Tears For Fears -
Songs From The Big Chair 1985 ( 2006 Deluxe Edition remaster )
I think if I were asked to name a couple of acts/albums which, in broad strokes, painted a picture summarizing what Eighties pop sounded like ( for better or worse ), I might say Prince and these two guys with this album. At the time,
Songs From The Big Chair was inescapable and to a young guy demonstrating clearly rockist tendencies, it was also insufferable. Now with some daylight between me and those days, I am better able to appreciate the craft involved here and the consistency on offer. This really is a very good record. Sophisticated melodically and lyrically, at times perhaps a tad too earnest ( as Alice Cooper put it, needing a good feed of red meat ) and sonically typical of that period as well ( ick ! ), this album has aged a lot more gracefully than the work of many of this band's contemporaries...
D.D.
