Friday Flashback: The 80's - Tears For Fears

Perhaps long overdue. This week, I've chosen to focus on some of my favorite groups from the era of greed and excess. The 80's. This one goes out to all the children who were raised on a steady diet of MTV, BET and VH1 back when they played videos. Do you remember Alan Hunter? Donny Simpson? Nina Blackwood? Back when the word "video" meant something. Happier times.

Let's go...

This week we will focus on Tears for Fears. Okay, let me be clear. I love this group. Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith are really the unsung heroes of the era. Their music was, in a lot of ways, ahead of its time. The knock on these guy is that they tended to get too deep in the lyrics department but alas sometimes you have to overachieve to make a point.

These two have been friends since they were teenagers in Bath, England. They would begin their recording career as part of the group Neon. After the demise of that group Roland and Curt would join the group Graduate while the other two members of Neon would go on to become Naked Eyes (Promises, Promises anyone?) Their first album The Hurting produced the haunting classic "Mad World" along great tunes like "Pale Shelter" and "Suffer the Children". They would achieve worldwide fame with the smash "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" from their classic follow up album Songs From the Big Chair. Of course, you geeks will remember that song as the track at the end of the Val Kilmer ode to rebelious nerds everywhere, Real Genius.

Don't ask me why the brothas are dancing in front of a gas station, videos really didn't make sense back then ... here's "Everybody Wants to Rule the World"

So these guys hit big with a classic song which in some ways would go on to become an anthem for the time ... one hit wonder, right? Wrong, my friends, way wrong. The album Songs From the Big Chair would churn out several hits. "Shout" being easily one of my favorites of all time. The song very clearly states its intent, we are pissed about how screwed up the world is and we are going shout, damnit!!! Okay, so perhaps it didn't quite mobilize a revolution but it made for great thought provoking music. If you can get past Roland's coat and mullet the song is awesome.

"Shout"

Next up is a lesser known track from the album which is my favorite of the entire disc. "The Working Hour" is a song about the values of toiling away in your day to day with little to show for it... always hoping for more. Who among us hasn't?



The follow up to Songs From the Big Chair was Seeds of Love which was interesting because of its slight departure from its predecessors. The sounds still had the Tears signature elements like the synth and the powerful bassline but the instrumentation was richer and they would add an additional vocalist ... Kansas City's own Oleta Adams. The legend is that Tears discovered Oleta singing in a jazz bar and would later invite her to perform on their next album not to mention also guiding her debut (remember this?).

This next track is the powerful "Woman in Chains" ... this song is about empowerment and building inner strength to move beyond those who would hold you down. Oleta's voice is angelic and the perfect counter balance to Roland's. On a sidenote, Phil Collins plays drums on this song...

"Woman in Chains" (feat. Oleta Adams)



Wow...

After this album, unfortunately Curt and Roland would break up for nearly 15 years due to artistic differences. Roland would carry the Tears for Fears banner for two more albums (Elemental and Raoul and the Kings of Spain) while Curt would do a solo project and create a new band called Mayfield (I'll spare you). Mayfield was on the other side of the spectrum musically from the Tears material ... it seemed to be rooted in the mellow flow versus trying to push the envelope. Roland would do just that. Elemental was a beef album if there is such a thing in pop music. He calls out Curt in the track, "Fish Out of Water". The lyric "We use to sit and talk about primal scream..." refers to the theory which would inspire the duos name. He seems to feel abandoned, reflective ("The Goodnight Song") and yet determined to prove that Curt would fail in his quest while he would go on in spite of the slight. Whereas these are not classics by any stretch as some songs tend to get way too abstract lyrically for their own good (particularly on Raoul). That said, some of the individual songs from these two albums were some of the best of their discography...

"Elemental" (from the album Elemental)



The lamenting and sentimental track "The Goodnight Song"...



The truly dark "Sketches of Pain" - Raoul and the Kings of Spain)



Roland would produce a truly incredible solo album in 2001 using his proper name... risky to be sure but the results were strong. Tomcats Screaming Outside is a diverse mosaic of Orzabal's various influences but he blends them in a way that is accessible and in many ways revealing.

"Maybe Our Days are Numbered"



Happily in 2004, the duo would put their differences aside and record together again on the aptly named Everybody Loves a Happy Ending. Title track here. While this album leans heavily to their Beatles-esque tendencies with mixed results, overall its a welcomed return by a group who's impact will be felt for years to come.