Album Recommendations for Easy Summer Listening
Posted: Sat Jun 13, 2009 10:34 amEverybody Loves a Happy Ending by Tears for Fears, 2004. I'm a huge TFF fan, but most people only equate them with Shout, etc. Every CD has always been different. When they had their huge hit album SFTBC 5xplatinum, most would have followed up with something similar. Roland took off four years and wrote the brilliant Seeds of Love which was 180 degrees from TFF. His relationship with Curt imploded b/c of the making of it and Roland went on into the the 90s with two albums under the TFF moniker more in the darker guitar-driven alternative rock sound. Both great and loved but also different. When I heard he and Curt were reuniting I was teary-eyed about it. Thought maybe they would bring back the old sound with the saxophone and big vocals. Not to be. But what they did was just beautiful and a whole new sound. The harmonies on here are just simply beautiful. Total Beatlesque. Listening to it, though, I thought I still would never get my love song out of Roland that he never seems to sing and I got to the end of the album and there it was after all these years, Last Days on Earth an R&B love ballad that was stunning, beautiful vocals. I could die happy now. 
I can't give good reviews on songs, so here's two I copied off Amazon re the music, which will show you if it's to your taste. All I can say is I'm always smiling and in a great mood by the end of this album and there's not a song to be skipped on here. Anybody else have any recommendations for a great summer album many might not own?
"OK, I'll be honest, I have hated Tears For Fears ever since those whiney guys burst onto the scene with their mullets and pretentious, introverted lyrics. Were they talented? Sure, but to me it was like they were trying WAY too hard. After the '90's when the TFF name fell into complete obscurity, there was no way I would miss them. To me, they were nothing more than a footnote in the 80's hit parade, like Simple Minds or A Flock Of Seagulls. A few years ago, I heard they were getting back together. I remember thinking how sad it was to hear of another used-to-be-famous band trying to cash in and try to make people remember them.
Well, today, I am eating all of my words and feeling very sorry for having such ill feelings towards TFF. A friend of mine purchased the new CD yesterday and was listening to it while we were driving around town. I couldn't believe it! This was some of the most absolute greatest music I have heard in years. The production is incredible, the melodies are unbelievable and the lyrics are some pretty mean poetry. Yeah, I have read a lot of reviews saying how Beatlesque it is. This is true, but yet there is something so fresh about it that it only be done by a band like TFF, whose grasp has always been further than its reach. The were always, to me anyway, overly ambitious. But finally, they have struck the right chords and perfected their sound. This is their best work, without a doubt and, quite possibly, the best work of the year. It's original, yet familiar and optimistic, yet pessimistically reflective. There's beautiful amazing, magical pop ("Secret World," "Closest Thing To Heaven," "Call Me Mellow," ), powerful, but not cheesy, ballads ("Ladybird," "Size Of Sorrow," "Last Days On Earth") and genuine alternative rockers ("Killing with Kindness," "Quiet Ones," "Who Killed Tangerine?"). The title track is like the history of good, important music of the past 40 years, it's all over the map, but it stays here on Earth and doesn't go too far. Perhaps my favorite track, "The Devil," isn't the most exciting song, but it has, in my opinion the greatest lyrics on the album and it is an extremely haunting track.
Take it from me, folks. You NEED to buy this album. As stated before, I hated these guys for the longest time, and now I've been listening to this album non-stop since I purchased the CD at like 11pm last night. "
Another one:
"This self-professed, life-long Tears For Fears fan has had doubts these last few months. He has bitten his nails. He has paced the floor. He has become squeamish at the mere mention of "radio single" and "TFF" in the same sentence.
I went into "Everybody Loves A Happy Ending" expecting the worst. Over and over again, I told myself - and forced myself to believe - that there was no way in Hell that Roland and Curt were going to recapture the spirit of what they once had. "Come on, Mike, these are 40-somethings with wives and kids and gray hairs. This is not, cannot be, their time."
So today finally came, and I rushed with bated breath to jam my copy into my car's CD player. I winced at the cymbal roll and shimmering-keyboard fuzz that kicks off the title track. I gritted my teeth. And suddenly something happened... I loved every single note that was coming from my speakers.
This album is as fresh and vital as anything TFF have ever recorded. It's full of pop hooks ("Call Me Mellow," "Closest Thing to Heaven"), artful genre experiments ("Who Killed Tangerine?," "Secret World"), and lots of what many have called "magic."
There's a sweetness that has crept back into Roland's work here - most notably on "Size of Sorrow" and "Secret World" - but there's also a much more playfully adventurous spirit at work. "Call Me Mellow" and the title track burst with everything good about pop music in the last 40 years. The guys were even willing to throw in some R&B riffs - via David Bowie - on the amazing closer, "Last Days on Earth."
"Everybody Loves A Happy Ending" is my pick for Album of the Year. It's a multi-textural, exuberant pop album in the finest sense of the words.
So, I'm eating my words. And all that worry was for nothing. They've done it again, and time will probably prove that they've done it better than ever. I can't wait to begin peeling back the layers of this magical pop blessing.
A flabberghasted, whole-hearted 5 stars."
I can't give good reviews on songs, so here's two I copied off Amazon re the music, which will show you if it's to your taste. All I can say is I'm always smiling and in a great mood by the end of this album and there's not a song to be skipped on here. Anybody else have any recommendations for a great summer album many might not own?
"OK, I'll be honest, I have hated Tears For Fears ever since those whiney guys burst onto the scene with their mullets and pretentious, introverted lyrics. Were they talented? Sure, but to me it was like they were trying WAY too hard. After the '90's when the TFF name fell into complete obscurity, there was no way I would miss them. To me, they were nothing more than a footnote in the 80's hit parade, like Simple Minds or A Flock Of Seagulls. A few years ago, I heard they were getting back together. I remember thinking how sad it was to hear of another used-to-be-famous band trying to cash in and try to make people remember them.
Well, today, I am eating all of my words and feeling very sorry for having such ill feelings towards TFF. A friend of mine purchased the new CD yesterday and was listening to it while we were driving around town. I couldn't believe it! This was some of the most absolute greatest music I have heard in years. The production is incredible, the melodies are unbelievable and the lyrics are some pretty mean poetry. Yeah, I have read a lot of reviews saying how Beatlesque it is. This is true, but yet there is something so fresh about it that it only be done by a band like TFF, whose grasp has always been further than its reach. The were always, to me anyway, overly ambitious. But finally, they have struck the right chords and perfected their sound. This is their best work, without a doubt and, quite possibly, the best work of the year. It's original, yet familiar and optimistic, yet pessimistically reflective. There's beautiful amazing, magical pop ("Secret World," "Closest Thing To Heaven," "Call Me Mellow," ), powerful, but not cheesy, ballads ("Ladybird," "Size Of Sorrow," "Last Days On Earth") and genuine alternative rockers ("Killing with Kindness," "Quiet Ones," "Who Killed Tangerine?"). The title track is like the history of good, important music of the past 40 years, it's all over the map, but it stays here on Earth and doesn't go too far. Perhaps my favorite track, "The Devil," isn't the most exciting song, but it has, in my opinion the greatest lyrics on the album and it is an extremely haunting track.
Take it from me, folks. You NEED to buy this album. As stated before, I hated these guys for the longest time, and now I've been listening to this album non-stop since I purchased the CD at like 11pm last night. "
Another one:
"This self-professed, life-long Tears For Fears fan has had doubts these last few months. He has bitten his nails. He has paced the floor. He has become squeamish at the mere mention of "radio single" and "TFF" in the same sentence.
I went into "Everybody Loves A Happy Ending" expecting the worst. Over and over again, I told myself - and forced myself to believe - that there was no way in Hell that Roland and Curt were going to recapture the spirit of what they once had. "Come on, Mike, these are 40-somethings with wives and kids and gray hairs. This is not, cannot be, their time."
So today finally came, and I rushed with bated breath to jam my copy into my car's CD player. I winced at the cymbal roll and shimmering-keyboard fuzz that kicks off the title track. I gritted my teeth. And suddenly something happened... I loved every single note that was coming from my speakers.
This album is as fresh and vital as anything TFF have ever recorded. It's full of pop hooks ("Call Me Mellow," "Closest Thing to Heaven"), artful genre experiments ("Who Killed Tangerine?," "Secret World"), and lots of what many have called "magic."
There's a sweetness that has crept back into Roland's work here - most notably on "Size of Sorrow" and "Secret World" - but there's also a much more playfully adventurous spirit at work. "Call Me Mellow" and the title track burst with everything good about pop music in the last 40 years. The guys were even willing to throw in some R&B riffs - via David Bowie - on the amazing closer, "Last Days on Earth."
"Everybody Loves A Happy Ending" is my pick for Album of the Year. It's a multi-textural, exuberant pop album in the finest sense of the words.
So, I'm eating my words. And all that worry was for nothing. They've done it again, and time will probably prove that they've done it better than ever. I can't wait to begin peeling back the layers of this magical pop blessing.
A flabberghasted, whole-hearted 5 stars."
