They were never one of my absolute faves of the era but they were still damn good. Suffer The Children is my favourite of theirs. I love the bit where everything drops out behind the la-la-las.

And Will Gregory, now of Goldfrapp, played with them - he is the sax solos on Working Hour and I Believe. Working Hour and Head Over Heels are also high on the list. Lovely and atmospheric.

Along with the likes of Talk Talk, Japan, The Smiths, XTC, Pixies, R.E.M. etc., proving the lie that is that the 80's was a wasteland.

Part of me wants to loudly guffaw. BUT part of me also remembers being 14 years old and hearing Change, Mad World and Pale Shelter and being very excited. Hate Shout and EWTRTW though.

Their first three first albums were marvellous. although the third was a bit over produced and a bit late Lennon era Beatles "awe struck" in its sound IMHO.

For later Orlazabal start here:

- might be wrong but he always seemed to come across as very smug and almost resentful that his songs weren't regarded more highly. I was never that sure what his songs were about. Pale Shelter, Mad World were okay, but if I never heard or saw him/them again I doubt I'd notice.

Great brass break, a real goosebumper for me. The song itself - like so many of his - is prententious nonsense, but he is/was a talented guy and I can't fault his ambition, especially on the Seeds of Love album. It would have been sooo easy to do a quickie pop-rock follow up to Big Chair but he decided to "go large" and that's rather endearing in itself. A man out out of his time?

and "Everybody Wants to Rule The World" kind of tainted their reputation for a long time. I love Songs From The Big Chair especially this one:

Also got a soft spot for this, a big, big Balearic tune.

"The Seeds Of Love" is definitely over-produced. A lovely album but it could have worked even better if he'd known when to let go of it.

Their vocals were always stunning and the songs interesting.

"Seeds" is one of the very few CD albums I own that I'll listen to all the way through every time without skipping tracks.

Tears For Fears made one or two good pop records. To use the word "genius" in relation to Roland Orzabal is absurd.

May I suggest these as more befitting the genius tag:

Mozart
Ray Charles
The Beatles
Jimi Hendrix
Jacqueline du Pré

and although I don't think the'll ever been considered cool, you can hear their influence in the like of Friendly Fires & Everything Everything with their maximalist, 80s influenced production and clever tunesmithery.

There is something a bit OTT and ridiculous about them and I don't think it would've been much fun being in the studio while they were endlessly tweaking hi-hat parts, but I rather like that. Seeds of Love does sound like The Rutles vs ELO but it's still a corking song.

Change is one of my favourite songs,great tune
Check out the top of the pops appearance on youtube,he is the button of Rory Mcllory

I wouldn't know about that. But they did appear on my list of Pop Performers In Need Of A Smack With A Wet Fish* list, back when I cared enough. Sting apart (too obvious), the list also included:

Everything But The Girl
The Thompson Twins
Morrissey
Miles out of The Wonderstuff
Jim Kerr
That singer out of The Associates

(*we're not talking an anchovy here. Has to be a 3-4 pounder with a bit of scale slime)

I had a great deal of time for TFF/RO but they were reposnsible for the World's Worst Single ("The Way You Are") and the World's Most Pretentious Single ("Raoul and the Kings of Spain"). A bit of an over-serious preacher when it came to lyrics. Cup of tea ownership issues still being debated.

on their last album was a lovely little McCartneyesque ditty called Pullin' A Cloud.

I don't consider Roland a genius (particularly as everytime I hear the name 'Roland' I think of the kid out of Grange Hill) but I do think Tears For Fears were a great pop/rock band. They evidently strove for greatness underpinned as they were by a self-belief and cockiness to think themselves worthy of that title. They were musically ambitious at a time when musical ambition wasn't really something the cool kids talked about.

Like Talk Talk, they wanted to make "important music" in order to be taken seriously as something more than just pretty boys making pop songs. Unlike Talk Talk, Tears For Fears never pushed the boundaries enough into the 'post [insert label]' category to create an impression that would prompt a reappraisal of their canon and their ideas. Pretentious lyrics, silly dancing, odd hair extensions and posturing big egos always seemed to get in the way of the very obvious stuff like great melodies and choons that fizzed in their off-beat arrangements.

ruined 'Mad World' for me though...."ooh here's a really cool song but let's take all those silly electronic noises off it, slow it down and emote over like Michael Stipe with a peg on his nose". Bastard.

as did all the TFT tracks in the film.

I concede I was sick to death and beyond of Jules version that Christmas of 2003.

Always under the shadow of Seve, but did win 2 majors. Shame arthritis has blighted his career.

My favourite track of theirs was a B-side called "Schrodinger's Cat", (shorthand : a bit Beatley), which would seem to be a bit ironic considering how many people on this thread would like to (metaphorically) lock 'Ro-lahnd' in a box with a vial of poison and very little need for a quantum trigger!

Like OMD, they'd actually produce some new songs for B-sides rather than always just sticking on a remix and were sometimes quite experimental with them (though unlike OMD, with less emphasis on the 'mental' of 'experimental' : no bad thing that though - OMD's flipsides were IMO even better-er than their usually terrific A-sides).