Listen as your poor heart breaks.
Tears for Fears
17 years since their last album, 80s new-wave pop duo Tears for Fears return with The Tipping Point, which might be their best album yet.
The seventh album from Tears for Fears, The Tipping Point, is in many ways a curious and unusual album release. For one, it arrives almost two decades after their last album, Everyone Loves a Happy Ending (2004), with a musical absence littered with only deluxe reissues of their back catalogue over the past decade. Another oddity is that The Tipping Point often emanates and mirrors the sound and themes of their debut album, The Hurting (1983), in viewing the world through pain, suffering and loss – although this time differently as older, wiser, and tougher men. Finally, it seems (much like this writer) the duo developed writers block concurrently with creative differences towards their management record company for many years, resulting in long delayed and stalled songs. Given all of these barriers and challenges, it is all the more remarkable that The Tipping Point is nothing short of a modern masterpiece.
The ten songs on this album all explore themes of life, society, time and pain through the perspectives of band members Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith, giving it a somewhat philosophical feel. This is complemented by brilliant songwriting, masterful production and arragements, and luscious intrumentation throughout. Every song on the album has its own unique sound that sounds like no other, yet together there is a musical harmony, like jigsaw pieces in a puzzle.
Opening song No Small Thing slowly moves from a simple country acoustic track into an electro synthpop extravaganza of sound production, and is a powerful and masterful beginning to the album. Themes of grief, sadness and mortality are explored on the title song (and lead single) The Tipping Point, with its electronic uptempo tone dealing with the decline and death of Orzabal’s wife Caroline, prior to the album’s recording – “Life is cruel, life is tough / Life is crazy, then it all turns to dust…” These themes are further explored in the track Please Be Happy, a mournful ballad captivating Orzabal’s anguish and faith, complemented by some gorgeous piano, strings and a solo trumpet.
Elsewhere on the album there is also socio-political commentary in keeping with today’s contemporary world. Break the Man explores the recent #MeToo movement and women taking on the patriarchy, acting as a feminist anthem and a loose sequel to their 80’s hit Woman in Chains with Oleta Adams. The brilliant Beatles-eque Master Plan is a poke against their former management label, but also acts as a philosophical debate between free will and determinism, complete with soaring vocals and synths. The album’s highlight, Rivers of Mercy, explores the discontent, turbulence and madness of our current world in a gorgeous gospel-soul ballad with soothing vocals and choir. Finally, the electronic and lively End of Night explores the winds of change blowing over the past, signifying the ‘end of night’ and the beginning of a new dawn.
The CD Deluxe Edition comes with a 3-panel foldout sleeve and a bonus track titled Secret Location, a relaxing pop song that feels somehow comtemporary and nostalgic at the same time.
The Tipping Point is triumph of songwriting and sound by two veteran musicians who have lost none of their shine despite their recent inactivity. It is a culmination of the musical, socio-political and emtional themes they have cherished since their career beginnings in the 1980s, and is a message of hope and rejuvination in these troubled times. Listening to it is a tender, contemplative, and enveloping experience, and it’s undoutedly one of the best albums of 2022.
Best track: Rivers of Mercy
Rating: 9/10
Andrew Reviews 