Tears For Fears (no Moz)

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feeling nostalgic

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Posted on Thu, Sep. 16, 2004

Together again

LIKE OLD FRIENDS, TEARS FOR FEARS REUNITES TO PLAY

By Brad Kava

Mercury News

At a private show in the Fairmont Hotel last Sunday for San Jose's KEZR-FM (106.5), the members of England's Tears for Fears, who hadn't played together in 13 years, were asked what they'd been listening to lately.

``He's listening to Simon and Garfunkel,'' said Roland Orzabal of his singing partner Curt Smith.

Ow!

With that little barb came a hint about the reasons for the breakup of friends, marriages and bands.

Smith and Orzabal were childhood friends in Bath, both from broken homes, who formed Tears for Fears in 1981 after playing in the ska band Graduate.

Their first album, 1983's ``The Hurting,'' was based on the writings of primal-scream therapist Arthur Janov, whose return-to-the-womb-and-scream therapy influenced John Lennon's first solo album.

Like Paul Simon, Orzabal wrote most of the songs and carried most of the weight in the duo, but Smith's high harmonies were integral to the formula. They had a three-disc string of hits that included the debut, 1985's ``Songs From the Big Chair,'' and 1989's ``Seeds of Love.'' Then they broke up after losing millions to corrupt manager.

A decade and a half later, Gary Jules' surprising cover of the track ``Mad World'' (which appeared on the soundtrack for the 2001 cult movie hit ``Donnie Darko'') from their first album has helped re-ignite interest in the synth-pop duo, which plays Golden Gate Park on Sunday, with Morrissey and others, as part of Alice radio's Now and Zen Festival.

After the breakup, Smith moved to Los Angeles, and Orzabal stayed in the United Kingdom and produced less-successful albums under the Tears for Fears name. The two didn't speak for almost a decade.

Smith played with the L.A. band Mayfield, an intriguing alternative-rock outfit that got some airplay on college stations.

``It was nine years of stony silence,'' Orzabal says in a telephone interview. ``But once we spoke, we realized we were not the teenagers that used to hang at Snowhill Flats and barf and drink together. We realized it would be nice to finish on a brighter note.''

Orzabal, who called Smith on a business matter, ended up moving to Los Angeles and collaborating on a new Tears for Fears album, ``Everybody Loves a Happy Ending,'' released last week.

It's a Beatle-esque disc whose title is both a serious look at their careers and a playful reference.

The duo (Orzabal has two sons and Smith two daughters) sounded great Sunday in a four-song set of new and old material, backed by additional guitar, piano and drums.

The challenge, Orzabal says, will be to integrate the new songs with the hits audiences crave.

``I hope we've challenged the belief that bands can't come back and make another great record,'' he says. ``We've gone back to our influences -- the Beatles, Pink Floyd, T Rex, a lot of glam rock, Led Zeppelin. You go through a period where it seems irrelevant, and then you rediscover it. You can't scrap some of the best music ever made, just because it comes from the 1960s or '70s.''

Tears for Fears

At the Now & Zen Festival with

Morrissey, Dashboard Confessional

and Howie Day

Where: Sharon Meadow, Golden Gate Park, San Francisco

When: Noon-5 p.m. Sunday

Tickets: $35 (plus service charge); free ages 5 and under

Call: (866) 468-3399 or check www.ticketweb.com
 
What a coincidence

I was just thinking about Tears For Fears. Is their new cd any good? All the reviews I've read have nothing but good things to say. Is it worth picking up?
 
Everybody Loves A Happy Ending

> I was just thinking about Tears For Fears. Is their new cd any good? All
> the reviews I've read have nothing but good things to say. Is it worth
> picking up?

Yes, but its not out in the UK yet.(it is in America--released last Tuesday) I have had a promo copy though for several months.
I thought it sounded rather ordinary at first,but it eventually grew on me.Well worth buying in my view with the proviso that you are already a fan.Non fans should look elsewhere!
 
Re: Everybody Loves A Happy Ending

> Yes, but its not out in the UK yet.(it is in America--released last
> Tuesday) I have had a promo copy though for several months.
> I thought it sounded rather ordinary at first,but it eventually grew on
> me.Well worth buying in my view with the proviso that you are already a
> fan.Non fans should look elsewhere!

Since my post I have discovered that the new Tears For Fears album is available now for anyone interested for the amazing price of 8.99 with free delivery from Cd Wow.

They have started dispatching copies to UK/Europe addresses this week...If you want to wait for it to be in the shops,rumour has it that the album wont be out until Jan/Feb although a single should be released this November (Call Me Mellow.)

The album is going down a storm in the States apparently with the band heavily
promoting it.TFF intend to do the same here in the UK in the new year.
 
Dont ask me why but.........

I decided to get the new Tears for Fears album as an import from the US (not out till early next year in UK and Europe) even though I already had a promo copy.Being a fan I wanted the sleeve notes which the promo didnt have.

I`m glad I did.It came in the post yesterday.For some strange reason it sounds better. I am now humming the songs again as though they were new.

The closest analogy I can think of is that fish and chips taste better wrapped in newspaper than on a plate and wine tastes better out of a glass than a plastic beaker.Lager too!

I now revise my earlier recommendation of only buy if already a fan to one of, have a listen,you might be suprised.
 

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