Tears for Fears--A Thin Line Between Genius and Mediocrity

Tears For Fears was never really a band--actually this project consisted of Curtis Smith and Roland Orzabal, childhood friends who shared the gift (or curse, as it were) of musical excess, at least until Orzabal jettisoned Smith in 1993 or so to go it alone. As Tears For Fears, this duo produced a body of work that has never been quite properly defined--in other words, the jury is still out on these guys, at least in my opinion. Suffice it to say that Tears For Fears was a product of the eighties, an era in which the synthesizer went a long way towards replacing true musical talent. As one of the leading synth-pop acts of the eighties, Tears For Fears had two albums that were commercially, and to some degree, critically successful--1985's Songs From The Big Chair and The Seeds Of Love from 1989 can be counted as solid successes for Tears For Fears. Their remaining albums were unremarkable, and as a result the obligatory greatest hits collection is a little sparse.

Tears Roll Down (Greatest Hits 82-92) more than adequately defines the career of Tears For Fears--this collection has only twelve tracks, and it contains all of the best music produced by Smith and Orzabal. It also has some tunes on it that sound suspiciously like filler, and I can understand why--while Tears For Fears had some gorgeous, melodic and complex arrangements, they were also guilty of recording overwrought, pretentious and self-absorbed music (after all, they were a product of the eighties!). I guess my thinking is when Tears For Fears was brilliant, they really approached genius, but when they were bad, they sounded like The Thompson Twins, or some other phony synthesizer band from the eighties. At any rate, here's my take on this greatest hits compilation.

The Genius

Sowing The Seeds Of Love is as complex as anything that The Beatles ever did--the melodies are arching, and the song has separate and distinct movements, sort of like my favorite Lennon underbellied spree, I Am The Walrus. Everybody Wants To Rule The World was the breakthrough song for Tears For Fears, and its bouncy beat and tame political message worked well with the synthesizer-drenched music. Shout is a solid tune that tends to drone on just a hair too long, while Head Over Heels is an absolutely gorgeous melodic exercise that features some amazing vocal gymnastics. I Believe is a haunting, stripped down ballad that shows you what these guys were capable of when they toned down the synthesizer.

The Other Stuff

Woman In Chains insinuates itself into the listener's world with some interesting bass-percussion interplay, but the synthesizer soon joins in to ruin the whole mood. Mad World uses Latin rhythms to create a good beat, but all of the electronica exposes it for the artificial music that it is. Pale Shelter is shameless disco music, complete with slamming drums, while I Believe is a languid, pointless exercise in mediocrity. Laid So Low (Tears Roll Down). Mothers Talk and Change are fine examples of the excesses that Smith and Orzabal were guilty of, while Advice For The Young At Heart is so syrupy and synth-laden that it almost defies description.

Should you buy this collection? I can only speak for myself, and I obviously did buy it, because I'm telling you about it right now. For me, there's just enough of the genius stuff here to make it worth having it in my collection. Head Over Heels is simply breathtaking, and Sowing The Seeds Of Love is a tight. complex arrangement that not many musicians have the vision to undertake. On the other hand, there's the stuff that really sucks.

You be the judge.

Thanks for reading.