Tears for Fears
Tears Roll Down: Greatest Hits 82-92

THE REVIEW

The true test is distance.

Distance creates objectivity. It inhibits secondary senses, not those functional for appreciating a work.

Backstory: if I'm asked to give voice to what I consider the perfect pop, or better yet, to give voice to the sheer essence of pop, I say Tears For Fears.

Explanation: I am not a fan.

The surface of my consideration is encapsulated in any one of their radio hits. Come on, you know them, you know more than I do. The depth lies in ‘Listen’ (Songs From The Big Chair).

When Gary Jules, in 2004, in the wake of ‘Donnie Darko’, revisited ‘Mad World’, he helped to tear this (my) certainty solely to strengthen it.

So much so, I thought: it would be superficial to place a random album of theirs in this review. It would be pompous and opportunistic to lean on a Greatest Hits, and they have released tons of them.

Therefore: go to your children and tell them: this is the caress of Curt and Roland. It is a golden touch, dated, meager if you will. Of an irretrievable meagerness, because: the two reconciled in the early 2000s, released an album, nice, come on, just as nice as the solo-not-solo works of Roland (who retained the trademark for a couple of works then went underground). But it's not the same.

We are left with three albums, which magnificently end in ‘Laid So Low’, the unreleased track presented in 1992 with the first compilation.

Those who love the group viscerally, found solace in the reunion. The two set aside all feuds, all pain, offering glimpses of life.

True, only one new album under their belt, but many concerts, many ideas, many performances.

But someone had to do it. In the sense: give the duo the star, the legacy that will never pass, because there's no going back, indeed, the past does not return, and if it does, it's clumsy, or at worst, distractedly.

They were the contemporary pop, the pop of the '80s, the courteous, clean, essential definition of a groove carved with immense strength.

I challenge you: you may loathe the charming smooth guys, squander humiliating comparisons with clowns of various backgrounds, scrutinize the failure of false prophets under the lens, but with Tears For Fears, you will always feel the need to precede with a silent reflection. Because if one engages in research, it can only enrich.