Tears for Fears feature, Newhouse Wire version. Distributed to 42 papers (7 million circulation).

Copyright 2004 Newhouse News Service

September 8, 2004 Wednesday - Tears for Fears Duo Craft a Happy Ending for Themselves

By KEVIN O'HARE; Kevin O'Hare is music writer for the Springfield (Mass.) Republican.

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They grew up together, formed a band together, became stars together,
got sick of each other, split up and then didn't speak to each other
for nearly 10 years.

That may seem like a typical rock star scenario suitable for some
"Behind the Music"-styled documentary. But in the case of Curt Smith
and Roland Orzabal the guiding lights behind 1980s hit-makers Tears
for Fears there can indeed be happy endings.

The pair have reunited for the first time since 1990 and on Tuesday
will be releasing an album that sounds like they picked up exactly
where they left off.

The appropriately titled "Everybody Loves a Happy Ending" offers a
masterful blend of provocative, Beatle-esque pop, filled with richly
melodic songs, artful arrangements, thundering rhythms and thoughtful
wordplay. It's the same classic sound that defined the band's earlier
hits like "Everybody Wants to Rule the World," "Shout" and "Head Over
Heels" a sound that helped propel Tears for Fears to the top of the
charts two decades ago.

Smith, the one who left the band in 1990, speaks glowingly about the
reunion.

"I think this is the best album we've ever made," he said by phone
from California. "To me it's just incredibly mature and you don't
always get that at times on the other records. There was not one
moment in this whole process where we felt unsure."

That confidence comes across vividly, especially on standout tracks
like "Closest Thing to Heaven," "Call Me Mellow," and the exquisitely
orchestrated "Secret World."

It's quite a turnaround, given Smith's departure 14 years ago.

"More than anything else, being famous just didn't agree with me," he
said. "It's as simple as that. I had no private life, and the
unfortunate thing that happens is when you get angry you take it out
on the people closest to you. Me and Roland used to fight a lot. I
went through a divorce with my ex-wife during the 'Seeds of Love'
album and apart from going through that, the album wasn't particularly
pleasant to make 'cause me and Roland were arguing. I didn't know what
I wanted to do, but I knew that this wasn't it. So I left and moved to
New York."

That was a huge transition for Smith, who had grown up in Bath,
England, the same town as Orzabal.

But he stayed in America, eventually remarrying and moving to Los
Angeles. Orzabal remained in England and released several discs under
the Tears for Fears moniker, including "Elemental" in 1993 and "Raoul
and the Kings of Spain" in 1995. But they failed to recapture the old
magic. Smith released a pair of solo projects. Looking back on them
now, he now says, "I really didn't like the songs, I didn't like the
production and in the end I knew it was time to take a long break."

But while Orzabal and Smith weren't making music together, there were
still business dealings between the pair.

"There was a point where we had to talk to each other over the phone
regarding some business stuff and that led to us kind of chatting,"
Smith recalled. "Roland at that point lived in Bath, my hometown. My
brothers and my mother still live there. And basically I said, 'The
next time I'm in town let's go out to dinner.' It seemed ridiculous
that we hadn't spoken for that long. There was enough water under the
bridge. We're older; we have kids."

When they got together the "conversations would always come around to
music," Smith said. "That's the sort of main thing we have in common.
We have very similar tastes obviously."

The pair set up writing dates to work on new songs.

"The first track we did was 'Ladybird,'" Smith recalled. "I'd written
the chorus and I couldn't find a verse. Roland came up with a verse to
it and we both said, 'This sounds really good' kind of like Tears for
Fears, strangely enough."

The next writing excursion took place in Smith's home base of Los
Angeles, where they came up with "Closest Thing to Heaven." They knew
they had the makings for an album.

"We were very aware of the fact that if the music wasn't good or we
weren't enjoying it, we weren't going to do it," Smith said. "There
was no business or financial reason for us to do it; it was purely a
musical reason."

One of the album's standouts is "Call Me Mellow." Thematically similar
to Pete Townshend's solo gem "Slit Skirts," it details the
frustrations that come with growing older in a younger person's world.

"All our early records were full of teenage angst, but this is full of
middle age angst," Smith said with a laugh. "Basically the lyrics were
Roland's, in this case his experience with a girl he knew since she
was very young. And she turned up like this 18-year-old gorgeous
woman. There was a mixture of lust and guilt, because even at 40, or
whatever, you still lust after 18- or 20-year-olds but you don't take
it any further because there's too much guilt. My God, that's my
child. It's a very conflicting emotion in that it's like, oh my God
how sad, but then again you're grateful for it, because it's a sign of
maturity."

How will the world react to a reunion album from a band that was at
the peak of its fame in 1985? Will there still be a market for Tears
for Fears in 2004?

"I have two answers for that really," Smith said. "One is that I think
there's always a market for really good music. And two, I don't care.
For me it's about personal satisfaction and if I'm happy with it, then
all is good. I have no preconceived ideas, I gave that up a long time
ago. ... The only thing we can do as musicians is make an album we
like, and an album that we consider to be incredibly good."

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