Roland Orzabal was then and is today Tears For Fears. Curt Smith was a gentle vocalist, with a sweet, high lilting voice - but Roland was the talent. This is their first post-breakup album for the boys from Bath, and does not come close to sounding like there is anything missing.
The band consisted of Curt Smith (vocals and bass) and Roland Orzabal (guitar and vocals). Roland was the songwriter and they both sang, and in the late eighties fell into a fairly serious controversy over money and their manager. By the time 1993 rolled around, Roland had come into his own as a producer, mixer, arranger, singer, and guitar player. This is an amazing album. This is an album that you will have musicians refer to as ''one of those albums.” It probably rates up there with Aja by Steely Dan, Songs in the Key of Life by Stevie Wonder, and maybe Pet Sounds (yet again, an obvious influence on Roland) by the Beach Boys. Perhaps Giant Steps by John Coltrane and Kinda Blue by Miles are equally fair comparisons…this is a ground breaking album for 1992. The song writing is amazing, and musically it is off the face.
1 – Elemental – The opening song rocks intensely. There are opening bass lines that are extremely artful, and the lyrics call to mind Roland’s continuing existential journey back and forth with his conscience. Roland is a constant seeker, and I think this album was full of a lot of introspection.
“These days it’s all in the mind….
It’s elemental
Don’t say your up when you’re down,
It’s elemental
Take another leap in the dark
With a humble heart
Do yourself some good
What did you become?”
There are some background vocals toward the end that bring to mind The Stones I Miss You, and something resembling an elephant sound in there.
2 – Cold – This is probably my favorite song on the album, and very TFF in its sound. Roland is addressing the absurdity of some of what he is faced with in relationships and come-ons. I think that this one always reminds me of days when I just want someone to “bring to me my big old sweater, nothing more will make me better” – remarkable. There is also some very garbled sounding singing just before the choruses, which is very Magical Mystery Tour sounding. One of the lines says…”King got caught with his fingers in the till….” – King was the bands manager for a period of time – and apparently this was a time period where some funds were misallocated – perhaps even misappropriated, which is why Roland thought that they were getting ripped off. Apparently, Curt defended their friend and that was the end of that.
This song has the funniest line from the album – which is a bit of a take off on Da Do Run, which counters the emotion from that song….
“I met her on a Monday and my
Heart did nothing new….”
Now that is funny stuff
3 - Break It Down Again – This was the airplay song, with a very military beat at the beginning digging into some interesting guitar and strings sounds. This is a standard dig into the environment, and the acid rains. I think that yet again, however – Roland is chafing against the fame that he does not seem able to embrace.
4 - Mr. Pessimisto – This is a hard rocker that honestly sounds like it should have been on the next album, Raoul and the Kings of Spain. Mr. Pessimisto is a crack on religious and closed-minded thinking. Once again, Roland is trying to protect his interests.
“Wash your fingers till your mind is clean…” – he is casting a bit of a judgmental eye on the format, on the acting of a religious move, rather than on the heart…as though actions can somehow cleanse.
5 - Dog's A Best Friend's Dog – This is probably the hardest rock tune on the album. And one of the least reachable. This was done at the same time as the Boomerang sound track – and at the time, dog was a nickname heavily in use for guys on the hunt. Which is no different than today, and again I think Roland was simply cracking on relationships. Some nice guitar work on this song.
6 - Fish Out Of Water – This is Roland’s tribute to Curt, and to the breakup of their beautiful voices and teamwork. Roland even seems to imitate Curt’s nearly falsetto and yet creamy high range when he sings the line….”you’re dreamin your life away…” – picking on his former band mate a bit, you betcha.
”We used to sit and talk about Primal Scream,
To exorcise our past was our adolescent dream,
But now it’s sink or swim as your memory fails,
Now in Neptune’s Kitchen you will be food for killer whales,
And on the crucifix his mother made,
hangs one more martyr to the hit parade”
Interestingly enough, Neptune’s Kitchen was the recording studio where they did most of their records, and killer whales is a term that the two of them used during their early days to describe some of the fiercer harmonic problems that they created for themselves. The harder pieces and tougher, higher vocals were killer whales...and Roland didn’t seem to think Curt could handle them anymore…
7 - Gas Giants – This is a mellow tone poem, not much interesting going on here, and sounded to me like it could have been a throw away.
8 – Power – Power was yet another hard, hard rockin tune. This one is kind of a not so subtle poke at the yuppie fans and maybe even at the record company. Roland was trying to work through contracts with Sony at the time of this album, which were scheduled to take over his next step. Screaming guitars on this one and some muted – synthed out vocals.
9 - Brian Wilson Said – Roland’s tribute to Brian Wilson and the Pet Sounds era of the Beach Boys, complete with harmonies, Beach Boy vocals, tambourine parts and airy, spacey chords…lots of very mellow Wes Montgomery sounding guitar work on this song, and some plunky sounding piano, again very reminiscent of Wilson and his style. This is a lovely tribute and well worth the effort.
10 - Goodnight Song – This was another song that got some airplay, and was born from some of the concerts that seemed to Roland to be going bad toward the end of the eighties. This is the most TFF sounding song on the album. It could have been right off of Songs From The Big Chair or from Seeds of Love. The guitar is classic Roland and very melodic.
This is an excellent album and continues to explore the themes that TFF started with in the beginning when they did The Hurting, and then on to Songs From the Big Chair. A must own.
