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Nel 1983 Curt Smith e Roland Orzabal formarono uno dei tanti duo in voga all'epoca, ed esordirono con quest'album. Si tratta di un pop d'autore, rifinito elegantemente, a tratti introspettivo, a tratti ballabile. Si distingue per una certa eleganza, e per una vena di pessimismo che permea il disco dall'inizio alla fine. Le liriche vantavano una certa profondità, e trattavano temi scottanti, come ad esempio quello dell'omosessualità, soprattutto in un paese che attraversava un periodo difficile sotto il governo Tatcher.
Si comincia con l'andamento fluttuante della ballata elettro-soul della title-track, dove la vena di fatalismo viene espressa dalle malinconiche note di chitarra della sezione mediana.
Subito dopo è la volta di "Mad World", singolo che ebbe un buon successo commerciale al suo lancio, una pop song che parte in sordina per poi irrompere con un ritmo da disco-club e un ritornello irresistibile. Come accennato sopra non mancano i momenti introspettivi, rappresentati dalla ballata esistenziale di "Memories Fade", un gioiellino pop, di quelli fatti come si deve. La voce di Orzabal si leva in un canto languido, presa per mano da un sassofono notturno e da un liquido ticchettio di piano. Gemma nascosta.
Sulle stesse coordinate, ma con una sezione ritmica più vivace, si muove "Watch Me Bleed", una cavalcata elettronica resa più preziosa della vellutata voce di Orzabal, indubbiamente una delle migliori nel panorama commerciale di quegli anni.
Questo gioiellino ha pure il merito di fare da apri-pista ad uno dei pezzi più trascinanti di tutti gli anni 80, la famosa "Change". L'indimenticabile intro di elettro-xilofono, il ritmo che entra sottopelle, l'orecchiabilità e il canto alienato (opera questa volta di Curt Smith), hanno marchiato a fuoco il ballabile degli '80. Il disco si chiude con la nevrosi atmosferica di "Start Of Breackdown", tra tribalismi latineggianti e crepuscolari frasi sintetiche.
I Tears For Fears fornirono una prova davvero convincente, brillante e raffinata. Un esordio con i fiocchi.
Elenco tracce testi samples e video
01 The Hurting (04:20)
Is it an horrific dream
Am I sinking fast
Could a person be so mean
As to laugh and laugh
On my own
Could you ease my load
Could you see my Pain
Could you please explain
The Hurting
Could you understand a child
When he cries in Pain
Could you give him all he needs
Or do you feel the same
All along
You've been told you're wrong
When you felt it right
And you're left to fight
The Hurting
Get in line with the things you know
Feel the Pain
Feel the sorrow
Touch the hurt and don't let go
Get in line with the things you know
Learn to cry
Like a baby
Then the hurting won't come back
03 Pale Shelter (04:34)
How can I be sure ?
When your intrusions' my illusion
How can I be sure
When all the time you changed my mind
I asked for more and more
How can I be sure
When you don't give me love
You gave me Pale shelter
You don't give me love
You give me cold hands
And I can't operate on this failure
When all I wanna be is
Complete[ly] (in) command
How can I be sure
For all you say you keep me waiting
How can I be sure
When all you do is see me through
I asked for more and more
How can I be sure
I've been here before
There is no why, no need to try
I thought you had it all
I'm calling you, I'm calling you
I ask for more and more
How can I be sure
04 Ideas as Opiates (03:46)
Say what you want
Say what you will
'Cos I find you think what makes it easier
And lies spread on lies
We don't care
Belief is our relief
We don't care
05 Memories Fade (05:08)
There's only need
I love your need
So much I'm losing me
I cannot see the reason for the pain
With hungry joy
I'll be your toy
Just hoping you will play
Without the hope my body starts to fail
Memories fade but the scars still linger
Goodbye my friend
Will I ever love again
Memories fade but the scars still linger
I cannot grow
I cannot move
I cannot feel my age
The vice like grip of tension holds me fast
Engulfed by you
What can I do
When history's my cage
Look foward to a future in the past
Memories fade but the scars still linger
Goodbye my friend
Will I ever love again
Memories fade but the scars still linger
The more I talk
The more I say
The less you seem to hear
I'm speechless in a most peculiar way
Your mind is weak
Your need is great
And nothing is too dear
For you to use to take the pain away
Memories fade but the scars still linger
Goodbye my friend
Will I ever love again
Memories fade...
No, don't pretend you can justify the end
Memories fade but the scars still linger
08 Change (04:15)
You walked in to the room
I just had to laugh
The face you wore was cool
You were a photograph
When it's all too late
It's all too late
I did not have the time
I did not have the nerve
To ask you how you feel
Is this what you deserve
When it's all too late
It's all too late
(Chorus)
Change
You can change
(Repeat)
And something on your mind
Became a point of view
I lost your honesty
You lost the life in you
When it's all too late
It's all too late
We walk and talk in time
I walk and talk in two
Where does the end of me
Become the start of you
When it's all too late
It's all too late
Chorus
What has happened to
The friend that I once knew
Has he gone away
It's all too late, It's all too late
Change
Chorus X2
09 The Prisoner (02:55)
Here behind the wall
I feel so small
Breathing but not preceiving
Here anger is me
Love sets me free
Feeling and not believing
Here in my mind
Biding my time
Waiting but not relating
Here anger is me
Love sets me free
The Prisoner is now escaping
10 Start of the Breakdown (05:00)
Scratch the ice
Let the telephone ring
Sands of time is a powerful thing
And we love to laugh
Love to cry
Half alive
We love to
Go slow when we're dancing for rain
Dry skin flakes where there's ice in the vien
And we love to cry
Half alive
Is this the start of the breakdown ?
Scratch the earth
Dig the burial ground
Sense of time won't be easily found
And ten out of ten
For the ones who defend
Pretend too
Breakdown is a final demand
( We stand firm with our heads in our hands )
As we love to to cry
Half alive
Is this the start of the breakdown ?
I can't understand you
Is this the start of the breakdown ?
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