Roland Orzabal took Tears For Fears to more experimental heights after the split with Curt Smith with a sound heading towards that of a curious \u201cadult contemporary\u201d rock band than that of an \u201880s synth-pop alumni. Though Elemental<\/i> in its psychedelically laden fashion was a sure, if not an appreciable step towards a rock record, Raoul And The Kings Of Spain<\/i> is the first actual rock album by TFF.<\/p>\n
TFF has never been so raw and aggressive ever before. Raoul<\/i> screams with guitars of all sorts, all over. Never before in a TFF album have guitars had so many interesting personas and embodiments. They take chaotic forms on the disorderly \u201cDon\u2019t Drink The Water\u201d and on the seemingly crude \u201cSorry,\u201d or are much milder and sophisticated on the title track and on \u201cGod\u2019s Mistake.\u201d Meanwhile, the instrumentation is funky and rhythmic on \u201cHumdrum And Humble,\u201d dreamy and languid on \u201cSecrets,\u201d and addictively flamenco-styled on \u201cSketches Of Pain.\u201d <\/p>\n
Raoul<\/i> is also TFF\u2019s most direct work to date. The songs on this record are much simpler than any those on any of the band\u2019s previous works. Rather than being a short album (in terms of number of songs) of long dramatized numbers, Raoul<\/i> has comparatively more number of songs, each straightforward and relatively simpler in nature; just compare the simple duet with Oletta Adams on Raoul <\/i>(\u201cMe And My Big Ideas\u201d) versus an elaborate — and almost painstaking — one on The Seeds Of Love <\/i>(\u201cWoman In Chains\u201d).<\/p>\n
Moreover, all the hard to understand ballads of the earlier TFF records are replaced by less florid ones, plain musically, as they are lyrically: \u201cWe could heal this blindness with some human kindness \/ I know secrets kill you \/ But my love can fill you\u2026\u201d on \u201cSecrets\u201d is sung against a simple tune, which seems much too idyllic for this band.<\/p>\n
TFF has always tried to make concept albums, with most of its work in a state of agitation and anger that exists below the skin. This album, weakly held together by the concept of Orzabal\u2019s Spanish ancestry, has hardly the underlying turmoil of Elemental<\/i>, which is centered around the opting-out of Curt Smith from the band and the ensuing court battle over the name of the band; still, Raoul\u2019s<\/i> hard sound has the same edge carried forward from Elemental.<\/i> Also, Raoul<\/i> seems more spontaneous and less highfalutin (even compared to the post-breakup Elemental<\/i>), with all the energy concentrated on being as casual as possible.\u00a0 <\/p>\n
This disc is, by far, the hardest TFF record. The sound is bare compared to TFF standards. Hardly holding out as a concept record, this album is more about individual songs than the album itself, while the music is louder and more stripped-down. Though this change in style seems drastic, it is well worth it and serves to show another dimension of Orzabal\u2019s immense talent.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":40,"featured_media":29715,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[6318],"rating":[5617],"class_list":["post-41319","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-tears-for-fears","rating-rating-b-plus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/41319","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=41319"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/41319\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29715"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41319"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=41319"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=41319"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}