narrowcast: Deep Album Cuts Vol. 206: Tears For Fears

Deep Album Cuts Vol. 206: Tears For Fears

Tears For Fears are releasing a big reissue box set of their third album The Seeds Of Love today, so I wanted to take a look back at their catalog.

Tears For Fears deep album cuts (Spotify playlist):

1. Start Of The Breakdown

2. Watch Me Bleed

3. Memories Fade

4. The Hurting

5. Listen

6. The Working Hour

7. Broken

8. When In Love With A Blind Man

9. Swords And Knives

10. Year Of The Knife

11. Standing On The Corner Of The Third World

12. Power

13. Dog's A Best Friend's Dog

14. Fish Out Of Water

15. Me And My Big Ideas

16. Stay

Tracks 1, 2, 3 and 4 from The Hurting (1983)

Tracks 5, 6 and 7 from Songs From The Big Chair (1985)

Tracks 9, 10 and 11 from The Seeds Of Love (1989)

Tracks 12, 13 and 14 from Elemental (1993)

Track 15 from Raoul And The Kings Of Spain (1995)

Track 8 from Saturnine Martial & Lunatic (1995)

Track 16 from Rule The World: The Greatest Hits (2017)

One of my earliest music memories is of Tears For Fears -- I'd ask my dad to show me 'the monkey video' over and over. It's funny in retrospect, because the chimpanzee only gets like 20 seconds of screentime in that video. But "Head Over Heels" is still one of my favorite songs, and I still find the video pretty entertaining, more for the hilarious keyboard solo scene than the chimp. My dad loved Tears For Fears, and for a few years Tears Roll Down (Greatest Hits 82-92) and Elemental were in consistent rotation in his house and his car. The former compilation is why I know all their '80s singles by heart and not just the handful that were major hits in the states. A lot of Americans didn't know their first UK hit "Mad World" until that soggy miserable Gary Jules cover, but I've always loved the original and kind of loathe that cover. I put a couple Tears For Fears songs on the playlist I made for my dad's memorial service a few years ago.

Songs From The Big Chair is a classic example of the period in the '80s where labels started to milk successful albums for as many singles as possible but albums still had to be about 40 minutes to fit on a vinyl record, resulting in an album with very few deep cuts. Thriller famously only had two tracks that weren't singles, and Songs From The Big Chair had three -- one of which, "Broken," formed kind of a suite with one of the album's hits, "Head Over Heels." The two songs have some lyrics and melodic elements in common, and the album version of the latter, "Head Over Heels/Broken," has a whole section that isn't on the single edit. Given the relative paucity of deep cuts from their biggest album, I also included the "Head Over Heels" b-side "When In Love With A Blind Man," which later appeared on their rarities compilation Saturnine Martial & Lunatic.

The Hurting and The Seeeds Of Love are a little richer in deep cuts -- the former's "Memories Fade" was memorably interpolated by Kanye West on "Coldest Winter" from 808s & Heartbreak. 'Interpolated' is putting it mildly, really, it's more like Kanye covered the entire song and changed some words in the lyrics. I think of each of their '80s albums having a dramatically different aesthetic and vibe, but that's mainly due to the singles. Putting deep cuts from those album side by side, it all sounds a bit more cohesive together.

After a decade of Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith leading Tears For Fears together, Smith left the band in 1991, and Orzabal released two albums that were less successful than their '80s work, but in retrospect those records are pretty decent. Elemental, as I said, got a lot of rotation in my dad's house, so I know it well and still really enjoy the songs included here, it's an underrated record. I never heard Raoul And The Kings Of Spain until recently but it's got some catchy songs, my 5-year-old was singing along with the "Raouuuuuul" on the title track. Oleta Adams, the singer whose career was launched by her appearance on the excellent Seeds Of Love single "Woman In Chains," makes more appearances on "Me And My Big Ideas" and "Standing On The Corner Of The Third World."

Curt Smith rejoined Tears For Fears in 2000 and they released their 6th proper album, Everybody Loves A Happy Ending, in 2004. Unfortunately, that album isn't on streaming services. But I did include "Stay," which was a new track released on Rule The World: The Greatest Hits in 2017 alongside the single . I saw Tears For Fears live in 2010 and it was a great show, I appreciated that Curt Smith is up for performing songs from when he wasn't in the band like "Break It Down Again."