Tears for Fears: C or D?

tears for fears deliver on the bombastic promise of simple minds at their worst and most anthemic

it's hard to be a man when there's a gun in your hand

tears for fears deliver on the bombastic promise of simple minds at their worst and most anthemic

― erry red flag (f. hazel), Sunday, June 11, 2017

otm

I've said it before, but Tears For Fears may be the only band in the world influenced by '80 Genesis​, bless 'em.

no quibbles with that list. excellent

Was hoping this would be news about the loooong promised new album. Feel like these guys have at least one more great album left in them - the last one had a few excellent moments

I don't hear '80s Genesis in TFF.

The drums, guitars and synths alone on "Songs from the Big Chair" are totally '80s Genesis, especially a song like "Broken;" Manny Elias definitely had Phil Collins on the mind. The songwriting is much better than '80s Genesis, though, which (go figure) makes a big difference!

The songwriting is much better than '80s Genesis

Interesting argument but I can't fully agree with it. Big Chair was a solid album but the albums after were fairly spotty. Although I guess one could say the same of the solid Duke and the spottier records that followed from Genesis. But Genesis seemed to understand the value of concision in their pop songs far more than TFF. The tracks on Seeds Of Love in particular run overly long and would've benefited from an editor's knife.

welll, it WAS the year of the knife

The Hurting is generally brilliant with a few patchy parts. Songs from the Big Chair is near perfection. Can't get on with most of seeds of love at all though. Badman's Song sounds like every negative cliche of bad 80s production that usually isn't true, but here is 100% accurate.

I need "I Believe" and none of the 90s stuff, but sounds about right.

honestly when I say Tears for Fears I pretty much only mean big chair, which is one of my favorite albums.

I'd be happy if they just released a 10" of covers every 6 months.

New single coming soon!

Elemental is such a jam

^ that album's great. first CD I ever bought :)

New album coming soon called The Tipping Point, apparently. New single is called 'I Love You But I'm Lost'

hmm, same title as a great sharon van etten track

'My Demons', 'End of Night' and 'Up Above the World' are other tracks apparently confirmed to be on there - the general vibe of the record has been described as "clubby"

(x-post)

Elemental is such a jam

― MaresNest, Wednesday, October 11, 2017 6:16 PM (seventeen minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

The two Curtless TFF albums tend to get swept under the carpet for some reason - there's some great material on both.

DOG'S A BEST FRIEND'S DOG

Raoul and the Kings of Spain in particular came out to very little fanfare other than from the TFF hardcore. Everyone else ignored it.

I'm not much into the Orzabal solo record, though.

As for co-headlining with Hall & Oates, c'mon guys, stop being so hard on yourselves - you're better than that.

The money pays the bills, I'm sure.

"Elemental" is my least favorite album of theirs - "Break It Down Again" really rankled me at the time, it felt like dumbed-down TFF aiming for the charts. It worked, I guess. It's not a *bad* album - I do love the title track and the closer, "Goodnight Song" - but it's the last one I'd reach for to put on.

"Raoul And The Kings Of Spain" is really strong, though. I saw that tour and Roland was in fine form, covering Radiohead's "Creep" and being a big he-man goof on stage.

isn't Elemental a solo album for all intents and purposes?

I suppose it is. His proper solo album, "Tomcats Screaming Outside", has its charms as an example of "artist tries different style and fails in an enjoyable way".

Yeah, Orzabal's work under his own name was different to the TFF stuff.

^ that album's great. first CD I ever bought :)

First album I ever bought too (tho cassette)! Over the years, I went from really liking it, to hating it, to liking it again

i heard curt smith's second solo album. it had one good song on it. any good songs on either of his other two?

Had them, sold them. So - no.

Yeah, I'm not a fan of Smith's solo stuff either, even though I've always preferred his voice to Orzabal's.

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

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=5k293MR--EE

🎵 And I find it kind of funny
I find it kind of sad
The times at which I'm online
Are the most I'm ever mad 🎶

— Jacob Hunsburger | Abolish ICE (@jacobhunsburger) December 12, 2016

Elemental is a jam tbh, if some consider it their worst i should check out their subsequent releases i guess. it's a pretty good listen the whole way thru imo. Break it Down Again, love it!

altho:

"No sleep for dreaming" say the architects of life
Big bouncing babies, bread and butter - can I have a slice?

ok

Hated them at the time as a kid, hate them now.

I always think of 1982 as the big fabulous party of New Pop, with ABC and the Associates and Adam & The Ants and Soft Cell and Madness and Haircut 100 and a pre-shitness Simple Minds et al . . . and then 1983 was its horrible stinking hangover with the likes of this lot, Howard Jones, Thompson Twins, Nik Kershaw, Kajagoogoo and all that drivel.

Elemental is a really good record. It's their fourth best after the first big three.

jon123's 0-2 in the last hour :)

I'll soldier on . . .

Don't know Kajagoogoo's catalog at all but I like the other 1983 artists you mentioned. They share a love of atmosphere and mood that I associate strongly with the 80s

Elemental is their 4th best record but it's still a bit patchy. First three tracks are great, but I don't need to think about "Dog's a Best Friend's Dog" again. It's certainly better than Raoul though, which is a shockingly bland album. 2004 album is similar to Elemental in having strong peaks, but the other tracks are even worse. That said, I am still waiting patiently for a new TFF album - I liked the single they released a few years ago

Was Things Can Only Get Better a big hit in the US for Howard Jones? Think it's cropped up in a about 3 or 4 US shows recently

Yes. Out of the handful he had, "Things" was easily his biggest hit here. Probably the only HoJo song you're likely to hear in the states these days.

Maybe "No One is to Blame" came close?

It was a hit here but I think "What Is Love?" is the one most people would remember.

I think "What is Love" was a big video on MTV in that early era, but didn't see the same success in terms of nationwide mainstream radio play/sales of the single itself.
It definitely was enough to break him into the US market in the first place though and probably his second most recognizable to most people.

"No One is to Blame" was big at the time (thanks in no small part to Phil Collins' touch giving it a nice "adult contemporary" sheen) but probably more for the 30+ crowd than the youth - I don't think it's aged very well.

"New Song" is also a very underrated, mostly forgotten single these days...

And back to TFF really quick, but am I the only one who's never really gotten the love for "Sowing the Seeds of Love" (the song, that is). The video was cool and all and I get the whole Beatles homage thing, but for the lead single to the followup to "Big Chair" it always struck me as somewhat... lacking. I absolutely love the verse melody, but the chorus starts to grate by the third go-around... and it's long for a pop single. Never understood why it was as big as it was at the time.

There's such an overbearing slickness with this band's sound. Everything is perfect to the point of deadness, like Jude Law's face in the movie AI.