TEARS FOR FEARS
Songs From The Big Chair (Mercury)
Reviewed by John Sekerka

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How do you follow a classic lip-biting, doom and gloom new wave debut? With soul, humour and guitars of course. After slipping into the stern faced serious electropop Brit crowd (New Order et al), Tears For Fears decided to lighten up and the result was mega sales. "Shout" and "Everybody Wants to Rule the World", did pretty much that back in '85. This re-release expands the sophomore album by a whopping seven tracks (to the original eight), flushing out what was really just a small collection of singles. And as with many of their peers, Tears For Fears ran out of steam shortly thereafter. This release offers up a nice look back, and a reminder that first pessimistic record, despite the pigeonholing criticism, was perhaps their peak.

© 2001 - John Sekerka