Tears for Fears-Songs from the Big Chair-Nov.4 Boxset

True, but Talk Talk's Laughing Stock came out around that time and it has since been deemed a masterpiece by many. Not that Elemental is quite THAT good.

 

True, but Talk Talk's later albums were eventually recognized as groundbreaking works which launched a whole new genre, whereas Elemental is simply a decent pop/rock album that came out at the wrong time.

Talk Talk were ahead of their time. Elemental was released after its time, and history tends to be far less forgiving of that.

 

Oh yeah, try and hum even one of those Laughing Stock tunes! But I'll wager you can sing every lyric to "Break It Down Again" without even thinking about it!

I'm a huge TT fan by the way, and mean no disrespect.

 

That's actually my youtube clip of The Working Hour...apologies for the loud yelp at the beginning. Will be interesting to hear if they keep it in the upcoming tours.

Here is a higher resolution version I posted later

 

It'a a fantastic album. Goodnight Song is one of their lost classics IMO. Would love for them to break it out at some point but they really don't revisit the Roland solo TFF stuff sans a song here or there. They focused on the four "duo" albums at the Wiltern playing 4 songs from each along with Floating Down the River, Break it Down Again and Ready to Start (Arcade Fire Cover). The first 2 have been in the setlist for the last 5 or 6 TFF shows I've attended.

 

We need to buy the SFTBC deluxe box in droves so that Universal will be willing to do the same treatment for SoL and Elemental.

 

SOL will be glorious.

I love Elemental. It would have been almost perfect for me if Bloodletting Go was put on it in place of a weaker song or added onto the album. Bloodletting Go has that Tears for Fears unique sound sonically. The same with Schrodinger's Cat. Take off Fish Out of Water and Dog's a Best Friend's Dog and put those two on it.

 

Oh, I agree. At the time, I was perplexed as to why it wasn't doing better. Looking back, it's obvious that radio was only interested in new acts who dressed like they were homeless, and who made Serious music consisting of unrelenting wailing about depression over a haze of distorted guitar. Old-fashioned pop/rock songs with slick production and lyrics which weren't all about angst and mental suffering didn't stand a chance (edit: it's somewhat ironic that TFF's first album and a good amount of their second was all about depression, back before it was trendy to write about these things). Everyone was championing "alternative" music, even though it wasn't long before there wasn't any alternative to it.

 

You guys are all talking like Elemental didn't sell...I think it did just fine, no?

 

Well that and quite honestly, nobody was very interested in a Tears For Fears album at that point as they were seen as an 80's band...a similar fate that many 80's bands when through. I remember reading that when the Thompson Twins released their album Queer in 1991, the first tracks they released were in the UK under the name Feedback Max and got a lot of airplay. As soon as the UK radio found out it was actually the Thompson Twins, they stopped playing the track and I'm not sure the album even got a release in the UK. It kinda made sense that the next two albums Tom and Alannah released were under the Babble moniker...though while very good, did nothing on the charts.

 

Not nearly as good as their previous 3 releases but did reach 45 in the US and went Gold. Break It Down Again got a lot of airplay but nothing else did. Which is a bummer because both it and Raoul are great albums.

 

It went gold, but that doesn't look so good considering Seeds went platinum and Songs of course went multi-platinum.

 

I've said this before but I'll say it again here, even though this thread is about SFTBC: I think TFF's strongest run of albums is Seeds of Love->Elemental->Raoul. Everything else is good, too, but these three Roland albums are the pinnacle, imo.

 

I like Elemental, but Raoul (as my avatar may point) is Roland's masterpiece IMO.

 

On a side not...it's fantastic to see a Tears for Fears thread going strong.

 

I am disappointed they didn't do one of those "complete album front to back" type tours last year to promote The Hurting, and would like them to do the massive SFTBC this year.

 

My point is that after the fog of the grunge fad faded, Laughing Stock was finally looked upon with adoring eyes. It's a shame that Elemental didn't get more attention since I feel it's far more than a decent pop/rock album. I think it's a much more solid album than Seeds of Love. Of course, I'm part of the .1% of SH Forum members that bought both albums on release day so I'm biased.

There's a ton of solid songs from that era:

Laid So Low
The Body Wah
Brian Wilson Said
Elemental
Bloodletting Go

 

A lot of folks were speculating that that is exactly what they were going to do when The Hurting box was released. With a new album coming out next year, I guess they could still do it with SFTBC and easily support new tracks.

 

Never heard about Feedback Max... very interesting! I always wondered why they switched to the Babble name.

 

Here's a reissue theory post from The Second Disc a few years back that considers an Elemental deluxe edition track list. There are additional tracks listed in the comments:
http://theseconddisc.com/2010/06/01/reissue-theory-tears-for-fears-elemental/

 

I actually don't think Elemental was that out of sync at the time. I think some of the issue was the marketing. Roland using TFF was a double edge sword. It helped him get a little more attention but I think people were also turned off by the fact that the duo was now a single. It seemed like a compromise....

 

+1

I conditionally pre-ordered the box from Amazon UK at that great price but will cancel if it's not Region 1 DVD or Region A BD.

 

Oops. I got the good price at amazon.uk but didn't consider video formats. Hmmm, guess we'll see.

 

This track eventually became "Flower Girl" in a dramatically different form on the album Queer. There are a couple of add'l tracks out there, all this same kinda house feel.

 

It needs to be a two-hour concert then, not the usual 90-minute show. With two vocalists, there's no reason not to.