PAGE 14 March 15, 1985

 

Shout! It’s Tears for Fears

Tears for Fears, from England, have
sent us Songs from the Big Chair, their
second album. It takes a couple of
listens, but songs from the Big Chair
grows on you.

by K & J

 

 

Tears for Fears surprised everyone
with a leaning towards alternative
music, when they released their debut
album in 1982. The Hurting had a
flowing, sublte sound, very soothing to
the inner karma. A moderate success,
The Hurting yielded two singles (more
in Britain), Pale Shelter and the title
cut. Lisa
Songs from the Big Chair continues
with the smooth musical themes of The
Hurting, but has a punchier product-
ion. Everything is crisp and sharp,
synthopop with an acoustic soul. —

Tears for Fears are Curt Smith -
bass and vocals; Roland Orzabal -
guitar, keyboards, and vocals ; lan
Stanley - keyboards; and Manny Elias
- drums. There are numerous special

guest appearances, most notably those
by saxophonists William Gregory and
Mel Collins.

By now, everybody has heard the
first single from the album; Shout. It’s
one of the most upbeat songs from the
record, and it’s also the best. An-
nounced by a tiny bell, the tingling
lasts just long enough to allow one to
rush to the stereo and crank the
volume when the song comes on the
radio. Shout is insistent, an anthem
that borrows from the style of Simple
Minds, but with a bit more polish.
Stretched out to more than six minutes
on record, Shout has some really nifty
instrumental effects and solos, creat-
ing a wall of sound.

The Working Hour follows Shout,
and features the terrific sax work of
the afore mentioned Gregory and
Collins. It is a lot more reminiscent of
the Tears for Fears of old — mellow
(but in a British sort of way, not a
California way) and relaxing.

Rounding out the last of the good
songs on side one is Everybody Wants

Van returns in style

Van Morrison is looking a little
paunchy these days. He’s looking a
little bald too. But you know what they
say: the more things change, the more

by JOEL HAGEN

they stay the same.

His‘new album, A Sense of Wonder,
proves this cliche. It melds the classic
themes of his late sixties work (espe-
cially Astral Weeks) with the more
modern sounds he experimented with
on his last release, 1983’s Inarticulate
Speech of the Heart.

In away, A Sense of Wonder is a bit
of a letdown, considering how long
Morrison fans have been waiting for it.
It’s a good record—in fact, it’s a very
good record—but it doesn’t match the
lush collage of music that made
Inarticualte Speech of the Heart so
fantastic

 

  

However, dedicated followers of
Morrison won’t mind this little slip in
quality. It seems that Van can’t make a
bad record, and A Sense of Wonder
has a lot of merits.

Morrison should be congratulated
for his sensitive use of synthesizer. In
his hands, Mr. Moog’s often abused
invention becomes a true instrument,
not a soulless toy. Morrison doesn’t try
to coax sound effects or fake orches-
tras out of a synthesizer, just nice rich
tones.

Producing the album himself, Van
clearly decided that he wanted to keep

 

the electronics in the background, and
this arrangement works perfectly. On
Evening Meditation, an instrumental,
one can almost hear a gentle mist or
breeze being crafted with the synthe-
sizer. Soothing Stuff!

Another thing that Morrison has

going for him is that he can still write _
great lyrics. He’s always tried to make

the spiritual connections, and on A
Sense of Wonder, it really clicks.

The title track draws its inspiration
from one of nature’s simple treasures,
leaves. Morrison, building from a
description of them, develops a phil-
osophical poem about the ‘‘sense of
wonder’’ they create:

| walked in my greatcoat,

Down through the days of the leaves,

No before after, yes after before,

We were shining our light into the
days of blooming wonder,

In the eternal presence, the presence
of the flame.

Morrison gets even deeper in Let
the Slave, from William Blakes’s The
Price of Experience. It’s hard to say
whether or not he does it justice (there
were only a couple of other tunes on A
Sense of Wonder, | didn’t like) but it’s
worth it just for Blakes’s words:

Wisdom is sold in the desolate market
where none come to buy

And in the wither’d field where the
farmer plows for bread in vain.

Not all of A Sense of Wonder is a
philosophy trip. Tore Down a- La
Rimbaud (currently getting some radio
airplay) is a catchy single reminiscent
of the stuff from Moondance and the
cover of Mose Allison’s If You Only
Knew is far from cerebral. Jazzy and
energetic, it gets settled into a good
groove before being polished off by a
great Pee Wee Ellis saxaphone solo
(one of thoses raw and gutsy jobs, with
all kinds of wails and squeels).

It’s hard to pass a judgement on A
Sense of Wonder. | prefer a lot of his
earlier albums, but if you have a
healthy collection of Morrison records
already, my verdict is, of course, buy
it!

 

 

to Rule the World, probably the tune
that will get the nod as the album’s
second single. Smith and Orzabal
question why people are always trying
to gain power, and they ask their
listeners to ‘‘help me make the most of
freedom,’’ knowing that the privelege
can be taken away at the hands of a
madman.

Mothers Talk wrecks side one’s
perfect score. It is a simple tune, not
very captivating, and resembles noise
more than music.

Songs from the Big Chair’s flip side
isn’t quite as compelling as the first,
but the last song Listen, closes the

 

album perfectly. It’s a small scale
symphony; thick, with layer upon layer
of music. Very impressionistic, Listen
is a visual piece, creating evocative
images different for every person.

Final judgement: All in favour say
Aye.

“AYE!"’

All those opposed dance in the
streets naked! (Now take a peek out
your window. Do you see anyone
cavorting about in their birthday
suits? Of course not, so Tears for Fears
must be destined for your record
collection.)

   

Tears for Fears vocalists
Curt Smith and Roland
Orzabal grace the cover
of their latest album.
Have you seen their
video? I mean, these
guys are sex gods. Yow!

 

 

   

St hee

 

ET ae
;

 

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