Author: Peter Podbrežnik
Artist: Tears for Fears
Label: Mercury Records
Released: 1985
Runtime: 41:19
Rating: 5/5
British new wave duo Tears For Fears, founded in 1981 by lead vocalist/guitarist/keyboardist Roland Orzabal and bassist/vocalist Curt Smith, hit the top of the charts of the day with their brilliant, concept-driven debut »The Hurting« (1983), a pretty deep record by synthpop standards, and signaled the start of a hugely successful commercial career. After hits like »Mad World«, »Pale Shelter« and »Change« off »The Hurting«, Orzabal and Smith had no intention of resting on their laurels. Together with keyboardist Ian Stanley and drummer Manny Elias, they decided that their next studio project, »Songs From The Big Chair«, which was in many ways an upgrade of the ambitious debut, would crank up the new wave sonic sophistication even further and ditch any generic-sounding synthpop elements. Another major change from the debut was a noticeable shift away from the mostly introverted mood and trauma-tinged lyrics of »The Hurting« toward far more extroverted anthems and positive-leaning messages, with the occasional dose of black humor.
The two Tears For Fears bosses took the inspiration for the album title, in their typical black-humor manner, from watching the TV movie ‘Sybil’, in which a woman with severe multiple personality disorder played the lead. She could only calm down when she sat in the therapist’s chair. »Songs From The Big Chair« topped both the quality and the commercial success of its predecessor, not least because it contained the two biggest Tears For Fears hits, »Shout« and »Everybody Wants To Rule the World«, which are also their best-known achievements by far and among the most representative songs of the music of the 1980s.
The opening mega-hit »Shout«, with Orzabal on lead vocals, a mighty chorus and protest-style lyrics, quickly established itself as the Tears For Fears concert staple, one that plenty of people know even if they’ve never heard of this cult new wave duo. Here the talented pair once again proved, in top form, their knack for hypnotic choruses, subtle layers of synth texture and a mysterious, slightly nostalgic atmosphere, and this time there was even a daring guitar solo, a very welcome novelty within the Tears For Fears catalog up to that point. »The Working Hour« opens with a sax improvisation courtesy of Mel Collins (King Crimson, ex-Camel), but the jazzy interlude doesn’t last long, as melancholic new wave rhythms soon take over, where Orzabal’s traditionally wounded, defiant vocals fit perfectly. The closing stretch is taken over by an art rock-leaning instrumental section.
The mega-hit »Everybody Wants to Rule the World«, with Smith shining on lead vocals, has an interesting backstory: it originally had the line »everybody wants to go to war«, which Orzabal felt was a pretty weak choice of words. After the lyric change, neither of them was even sure the final version, with its light touch and very obviously sarcastic, black-humored lyrics, belonged on the album, since stylistically it was quite different from the rest. In the end the right call won out, and the success of one of the most beloved and most played songs of the eighties blew past all expectations. Putting Smith behind the mic was the right call too, since his voice somehow suited the relaxed chorus and easygoing ambience better.
»Mothers Talk«, which rests on intricate electronic rhythms and features swaggering layered vocals, was another big hit on which the band successfully showed off its newly acquired sonic sharpness. The moving power ballad »I Believe« has an interesting backstory too: Orzabal originally offered it to cult prog rock musician Robert Wyatt (ex-Soft Machine, Matching Mole), to whom it’s also dedicated, but it ended up becoming yet another Tears For Fears hit single, with a cover of Wyatt’s solo song »Sea Song« on the B-side. »Broken«, with its irritable guitar passages, rhythmic sequencing and scattered synth textures, while Orzabal sounds utterly inconsolable, is by far the darkest moment on the album.
One of the highlights of »Songs From The Big Chair« is certainly the brilliant, interlinked medley »Heads Over Heels/Broken (live)«, made up of the hit single »Heads Over Heels« and a segue into the live version of »Broken«. The latter originally (in its studio version) came out as the B-side of the »Pale Shelter« single. The two linked tracks share a kindred piano motif and fantastic vocal harmonies. The ballad »Listen«, one of two songs with Smith on lead vocals, with its still-life, slightly mysterious atmosphere built on melancholic synth textures and piercing female operatic harmonies, makes for a rather sentimental close to the album.
Tears For Fears’ artistic and commercial peak, »Songs From The Big Chair«, has stood the test of time. Three decades on, it’s still a new wave masterpiece that wows with an enviable level of sonic sophistication and arrangement ingenuity. If you had to dig up at least one flaw with »Songs From The Big Chair«, it would surely be the gray and rather uninspired cover, featuring the two main creators of the masterpiece. That dull look was quite out of character compared to most Tears For Fears releases, which stood out with artsy covers. Orzabal, who still keeps the Tears For Fears name alive with Smith in the 21st century (there’s been talk for a while that their seventh studio album is in the works), these days brags that he personally was pretty opposed to the band’s more commercial direction in the mid-eighties, which began with »Songs From The Big Chair«, but after the fabulous success he certainly didn’t fight off in 1985, he can ‘know-it-all’ as much as he wants now.
Lineup
Roland Orzabal – lead vocals, guitar, keyboards
Curt Smith – bass guitar, backing vocals, lead vocals on 3 and 8
Ian Stanley – keyboards
Manny Elias – drums
GUEST MUSICIANS:
Sandy McLelland – backing vocals
Chris Hughes – drums
Jerry Marotta – percussion
Will Gregory – saxophone
Mel Collins – saxophone
Andy Davis – grand piano
Neil Taylor – guitar
Stevie Lange – backing vocals
Annie McCaig – backing vocals
Marilyn Davis – backing vocals
Production
Chris Hughes
Track list
1. Shout (6:33)
2. The Working Hour (6:31)
3. Everybody Wants to Rule the World (4:11)
4. Mothers Talk (5:06)
5. I Believe (4:54)
6. Broken (2:38)
7. Head over Heels/Broken (live) (5:02)
8. Listen (6:54)
