Tears For Fears
Everybody Loves a Happy Ending

THE REVIEW

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.