#9: Tears for Fears - The Hurting

I really don't yet know what to make of The Hurting. For years, I've been wanting to buy the first few Tears for Fears albums, with visions of forty-five minutes of songs with the strength and energy of "Head Over Heels" playing throughout. But a few songs in, I felt like I was listening to the latter half of an unfamiliar Depeche Mode record - which definitely isn't a bad thing, but pretty different.

Perhaps I should have stuck to the obvious expectations created by a record called The Hurting and with a cover as bleak as this one, but based on the singles I was familiar with, I was expecting bouncy pop with gloomy undertones. "Mad World," the one song I already know, delivered in that regard, but the rest was far more sparse and non-hook-oriented that I had imagined.

Out of the songs I didn't know, I really liked "Pale Shelter," which on the first listen, sounded more like seven minutes than four and a half. It's almost tempting to dismiss the second half of the record as aimless gloom, but I really get the feeling that there's a lot to get into with this one. If I wasn't so damn busy this week, this and Berlin and I Against I would be getting a lot more listens. But alas, the exploits of Sunset Strip rockers are taking priority over my listening schedule, so I must acquiesce.

The first four songs on this record really seem to take forever. I suppose it's not for the attention span-lacking or the mildly intoxicated. Schlitz + Tears for Fears = not a match. Duly noted. But even as things swirl, it's clear that this could be a record that I end up falling in love with as much as Music For the Masses, although it will take more than a few spins. Orzabal and Smith, I swear I'll get this, and only fourteen years too late.

Actually, on second listen, album closer "Start of the Breakdown" is starting to make me think that this will ultimately be pretty amazing. I'm excited to listen to this more now.

On a random side note, I went to Dealey Plaza for a while today, and sat on Abraham Zapruder's perch and listened to The Byrds' "He Was a Friend of Mine" and Lou Reed's "The Day John Kennedy Died." It's perhaps the corniest thing I've done besides listening to "53rd & 3rd" at the intersection and standing outside CBGB's for the duration of the whole first Ramones record (not that it's really that long), but it was oddly affecting.

To break that little pod of sappiness, I just now realized that I was inadvertently listening to the Dead Kennedys as I was walking to the plaza. Everything evens out.

"Mad World"




"Change" - the opening for this song sounds like it could have been a Eurodance hit circa 1995