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There are bands that, even undeservedly, remain in the history of music. Others that disappear, deservedly, after a single. And then there are those bands that, despite having all the potential for lasting success, remain confined to a fortunate season, or little more, and are remembered for being representatives of a decade.
This is the case with Tears for Fears, an English band led by Roland Orzabal and a prominent figure of the English new wave/synth pop. The 80s, of course. Who doesn't remember hits like "Shout", "Mad World", or "Sowing the Seeds of Love"? However, the band continued and embarked on other paths, gradually losing the notoriety they had gained. And that’s the sin.
"Elemental" marks the return of TFF after the 80s, and it is a welcome return, but solo. Orzabal, the group's composer, remains the only voice of the band. What doesn't change is the intelligent songwriting and the incisive lyrics, never banal. The TFF style is indeed always that of the refined pop song, but the sounds are more mature, and the album has a particular experimental vein. The songs have become more complex (the nursery rhyme rhythms that characterized the choruses of the previous repertoire are a thing of the past).
The opening piece is the title track, characterized by an almost electro opening, with a guitar riff and synths building up, the vocals are sharp. Then a more funky rhythm kicks in, and in the chorus, the aforementioned riff dominates. The singles "Cold" follow, featuring another catchy elaborate riff and a nice bass line, then "Break it Down Again". This song deserves special attention. It begins with a solemn choir that almost suggests a gospel accompanied by a march, then the actual song takes off; a pop piece that upon careful listening reveals an original series of chords, so much so that it would be splendid to hear it in an acoustic version. Among the album's highlights is also "Fish out of Water", another effective guitar riff for an evocative piece that takes you to distant shores, narrating a relationship gone wrong. One of those pieces filled with resentment, dedicated to someone who makes you believe everything only to turn out to be a complete disappointment.
"Brian Wilson Said" is the other peak. It is the most experimental track; it starts with clear surf atmospheres (the title is already in itself a tribute to the legendary leader of the Beach Boys) and indeed makes you feel almost like with sand on you, hearing the sound of the surf. Then, a nice dive into the ocean. We swim underwater, holding our breath, with open eyes, watching the light breaking clear and filtering above us. Slowly we resurface through the entire long and wonderful free jazz guitar solo that finally leads to a suggestive and melancholic outro: we've resurfaced on the surface, and we're out of breath. A reprise of the verse closes it and leaves us there, drying on the shore where we started, kissed by the sunset sun.
The last track of the album, "Goodnight Song", is an emotional farewell to a childhood friend (perhaps the one who left good Roland for a solo career?) Beautiful guitar solos and a soft, heartfelt, engaging vocal.
Of course, this album is not without its weak points ("Mr. Pessimist", "Gas Giants"...), but those in its favor easily make them forget: well-written, intelligently elaborated, well-arranged, and played songs, and above all truly emotional. For this reason, it's a pity that the name of Tears for Fears is mostly linked to the 80s. There have been attempts to return, but they haven't achieved significant effects. What else to say?
There are bands that gradually disappear from the scene undeservedly. Yet they have left behind some beautiful songs.
Tracklist Lyrics Samples and Videos
01 Elemental (05:30)
This race is already run
Get off your horse
Get on this train
Welcome to the real world
I said, Welcome to the real world
Are we rushing like the wind
Naked out and naked in
Welcome to the free world
I said, Welcome to the me world
Are we rushing like the wind
Put your lovin' arms around
Did you lose your faith in God, no
Does your conscience always get you down
Fall to pieces
Rough and tumble
Does your conscience always get you down
These days it's all in the mind
It's elemental
Don't say you're up when you're down
It's elemental
Put your lovin' arms around
This your new year's resolution
Put your lovin' arms around
Nothing doing revolution
Put your lovin' arms around
Take another leap in the dark
With a humble heart
Do yourself some good
What did you become
Patience
Be sure
Baby
Baby
These days it's all in the mind
It's elemental
Don't say you're up when you're down
It's elemental
02 Cold (05:05)
The coldest shoulder cast in metal
Frozen to the bone
To rely on hook, line and sinker
What a sinker
Sinking like a stone
You'd be better off alone
She saw me on the television underneath the sun
Thought that I was warm like mother, lover, brother
Brother, she was wrong
Me, I don't long to belong
Cold, been excommunicated cos I'm cold
My temperature's been rated and I'm cold
Bring to me my big old sweater
Nothing more will make me better
I met her on Monday and my heart did nothing new
Seems she thought of me as some mystic, fatalistic, mystical guru
Me, I haven't got a clue
But floating on a magic carpet high above the earth
You can see the world like a Buddha, bread and Buddha
Bigger than you hurt
Don't you know that love is work
Cold, no heat on the horizon guess I'm cold
And Capricorn is rising yes I'm cold
Listened to my old Nockles
Hoped that it would warm the cockles
You can't fight the fear you can't, this is the road you're on
You don't belong to me you don't belong to any one
Your reputation lies not in your eyes, but those who dare
Will bite the hand that feeds when it don't meet your needs
When you got blood to bleed, you got a life to lead
In the flood with my blood I can hold you
Cold, been excommunicated cos I'm cold
My temperature's been rated and I'm cold
Bring to me my big old sweater
Nothing more will make me better
Cold, no heat on the horizon guess I'm cold
There'll be no comprimising, cold, cool, cold
Stone cold
Stone cold
Cold
Cold
Cold
03 Break It Down Again (04:31)
So those are my dreams
And these are my eyes
Stand tall like a man
Headstrong like a horse
When it's all mixed up
Better break it down
In the world of secrets
In the world of sound
It's in the way you're always hiding from the light
See for yourself you have been sitting on a time bomb
No revolution maybe someone somewhere else
Could show you something new about you and your inner song
And all the love and all the love in the world
Won't stop the rain from falling
Waste seeping underground
I want to break it down
Break it down again
So these are my schemes
And these are my plans
Hot tips for the boys
Fresh news from the force
When it's all mixed up
Better break it down
In the world of silence
In the world of sound
" No sleep for dreaming" say the architects of life
Big bouncing babies, bread and butter can I have a slice
They make no mention of the beauty of decay
Blue, yellow, pink umbrella save it for a rainy day
And all the love and all the love in the world
Won't stop the rain from falling
Waste seeping underground
I want to break it down
Horsin' around
Pray to power
Play to the crowd with your big hit sound
And they won't simmer won't simmer, won't simmer down
Play to the crowd
Play to the crowd
Play yeah yeah
It's in the way you're always hiding from the light
Fast off to heaven just like Moses on a motorbike
No revolution maybe someone somewhere else
Could show you something new to help you
With the ups and downs
I want to break it down
Break it down again
Break it down again
No more sleepy dreaming
No more building up
It is time to dissolve
Break it down it again
No more sleepy dreaming
04 Mr. Pessimist (06:16)
Time will swallow
Your precious time
Like magic create the future
What makes man so fickle ?
Who put the daggers in those eyes ?
Was it to learn
Through dark days of struggle ?
Was it to burn
To burst all our bubbles ?
Thunder and rain
Well the cynicle flame will it heat, stick and blister ?
Thunder and rain
Evangelistic brother
Should be banging a tambourine
Go wash your hands and fingers
Till your mind is clean
Was it your fate
To sleep like a normal ?
Time and decay
No man is immortal
Thunder and rain
Boredom and pain lit the cynical flame
Will it heat stick and blister ?
Thunder and rain
Still try to resist the pessimist
The pessimist no no
And these things I find
In the back of my mind
Where time lasts forever
I get all mixed
Think I'm all mankind
Listen Mr Pessimister
With your Catholic taste
Oh listen Mr Pessimister Pessimister
We do not relate
Listen Mr Pessimister, Pessimister, Pessimister
Mr Pessimister
08 Power (05:46)
Last years rivals share their blood
Sailor sworn to secrecy
Ride the waves and stem the flood
The tides of endless enmity
Power now is all the rage
Sons and daughters of the gun
Hungry babies come of age
Phasers switched and set to stun
Power now, power how, power wow !
Here's power
If you're seeking power .........
Doctor held you tight and torn
Boy he was a lucky man
Out of you the future born
Slight of foot and sight of hand
Douse the candle, dim the light
Focus not on fire or flame
Don't believe that might is right
Your soul can turn you just the same
Power now, power how, power wow !
If you're seeking power - here's power
Power now, power how, power wow !
If you're seeking power - here's power
If you take my breath away
The whole damn thing will turn and return
Redefined, rearranged, rearranged
And till my dying the day
I guess I'll have to burn just to learn
This the time, this the place
To show a human face
Dressed to kill we guessed you might
Friend or foe or family
We'll sacrifice the Virgin white
Her death will be the life of me
Power now is all the rage
Don't excuse it use it well
Keep the lion in his cage
Free from hunger, free from hell
Power now, power how, power wow !
If you're seeking power - here's power
09 Brian Wilson Said (04:24)
My life, nothing was easy till now
Hope like the morning will paint the dawn
More than ordinary ( deep down )
Make it more than merry ( deep down )
Take me to the jamboree ( deep down )
And shine a light on me
Draw back the curtains and smile
Everything's wow !
Girls are ten penny Janet, Joy and Jenny, Judy, Joan and Jackie G
Hear me now I warn you
Girls from California break your heart and set you free
My life
Shame to rely, but I swear it's the best I can do
Like a flame, like an i with a dot I am not you
Call me guilty I swear I'm a man who can fly ( deep down )
I keep coming back, I'll get back to you
My life, nothing was easy till now
10 Goodnight Song (03:52)
Here on the stage, the time has come
'Mid the strains of 'be my angel', of rockin' 2/4
Time may keep alive that old swan song
That we've been playing forever,
Too, time may be right to say 'good-bye'...
My voice is aching,
I'm tongue-tied,
And the sounds we are making are so-o-o old...
Goodnight song, played so wrong,
Blame the crowd, they screamed so loud so long.
It's an honest day;
Take the best of me and then the rest let go.
In every situation where there's tireless rage,
Step outside the cage
And let the real fool show.
I should have stayed 'round to break the ice,
I thought about it once or twice,
But nothing ever changes
Unless there's some pain...
And our
Goodnight song, played so wrong,
Blame the crowd, they screamed so loud so long,
Goodnight song, played so wrong,
Blame the crowd, they screamed so loud
So-o-o long...
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By Silla
I still listen to "Elemental" a lot, with the same pleasure as back then.
"Goodnight Song"… simply moves me so much, no matter when I listen to it.
