Audio Cassette review:
Tears for Fears - The Hurting

Tears for Fears - The Hurting

Band: Tears for Fears Title: The Hurting Rating: Release Date: 17 October, 1990 Media: Audio Cassette Tracks: 1: Hurting 2: Mad World 3: Pale Shelter 4: Ideas as Opiates 5: Memories Fade 6: Suffer the Children 7: Watch Me Bleed 8: Change 9: Prisoner 10: Start of the Breakdown

Customer Reviews Tears For Fears' outstanding debut Their somewhat overlooked (except by the real fans) debut, though, was truly an incredible effort that laid the groundwork for everything they did afterward. Tears For Fears really hit the mainstream after "Shout" got serious play time on MTV in 1985. With the possible exception of their followup release, Songs From The Big Chair, Tears For Fears released a string of very strong albums from start to finish. The Hurting is no exception. "The Hurting", "Mad World", "Pale Shelter", and "Change" are probably the most well-known tracks, and for good reason. Those along easily make this album worth owning. Even "Ideas As Opiates" and "The Start of the Breakdown", which are the weakest songs in my opinion, don't bring down the overall quality of this album. The only release Tears For Fears ever did that outdid The Hurting is probably The Seeds Of Love from 1987, which I consider to be their crowning achievement. The Hurting doesn't come too far behind, and for that reason is highly recommended. My only caveat would be that The Hurting is quite a bit darker lyrically than any of their later releases, but I'd consider this to be a great place to start if you want to dive into the Tears for Fears catalog. Quite Unique At least lyrically-suffering and discontent seem to be a reucerring theme. Not that Tears For Fears were ever conventional "The Hurting" does have an overall sobering affect. Yet "Pale Shelter", "Ideas For Opiates",the minimal "Memory Fades "and the fabulous "Mad World" are musically ambitious enough to back up the bands lyrical ideas. Definately a stand-out moment of 1983!. One of the best albums from 1983. The edition I'm reviewing is the older edition without the bonus tracks. Tears For Fears were and still are an incredible band that few others can rival. The Hurting, released in 1983 is TFFs debut album that unfortunately is overshadowed by it's follow-up 1985s Songs From The Big Chair. The Hurting is lighter musically but lyrically it's probably the darkest album of all of their 80s releases. My favorite songs are Change, the title track & Start Of The Breakdown. The lyrical prowess is strong especially with Mad World & and the doomsday like Start Of The Breakdown. This track is my favorite song from this often underrated LP. Just the electric electrifying guitar at the beginning of the opening title track proves that TFFstood out well from other bands from the early 80s and now almost 20 years after it's release The Hurting still stands out well from most other LPs that were released the same year. The last track Start Of The Breakdown was pretty far ahead of it's time and coul almost fit on the Big Chair LP. The remastered edition has four bonus tracks. Two are extended remixes, Mad World (world remix)is the original with an altered beat. and one is an extended version of the B-Side The Way You Are. The best of them is the extended version of the intimate Change which is extended to about 6 minutes. As I listened to Start Of The Breakdown I've noticed that two other songs share similar chord structures with this one. One is Always In The Past, a B-Side from the Seeds Of Love sessions and the other is Hypnoculture from Rolands solo album Tomcats Screaming Outside. No offense to any of these songs. I just simply noticed similar chord structures between these three songs, that's all. The Hurting is a must own. . You can see a complete list of all Tears for Fears discography, or go back to the Tears for Fears tabs