Tears for Fears Albums (7)
'Secret World'
Release Date 3/28/2006
Tracks 21
Label Xiii Bis France
See Album Tracklist and Review
'Everybody Loves a Happy Ending'
Release Date 4/6/2004
Tracks 12
Label Arista
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What The Critics Say
More than a decade has passed since Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith parted ways with their soulful and ambitious swansong, Seeds of Love. Orzabal released two records under the Tears for Fears moniker in the mid-'90s, but the band's signature blend of hook-filled anthems and art pop excess seemed destined to reside eternally in the post-new wave graveyard of the '80s. Then came the film Donnie Darko, a left-field cult hit that featured California singer/songwriter Gary Jules' chart-topping (in the U.K. anyway) rendition of the band's 1983 hit, "Mad World." The renewed interest in the group found the boys ready and willing to set aside their differences and give it another go, and the resulting Everybody Loves a Happy Ending capably exhibits why that interest was there in the first place. Tears for Fears have always dabbled in the Beatlesque, but never as blatantly as on the full-peacock flush of the colorful title cut. Like ELO rearranging Paul and Linda McCartney's "Uncle Albert-Admiral Halsey," it's the first flag in a sea of red signaling a return to form that many deemed unlikely. "Closest Thing to Heaven" builds off of "Sowing the Seeds of Love"'s blueprints -- it even utilizes the mid-track reverse drum fill -- without coming off as a carbon copy. This is the closest they have come to crafting a possible hit single in years, and it's a testament to their "still flexing" pop chops that they can meld a bittersweet piano dirge with a sunny '70s soft rock chorus without sounding contrived. "Who Killed Tangerine" continues mining the Beatles vein, juxtaposing each spooky verse against a chorus reminiscent of "Hey Jude." They haven't abandoned the adult contemporary pop that began to creep in post-Smith -- "Size of Sorrow" and "Ladybird" are nice and forgettable -- but the dark experimental nature of songs like "Quiet Ones" and "Devil" make up for the occasional blandness. Everybody Loves a Happy Ending will do little to convert those who winced at Orzabal and Smith's obtuse lyrics and over the top production the first time around, but loyal followers, fans of XTC's Apple Venus, Pt. 1, and lovers of intricately arranged and artfully executed pop music will find themselves delightfully consumed by another chapter from this enigmatic group. ~ James Christopher Monger, All Music Guide
'Raoul and the Kings of Spain'
Release Date 1/1/1995
Tracks 12
Label Epic
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What The Critics Say
The second Tears for Fears album following Curt Smith's departure finds Roland Orzabal treading water (and self-consciously deep water at that). Long removed from the simple, melodic melancholy of the band's early work and abandoning the mid-period Beatles-influenced pop, Raoul and the Kings of Spain often borders on progressive rock. There's some genuinely pretty music, like the piano-driven ballad "Secrets," with its soaring guitar line, and the gentle "Sketches of Pain." ~ Tom Demalon, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
On Elemental, Tears for Fears is Roland Orzabal, and he backs away from the cinematic production of The Seeds of Love, preferring a more direct and soulful style of pop music that appeals to both adult contemporary and adult alternative radio audiences. While some of the material is a little weak, the record is easily as good as its immediate predecessor. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Along with Songs from the Big Chair, The Seeds of Love was part of a one-two artistic punch in the late '80s that situated Tears for Fears as one of the decade's more ambitious pop groups. But at the time, Tears was more a platform for Roland Orzabal than a true band -- Curt Smith is present only on the smash "Sowing the Seeds of Love" (his only co-writing credit), while Ian Stanley was replaced by Nicky Holland as a keyboardist and Orzabal's songwriting partner. Like their other albums, The Seeds of Love continues the concept of moving from hurting to healing to beginning anew (the hit "Sowing the Seeds of Love") to growing apart. The songs feature expansive melodies instead of blatant hooks, and the sound is more grounded in soul and gospel on songs like "Woman in Chains," the updated Philly-soul strain of "Advice for the Young at Heart" and "Badman's Song." Orazabal's passionate vocals are well matched by Oleta Adams' fervent contributions. The group even dabbles in jazz on "Standing on the Corner of the Third World," the fabulous "Swords and Knives," and the slow-burning "Year of the Knife." As for the title track, it manages to be insanely intricate as well as catchy. Full of arcane references, lovely turns of phrase, and perfectly matched suite-like parts, it updates the orchestral grandiosity -- though not the actual sound -- of the Beatles' psychedelic period. It's completely different from the polished, atmospheric soul that surrounds it, but paradoxically, it's also the album's cornerstone. "Sowing the Seeds of Love" is the apotheosis of Orzabal and Smith's evolution together, and foreshadowed their impending split: the two parted on bad terms during the album, ensuring yet another change in the band's direction thereafter. ~ Stanton Swihart, All Music Guide
'Songs from the Big Chair'
Release Date 1/1/1985
Tracks 10
Label Mercury
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What The Critics Say
If The Hurting was mental anguish, Songs from the Big Chair marks the progression towards emotional healing, a particularly bold sort of catharsis culled from Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith's shared attraction to primal scream therapy. The album also heralded a dramatic maturation in the band's music, away from the synth-pop brand with which it was (unjustly) seared following the debut, and towards a complex, enveloping pop sophistication. The songwriting of Orzabal, Smith, and keyboardist Ian Stanley took a huge leap forward, drawing on reserves of palpable emotion and lovely, protracted melodies that draw just as much on soul and R&B music as they do on immediate pop hooks. The album could almost be called pseudo-conceptual, as each song holds its place and each is integral to the overall tapestry, a single-minded resolve that is easy to overlook when an album is as commercially successful as Songs from the Big Chair. And commercially successful it was, containing no less than three huge commercial radio hits, including the dramatic and insistent march, "Shout" and the shimmering, cascading "Head Over Heels," which, tellingly, is actually part of a song suite on the album. Orzabal and Smith's penchant for theorizing with steely-eyed austerity was mistaken for harsh bombasticism in some quarters, but separated from its era, the album only seems earnestly passionate and immediate, and each song has the same driven intent and the same glistening remoteness. It is not only a commercial triumph, it is an artistic tour de force. And in the loping, percolating "Everybody Wants to Rule the World," Tears for Fears perfectly captured the zeitgeist of the mid-'80s while impossibly managing to also create a dreamy, timeless pop classic. Songs from the Big Chair is one of the finest statements of the decade. ~ Stanton Swihart, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
The Hurting would have been a daring debut for a pop-oriented band in any era, but it was an unexpected success in England in 1983, mostly by virtue of its makers' ability to package an unpleasant subject -- the psychologically wretched family histories of Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith -- in an attractive and sellable musical format. Not that there weren't a few predecessors, most obviously John Lennon's Plastic Ono Band album -- which was also, not coincidentally, inspired by the work of primal scream pioneer Arthur Janov. (But Lennon had the advantage of being an ex-Beatle when that meant the equivalent to having a box next to God's in the great arena of life, where Tears for Fears were just starting out.) Decades later, "Pale Shelter," "Ideas as Opiates," "Memories Fade," "Suffer the Children," "Watch Me Bleed," "Change," and "Start of the Breakdown" are powerful pieces of music, beautifully executed in an almost minimalist style. "Memories Fade" offers emotional resonances reminiscent of "Working Class Hero," while "Pale Shelter" functions on a wholly different level, an exquisite sonic painting sweeping the listener up in layers of pulsing synthesizers, acoustic guitar arpeggios, and sheets of electronic sound (and anticipating the sonic texture, if not the precise sound of their international breakthrough pop hit "Everybody Wants to Rule the World"). The work is sometimes uncomfortably personal, but musically compelling enough to bring it back across the decades. [The Hurting was remastered and reissued in an expanded version in 1999.] ~ Bruce Eder, All Music Guide
