Tears for Fears: C or D?

otm, was happy to hear his voice on so many of the songs

there's a few moments that almost eerily reflect the best moments on 'seeds'

for two:
- the ringing guitars that come in at the end of "rivers of mercy" strongly evoke the guitar during the outro of "women in chains"
- the chord that kicks off the verse in "break the man" is verry similar to the suspended chord that opens "advice for the young at heart"

https://tapeop.com/interviews/147/roland-orzabal/

I got together with Curt at the beginning of 2020, before the pandemic was announced. Curt wasn’t into it. He wasn’t into being in Tears For Fears. He didn’t need to be in Tears For Fears and didn’t need the money. Fair enough. So, for the first time in many, many decades, we sat down together at his house in L.A. with two acoustic guitars and an iPhone, recording, and came up with a song called “No Small Thing.” That was the point at which Curt became interested again. He sprang to life. Then “Rivers of Mercy,” “Master Plan,” and “Break The Man” all came afterwards.

Then Smith left...and returned

Yeah, what *is* it between those two? Do they really dislike each other or something?

I think it's honestly that they've been linked together since they were 13 or so. Like, I can't think of the last time I saw a couple of my cousins, and I can't think of the next time I might see my cousins. If my cousins were in town and wanted to grab a drink I'd probably say sure. If they asked me to fly out to visit, or go on a trip together, I'd likely say no.

There's probably tension between them about Curt's relative creative input, both then and now.

their recent gq interview (conducted by a certain dude) is somewhat enlightening on the subject: https://www.gq.com/story/tears-for-fears-interview-the-tipping-point/amp

Orzabal said in the interview they get on fine when recording, lol

the back half of this is a bit of a slog on first listen, hoping it'll grow on me

"End of Night", track 9, is the album favorite for me on first listen.

First four songs and "End Of Night" are the ones I like here. Over all surprised at the slickness of the production, for good and bad. Wouldn't be surprised to hear some of this stuff in an upcoming Netflix series or something.

Something very early '00s in the production with all the whooshes and chirruping synths and shiny background vocals. I kind of miss the sound of these guys recording in big actual rooms/studios - a lot sounds like it was created remotely, in the box, with an arsenal of the best plugins.

Smith's voice does sound phenomenal. Orzabal's has changed a lot, I think. That great bellowy tone of his is extremely subdued now.

Good interview:

You guys grew up together, and you’ve really come back to one another in making this record. What is the biggest difference creating together now as adults with your perspective, than maybe it was back in the day?

Orzabal: I mean, it’s much easier. We’re never too worried about taking each other too seriously. But I do think that we have a more profound respect for each other. We’re not butting heads. Maybe it’s the fact that the testosterone is dropping rapidly when you get to our age, I don’t know. But if we bicker now or if we argue now, it only lasts a couple of minutes, and then one of us says: “OK, shall we have a cup of tea?”

Smith: In marriage terms, we’ve got to the “Yes, dear” stage of our relationship.

https://variety.com/2022/music/news/tears-for-fears-tipping-point-album-tour-interview-1235190302/

“Tipping point” sounds like a Ghost song

I agree with Alfred that I wish they still wrote more faster/uptempo material, but this is good for what it is.

album is alright, definitely liked the singles more than the rest of it but it may grow on me. I think I like it more than the last one and Raoul, it's about on par with Elemental to me.

"Big Chair" was as commercial as anything on the charts and they took that sound and made something that I find listenable as someone musically trained...but I am not sure the approach worked for on later recordings.

However I was surprised when I revisited "Big Chair" how good it is, so maybe I ought to give them a chance, based on what I'm reading here.

The first three are all great in their own ways: moody insular synthy debut; intense but intensely melodic arena ready second record; indulgent, ambitious, long gestating third record.

Why doesn’t the cover of Songs from the Big Chair have the guys sitting in a big chair? Maybe holding a mock-up of a story book with little children at their feet. Instead of that Simon and Garfunkel-ass cover.

http://24.media.tumblr.com/1965c971618f53b5b79a1c0c95152ce4/tumblr_monvkfiU1l1sv68fzo1_500.gif

anyone heard the three bonus tracks?

I think I like it more than the last one and Raoul, it's about on par with Elemental to me.

That's exactly what I was gonna write but it sounds like it's a higher compliment in my book (Raoul is the only TFF album I don't like, everything else is good or better). This new one is a smoother, more consistent album than Elemental but doesn't have the peaks that album had. But it's just nice to hear these guys' voices after so long

Casual tears fans can safely steer clear of this hodgepodge

Casual tears fans can safely steer clear of this hodgepodge

anyone heard the three bonus tracks?

― Paul Ponzi, Saturday, February 26, 2022 1:05 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

they're good as anything on the album, albeit while listening to "secret location" i wondered when exactly i had put on a tame impala record

of all three i think i would want "shame" to be on the album most, just fits the desolate world-ending sophistipop mood of the rest of the material, though it wouldn't help anyone alienated by the sleepier tempos

I haven't heard this, but I did hear the two new songs they put on Rule the World: The Greatest Hits ("Stay" seems to be on this new record as well). I got the impression of a lot of highly effortful programming and manipulation of digital files, not a lot of strong songwriting.

xp ah, thanks, good to know. It doesn't sound like it's worth tracking down the special edition then, especially as I'm kinda meh on most of the record so far

I wonder what cultural shift have occurred to give this album so much more attention than Everybody Loves a Happy Ending in 2004. Were we not ready for the TFF revival yet?

Yeah, I was thinking how funny it is that this is being treated as a big reunion when, in fact, it's a second reunion, and even then a reunion of the principals, since the band itself remained more or less active.

I think time has just been very kind to their legacy, but that didn't stretch as far as the releasing of new music last time around

I wonder this sort of thing all the time but I just assume it's occult PR stuff rather than the result of any cultural shift. Like how that most recent Neil Young album was inescapable on my timeline for some reason despite the fact that previously no one ever seemed to talk about any of the guy's previous ten million albums since 2010. The Tipping Point feels like this, too.

Well, #christgau

A lot of highly effortful programming

I love this phrase.

even then a reunion of the principals

not even that, it's just their first new material since 2004 but smith & orzabal have been playing together the whole time since then

comeback rather than a new reunion

this is also objectively a better album than the 2004 one

i think they're also just much cooler & more popular now than they were in 2004. synthpop & sophistipop have come back in style since then, they're regularly sampled & cited as big influences by newer acts, quite a few of their singles have now reached beloved pop classic status that idk if they quite had back then. they also recently upgraded to headlining arenas in just the last five years or so, which is pretty unusual for a legacy act who reunited over a decade ago and had mostly been playing theatres in the years since.

though i might have expected there would have been a bit more interest back then than there was, since the "mad world" cover was a huge hit not long before. but it looks like they also had some label trouble when trying to release everybody loves a happy ending and the labels it ended up on probably didn't have the resources or desire to give it much of a push at all, idk. the fact that they'd never officially broken up & orzabal had been using the name as a solo project for a while that also probably didn't help.

are those 90s orzabal-only albums any good btw, i've never checked them out

elemental is great, still have yet to listen to raoul

orzabal's solo album tomcats screaming outside is also v good

Title tracks for Elemental and Raoul are both memorable. The absence of Curt's input is noticeable, as both albums tend to drift. I'd welcome a birdistheword reconstruction of Raoul since I suspect that there's a pretty decent album buried in there (esp when considering the expanded version.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BAc7sFurdUI

one of their best songs

god, and "mr pessimist" too... i don't listen to this record enough

Elemental is weird, split between like 3-4 amazing songs, 3 not very successful experiments, and a few pretty good songs in between. In addition to the big single Brad just posted, I love "Cold" and "Fish Out of Water", which is a Curt diss track lol. With Raoul, I only like the title track

"Cold" is terrific.

_Elemental_ sounded great cranked on the car stereo, back in the day. "Goodnight Song" is a top 5 TFF track for me.

The first three tracks of Elemental are especially great, lyrics about his knitwear withstanding, when he opens up and bellows out a chorus he sounds fantastic, it's kinda what I want from TFF (unfairly, I know) big open, dramatic choruses.

This month's Classic Pop mag has a fantastic long interview; they've really been through some shit, i had no idea. Cracking episode of Sodajerker here too. They seem to be in a very good mood of late; amazingly!

https://open.spotify.com/episode/4aBnSKodONCeCoVGww28gi?si=2569cc0492ee48b0

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

Really liked the vocal analysis, I think I realized something unusual was there when I've tried to sing the song myself (and sound bad). Now that he points it out it's very clear to hear how Curt has to slide up to the right note many times