Tears for Fears: C or D?

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

holy hell

this is demented

Isn't it.

I actually like the covers they've been doing. Quietly gearing up for something in a way that makes me eager to see what they come up with next. The covers & the Tumblr are a perfectly executed strategy.

10 years between albums, I'm expecting something akin the XTC 's "Apple Venus", IE a great album after so much time off.

"My Girls" seems slightly pointless.

Lyrics still no less obnoxious, but at least the sound of this cover doesn't make me feel queasy.

10 years between albums, I'm expecting something akin the XTC 's "Apple Venus", IE a great album after so much time off.

― Gerald McBoing-Boing, Tuesday, December 17, 2013 8:11 PM (3 days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I'd be happy with something with the production depth of The Seeds Of Love, myself!

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

The 80s had big overdone sax in so many pop songs, and it just overwhelmed everything with its heavy slick sleazy stripper-pole sound so often. But this song has a sax intro that is kind of dated, but the saxaphone in it is strong and expressive in a way more like the clarinet in Joni Mitchell's For Free.

I fucking love this song.

Can't think of a better example of big overdone 80s sax myself.

"Woman in Chains" is so pretty.

'Advice For The Young At Heart' is perfection to me... the song, the production, the vocal...

i have this weird thing where lots of songs vaguely remind me of "Advice" and i tend to feel instant affection for them just because of that (examples: Wye Oak's "We Were Wealth," India Arie's "Just Do You").

"Advice..." is their sophisti-pop song (those bongos remind me of "Shattered Dreams") so Curt Smith singing it makes sense.

do we have a dedicated sophistipop thread or anything?

as a kid i loved the "Head Over Heels" video because there was a monkey in it. as an adult, i love it because of the guy making ridiculous faces and saying "YEAH!" after playing a synthesizer solo in the library.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O9-Vb-Sj7uU

This one is old: S&D: Sophistipop

These have candidates: Swing Out Sister - "Breakout" C/D

Johnny Hates Jazz "Shattered Dreams" C/D

^^ that one ends with a request like yours, ship

these two seem to share a common ancestor:

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

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qH16ax3t1T4

both great videos.

Sorry, I thought the second video was the actual music vid. Here is the song, to compare with DJ Shadow:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aEMtSPZNch8

Shadow's was an actual sample of the Pekka Pohjola track. The descending four chord sequence isn't particularly complicated and it's possible that Orzabel came up with them on his own. Have there been any lawsuits?

No way is that a coincidence. Tears for Fears added eight beats, so it's not exactly the same, but the first eight are exactly the same chords, in the same key played in the exact same rhythm, on the same instrument (which I assume is a Wurlitzer electric piano). I think Tears for Fears borrowed it from an obscure record, then DJ Shadow sampled the same record.

From Steven Wilson's site.

My remix of Tears for Fears’ iconic 80’s album “Songs From the Big Chair” is included on a 30th anniversary reissue, to be released by Universal Music Group on 4th November.

Songs from the Big Chair was one of the biggest albums of the 80’s, and particularly successful in the USA where it reached number one in the Billboard chart on its way to selling several million copies. It features two US number one singles, Shout and Everybody Wants to Rule the World, as well as 2 more hit singles Head Over Heels and Mother’s Talk.

It’s a brilliant record by a truly innovative 80’s band – both accessible and ambitious. The reissue will be available in several different formats including a stand-alone Blu-Ray and a comprehensive 6 disc deluxe edition with live tracks, singles, B-sides, TV/radio appearances, remixes, videos, and the original mix.

There will also be a vinyl edition of my new stereo mix. The new stereo and 5.1 mixes were overseen and approved by Roland Orzabal (and are included as flat transfers with no mastering). More details and track listing are available on SuperDeluxeEdition.

Didn't know Wilson did this. I love his Crimson remixes.

Down the rabbit hole with this 5 disc deluxe edition, it's super annoying that the Stephen Wilson remix is only on DVD and not CD, making it more of a pain to rip (and making it unavailable on Spotify)

I haven't played that Wilson remix, is it all that different?

The Seeds of Love = Songs From The Big Chair > The Hurting > Raoul and The Kings of Spain > Everybody Loves A Happy Ending > Elemental

I was just today thinking about starting/finding a thread about songs that you didn't realize were sublime until you were able to escape their once-numbing ubiquity, specifically with respect to "Head Over Heels". I don't know how there was ever a time when that thing sounded to me like just another meh radio pop song.

Love this band so much. I'd also like to nominate "Everybody Wants To Rule The World" as containing some of the best lyrics to ever crack the Top 40.