BBC Review
It's curious how such classic purveyors of the electro-pop duo template have ended up...
Chris Hilliard 2005-02-15
In many regards, history has been unexpectedly kind to Tears For Fears. Their older records have aged surprisingly well, even if the videos would be better preserved in concrete underground. What exactly were those Karate Kid moves all about?
Everybody Loves A Happy Ending marks the first proper Tears For Fears record since The Seeds Of Love, and what is most striking at first is how little different it sounds. At some point, in the late 1980s it seems, Roland Orzabal fell in love with Brian Wilson and left the DX7s to gather dust. And the result was ecstasy...no, sorry, I meant the result was XTC.
It would be rather undignified to return now with sweatbands aloft (they are, after all, in their mid-forties). It is curious, though, how such classic purveyors of the electro-pop duo template have ended up comfortably snuggled up in their parents' record collection. The primal screams have evidently given way to big soft cuddles. And with such sweet natured psychedelic gems as "Call Me Mellow", Everybody Loves A Happy Ending is definitely this year's best World Party album, if not the best Tears For Fears one.
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