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Rating: September 2004 - "Everybody loves a happy ending"... in this case, the happy ending was the reunion of Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith, with the release of a new album which, at least in intentions, was supposed to be the continuation of "The seeds of love" (1989), that is, the last album recorded before Smith's departure. Without beating around the bush, the goal was not achieved, period.
53 minutes of general anonymity interrupted by some episodes at the limit of tolerability, for a result unfortunately very negative, made even more serious by the fact that we are talking about artists who are far from incapable.
Outlandish comments like "John Lennon and Paul McCartney are alive and well" immediately dissolve when listening to the 12 tracks that, apart from very few exceptions ("Quiet Ones" and "Secret world" aren't bad...), are a clumsy and poorly executed restyling (if we can even call it a restyling) of the teachings of the Beatles school.
Songs like the hit "Closest Thing To Heaven" and "Size Of Sorrow" after intros that promise something nice are abandoned without developing even the limited potential they might have, others like "The Devil" don't even begin. "Call Me Mellow" after the second listen already seems annoying due to excessive sweetness. For the rest, excluding the previously mentioned "exceptions", which manage to reach sufficiency, there's not much else: tracks that leave you completely indifferent and are destined to be forgotten immediately.
Perhaps this judgement is too influenced by their great past, which, however, cannot be overlooked! I'm sorry to have to admit this, as a long-time fan of TFF, but in this reunion, I don't see anything other than a way to further fill their pockets by leveraging the event itself, because the quality just isn't there.
If this was supposed to be the last chapter in the book of the Tears For Fears' history... alas, it happens that interesting stories end in a banal and disappointing way! It's up to each of us to ensure that what good was done is not sullied by a useless chapter and, from my point of view, senseless.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
02 Closest Thing to Heaven (03:20)
28 days of rain
Flashfloods in Feburary
Back in our boats again
Bathwater and the baby
What am I gonna do?
There's been a lot of drinking
Looking at ghosts of you
While all the world is sinking
Ten thousand miles into the atmosphere
My body shakes, is there a welcome here?
Closest thing to heaven
How do you do it?
Closest thing to heaven, to heaven
Throw your arms 'round the world
Make love your destination
Here we go, boys and girls
Act like a generation
Give me that ball and chain
By now it must be hurting
Dragging your feet again
Just like a beast of burden
When one and one and one make two
I know I'm high because I've captured you
Yeah
Closest thing to heaven
Yes, you
Closest thing to heaven, to heaven
Look the world right in the eye
Eat the countries that are making millions
Sweet as homemade apple pie
Save the crumbs for all the starving millions
Closest thing to heaven
Closest thing to heaven
How do you do it?
Closest thing to heaven
Hey
Closest thing to heaven
03 Call Me Mellow (03:28)
Fill the sky with love
Fill the sky with love
I wouldn't mind but she just turned up on the doorstep
Wistfull and ashen, slightly bedraggled
Last time I saw her she was howling at the moon
Roaming the forest, lupine and rabid
Woah, is she wild? Does she see my inner child?
But then she knows it's like a curse
To find our chosen roles reversed
To unify my universe
To call me mellow
If I was only half my age and she was older
We'd live on ice cream on Coney Island
And though it's gravity that drags down my balloon
She stays in orbit way after midnight
Woah, slip and slide - does she go all dewey-eyed?
But then she knows it's like a curse
To find our chosen roles reversed
To unify my universe
To call me mellow
She'll dress down for us
She'll break new ground for us
Watching me cracking up
She'll hang round fellahs
With all the ground swellers
Driving me like a truck
But then she knows it's like a curse
To find our chosen roles reversed
To unify my universe
To call me mellow
04 Size of Sorrow (04:30)
Bathe in another man's grave
In time we'll follow
Save all your thoughts for these days
Don't steal just borrow
Well a high wire
Is a dangerous game
But a hard act to follow
If I fly high like a moth to a flame
Would you eyes be the size of sorrow?
Pain, I can understand pain
Sometimes you just swallow
Say we can make it OK
Don't steal just borrow
With the high wire
Is a dangerous game
But a hard act to follow
If I fly high like a moth to a flame
Would your eyes be the size of sorrow?
06 Quiet Ones (04:12)
It's always the quiet ones
Who are stranger than fiction
They hide under tables like a child
What kind of chemistry is it?
Leaden or golden?
Nobody sees them driving us wild
It's your life
Don't just collide with the waves
Oh look into her eyes
You'll see such silent calling
Nothing seems to matter in this life
Wake up your majesty there are
Thieves in the temple
Picking the sunspots out of the sun
Looking for symmetry in man
Another dead Beatle
Down through the path we see how they run
It's your life
Don't just collide with the ways
Oh look into her eyes
You'll see such silent calling
Nothing seems to matter in this life
Oh so many reasons why
You hear the silence calling
Nothing seems to matter in this life
Oh salvation shine a light on a different world
And carry out thoughts on golden rays
08 The Devil (03:25)
The devil, take me now
Before I'm ushered out
'Cause you are like me
But I can bleed
And I can die
But I can't hide
From you
Prisoners of course
Taken by force
To smother my streams
Tonight in my dreams
'Cause I can die
But I can't hide
The way is clear
Away from here
And you
11 Ladybird (04:36)
Tell me a story of mind over matter
The hope and glory of life ever after
The sound and the fury the cloak and the dagger
Days when we sink like a stone
Porcelain portraits and silver medallions
Plasticine soldiers that march in battalions
Angels of mercy and lifelong companions
Days when we sink like a stone
There a room somewhere with a different look
Where your secret life is an open book
Where the love we made was a chance we took
Days when we sink like a stone
Ladybird fly away our friends are gone
Ladybird fly away our house is on fire
Let us be lovers we'll melt after midnight
Hoist up the mainsail we'll coast through the daylight
Twisted like candles that fade in the half-light
Days when we sink like a stone
Well we die sometimes to begin again
When the same old dreams have the same old end
When we lose our mind or we lose our friends
Days when we sink like a stone
Ladybird fly away our friends are gone
Ladybird fly away our house is on fire
Ladybird fly away our friends are gone
Ladybird fly away our house is on fire
Your friends have gone
Porcelain portraits and silver medallions
Your friends have gone
Plasticine soldiers that march in battalions
Your friends have gone
Angels of mercy and lifelong companions
Tell me a story of mind over matter
The hope and glory of life ever after
The sound and the fury the cloak and the dagger
Ladybird fly away our friends are gone
Ladybird fly away our house is on fire
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