Tears For Fears – Tears Roll Down: Greatest Hits, 1982-92

Another of my not-quite-guilty pleasures of the 80s, Tears For Fears has always been one of my favorites from that era. They understood that if you’re going to build your music on a largely electronic palette, you should at least have a decent vocalist to give it some kind of human touch – and few bands around that time could do better than Roland Orzabal.

This collection picks up with a song which is actually simultaneously atypical and emblematic of the Tears For Fears sound, “Sowing The Seeds Of Love”, which I’m sure everyone remembers from around 1989-90. Like several of the duo’s singles, it got huge radio airplay, so you’re bound to remember the song, even if you don’t remember who did it.

The highlights include “Everybody Wants To Rule The World”, “Head Over Heels”, “Cold Shelter” (my personal favorite of anything the band did while they were in business), “Woman In Chains”, and two songs with some fairly interesting (and psychologically loaded) lyrics, “Tears Roll Down” and “Shout”. A few less prominent selections round things out.

Overall, I found, while listening to this, that I actually miss the Tears For Fears sound. What I miss about the ’80s in general is both the cutting-edge way the music was put together (when synths were relatively new), and the fact that there seemed to be a sudden influx of songwriters who not only knew what chord progression they wanted their material to follow, but how they wanted it to sound, how they wanted to sing it, and how to use the then-new technology to achieve that. Tears For Fears were masters of that art, and sadly, precious few of the acts who were equally as good are still in circulation.

1. Sowing The Seeds Of Love (6:19)
2. Everybody Wants To Rule The World (4:11)
3. Woman In Chains (6:29)
4. Shout (6:33)
5. Head Over Heels (4:14)
6. Mad World (3:29)
7. Pale Shelter (4:39)
8. I Believe (4:49)
9. Laid So Low (Tears Roll Down) (4:44)
10. Mother’s Talk (4:59)
11. Change (3:54)
12. Advice For The Young At Heart (4:54)

Released by: Fontana
Release date: 1992
Total running time: 59:14