Tears For Fears – Everybody Loves A Happy Ending (CD)
Sound:
B+ Music: B-
For their
reunion album in 2004, the duo that was Tears For Fears, Curt Smith and Roland
Orzabal, were back with Everybody Loves
A Happy Ending. With Donnie Darko putting Head Over Heals back on the map and the
fans of the duo still loyal after all these years, it was hoped that a big
comeback was in the works. The album
included:
1)
Everybody Loves A Happy Ending
2)
Closest Thing To Heaven
3)
Call Me Mellow
4)
Size Of Sorrow
5)
Who Killed Tangerine?
6)
Quiet Ones
7)
Who Are You?
8)
The Devil
9)
Secret World
10) Killing With Kindness
11) Ladybird
12) Last Days On Earth
Instead
of picking up where The Seeds Of Love
left off, the album kicks off with some Beatles-like pop (circa Rubber Soul) and also goes back to a
Pop sensibility of the late 1960s to early 1970s. Unfortunately, that was too safe and retro at
a time when know-nothings labeled and bashed anything like that and the album
floundered.
Too bad,
because there are a few good singles here like Quiet Ones that make more sense in a reunion release, but the duo
started form another direction and though the music is better than most of the
mass-produced garbage we are getting now, it does not always feel like it is
them and their identity. Guess they picked
the wrong time to work through The Beatles.
Still, it is an interesting listen and competent, but far what they
achieved with their early work. Did this
make them sound too much like a legacy act?
Let’s hope their next release is different.
The PCM 16/44.1
2.0 Stereo is exceptionally rich and clear, begging the question, why did
Universal not consider this (or any of their albums) for SACD and DVD-Audio
release? The production by the duo with
Charlton Pettus is sonically rich and engineered in a superior manner. They obviously have more to offer, to say and
the superior talent to deliver. Hear
this one if you can.
The cover
reminded me of Crowded House’s album Crowded
House (out in a DVD-Audio with solid 2-channel and iffy 5.1) with its
curtain/stage motif. Too bad that band
did not join them on a track in a reunion.
For more
great music by Tears For Fears, try these links:
Chronicles Set
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/2691/Tears+For+Fears+-+Chronicles+(3+CD+Set)
Songs From The Big Chair – Deluxe
Edition CD Set + Scenes From The Big Chair DVD
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/5022/Tears+For+Fears+–+Scenes+From
- Nicholas Sheffo
