 27, 2012 7:45 PM (27 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

the hilarious thing is that was AFTER they decided to 'simplify' and get away from overly programmed music!

Yeah, it's like they couldn't completely shake off their perfectionist tendencies. Which is completely fine with me, I guess, because the end result sounds great. Those editing sessions must have been really fucking tedious to get through, though!

Eh, this was just them indulging their inner Peter Gabriel (not a coincidence both Phil Collins and Manu Katche play drums on the record). Tears For Fears was always a prog band at heart, bless 'em.

Well, none of the tracks sound Gabrielicious.

No, but they are fussy.

It's interesting that the linked article mentions The Blue Nile, because I was given both "Hats" and "The seeds of love" for Xmas 89 and even then it seemed like different sides of the same studio perfectionist streak - both had been long anticipated albums, but one seemed 'bigger' than the other. I love "Badman's song" the most, tbh. There's so much going on and considering the work that went into it, it does sound almost spontaneous. What's with that lone reverbed handclap during the piano breakdown halfway through the song?

Yeah, I completely agree - even though the album has been pored over and pieced together meticulously, it still ends up sounding more organic and less 'rigid' than Songs From The Big Chair. I think if there's any track on Songs From The Big Chair that points the way to The Seeds Of Love, it's probably 'I Believe'.

I need to check this album out after all this talk. Love the couple songs I know from it, but never heard the rest.

Elemental is patchy, but "Cold" and "Fish Out of Water"... I have a lot of time for those songs. And of course "Break It Down Again." I saw them live a couple years back and was very surprised to hear them play that last one. I figured it was one of those songs they would forget happened - made in Curt's absence, not a big hit comparatively.

Just as an aside, I love how Curt Smith issued a solo album under the name of "Mayfield" because ... er ... Curt Is Mayfield!

it being their last real hit of any consequence counts for a lot, i think. it's aged well, too!

xpost lol that never occurred to me. i thought Mayfield was a group, though?

There's at least two references on "Seeds" to "Big Chair" - Curt sings "Working Hour is over" on "Advice" and Roland sings "...if you're a worried man, shout about it" on the title track. Are there any others?

just a couple beatles geeks trying to look through a glass onion

yeah Orzabal-Smith sound like they heard and loved only two Beatles songs: that one and "I Am the Walrus."

I love it how the lyric "the sun and the moon, the wind and the rain" keeps popping up every so often throughout the album. It's on 'Woman In Chains', 'Year Of The Knife' and 'Famous Last Words'... it's definitely intentional.

Faith can move mountains, BUT MIND OVER MATTER WON'T STOP ALL YOUR CHATTER, NO!!!

Regarding Everyone Loves A Happy Ending, 'Call Me Mellow' is like the best song that Andy Partridge never wrote and included on a late '80s/early '90s XTC album!

Exactly. It's such an up, joyous album, kind of a full-circle from "The Hurting". It's nice they (and I) grew up and out of miserablism.

I agree. They wouldn't have been being true to themselves if they'd made a miserable, downer album in the same style as their first one... not to mention it could have sounded completely ridiculous if they'd taken that approach!

The Seeds Of Love seriously doing it for me right now... again!

I finally checked out The Seeds of Love... wow. Granted I knew 3 of the 8 tracks, but I adore the album's use of texture, especially in the quieter tracks. Moody, downbeat, yet somehow colorful. It's fussy exactly in the way I like fussy. The only track that threw me was "Badman's Song", which is a real curveball, but I plan on sinking into this album some more. Reminds me a lot of the path Talk Talk took.

ctrl+f "Talk Talk"
Yeah looks like Alfred had the same thought as me. Oh also, the guitar tone they use on "Year of the Knife" is magical.

Nice one, Vinnie... it really opens itself up with repeated plays on headphones, too... there's a lot of detail in there!

I was just listening on Spotify over crappy laptop speakers, but even from there, I could tell there's a lot of detail baked into this album. Plan to make my next listen on headphones.

"The Working Hour" is made for car boomin' systems.

SftBC is such an awesome sounding record.

There's a forthcoming 4cd box set for The Hurting coming soon!

Way too much Hurting for me.

http://www.superdeluxeedition.com/news/tears-for-fears-the-hurting-four-disc-box-set-exclusive-details/

The Hurting has a few good tunes (I don't see "Watch Me Bleed" praised much) but no way in hell is it better than SFTBC or TSOL.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GL_N1dVtddM