Tears For Fears

Hip-O's excellent two-disc Tears for Fears Gold collection boasts 24 tracks from the veteran English duo. All of the obvious hits ("Shout," "Everybody Wants to Rule the World," "Head Over Heels," "Mad World," and "Sowing the Seeds of Love") are here, but it's the inclusion of tracks from their woefully overlooked 2004 comeback album, Everybody Loves a Happy Ending, that warrants a high rating.

Tears for Fears' biggest-selling album, Songs from the Big Chair is now available in its most spectacular format. This six disc edition of the album includes newly remastered versions of classics songs like 'Everybody Wants To Rule the World,' 'Mother's Talk,' 'Shout' and 'Head over Heels,' plus a multitude of remixes and B-sides, plus a disc of nine previously unreleased tracks and a 5.1 surround sound version of the album mixed by renowned musician and audio engineer Steven Wilson…

Wonderful offering from the Tears for Fears camp! Not only you get a live CD (accompanied by the same show on DVD, on this particular version) but also two unreleased studio tracks which should have been included in the Everybody Loves a Happy Ending release…

Along with Songs from the Big Chair, The Seeds of Love was part of a one-two artistic punch in the late '80s that situated Tears for Fears as one of the decade's more ambitious pop groups…

Along with Songs from the Big Chair, The Seeds of Love was part of a one-two artistic punch in the late '80s that situated Tears for Fears as one of the decade's more ambitious pop groups…

Along with Songs from the Big Chair, The Seeds of Love was part of a one-two artistic punch in the late '80s that situated Tears for Fears as one of the decade's more ambitious pop groups. But at the time, Tears was more a platform for Roland Orzabal than a true band – Curt Smith is present only on the smash "Sowing the Seeds of Love" (his only co-writing credit), while Ian Stanley was replaced by Nicky Holland as a keyboardist and Orzabal's songwriting partner. Like their other albums, The Seeds of Love continues the concept of moving from hurting to healing to beginning anew (the hit "Sowing the Seeds of Love") to growing apart. The songs feature expansive melodies instead of blatant hooks, and the sound is more grounded in soul and gospel on songs like "Woman in Chains," the updated Philly-soul strain of "Advice for the Young at Heart" and "Badman's Song." Orazabal's passionate vocals are well matched by Oleta Adams' fervent contributions. The group even dabbles in jazz on "Standing on the Corner of the Third World," the fabulous "Swords and Knives," and the slow-burning "Year of the Knife".