Tears for Fears - Everybody Loves a Happy Ending

Everybody Loves Happy Listening

I bought this album the first day it came out in Sept. 2004. And I love it. The kind of sophistication heard on this album is hard to find these. Each song is worth listening -- there are no fillers. Each chord, each note is handled with perfection. The erudite lyrics and musicality hearken to the days of the The Hurting my other fave TFF album. I just hope they do not make us wait another 15 years for their next masterpiece. June 25, 2008

Best pop rock album I've heard in years.

When people mention the Beatles influence when talking about this record, they aren't joking. If you close your eyes, sit back, listen, especially to the instrumental passages, you can easily think you're listening to some George Martin produced late 60s Beatles brilliance.

And it's not in an obvious rip-off way that is apparent in some music. You can't do what Tears for Fears have done on this album without doing it sincerely and from the heart. It's just brilliant throughout. I was instantly impressed, and there really are no weak points or filler on this disk either.

It's refreshing to know there are still musicians out there who take the time to create something like this. Listen to that instrumentation! Sounds! Lots of creative, original sounds! What a concept! Brian Wilson was doing it. Martin and the Beatles were doing it. And now Tears for Fears have done it.

If Pet Sounds was a Teenage Symphony to God, Everybody Loves a Happy Ending is a Symphony to God from the rest of us. April 7, 2008

Who's crying now?

I'm not going to do a blow-by-blow review of Tears For Fears' "Everybody Loves a Happy Ending" because first of all... I don't own all of their music yet. So I can't write too informative a review; there are other reviewers who know more about TFF than I do. But I will say is... man, this is a good album! It took me the 2nd spin to appreciate it however. I was thinking, "Man, this is what they give us... uber-slick, Beatles-influenced pop rock?!" But what they did with this album is not only deliver well-written, well-sung material, but they made me appreciate The Beatles (who I was not a big fan of prior to this). I'll definitely be checking out more of The Beatles' catalogue, more specifically Paul McCartney, who the album was mostly influenced by.

Someone behind me wrote that Roland Orzabal (the driving force behind the duo) had lost a step with his vocals. That statement couldn't be more blasphemous. First of all, time will never mar the God-given voice of Roland Orzabal; in fact, I'd place him in one of the top 10 rock singers of all-time. And secondly, I feel he was simply holding back on some songs. He already does 80% of the work, so why would he feel the need to show off? If you listen to first few lines of the put-offingly dark "Quiet Ones", you wouldn't be able to tell that Orzabal had lost anything vocally.

The songs are all pretty slick; some may have been played live, some may have been done in the studio. I don't know... but there's not an iota of the synthesized TFF that debuted in the early 1980s to be found here. It's pretty stripped down, leaning it more towards rock than pop. For some, it may be a weird adjustment if they only know TFF as "that 80s band that did that cool, anthemic song that sounds like the soundtrack to a John Hughes movie." This is a step above and beyond anything from their new wave-esque material. They were already heading in this direction with the John Lennon-influenced "Sowing The Seeds of Love" (the song).

My personal favorites are "Closest Thing To Heaven", "Size of Sorrow", "Who Killed Tangerine?", "Ladybird" and "Killing With Kindness". An interesting thing about 'Everybody Loves a Happy Ending' is, no matter how much you hear other artists' flourishes in the music, the music is still essentially TFF. For instance, there's a Burt Bacharach-sounding song called "Secret World" that sounds like it would've been better suited for Swing Out Sister circa 1997. There's also a song at the end called "Last Days On Earth" that sounds like a b-side to a Simply Red album circa 1995, but I can still feel that indescribable TFF vibe to it.

The biggest highlight to this album is the return of Curt Smith. Some people have written elsewhere on this site that Orzabal was better off by himself (i.e. 'Elemental'). "Oh, Curt Smith wasn't missed at all!" But fast foward to end of the '90s and you'll see that Orzabal, as great as he is, ran out of steam. Although Curt plays a very small role (who knows why) in writing, singing and playing, he adds that intangible element that makes TFF... well... TFF. I enjoy hearing his high voice soaring on the choruses of songs like "Ladybird" (which he cowrote). In my book, he "was" missed.

In closing, this album may be an acquired taste for some, but this is a footnote in history. One of the best bands of the 80s getting back together to bring us more magic. You should pick this up if you're a fan.




November 29, 2007

A Great New Start

I have always been a Tears fan. I have lived with much critizism from friends who feel that they were always too commercial and pop. I felt the "Everybody Wants to Rule The World" was literally the best song of the 80s and it really torqued me that Tears weren't even voted as one of the top artists of the 80s by VHF fans. Happy Ending brought back the hope of more. I won't go into a song by song analysis as others have done a great job of that. Simply this - if you are a Tears fan then you will like this one. I personally like it more than Seeds but then Elemental is my favorite so who knows. As of this writing, they have not written enough for a new CD and that worries me. I hope they haven't thrown in the towel for good. November 29, 2007

Sounding Like the Beatles is a Good Thing!

This latest set of tunes from TFF is very remeniscent of their Seeds of Love album and very Beatlesque (is that a word?). If I didn't know who the band was, I would guess it was some rare Beatles recording. I must say that I do like this album and I like both Tears For Fears and I like the Beatles too. This is a very upbeat set of great songs by the guys who brought us Shout and Woman in Chains. Great place to start if you are new to TFF and a great addition to any folks who are already fans of these much overlooked talented fellows. Very good. - Ciao October 15, 2007

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