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Songs From The Big Chair (Tears For Fears) | Extended Play Lounge Ep. 79 (Patreon)

Published:
2024-11-05 23:01:01
Imported:
2026-06
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Videos

Content

For episode 79, we're listening to Songs From The Big Chair from Tears For Fears. They narrowly won our last poll, and I was really excited to dive into more of their story. I hope you enjoy!

Files

Songs From The Big Chair

Comments

KellieE69

Mother’s Talk is my favorite song on this album. BTW the end of that song is a dance break! lol You should also check out My Demons from their album The Tipping Point

Allen

Yay for the 1980s! Let's hope for some U2, XTC, and Simple Minds. . .

Ross Pollack

I really enjoyed this one. Personally, this album came out near the tail end of middle school and The Seeds of Love came out my freshman year of college. Imagine going through all four years of high school, with the evolutions in musical preferences, between Tears for Fears albums! I listened to this one on my own a few days ago and had forgotten how Side 2 played all the way through, so I am glad you did the EPL that way. Maybe someone will submit The Seeds of Love for an EPL someday - the synths aren't quite as prevalent and the sound is a bit warmer.

Bill Coonley

Many thanks for this. I haven't heard Big Chair in a while. Some of the programmed percussion and sequenced synth parts sound a little dated, but not embarrassingly so.

Joseph Pasteris

Love this reaction. Never heard this whole album. Thank you.

Moses Talbot

I think Big Chair is the one that has a stronger emotional connection for me, just because of where I was when it came out, but I just re-listened to Seeds of Love recently and that one is also outstanding.

Stop Propaganda

If you ever watched the quite good movie Donnie Darko, it ended with a cover of a tune from their first album and fits perfectly ...

Ron Swirson

Doug, this is good album for TFF, however I beg you to put Seeds of Love in an Extended Play vote. It's a brilliant record AND is one of Steven Wilsons top 10 all time.

Rebecca Walsh

Doug, this song was inspired from the movie Sybil. The Big Chair in that movie refers to the therapist in that movie that Sybil would refer to. If you watch that movie and then follow this storyline, you can see a lot of correlations.

Rebecca Walsh
>>154517428

Mother's Talk is of course referring to Sybil's mother who had tortured her soul throughout her childhood. I just think that some of these songs makes more sense in context in having watched that movie and knowing that these two are related.

Rebecca Walsh
>>154517428

...(2) I am guessing 'Listen' is the coming together of Sybil's mind and personalities as she became aware of her memories, abilities, and different interests.

Rebecca Walsh
>>154517428

...(3) 'I Believe' and 'Broken' would be connected into Sybil's exploration of her cognitive distortions and her realization that her world was not what she once believed. I believe that when we come for help and guidance, we may be not initially ready at first to eternalize our core problems. This is why Therapists are trained to peel the onion from the outside to the core...little by little, not to overwhelm the patient with grief and possible personal trauma. A lot of times, quality therapy sessions can first feel exhilerating followed by a a dreadful feeling of being 'broken'. 'The Working Hour' is a song based upon the client-therapist relationship being that of a usual 1-hour. "Shout" is what individuals first seeking therapy are emotionally thinking and in connection with the therapist as they are able to now let out what is in their chest. 'These are the things I can do without, come on...I am talking to you, come on!"....very much the expectation that the therapist-guru will have all of the answers quick and easy......its just not that simple unfortunately, which is why 'The Working Hour' comes as a signal of patience and unraveling the onion..."Everybody Wants to Rule the World' is the conflict of the person coming to therapy and for Sybil is the eternalized struggle of personalities wanting to come to the service to talk during this hour. It goes beyond that though, again this movie plays a part of explaining what the inspiration initially was, but Tears for Fears does an eloquint job of going beyond the movie and having it relatable to everyday people.

Adie
>>154517428

Thanks for these insights Rebecca - it all makes sense. I've loved this album and the movie for many years, and never knew the connection. This way of looking the album adds a lot to the listening.

Adie

Always loved this album, although I haven't listened to it for years. Listening with fresh ears, the sound world of the 1980's hits me very powerfully, and reminds me of Peter Gabriel and Kate Bush writing from around ( or just before) that time. It's a very transparent sound without being thin or sparse, and each instrumental timbre is really beautiful. I like the combination of the programming and the looser and sometimes edgy singing and playing. For me, even though it is of it's time, it manages to remain valid and worthy in the present time. PS I love the guitar playing on this.

BRIAN MILLER

I had never heard the album either. Watching your video, I did recognize the three hits that you did.

Mark

Everybody Loves a Happy Ending is worth a listen...way more going on for analysis.

Johan Petur Klüver Dam

I have never listened to the album before so I decided to just join you. And wow, what an album. Listen is the track that blew me away. I was watching a documentary on Tears for Fears and some of their songs on YT the other day and in it, the name Ryuichi Sakamoto and particularly the track "Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence" was mentioned. And listening to Listen I could definitely heard Sakamoto's influence in some of the pads/strings used in the track. The Broken - Head over Heels - Broken (reprise) was an interesting construction too.

Limekiller

Must admit, I've never cared for Tears for Fears. If we're talking about early synth pop artists, I hope VERY much you check out some Gary Numan. He's been making music for more than 50 years, and his music of the last decade+, where he borrowed some tricks from all the Industrial artists he inspired, including NIN, Ministry, etc. is some.of.the best of his entire catalog.

Ralph Darvill

Bought this album the day it came out, and I played it to death for months...eventually I got fed up with the ubiquity of "Rule The World" and stopped listening to Side 1 of it. Still love Side 2 though. "Shout" reminds me of "Mama" by Genesis...and the band acknowledge the influence of that band. I seem to recall too that one of the guitar industry awards teams gave Roland their top accolade for his use of guitar- what with T4F having hitherto been a keyboard band. Roland declared the Fender Stratocaster to be his favourite instrument at the time they made the album. Shame about the election result...four more years of The Dotard 🙄 Look after yourselves guys, as we will over on our side of The Pond.

Matt B

This is absolutely iconic for me! I first remember Tears For Fears in the late 80s when I was quite young, and brings back some great memories of my childhood! I loved this kind of music from the 80s where the production was very good and powerful (particularly the "big" sounding percussion), highlighting the newly forming style of electronic music!

Randy Hammill

It’s interesting that you said it sounds like a pop Pink Floyd. The “I Believe” chord progression has a very heavy Rick Wright feel to me.

Charles A Herndon

Doug, you must, must, must do an EPL or other review of "The Seeds of Love" album, for me the high water mark of T4F among many. It's a tour de force of production, songcraft, and eclectic musical styles that took them four years to craft. Songs like "Woman in Chains," "Badman's Song," the one-two punch of "Swords and Knives" and "Year of the Knife," and the closer, "Famous Last Words," are all spectacular tunes; the title cut, "Sowing the Seeds of Love," was a Beatles pastiche that is the least inventive song on the LP. Seriously, please, add this to the list if you want to pick another T4F album to review - it's a magical listen, trust me.

sixpacksongs

Hi Doug - really enjoyed this EPL. If you are interested in doing more TFF, I want to call out The Hurting. It can be considered as a concept album, not as tightly as some Floyd albums but there seems to be a throughline. It would be more synthpop than any EPL to date but has great use of dissonance and a Supertrampesque closing track. Most of the tracks, if not all, have a drummer as well as programming. It's pretty much my fave of this genre, and as their starting point, it would be good to check out before Seeds of Love, Thanks again, love these EPLs!

grnmntl

I think you would really enjoy the songwriting on Everybody Loves a Happy Ending.