Review: Tears for Fears' ''Songs from the Big Chair' 2LP Anniversary Edition

Following a moody debut with a couple of angular arty moments, Tears for Fears went full smash with their sophomore album. Things like "Mad World", "Pale Shelter", and "Change" had been UK hits and well-loved underground nuggets in the US but nothing to prepare Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith for what was to come with the world-dominating triple-threat of "Head Over Heels", "Shout", and"Everybody Wants to Rule the World". The latter was consciously crafted to be heard on drive-time FM radio, a scheme that more than worked when it and "Shout" each took the Billboard top spot. 

Review: Tears for Fears' 'The Hurting' Half-Speed Mastered Vinyl

A lot has been made of how the teachings of primal scream therapy guru Arthur Janov inspired Tears for Fears' debut, The Hurting. However, while that more famous Janovian rock record, John Lennon's Plastic Ono Band, draws a very direct line to Janov's teachings-- what with the LP's raw sound, blood-freezing shrieks, and extremely personal references--the influence on The Hurting is much mistier. Roland Orzabal's lyrics generally refer to childhood pain and working through trauma, but he never gets very specific, and none of my cursory Internet research turned up any specific details on what exactly he and partner Curt Smith suffered as kids, aside from absentee dads and broken homes.

Review: 'Tears for Fears Rule the World: The Greatest Hits'

Tears for Fears Rule the World: The Greatest Hits is not the group’s first greatest hits compilation, but it is necessary since 25 years have elapsed since the release of Tears Roll Down (Greatest Hits 82-92) and Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith have kept the group going since then, producing such greatest hits-worthy tracks as “Break It Down Again”, “Closest Thing to Heaven”, and the majestic “Raoul And The Kings Of Spain” in the interim. Aside from these three tracks, the other two unique to Rule the World are new recordings. “I Love You But I’m Lost” is the bigger contender for hit status because of a production that is both very contemporary and noticeably eighties, yet it might be a bit too entrenched in the generic bombast of contemporary pop production and sounds so little like the Tears for Fears we’ve come to know and love that I can’t even tell who is singing lead. The pretty “Stay” is the more appealing track with its moody atmosphere that feels like a cross between “I Believe” and “Listen” from Songs from the Big Chair. Of course the biggest draw is going to be the classic hits, and the presence of  “Everybody Wants to Rule the World”, “Shout”, “Sowing the Seeds of Love”, and the divine “Head over Heels” ensure that Rule the World is necessary for the less committed fan or the merely curious.

Psychobabble’s Ten Greatest Singles of 1985

The music scene had gotten pretty rough by 1985. Top-notch artists like Elvis Costello and the Attractions, The Rolling Stones, and Stevie Wonder were making the most appalling music of their respective careers, while Foreigner, Chicago, REO Speedwagon, and USA for Africa were otherwise shitting up the charts. Yet, as in every year since the dawn of Rock & Roll, great singles could still be detected amid the muck. Here are ten…



10. “Bastards of Young” by The Replacements

With Tim the constrictions of ‘80s pop production started to have their way with The Replacements, who had recently made the leap from small time Twin/Tone records to bigger time Sire. Well, you can gate Chris Mars’s drums all you like and you can shoot a spiffy MTV-ready music video (and the accompanying video was mighty spiffy), but you can never tame Westerberg’s whiskey yowl. It is in furious form on “Bastards of Young”, perhaps the most insightful teen anthem of the ‘80s.


9. “So Far Away”by Dire Straits

Some seven years had past since square British Blues combo Dire Straits had a hit in the US. As we all know, that changed most assuredly when they dropped the ultra-slick, DDD monster Brothers in Arms in ’85. That year you couldn’t blow your nose without having “Money for Nothing” blare out of your nostrils. However the truly great single from the band’s comeback triumph was its first. “So Far Away” barely sneaked into the top twenty, but it’s as hooky and alluring as anything Dire Straights ever did, their taut rhythm section pulsing beneath an utterly sublime guitar lick. Mark Knopfler’s six-string impersonates a Hawaiian pedal steel and fools me completely.

8. “Don’t Come Around Here No More” by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers