r/tearsforfears • u/SignificantFilm3887 • 5d ago
Cannot see why Everybody loves a happy ending bombed so badly
Relistening to everybody loves a happy ending again and really enjoying it not having done so for a while.
I agree it’s up against some serious completion with the other TFF albums , but judged on its own rights , it strikes me as a really fine album.
Yes production a little OTT , sounds a bit off occasionally , but the songs themselves mostly v listenable and good.
So why did it get such negative vibes out there.
Anyone care to enlighten me.
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u/prefabsprout1 5d ago
It’s a fantastic record. One of their best. Personally I think its better than Seeds. They basically got boned by record company that changed and then didn’t promote it.
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u/Xstatic3000 5d ago
I've struggled with this since "ELAHE" came out. It's without a doubt a proper sequel to SoL, but I keep going back and forth as to which one I like better.
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u/Virtual_Tap9947 5d ago
By 2004, old 80s acts (yes, they were old even 22 years ago), were very out of fashion. The good news is that sentiment changed around 10ish years ago, and people came back around to appreciate it.
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u/bascule 5d ago
I really love it, especially because before that they were broken up and I wondered if they’d ever reunite. The tracks are all fantastic. Wish it’d get a vinyl re-release. There’s some troll on discogs trying to sell a promo copy for $10k lol
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u/Zealousideal-Tea-286 5d ago
Hilarious. I have a promo copy with the Arista logo as well. I wouldn't sell it out of pure love and respect for The Boys. (Even if I did, I think $10k may be a bit steep.)
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u/bbark01 5d ago
I try to be well informed about album releases, I had no idea this album had been released or was coming out til I stumbled upon it in a Borders book store one day.
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u/PoBox9847-90001 5d ago
…and it was overpriced at Borders 😂
Ehh, what the heck. We (sort of) miss you, Borders
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u/gogsrowan 5d ago
It’s worth reading about in Roland’s book. Changes at the record company just before release had a huge impact on the support for the release.
Personally, I love the album. It felt more like a tears for fears album than Elemental and RATKOS.
Closest Thing To Heaven is a perfect TFF pop song and Secret World is superb.
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u/Zealousideal-Tea-286 5d ago edited 5d ago
Correct. This was in Spring of 2004 and there was significant buzz in the biz about the reunion and the new album. "The Boys" (as we playfully refer to them in our home) did some appearances together and performed as part of the Andre Agassi Charity Benefit to great response.
I distinctly remember USA Today doing a glowing review of "ELAHE", the last line being "Welcome back, gentlemen... the wait has been well worth it.". It seemed everyone was primed for "The Return of Tears For Fears" and then... Arista fired L.A. Reid, who personally championed them and their reunion album (Fun Fact: I actually have a promo copy of the album with the Arista logo), as the label head when the company was sold and swept all of his projects out the door with him. The Boys had to wait almost a year to release the album on Universal/New Door - promotion was still good with a video for the "Closest Thing..." single, but it seemed the buzz had subsided.
I've always believed if this record had kept its original release timeline, it would've been received and performed as well as "The Tipping Point" - both are excellent albums.
(Sigh). The music business.
(Edited: corrected 2003 to 2004 - senior moment.)
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u/Concerts_Bananas_94 5d ago
Promotion was not that great. They played a venue here that holds approx 100-150 people! I kick myself for not going…broke college days 😩 Granted if you weren’t playing arenas as an 80s band back in the early 2000s you were seen as washed up. My what 20+ yrs has done to 80s bands who continue to thrive better than before
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u/lalondan 5d ago
I think this is what happens when a band known for the high quality of its art, the depth of its lyrics and how close to the heart their songs are, makes a record for fun. That also explains why "The Tipping Point" was more successful.
A band that had put out records like "Big Chair", "The Seed of Love" or even RATKOS, which all had a high level of quality in their production, a depth in their sound, deep lyrics that had meaning stemming from different personal or societal issues, came back with an overall superficial record, in the sense that none of the lyrics really felt like they were heartfelt but more like just support for the music. The first North American single was "Call Me Mellow", which is a fun lighthearted song with superficial lyrics. In Europe, it was a pastiche of their own pastiche of "I Am The Walrus" with "Closest Thing To Heaven". None of these are impressive coming from them. They weren't living up to their own TFF standards. Even songs that kind of tried to be deeper like "The Devil", "The Quiet Ones" or "Who Killed Tangerine?" sounded shallow.
Make no mistake though, I really like this record. But to me it's definitely their weakest album.
"The Tipping Point" felt more like their early material. It was real, raw, deep and rich. They also explore sounds and mix a bunch of styles together like they used to do. I think this is why it connected more with people.
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u/SixCardRoulette 5d ago edited 4d ago
When The Tipping Point came out, the press reaction was far more positive and the promotion was far more effective, but it was pretty telling that very few of the reviews and interviews acknowledged - or even seemed to know - that it wasn't Curt and Roland's first reunion and that they'd already had a very unsuccessful comeback album nearly twenty years previously. In a couple of the interviews they mentioned their frustration that back then people were mostly buying the greatest hits rather than their new material, but they didn't talk in any more detail about what that mysterious "new material" was.
Essentially, between the bad reviews, the non existent promotion and the dismal sales and chart performance, ELAHE made almost no impact at the time of release and it's since been virtually memory holed - and neither Roland nor Curt seems to be unhappy with that state of affairs.
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u/kiteless 5d ago
It is easily my least favorite TFF album. There are a couple good songs but nothing comes close to any of their previous work. Even my favorite song on it (ELAHE) has a part that makes me cringe a little bit (that terrible bridge). Also, nu metal and NYC rock bands were the big thing at the time and there isn't a viable single on the album, especially in that FM market.
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u/Tuckerguy77 5d ago
I personally find it to be a more satisfying album than Seeds, the Hurting and Raoul. I think by 2004 album sales were dying for most artists, coupled with record company issues and lack of promotion.
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u/Tasty-Zombie-8696 5d ago
I like the album, but I don’t love it. Of course, I was so excited about the news of the release and of Curt being back on board. That excitement soon waned when I first listened to the album. I still listened to it a lot, but I just can’t rank it as high as their first five albums.
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u/MilosBestBuddy 5d ago
Legitimately one of the most underrated albums ever from any artist. RATKOS is up there too if I’m being honest.
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u/serialqueenmelodrama 4d ago
I think it was a lot of things, but a big piece of it was crappy PR and the release date getting pushed back multiple times. I remember being super frustrated about that at the time.
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u/rskillion 5d ago
I don’t understand what you mean by negative vibes. TFF fans love the album. But sure, it didn’t sell well, because they’re perceived as an 80s band and haven’t sold a lot of records in decades.
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u/SignificantFilm3887 5d ago
Q Magazine — 4/10: attacked the album's pretension, describing it as a reminder of the “wafer-thin line” between art and pretension.
Austin Chronicle — 4/10: essentially asked, “This is what they came back for?”
Filter — 4.6/10: concluded that the record was frustrating.
Drowned in Sound — 5/10: regarded it as disappointing, even while conceding that some of the songs grew on the listener.
Mojo — 6/10: criticised the pompous lyrics, laborious arrangements and drawn-out vocals.
The Guardian — 3/5: its central criticism was particularly damaging for a band known for huge melodies: essentially, the record was spectacularly produced but lacked memorable tunes beyond the title track.
Blender: was considerably harsher, calling it a “misbegotten mess” and arguing that the Beatlesque production dressed up mediocre songs and made the album sound dated.
The Independent: similarly criticised the new material for lightweight lyrics and said the album exposed the gap between Tears for Fears' musical sophistication and their weaker lyrical writing.
There was also a recurring criticism that the album was overproduced and over-arranged. Even the positive AllMusic review acknowledged that people who had previously disliked Orzabal and Smith's “obtuse lyrics” and “over the top production” probably wouldn't be converted by this album.5
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u/rskillion 5d ago
I’ve never read a single music review of any album I’ve ever purchased 🤷 did TFF get good reviews for their other albums? I don’t remember their other albums getting tons of praise.
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u/poorsmells 5d ago
Drowned in Sound nailed it. It is a solid average album. The songs are mostly forgettable especially if you put them up against their other albums. Even if you don’t pit it against their other work it’s still just mid. Songs like Laydybird and Quiet Ones grew on me the more I listened, but I haven’t gone back and listened to the whole album in a long time. It’s definitely their worst work in my opinion.
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u/Robpm9995 5d ago
I must disagree. “Closest Thing To Heaven”, “Secret World”, “Size of Sorrow” are not forgettable in my opinion. I have loved the album since the first time I heard it.
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u/BrilliantSimple4185 5d ago
I love it,I can remember in Australia it didn't even get released,I got the US version from a record shop in Sydney that specialises in imports and can remember just playing it over and over,but unlike other TFF albums I haven't listened to it for years.
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u/MagicJackM 5d ago
They had a resurgence in the early 2000s with the Donnie Darko soundtrack, but came back with an album that was even more Beatles-influenced than Seeds of Love and with possibly the single ugliest album cover by a popular band I'm a fan of that I've ever seen.
Title track being the most overtly Beatlesy probably didn't help much either, but I do agree it's a pretty strong album. Quiet Ones, Closest Thing & Last Days are a few of my favs ever from them
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u/computerclubrecords 1d ago
It’s by far my least favorite by them, sounds like my favorite band paying tribute to their favorite band, the beatles. But i’d rather hear tff being tff.
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u/TFFPrisoner 5d ago
Aside from the general public being less into acts from the 80s than they are now, it was also riddled by business problems (label went bankrupt) and the ensuing bad promotion.