Tears for Fears: C or D?

KISS did one in the 90s

That many acts in a single day, how do they even do that? They must all share the same gear.

Thought B-52s did a farewell tour already?

that just wrapped up so I guess this could be considered a finale. I've actually never seen them so that's part of the reason why I'm tempted by this (along with the Cardigans, who are never going to tour the US if their FB comments are to be believed)

iirc the B-52s have stopped touring but said they’d still play the occasional festival and such

bonkers lineup but seeing as i couldn’t get it together for cruel world, which was literally seven miles from my house…

Pre-Tears For Fears Graduate appearing on Mike Reid's Runaround children's quiz show in 1980! What a strange (and not very good) band, what were they trying to be? Now a-gih a-gih a-gih gooooooooooo!!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0Il4Sh9TQQ

kind of a new wave take on 60s mod pop?

really hate that madness-esque turnaround thing at the end of the verses

when i say that madness-esque turnaround thing, i might actually mean ian dury-esque, but you know what i mean

New wave take on mod with a fucking flute?

weren't there some mod/garage/freakbeat-type bands with flutes? like the troggs or someone

I'm not saying it's not a weird thing btw, just groping for some sort of context

what were they trying to be?

PJ Harvey

(xp) "Wild Thing" had an ocarina on it. Never mind the mod thing though how many new wave acts had a flautist in their ranks?

(xp) lol

I read "ocarina" as "cocaine"

Annie Lennox was a flautist, there's flute on a couple of Eurythmics tracks. Not sure she ever used it in the Tourists though (I have never listened to the Tourists)

But that's by the bye really, the flute on that song is very much part of its 60s-ness imo, the new wave bit is the production and clunky chorus

Plenty of flute examples in and around the era. Genesis and Jethro Tull (of course); Tears for Fears love their prog. But "Down Under" was only the next year, and not long before we get to "One Night in Bangkok." That TFF song def. sounds more like the '60s than 1980 to me, disco-y Ian Dury turnaround bit aside.

Kraftwerk had flute through Autobahn

not sure they were going for a prog thing really, this was how they were presenting themselves at the time...

https://bluehatrecords.files.wordpress.com/2020/07/elvis-should-play-ska-flyer-with-tour-dates.jpg

uncanny how the logo on the kick drum resembles a 'play' icon, that was clever of them

I'd say they were just young and confused because the flute calls to mind capering prog folk before it does the groovy 60s.

yes to young and confused plus also throwing whatever instruments they'd learned as kids into the mix, just cos it seemed like a good idea at the time

some more footage here that has them sounding somehwere between xtc, secret affair and madness

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

“Elvis Should Play Ska”. A light jab at Elvis Costello, after the famous rocker took a swipe at the genre, the track is filled with the up-strummed chords, a spiky guitar solo and some fantastic drumming. No horns, but the track is so bouncy and catchy they aren’t really needed.

Wonder if this song was written before 2 Tone took off. The skank of "Detectives" and "Chelsea" seems an odd thing to object to.

The album is pretty good IIRC but then I like this sort of thing.

Elvis Costello, after the famous rocker took a swipe at the genre

Wait, what? At the least EC was pretty tuned in to and in tune with 2 Tone.

kind of interesting that Mark Hollis started out making fairly similar music in The Reaction as their careers maybe followed somewhat similar paths through the 80s:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GlxZ8FW2q8g

xp I took it as a bad choice of words and what they meant was Elvis having done skaish tunes

more like "took a stab" perhaps?

They sound more like XTC than anyone else tbh. The mod connection seems like a bit of bandwagon jumping.

would imagine that xtc's influence was pretty strong in that part of the country

Indeed!

was actually living somewhere between bath and swindon at that time, but would've been too young to have recognized the pungent scent of partridge in the breeze

That I know or have known numerous people who went to school with TFF is one of my not-at-all-claims-to-fame-but-I-like-mentioning-it

were they too visible from westbury white horse?

watched this live a couple weeks back, Curt Smith performing Mad World at a temple here in L.A.

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

xp Probably not - Beckford's Tower is the main spot in Bath to see the horse

my username is v. shit but that's what I get for making an account here about eight years before I began posting

I read "ocarina" as "cocaine"

― hat trick of trashiness (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn)

the legend of zelda: cocaine of time

Trying to remember the Chris Morris quote about Sowing The Seeds Of Love.

Really had no idea Orzabal and Smith had made music like this. I always thought "kick out the Style, bring back the Jam" was a weird line because TFF are closer to the Style, but now I'm rethinking things

The album is pretty good IIRC but then I like this sort of thing.

What sort of thing is it though?

Tuneful jerky new wave+power pop hinterland

There was this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBq6pBhyNq8