Soooooooo…any other Tears For Fears fans here? Anybody? Maybe someone’s been to a concert or two, and found them cool and interesting? Maybe the popular Gary Jules remix of Mad World led someone to check out the original artist, and was pleasantly surprised? Perhaps somebody has the new album, Everybody Loves A Happy Ending, and would care to discuss that? Or anything else TFF-related?
Because, y’know, they’re my area of musical expertise, so I have to at least try…
(Based on the going TFF-fandom rate in his recent experience, Roland Orzabal predicts perhaps four responses to this thread)
Yeah, there’s a new album coming out on September 14th. It’s available for (legal) download now, from iTunes and a couple other sources. It’s not their best, in my opinion, but I still like it. Curt Smith also has a solo CD, Halfway Pleased, coming out sometime after the TFF release. It should be intersting; not very TFF-like but enjoyable in a pop-ish sort of way. His album Mayfield is a guilty pleasure of mine.
Anyhoo, you should at least give the new album a try. It’s nowhere near as heavy-handed as, say, The Seeds of Love, which should make it accessible to a wider audience. Let me know what you think!
–Ian, who is not actually Roland Orzabal, but has used that username for every service that requires one (oddly, it’s never taken)
I wouldn’t call myself a ‘fan’ of TFF, but I am very fond of what I’ve heard from them.
The only album I’ve of theirs I’ve ever owned is Songs From The Big Chair. It’s a cassette that my sister bought 19 years ago. I still have it, and listen to it in the car sometimes.
I consider it a true classic.
Close to the same answer here, though I did get some of their other songs from Audiogalaxy before the crackdown.
I love the remake of TFF’s “Mad World” in Donnie Darko.
I don’t really have any strong feelings one way or another about Tears for Fears, but I just want to say that a phrase from an old People review of Songs from the Big Chair has been stuck in my head since I read it in the 80’s: the reviewer surmised that “the big chair” might well be “Roland Orzabal’s toity.”
They were the first “big” band I ever saw live. It was around the time The Hurting was first released in Los Angeles and the funniest thing was how happy and giddy they were to be making it big. All their intros were “Hey! We’re so glad to be here. We love every one of you and we couldn’t be any happier. Now here’s ‘Suffer the Children’”. T’was very cool. I stopped listening after Songs. What ever happened to Kurt?
He went solo after the Seeds of Love tour, releasing Soul On Boad (which he hates vehemently) and Mayfield. During this period, Roland made two more albums under the TFF label (Elemental and Raoul and the Kings of Spain) and one under his own name (Tomcats Screaming Outside). Curt and Roland hooked up again to make the latest TFF album, and, as I mentioned above, Curt will be releasing another solo album shortly after the TFF release.
Same here. I love them and I knew where you got your screen name, Roland. I love The Hurting and Songs from the Big Chair. Damn! Now I need to go out and buy a turntable so I can listen to them again.
By the way, BNB, aren’t you also a Split Enz/Crowded House/Neil Finn fan? Looks like our taste in music is similar.
I own Songs From The Big Chair, Seeds Of Love, and Elemental. I’ve never seen TFF in concert, but like the above CDs a lot. Especially Seeds Of Love. I had no idea that Curt and Roland got together again. I had read that Roland was pretty bitter about the breakup. Interesting.
Roland, you got more responses than your pessimistic guess of four .
We’re a pretty diverse group here at the SDMB.
I loved Tears for Fears as a teenager and I still bring out the Big Chair every once in a while. I also have my original cassette of The Hurting. Man, it was the perfect music for a brooding teen.
Is it “Memories Fade but the Skies Still Linger”? I have a real hard time understanding the vocals.
Is it an horrific dream? Am I sinking fast? Could a glass it be so mean?
As to jump down? I’m on my own, could you lease my load? Can you feel my pain, can you please explain, The Hurting? :smack:
I used to cut Curt out of my pictures that I got from the magazines with the rock ‘n’ roll beefcake. Roland is exoticly intoxicating.