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Tears for Tears: Elemental

 A l b u m   D e t a i l s


Label: Mercury Records
Released: 1993
Time:
 46:51
Category: Pop/Rock
Producer(s): See Artists ...
Rating: *********. (9/10)
Media type: CD
Web address: www.tearsforfears.net
Appears with:
Purchase date: 2001.02.24
Price in €: 3,99



 S o n g s ,   T r a c k s


[1] Elemental (Griffiths/Orzabal) - 5:30
[2] Cold (Orzabal) - 5:04
[3] Break It Down Again (Griffiths/Orzabal) - 4:31
[4] Mr. Pessimist (Griffiths/Orzabal) - 6:16
[5] Dog's a Best Friend's Dog (Griffiths/Orzabal) - 3:38
[6] Fish Out of Water (Griffiths/Orzabal) - 5:07
[7] Gas Giants (Griffiths/Orzabal) - 2:40
[8] Power (Griffiths/Orzabal) - 5:50
[9] Brian Wilson Said (Griffiths/Orzabal) - 4:22
[10] Goodnight Song (Griffiths/Orzabal) - 3:53

 A r t i s t s ,   P e r s o n n e l


ROLAND ORZABAL - Vocals, Background Vocals, Various Instruments, Producer
TIM PALMER - Various Instruments, Producer
ALAN GRIFFITHS - Various Instruments, Producer

MARK O'DONOUGHUE - Wurlitzer Piano, Engineer, Wurlitzer
GUY PRATT - Bass
JOHN BAKER - Background Vocals
JULIAN ORZABAL - Background Vocals
PAMELA SPRINGSTEEN - Background Vocals

BOB LUDWIG - Mastering
DAVID AUSTEN - Design

 C o m m e n t s ,   N o t e s


 CD Mercury 314-514875-2
1993 Mercury 14875
CS Mercury 314-514875-4
1993 CS Mercury 514875
1993 CD Mercury 514875

Recorded at Neptune's Kitchen (Roland Orzabal's home studio) in Bath, England.



On Elemental, Tears for Fears is Roland Orzabal, and he backs away from the cinematic production of The Seeds of Love, preferring a more direct and soulful style of pop music that appealed to both adult contemporary and adult alternative radio audiences. While some of the material was a little weak, the record was easily as good as its immediate predecessor.

Stephen Thomas Erlewine - All Music Guide



Tears For Fears, a Bath, England, duo comprised of Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith, was born amidst a wave of early-'80s romantipop and found chart success with Songs From The Big Chair, most notably with the anthemic "Shout" and the easy-flowing "Everybody Wants To Rule The World." Elemental, the latest from Tears For Fears, thematically departs from the romantic tendencies of that effort, also clashing with the dense arrangements found on 1989's The Seeds Of Love. The playful "Brian Wilson Said" only hints at the whimsical production suggested by its title, giving way to a lighter piano/drums/tambourine arrangement with minimal harmonies. Though not as radio-friendly upon first listen as Seeds or The Big Chair, Elemental is a more mature and direct if not darker work exposing the essence of the songs and bringing melody to the forefront. The drifting, oceanic quality evident in many early Tears tracks is still prevalent (the atmospheric concept is taken a step further by blending several songs into each other), but is coupled with a deep, mechanical groove on a majority of the cuts, reminding the listener of INXS or a latter-day U2. By exhibiting a greater focus on writing and less on ornamentation, Elemental may justify Tears For Fears' three-year absence from the music scene.

© 1978-1999 College Media Inc. All rights reserved.



Die Trennung von Tears For Fears-Partner Curt Smith 1991 ließ Roland Orzabal den Dingen des Lebens auf den Grund gehen: Als Solist komponierte Roland, der Pop-Ritter (Shout, Sowing The Seeds Of Love), im eigenen Studio Neptun's Kitchen zehn neue, emotions- und reflexionsgeladene Songs. In ihrer psychedelisch-schwelgerischen Pop-Art knüpfen sie an frühere Zeiten an, wirken aber nicht ganz so leichtfüßig und kraftvoll; hier und da fehlt Smith eben doch. Dennoch schwebt Elemental souverän über dem Standardpop-Sumpf.

© Audio



Nach dem Abgang von Tears-For-Fears-Partner Curt Smith weint Roland Orzabal nun alleine. Das erste "Solo"-Album läßt freilich jene Tiefe vermissen, die noch die "Songs From The Big Chair" oder "The Seeds Of Love" auszeichnete. "Elemental" enthält hübschen, psychedelisch schimmernden Gitarren-/Synthesizerpop, aber nichts Elementares. ** Klang.: 07-08

© Stereoplay



...the lush sound of Tears For Fears continues to improve....ELEMENTAL flashes the same sort of sheen, wordplay and sound wash that flourished in the '80s and still fights for its place on modern rock charts...[a] splendid concoction..." Entertainment Weekly (6/25/93, p.105) - "...the sampled guitar bursts and nifty studio tracks, like Squeeze mimicking the Beatles, keep you obediently humming while Orzabal plays teen-neuroses word games...

Rolling Stone (9/2/93, p.66)



Even with one Tear for Fear subtracted from the mix – Curt Smith is gone, but Roland Orzabal remains – the lush sound of Tears for Fears continues to improve. From the early days of The Hurting to Songs From the Big Chair to The Seeds of Love, Tears for Fears has bridged the English pop gap that separates artists like Sade from those with an edgier bite – the Cure, New Order, Morrissey. For over 10 years, Orzabal and Smith churned out sweetly charged soundscapes and provided guilty pleasures like "Everybody Wants to Rule the World," "Pale Shelter" and "Sowing the Seeds of Love." Tears for Fears created a perfect synthesis of fancy and form, combining sublime pop orchestration with genuine insight.

Since Smith quit after the 1991 Seeds of Love world tour, Orzabal is left to fend off existential angst on his own – which he does with amazing grace and integrity on Elemental. Orzabal, guitarist Alan Griffiths and co-producer Tim Palmer (Pearl Jam, Tin Machine) provide the production techniques, smooth segues and sweeping guitar-keyboard interplay that fans have come to expect from Tears for Fears. Tracks like "Cold," "Power" and "Break It Down Again" are replete with melodic free falls, harmonized and overlapped vocals, burbling keyboards and guitar shudders. Shamelessly lifting from the Beatles and the Beach Boys, Orzabal molds his borrowings to fit the mood – finally stretching reverence to the extreme with the sad, Smile-inspired embrace of "Brian Wilson Said."

Yet Orzabal doesn't seem to be that thrilled with his musical divorce from Smith. Allusions to the split abound, with "Fish out of Water" echoing sentiments as spiteful as John Lennon's anti-McCartney rant "How Do You Sleep." "With all your cigarettes and fancy cars/You ain't a clue who or what you are," Orzabal sings acidly, pinning his ex-partner and counting "one more martyr to the hit parade." The gorgeous "Goodnight Song" seems a more reflective account of the spat, with Orzabal expressing abandonment and confusion, and cushioning the hurt with sobbing synth riffs.

Bad feelings aside, Elemental flashes the same sort of sheen, wordplay and sound wash that flourished in the '80s and still fights for its place on modern rock charts. Orzabal and songwriting partner Griffiths couldn't have placed Elemental at a better time. Creating a perfect summer album in a year that has seen the return of Duran Duran, Boy George and Cyndi Lauper, Tears for Fears' splendid concoction only proves that, eventually, everything old is new again – and again and again. (RS 664)

KARA MANNING, Rolling Stone
 

 L y r i c s


ELEMENTAL

This race is already run...
Get off your horse, get on this train!

Hey-ah...hey-ah...Oohhh...

Welcome to the real world
I said welcome to the real world
Are we rushing like the wind, naked out and naked in?
Welcome to the free world
I said welcome to the me world
Are we rushing like the ... wind?

(ooh...ooh...ooh)
(ooh...ooh)
Put your lovin' arms around!

Did you lose your faith in God, no?
Does your conscience always get you down?
Fall to pieces, rough and tumble
Does your conscience always get you down?

These days it's all in the mind...
It's elemental
Don't say you're up when you're down...
It's elemental

(ooh...ooh...ooh)
(ooh...ooh)
Put your lovin' arms around!

This your New Year's resolution?
Put your lovin arms around!
Nothing doing, revolution...
Put your lovin' arms around!

Take another leap in the dark
With a humble heart
Do yourself some good...
What did you become?
Patience...be sure...
Baby! Baby!

These days it's all in the mind...
It's elemental
Don't say you're up when you're down...
It's elemental

(Repeat 2x, fade)


COLD

The coldest shoulder cast in metal
Frozen to the bone
To rely on hook, line, and sinker
What a sinker, sinking like a stone
You'd be better off alone
She saw me on the television
Underneath the sun
Thought that I was warm like a mother, lover, brother
Brother she was wrong
Me, I don't long to belong

Cold
Been excommunicated 'cause I'm
Cold
My temperature's been rated and I'm
Cold
Bring to me my big old sweater
Nothing more will make me better

I met her on a Monday and my heart did nothing new
Seems she thought of me as some mystic
Fatalistic, mystical guru
Me, I haven't got a clue
We're floating on a magic carpet
High above the earth
You can see the world like a Buddha
Bread-and-Buddha
Bigger than your hurt
Don't you know that love is work?

Cold
No heat on the horizon, guess I'm
Cold
And Capricorn is rising, yes I'm
Cold
Listened to my old friend Nockles
Hoped that it would warm the cockles

You can't fight the fear, you can't...this is the road you're on
You don't belong to me, you don't belong to anyone
Your reputation lies not in your eyes, but those who dare
Will bite the hand that feeds when it don't meet your needs
When you've got blood to bleed, you've got a life to lead...

In the flood...with my blood...I can hold you
In the flood...with my blood...

Cold
Been excommunicated 'cause I'm
Cold
My temperature's been rated and I'm
Cold
Bring to me my big old sweater
Nothing more will make me better
Cold
No heat on the horizon, guess I'm
Cold
There'll be no compromising...
Cold, cool, cold
Stone Cold!
Stone Cold!
Stone Cold!
Stone Cold!
(Cold...cool...cold...)
Stone Cold!

(fade)


BREAK IT DOWN AGAIN

Break it down again

So those are my dreams
And these are my eyes
Stand tall like a man
Head strong like a horse!

When it's all mixed up
Better break it down
(ooh-hoo...ooh-hoo)
In the world of secrets
In the world of sound
(ooh-hoo)

It's in the way you're always hiding from the light
See for yourself you have been sitting on a time-bomb
No revolution, maybe someone somewhere else
Can show you something new about you and your inner song
And all the love, and all the love in the world
Won't stop the rain from falling, waste seeping underground
(Break it down again)
I want to break it down
(Break it down again)

Break it down again

So those are my schemes
And these are my plans
Hot tips for the boys
Fresh news from the force!

When it's all mixed up
Better break it down
(ooh-hoo...ooh-hoo)
In the world of silence
In the world of sound
(ooh-hoo...)

"No sleep for dreaming" say the architects of life
Big bouncing babies, bread and butter, can I have a slice?
They make no mention of the beauty of decay
Blue, yellow, pink umbrella, save it for a rainy day
And all the love, and all the love in the world
Won't stop the rain from falling, waste seeping underground
(Break it down again)
I want to break it down
(Break it down again)

Horsin' around
Pray to the power
Play to the crowd with your big hit sound
And they won't simmer, won't simmer, won't simmer down
Play to the crowd
Play to the crowd
Play...

It's in the way you're always hiding from the light
Fast off to heaven just like Moses on a motorbike
No revolution, maybe someone somewhere else
Can show you something new to help with the ups and downs
(Break it down again)
I want to break it down
(Break it down again)
Break it down again
(Break it down again)

Break it down again
No more sleepy dreamin'
No more building up, it is time to dissolve

Break it down again
No more sleepy dreamin'


MR. PESSIMIST

Time will swallow your precious time
Like magic create the future
What makes a man so fickle?
Who put the daggers in those eyes?

Was it to learn
Through dark days of struggle?
Was it to burn
To burst all our bubbles?
Thunder and rain
Well the cynical flame, will it heat, stick, and blister?
Thunder and rain

Evangelistic brother should be banging a tambourine
Go wash your hands and fingers till your mind is clean!

Was it your fate
To sleep like a normal?
Time and decay
No man is immortal
Thunder and rain
Boredom and pain lit the cynical flame, will it heat, stick, and blister?
Thunder and rain
Still try to resist
The pessimist
The pessimist, no no!

And these things I find
In the back of my mind
Where time lasts forever
I get all mixed up, think I'm all mankind

Listen Mr. Pessimister with your Catholic taste...
Oh, listen Mr. Pessimister, Pessimister, we do not relate...
Listen Mr. Pessimister, Pessimister, Pessimister...
Mr. Pessimister!


DOG'S A BEST FRIEND'S DOG

Shame!
Dog shame!
I know what's wrong
Man's too old and wise

Bring in the dog
Turn on
Down to mountain rescue
Slip and slide when sunnny
Small cat better move along or this bitch could do some harm, baby!

Straight as an arrow, I'm walking the dog...
Walking the dog!

Three is a crowd
Two is a dog and me playing (what's he saying?)
Free as a cloud
No one ever really knew you
Make clear your illusion, no, no, no, no, no!

Some dreams you dream alone
You thank Christ you're coming home
You better better give the dog a bone!
Go go go go chew chew chew chew
Some dreams you dream alone
Go get a life and ease the pain
Dog's a best friend's dog!
Dog's a best friend's dog!

Words (words...words...words...)
Speech (speech...speech...speech...)
Blurred (blurred...blurred...blurred...)
Bleached (bleached...bleached...bleached...)

Tell Mr. God 't I'm walking the dog...
Walking the dog!

Some dreams you dream alone
You thank Christ you're coming home
You better better give the dog a bone!
Go go go go chew chew chew chew
Some dreams you dream alone
Go get a life and ease the pain

Dog's a best friend's dog!
Dog's a best friend's dog!
Dog's a best friend's dog!
Dog's a best friend's dog!
Dog's a best friend's dog!


FISH OUT OF WATER

You always said you were the compassionate one
But now you're laughing at the sun
With all your high-classed friends, you think you've got it made
The only thing you made was that tanned look on your face

With all your cigarettes and fancy cars
You ain't a clue who or what you are...

You're dreaming your life away...
Fish out of water
Go swim in the tide today...
Fish out of water

We used to sit and talk about primal scream
To exorcise our past was our adolescent dream
But now it's sink or swim since your memory fails
Now in Neptune's kitchen you will be food for killer whales

And now the crucifix his mother made
Hangs one more martyr to the hit parade

You're dreaming your life away...
Fish out of water
Go swim in the tide today...
Fish out of water

You're dreaming your life away...
Fish out of water
Go swim in the tide today...
Fish out of water


GAS GIANTS

Giants on Armistice Day
Caught between the rock and the renegade


POWER

Last year's rivals share their blood
Sailors sworn to secrecy
Ride the waves and stem the flood
The tides of endless enmity
Power now is all the rage
Sons and daughters of the gun
Hungry babies come of age
Phasors switched and set to stun

(Power...now!)
(Power...how!)
(Power...wow!)
Here's power!

If you're seeking power...

Doctor held you tired and torn
Boy he was a lucky man
Out of you the future born
Slight of foot and slight of hand
Douse the candle, dim the light
Focus not on fire or flame
Don't believe that might is right
Your soul can turn you just the same

(Power...now!)
(Power...how!)
If you're seeking power... (Power...wow!)
Here's power!
(Power...now!)
(Power...how!)
If you're seeking power... (Power...wow!)
Here's power!

If you take my breath away
The whole damn thing will turn and return, redefinded, rearranged, rearranged
And till my dying day
I guess I'll have to burn just to learn, this the time, this the place
To show a human face...

Dressed to kill we guessed you might
Friend or foe or family
We'll sacrifice the Virgin white
Her death will be the life of me
Power now is all the rage
Don't excuse it...use it well
Keep the lion in his cage
Free from hunger, free from hell!

(Power...now!)
(Power...how!)
If you're seeking power... (Power...wow!)
Here's power!
(Power...now!)
(Power...how!)
If you're seeking power... (Power...wow!)
Here's power!

(fade)


BRIAN WILSON SAID

My life...nothing was easy till now
Hope like the morning will paint the dawn

More than ordinary, make it more than merry, take me to the jamboree
And shine a light...
On...
Me...

Draw back the curtains and smile
Everything's wow!

Girls are ten a penny, Janet, Joy, and Jenny, Judy, Joan, and Jackie G.
Hear me now I warn you, girls from California
Break your heart and set you free
My life

Shame to rely, but I swear it's the best I can do
Like a flame, like an i with a dot I am not you
Call me guilty, I swear I'm an man who can fly
I keep coming back, I'll get back to you

My life...nothing was easy till now


GOODNIGHT SONG

Here on the stage
The time has come
With the strains of "Be My Angel," of rock in two-four
Time may keep alive that old swan song
That we've been playing...forever...
Till the time maybe right to say goodbye...
My voice is aching
I'm tongue-tired
And the sounds we are making are so...{uninspired}

Goodnight song
Played so wrong
Blame the crowd, they
Scream so loud, so long

Get some honesty
Take the best of me, and then the rest let go
In every situation
With it's tireless rage
Step outside your cage and let the real fool show
I should have stayed round to break the ice
I thought about it once or twice
But nothing ever changes unless there's some pain...

And our
Goodnight song
Played so wrong
Blame the crowd, they
Scream so loud, so long

Goodnight song
Played so wrong
Blame the crowd, they

 M P 3   S a m p l e s


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