Tears For Fears - Songs From The Big Chair

The song that helped make Songs from the Big Chair a blockbuster was almost an afterthought. Roland Orzabal wasn’t especially fond of “Everybody Wants to Rule the World,” and it was the last track recorded for the album, finished in about a week. It went on to become the band’s American breakthrough, while the record around it took Tears for Fears from British synth-pop hopefuls to one of the biggest bands in the world.

Released in February 1985, this second album keeps the emotional intensity of The Hurting, the duo’s debut, but opens it up into something far more expansive. Orzabal and Curt Smith’s shared interest in primal scream therapy still drives the songs, most memorably on “Shout,” a towering chant that consumed months of the sessions with producer Chris Hughes at The Wool Hall in Somerset. Elsewhere, “The Working Hour” stretches past six minutes with a patient, jazz-inflected sweep, “Mothers Talk” adds a restless edge, and “Head Over Heels” delivers a swooning pop hook. Will Gregory’s saxophone colors the intimate “I Believe,” giving the album one of its most tender moments.

Songs from the Big Chair reached No. 1 on the Billboard 200, holding the top spot for five nonconsecutive weeks and eventually selling five million copies in the US alone. “Everybody Wants to Rule the World” and “Shout” both topped the Hot 100, and “Head Over Heels” reached No. 3. In the UK, the album peaked at No. 2 and spent 79 consecutive weeks on the chart. Four decades later, it remains the band’s best-selling studio album and a high-water mark for ambitious ’80s pop.

This edition presents the album on standard black vinyl, a straightforward way to own a record that rewards being played from “Shout” straight through to the closing “Listen.”