tears for fears

Absolutely! Great song....I love them.

Have you heard their first album The Hurting? One of my personal top 3 of ALL TIME!!

i haven't!

thanks for the heads up.
i'll keep an eye out.

xo

m

Tears For Fears are great!! I recommend you check out their song - Head Over Heels. Its one of their best.

Definitely check them out. All their albums are good, but I'd particularly recommend the later ones, "Elemental" and the brilliant "Raoul And The Kings Of Spain". Great songs, great arrangements. There's also an Orzabal solo album, "Tomcats Screaming Outside" which is a bit more techno but still full of excellent things.

sorry, but i really can't agree. i hate 'em. especially 'sowing the seeds of love' which sounds like a hideous beatles pastiche done by the rutles on a particularly bad day. intolerable, lets never speak of them again.

I love them, it's unfortunate that everyone knows them for Sowing The Seeds Of Love and Everybody Wants To Rule The World. They have so many other songs that blow their major hits away. My favourite song is I Choose You. very beautiful.

I've never realy understood what made Tears For Fears such a popular act in the USA, when they never really made it THAT big in their homeland. Sure they were popular...sort of more than ABC but not as much as say, Duran Duran or Spandau Ballet. I think they got quite a bit of college radio airplay and coverage on MTV when it opened in the US, so maybe that would explain it. Any US fans want to comment?

Here in England they are probably best remembered for the singles Change, Mad World, Pale Shelter, Shout, Head Over Heels, EWTRTW, Sowing The Seeds..., and probably Woman In Chains too. Songs From The Big Chair had some great songs on it like I Believe and Mothers' Talk - I was a bit of a fan back in the 80s

quote:

Originally posted by Anselm:
[qb]I've never realy understood what made Tears For Fears such a popular act in the USA, when they never really made it THAT big in their homeland. [/qb]

well
i've only really spent most of my life here in los angeles (with the exception of a few overseas trips), and from what i can gather, it is customary for mainstream/top 40 radio to play a song TO DEATH, thus giving it massive exposure.

it's also very early in the morning and the only explanation i can think of at this point.

i've heard all the songs you listed and i quite like them as well. i think i felt a special affinity towards STSOL for moment because i remember it from days of yore, and remember that it's of the few songs of theirs that received very little airplay, but i like it at the time. so it's a bit more to do with nostalgia than actual aesthetic appreciation on my part.

hope that answers something.

cheers!

-michelle

quote:

Originally posted by Dr Hfuhruhurr:
[qb]sorry, but i really can't agree. i hate 'em. especially 'sowing the seeds of love' which sounds like a hideous beatles pastiche done by the rutles on a particularly bad day. intolerable, lets never speak of them again.[/qb]

haha!
touch�. i did pick up a bunch of Magical Mystery Tour in the song. but as i explained to Anselm, my sudden appreciation for the song is more nostalgic than aesthetic.

cheers!

m

Folks....the "Sowing the Seeds of Love" song was done as a TRIBUTE to the Beatles. It was a ground-breaking song at the time, because at the time of its release it was recorded using 188 separate digital tracks, which had never been done before. They chose to use this experiment to pay tribute to the Beatles, who were innovators in their own right. For both of those reasons, regardless of what I think of Roland Orzabal and his gaping pie-hole(!!!), the song will always have my respect.

Another band I absolutely adore!
"Sowing the Seeds of Love" and that whole album remind me of the time I was in Europe for a study abroad. There was a guy in our group that would always joke that he was going to go "sow some seeds"...but I digress!

Anyways, on that album my personal favorite song is the haunting "Swords and Knives". It just gives me goosebumps when I hear it...I think he wrote it after reading a book written by Johnny Rotten's girlfriend's mother.

TFF didn't become popular here until "Everbody Wants to Rule the World" came out. It is catchy and they had that hokey video. Then "Shout" just sent them through the roof. I personally love "Head Over Heels" and the astoundingly beautiful "The Working Hour" from that album.

And yes boarderGurl, I agree, The Hurting is incredible... you have to get that album. My personal favorite on that album is "Memories Fade". That album got me through the angst of my teenage years!

p.s. Heidi, I saw what you wrote about Roland, I used to love him when I was in High School...

quote:

Originally posted by jenn:
[qb]p.s. Heidi, I saw what you wrote about Roland, I used to love him when I was in High School... [/qb]

Tee hee hee! I had my own crush on R.O. (and Paul Young too)! Thankfully, I moved on. I still think that the TFF albums were very good.

tears for fears are awesome.

i would recommend trying to get ahold of some of the Chair-era b-sides (conflict, when in love with a blind man, sea song, pharaohs, etc.) for any fan who hasn't heard them.

i would not recommend, however, the live video In My Mind's Eye; although it has its own charm, there seem to be more strange video effects than actual live footage.

Yep, I own a couple of Tears For Fears albums, even though I was only 9 in 1985 or whenever they were big. I like a few of their tunes, but they were definitely "of their time" - have you SEEN how they looked in those videos?

Also, they became crap when one of them left. They wrote songs about being kings of Spain or whatever. Really, really, awful stuff. As Cobain said, "Better to burn out than fade away.". Or was it "I wonder what this button does?"?

Droopy

quote:

Also, they became crap when one of them left. They wrote songs about being kings of Spain or whatever.

Nice to see your incisive criticism comes from such great familiarity with the later works!

Didn't Neil Young originate the line, "Better to burn out then to fade away... The king is gone but he's not forgotten".

Sue- loves a man who rhymes forgotten with johnny rotten- not susan

quote:

Originally posted by stepinmyshoes:
[qb]i would recommend trying to get ahold of some of the Chair-era b-sides (conflict, when in love with a blind man, sea song, pharaohs, etc.) for any fan who hasn't heard them.[/qb]

They have a b-sides and rarities album with those songs on it Saturnine Martial & Lunatic.

It's great, get it.

Hey jenn, you are SO right!! Memories Fade is STILL a fantastic song........even without all the angst! Way back when my entire wardrobe was one color: BLACK! Except for those camoflage pants I used to wear....

tears for fears definitely did make it big in their home country (england) and for a few years they were *about as big as anybody can be*

pale shelter is still great. i'm not sure so much else has endured as well but shout still kicks, i always love the glockenspeil (??) on change but sadly everybody wants to rule the world is still twee

roland orzabal (the crap one apparently ???) - is a great singer with a lot of power, anger, lust and i have time for that. he's also a good guitarist and it's him that arranged pretty much everything. far too in the background for his own good really

the 'good one' wasn't really very good. wicked hair mind you but with hindsight it seems that curt smith has the voice and range of a limp fart - i think roley did the right thing

edit - omg i forgot woman in chains. and so has everyone else !? that's the one for me

Ah.....memories.....

Roland was definitely the talent behind the pretty guy with the little plait hair style (my sis had hers done in honour of cute little Curt)

They did some really good stuff but I went totally off them when I saw them live. They were like little Robots. They ignored the audience and didn't vary the songs in the slightest.....maybe they were miming?

Maybe they were just tired I dunno, but it just spoiled it for me.

Still it has urged me to rifle through some of my old stuff!

quote:

Originally posted by Heidi in Pittsburgh:
[qb]Folks....the "Sowing the Seeds of Love" song was done as a TRIBUTE to the Beatles. It was a ground-breaking song at the time, because at the time of its release it was recorded using 188 separate digital tracks, which had never been done before. They chose to use this experiment to pay tribute to the Beatles, who were innovators in their own right. For both of those reasons, regardless of what I think of Roland Orzabal and his gaping pie-hole(!!!), the song will always have my respect.[/qb]

with all respect....

a tribute to the beatles?

sorry heidi, i just don�t see it. they were way off if that was the case. a lame imitation and a rambling dirge are how I�ve always thought of it. 188 separate digital tracks of garbage. it annoyed me when it first came out; it annoys me when I hear it now and, as you�ve probably guessed it annoys me to even hear mention of it. i know i'm swimming against the tide in this thread but that�s my humble opinion though.

...there, that's it off me chest.

So, here�s one person who shall not remember them fondly. I shall, however, now take my own advice and speak no more of them and leave this thread to their many admirers.

�I�m still annoyed mind.

Well, all I have to say about this is that I absolutely loved and shed many tears at 'Woman in Chains'.
It had a lot to do with Oleta Adams' most beautiful voice.
Anyone know what has happened to her? I know she released a solo album, but then I lost track of her...would be interested to know...
Suenotsusan- thank you for pointing out the fact that Neil Young, my other favorite Neil, said the immortal line: it's better to burn out than to fade away....written when Cobain was probably still in nappies!
Our Neil was also influenced by Neil Young, just hopefully not by that particular line!!!!

Tina, Roland and Oleta Adams duet once more on the TFF album "Raoul And The Kings Of Spain". A great song called "Me And My Big Ideas" - their voices blend as well as ever. And the whole album is great too but sadly underrated.

You better love loving and you better behave