“When most of these songs were written, I’d spend the morning in
\nmy lawyer’s office, trying to sort out stuff with Curt
\n[then-recently departed Tears For Fears co-founder Curt Smith]. And
\nthen I’d go start writing with Al [producer Alan Griffiths]” is how
\nco-founder and lead vocalist Roland Orzabal describes the way he
\nwent about creating
\nElemental<\/i>. Well, this had to have some influence on the
\nalbum, and it has. Ever so occasionally, Roland’s state of mind
\nsurfaces in the songs in ambiguous forms, leaving the songs open to
\none’s own interpretations of what they mean.<\/p>\n
\nElemental<\/i> finds the band (or Roland) in a more agitated
\nstate of mind that in most of the other ‘Tears For Fears’ (TFF)
\nrecords. “Cold, been excommunicated cos I am cold; my temperature’s
\nbeen rated and I am cold; bring to me my big old sweater, nothing
\nmore will make me better” choruses Roland on the frigid “Cold.”<\/p>\n
Roland’s discomfort comes up again in the single “Break It Down
\nAgain,” but this time, in a more positive, more hopeful manner, as
\nhe sings of the ‘the beauty of decay’ (his loss), the fact that
\nthings fall apart, but one can find something new, something
\npositive from it — as he puts it in his own words, “There’s an
\noptimism in that breaking down, that breaking up like a phoenix
\nrising from the ashes.”<\/p>\n
Roland’s bluntness is revived in its most seething form, in the
\nmost powerful song in
\nElemental<\/i>, “Fish Out Of Water,” which probably Roland
\nmust’ve written immediately after his split-up fight with Curt. The
\nband has never been so clear, at the same time so charging while
\nspeaking out its state of mind.<\/p>\n
Roland’s state of mind, and the change in his outlook has
\nbrought out a new feel, a new sound in the band. TFF is no longer
\nabout beautiful singles and clean-cut amiability. The disturbance
\nin Roland’s mind has resulted in an experimental and unconventional
\nsound in the band. This is a rock album of variegated soundscapes,
\nwhich are as abstruse as are interesting. It begins with the rather
\nspaced-out title song, followed by “Cold” and “Break It Down
\nAgain,” back-to-back radio-wonders.<\/p>\n
The songs that follow are what make this album a really
\nexperimental one. “Mr. Pessimist” is probably the most messed up
\nand complicated TFF number ever. It is also one that shows off the
\nband’s unique musical craftsmanship. “Dog’s A Best Friend’s Dog”
\nand “Fish Out Of Water” (along with “Tears Roll Down”) are probably
\nthe band’s only true ‘rock’ songs.<\/p>\n
The album then takes a mindless trip into space (sometimes
\nearthly, sometimes galactic), which seems incomprehensible as well
\nas charming. The vague structure of “Gas Giants” or the
\nsimplistically vague nature of “Power” or the vague sweetness of
\n“Brian Wilson Said,” find TFF at an experimental peak of such
\ncaliber, that I wonder whether the band can ever repeat the same
\nagain.<\/p>\n
Just when one feels that all is forgiven and forgotten with
\n“Goodnight Song,” disguised in all its heavenliness and
\nwell-mannered warmth, Roland sings “\u2026and the sounds we are
\nmaking are so uninspired\u2026goodnight song played so wrong
\nblame the crowd, they scream so loud so long,” probably reflecting
\nthe older TFF that was in turmoil, that existed before the split,
\nor possibly just mocking meaningless “popular” music. Let us just
\nleave it to the crowd to decide.<\/p>\n
\nElemental<\/i> is a different TFF record. More than the fact of
\nit being the first one without Curt, it sees TFF take a different
\ndirection, take a different perspective on matters that hurt it
\nmost. There is a feeling of being let down and being betrayed, but
\nthe album retorts with sarcasm and positivism; it sees the
\nconstructiveness that comes hidden with destruction. It is all
\nabout change for the better, and this metamorphosis is
\ninspiring.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":40,"featured_media":25395,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[6318],"rating":[5646],"class_list":["post-37981","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-tears-for-fears","rating-rating-a"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/37981","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/40"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37981"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/37981\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25395"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37981"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37981"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=37981"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=37981"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}