Record of the Day: Tears for Fears, "The Seeds of Love"

Record of the Day: Tears for Fears, “The Seeds of Love”

Tears For Fears
“The Seeds of Love” (Cd Mercury 558105-2)

In their career, Tears For Fears have demonstrated how an accentuated pop sensitivity can be combined with lyrics full of anxiety and refined and complex musical arrangements. Taking its name from the same Primal Scream theory that had influenced John Lennon, the group explored (at least in early works such as “The Hurting” and “Songs from the Big Chair”) disturbing situations derived from childhood traumas, stories of mental dissociation, anger and anguish that evoked dark atmospheres.

After the global success of the first albums, making “The Seeds of Love” was a grueling undertaking for the two leaders Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith; the pressure from the record company was enormous, as were the expectations of their fans; the two locked themselves in the studio for over a year of recording, spending astronomical sums (over a million pounds), constantly making and unmaking the tracks (it took fifteen days just to edit the drums on the song “Badman’s Song” ), recording an enormous amount of material in what seemed like an interminable process.

The album that came out at the end of this ordeal was very different from the previous ones; bore explicit homage to the Beatles of the “Sgt. Pepper” period and in general to the world of flower psychedelia
power, with lyrics inspired by the principles of Peace and Love as universal panaceas and total rejection of war; but Orzabal still did not give up pointing the finger at the growing tensions due to Margaret Thatcher’s government, the problems linked to hunger in the Third World, and the violence that is inflaming the planet.

Among the surprises of the album stood out the discovery of the voice of Oleta Adams (who began a solo career after this album), whose injection of soul-gospel makes “Badman’s Song” unforgettable. Equally beautiful is the Beatles pastiche of “Sowing the Seeds of Love”, an authentic labyrinth of quotes from the Fab Four (even in the drum throws photocopied by Ringo Starr) which manages to sound fun and never academic.

The public welcomed the new work triumphantly, projecting it to the top of the American and English Top Ten and the album collected an incalculable number of platinum records everywhere, transporting Tears For Fears to the Olympus of the most important groups of the Eighties.

Carlo Boccadoro, composer and conductor, was born in Macerata in 1963. He lives and works in Milan. He collaborates with soloists and orchestras in different parts of the world. He is the author of numerous books on musical topics.

This text is taken from “Lunario della musica: A record for every day of the year” published by Einaudi, courtesy of the author and the publisher.