Looking back, even if it's ch ..., we are forced to recognize that Inrocks were right. TFF crosses all along the drive, and without question one second, the line between syncretism of inconsistency, the musical and textual ambition of the most ridiculous pretension, and fine interpretation of virtuosity Free. None of genres touched it is with any success: it's too pâlichon to be soul (if that thing is "soul", Aretha Franklin and Roberta Flack are singers Abba), scheduled to be too jazz and even less jazz-rock (there are more rich sound and intelligence in a single intro Steely Dan or Crusaders in this entire disk), too convoluted to be pop ("Badman's song "laughable cake), and too calculated to be moving for a second (even" Famous Last Words ", though beautiful melody moreover, is crumbling under the heaviness of a FM endless final, type" you see? It can do it "). Before the claim boundless things like "Standing on the Edge of the Third World", the mollassonne idiocy of "Advice for the Young at Heart" and the supremely irritating vocal tics that Roland Orzabal takes audibly to the moving song, it regrets the experimental and chrome melancholy of "Mad World" and "Listen" of yesteryear, the cold determination hits like "Shout" and "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" pop icy brutality "Mothers Talk". We regret that, even more than the Simple Minds "Once Upon A Time" which had diluted its essence in pop-soul anthems damn good but far from the brilliance of his previous albums, TFF has drowned his soul in an excess soul in two balls. We regret that the titles with Oleta Adams (otherwise excellent solo) also ring false and hollow as Fredericks / Goldman / Jones ... We regret, finally, that so few groups emerged in the early 80's with their anxieties tripe and keyboards under his arm, have been able to renew without losing their identity. Everyone is not Depeche Mode.
Curt Smith, exhausted by the melon intergalactic proportions of his sidekick Orzabal, moreover TFF leave shortly after the tour that followed this disc (which remembers the incredibly lousy attempt to backcatalogue the group the new colors of soul "Seeds of Love ", by sticking a rapper on almost all securities, including - argh -" Shout "??). TFF, reduced to only Orzabal, quickly closes the parenthesis "Seeds" and attempt during the following years to recapture the pop-New Wave Magic "Songs From The Big Chair" - with results which it would be generous to say that they are unequal. Unless you are highly nostalgic, or collecting records on the basis of their audiophile qualities more than anything else ("Seeds of Love is remarkably saved, the remastering of the current version is pretty class - and vinyl exceptional Mobile Fidelity ), better avoid this album and will focus on "The Hurting" and "Songs From the Big Chair." Or at worst, choose the best of "Tears Roll Down," which saves "Seeds ..." that tubes, already not essential.
