1985
Link to Listen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ye7FKc1JQe4&list=PLnjEDtbey337PNuRviP-Z3shH1_OWCDMJ&index=1
"Songs from the Big Chair" - the phrase itself - is an allusion to the idea of therapy, speaking your fears or trauma aloud to someone while perched on a couch, or "big chair." The first single, "Shout," also is referencing Arthur Janov's "primal therapy," much like the kind that John Lennon also tried and deeply believed in. The British second-single release of "Shout" furthered the idea of speaking to childhood trauma, fears and repression as a way to undo, or release, the pain. And maybe the chanting chorus was also built for just such a purpose. This single was the follow up to "Everyone Wants to Rule the World" in the States, and by the time "Shout" followed in June of 1985, spending three weeks in the #1 slot, Roland Orzabel and Curt Smith (the duo that was Tears for Fears) WERE essentially ruling the pop world.
The album has a feel of two kinds: first, a reverb drenched pop album - and by pop I mean hummable choruses, soulful singing, and toe-tapping rhythms. But for the mid-80s - heck, even for now, it's also an alternative British synth-soul album that would only have worked in the 80s alongside fellow pop acts like the Eurythmics and Simple Minds, fellow experimentalists who were striking it big in the same years. This kind of pop experimentation (outside of progressive rock) had never been accepted to this degree and it never would again.
I would love to hear other people's memories associated with these songs. The singles were so big on the radio in the summer of '85 that everyone has to remember them playing somewhere. I can still hear "Everyone Wants to Rule the World" playing over the speaker system at the amusement park Valley Fair in Minneapolis, MN, on weekend away from camp, standing in line, singing along with all my camp buddies. My fondest memory: instead of a usual camp song, I taught my campers "Shout," and then we (probably obnoxiously, now that I think about it) sang/chanted it everywhere we went around camp for a whole week.
Other standouts include "The Working Hour," "I Believe," and "Head Over Heels," another monstrous hit that same summer."
While Curt Smith handled vocals and Bbass, it was really Roland Orzabel who the mastermind of the two. He wrote the songs, sang and played guitar and keyboards.
No comments:
Post a Comment