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Some believing in it, some with not so noble intentions - many artists and groups found themselves, around the mid-1980s, sucked into the ambiguous (but not entirely reprehensible) cauldron of musical benevolence. It was a time when various humanitarian projects started popping up like mushrooms in the forest humidity, leaving a mark on the artistic landscape of the period, whether the "paying" audience wanted it or not. With the proliferation of these all-star reunions devoted to lending their precious voices to peacefully sugary melodies like Geldof's "Do They Know It's Christmas" or its American response ("We Are The World," by Michael Jackson) - inevitably, irreverent criticisms and mockeries would also multiply from fellow artists inclined to see the cause as a mere marketing strategy; "Charity Begins At Home," was more or less the unofficial slogan of those who did not refrain from denigrating or belittling the heterogeneous group of new rock saints. But the show, as we know, is still a show. Thus, besides the more seasoned names like the aforementioned Jackson - recently and definitively entered into history books - or the much-loved (but later, and precisely because of these initiatives, also reviled) Sting - even the fledgling performers who recently erupted onto the scene would not lack the opportunity to step onto such a prominent stage to make their voice heard. And indeed, some melodies from these young talents would unwittingly and not always deservedly become small manifestos of the entire operation.
This is precisely the case with the Tears For Fears of "Everybody Wants To Rule The World," the great 1985 hit and the flagship of the multi-millionaire second album by the duo, "Songs From The Big Chair." They had little to do, in reality, with all the aforementioned dramatics, shining - the single for its freshness and melodic perfection, the album for its originality and great emotional impact (listen to "The Working Hour," "I Believe," or "Listen" to believe it) - both with their own light. Amidst such a mass media uproar, the name of those who could truly claim a genuine melodic message began to emerge, a cause that not only did not bow art to the demands of the show but, on the contrary, used the latter as a pass for recognition untainted by the slightest compromise. And indeed - while the excellent debut of "The Hurting" (already a cult in its time, thanks to the singles "Change," "Mad World," and "Pale Shelter") and the irresistible success of the above 'must' (in which, in my opinion, the tormented pop of "Head Over Heels" stands out greatly) remain intact - the four years of absolute silence before the release of "The Seeds Of Love" (1989) could do nothing against the terrifying completeness of this album.
The now multi-award-winning Orzabal-Smith brand would once again sweep the box office, astounding both the public and critics in one fell swoop - the former shocked by the explosive force of the lead single ("Sowing The Seeds Of Love": the most irreverent and psychedelic Beatles having breakfast with the best blues tradition), the latter by discovering behind the synthetic face of the band the extraordinary insights of fully rounded composers. All this with the help of special collaborators and musicians described as nothing less than four-leaf clovers and absolutely irreplaceable: thus, while the unforgettable melodic opening of "Woman In Chains" is entrusted to the savvy drumming of the most syncopated Phil Collins - a pop jewel capable of ennobling the entire history of easy listening - there is little human about the amazing high notes of Oleta Adams' voice - a black pearl discovered and invited by the group to enhance the album's choirs and to shine in the unrepeatable 8 minutes à la Little Feat of "Badman's Song" (on an episode experienced by Orzabal before a concert). Flashes of searing yet soothing fusion ("Standing On The Corner Of The Third World": reminiscences of Live Aid?) introduce the second part of the album, a suite which also features the six beautifully lyrical minutes of "Swords And Knives" - with lyrics heavily tinged with "drama" and a progressively more electrified melodic cadence - and the pseudo-live and very Prince-scented ride of "Year Of The Knife" (interspersed with proto trip-hop inserts added in the studio), closing with the resigned and melancholic lullaby "Famous Last Words," the last of the four singles, tinged with orchestral ambitions. Little to add on "Advice For The Young At Heart": I doubt it can fail to be one of the most blazing, exciting, inspired pop song essays of the last twenty years, with exhausting lyrics and melting melody, the most complete and exemplary page of a mature and unbreakable album.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 Woman in Chains (06:30)
You better love loving you better behave
You better love loving you better behave
Woman in Chains
Woman in Chains
Calls her man the Great White Hope
Says she's fine, she'll always cope
Woman in Chains
Woman in Chains
Well I fell lying and waiting is a poor man's deal
And I feel hopelessly weighed down by your eyes of steel
It's a world gone crazy
Keeps Woman in Chains
Trades her soul as skin and bone
Sells the only thing she owns
Woman in Chains
Woman in Chains
Men of Stone Men of Stone
Well I feel deep in your heart there are wounds Time can't heal
And I feel somebody somewhere is trying to breathe
Well you know what I mean
It's a world gone crazy
Keeps Woman in Chains
It's under my skin but out of my hands
I'll tear it apart but I won't understand
I will not accept the Greatness of Man
It's a world gone crazy
Keeps Woman in Chains
So Free Her So Free Her
03 Sowing the Seeds of Love (06:19)
High time we made a stand and shook up the views of the common man
And the lovetrain rides from coast to coast
D.J.'s the man we love the most
Could you be, could you be squeaky clean
And smash any hope of democracry ?
As the headline says you're free to choose
There's egg on your face and mud on your shoes
One of these days they're gonna call it the blues
And anything is possible when you're Sowing the Seeds of Love
Anything is possible - Sowing the Seeds of Love
I spy tears in thier eyes
They look to the skies for some kind of divine intervention
Food goes to waste !
So nice to eat, so nice to taste
Politician Grannie with your high ideals
Have you no idea how the Majority feels ?
So without love and a promise land
We're fools to the rules of a Goverment plan
Kick out the style ! Bring back the jam !
Anything...
Sowing the Seeds
The birds and the bees
My girlfriend and me in love
Feel the pain
Talk about it
If you're a worried man - then shout about it
Open hearts - feel about it
Open minds - think about it
Everyone - read about it
Everyone - scream about it !
Everyone
Everyone - read about it, read about it
Read in the books in the crannies and the nooks there are books to read
Chorus !
(Mr. England Sowing the Seeds of Love)
Time to eat all your words
Swallow your pride
Open your eyes
High time we made a stand and shook up the views of the common man
And the lovetrain rides from coast to coast
Every minute of every hour - " I Love a Sunflower "
And I believe in lovepower, Love power, LOVEPOWER !!!
Sowing the Seeds
An end to need
And the Politics of Greed
With love
04 Advice for the Young at Heart (04:55)
Advice for the young at heart
Soon we will be older
When we gonna make it work ?
Too many people living in a secret world
While they play mothers and fathers
We play little boys and girls
When we gonna make it work ?
I could be happy
I could be quite naive
It's only me and my shadows
Happy in our make believe
Soon...
And with the hounds at bay
I'll call your bluff
hey...
Cos it would be okay
To walk on tiptoes everyday
And when I think of you and all the love that's due
I'll make a promise, I'll make a stand
Cos to these big brown eyes, this comes as no surprise
We've got the whole wide world in our hands
Advice for the young at heart
Soon we will be older
When we gonna make it work ?
Love is promise
Love is a souvenir
Once given
Never forgotten, never let it disappear
This could be our last chance
When we gonna make it work ?
Working hour is over
And how it makes me weep
Cos someone sent my soul to sleep
And when I think of you and all the love that's due
I'll make a promise, I'll make a stand
Cos to these big brown eyes, this comes as no surprise
We've got the whole wide world in our hands
solo
We've got the whole wide world in our hands
We've got the whole wide world in our hands (in our habds)
Advice for the young at heart
Soon we will be older
When we gonna make it work ?
Advice for the young at heart
Soon we will be older
When we gonna make it work ?
Working hour is over
We can do anyhting that we want
Anything that we feel like doing
Advice...
07 Year of the Knife (06:55)
Hallelujah, the king is dead. He said
" Love was the knife "
And now he'll dream some magic queen might try and save his life
They say his famous final words
Came from the heart of the man
He made his bed on love denied
He played Jeckyll and Hyde till the day he died
Too late for the young gun
To lead a simple life
Too late for the young gun
This is the year of the knife
See the mountains crumble
Feel the fire go cold
Summer will turn to winter
Love will turn to stone
They say his famous final words
Came from the heart of man
I made his bed on love denied
Now I ain't gonna sleep tonight
Too late for the young gun
To lead a simple life
Too late for the young gun
This is the year of the knife
08 Famous Last Words (04:31)
After the wash
Before the fire
I will decay
Melt in your arms
As the day hits the night
We will sit by candlelight
We will laugh
We will sing
When the saints go marching in
A for a heart
B for a brain
Insects and grass
Are all that remain
When the light from above
Burns a hole straight through our love
We will laugh
We will sing
When the saints go marching in
And we will carry war no more
All our love and all our of pain
Will be but a tune
The Sun and the Moon
The wind and the rain
Hand in hand we'll do and die
Listening to the band that made us cry
We'll have nothing to lose
We'll have nothing to gain
Just to stay this real life situation
For one last refrain
As the day hits the night
We will sit by candlelight
We will laugh
We will sing
When the saints go marching in
And we will carry war no more
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