Songs from the Big Chair
Songs from the Big Chair is the second studio album by English pop rock band Tears for Fears, released on 25 February 1985 by Phonogram Records. The album peaked at number two in the UK and at number one in the US and Canada, becoming a multi-platinum seller in all three countries. It also reached number one in Germany and the Netherlands and Top 10 positions in various other countries including Australia, Switzerland, New Zealand and Italy. It spawned the international hit singles "Mothers Talk", "Shout", "Everybody Wants to Rule the World", "Head over Heels", and "I Believe". It remains their best-selling album to date.
A companion video documentary entitled Scenes from the Big Chair was released in late 1985. Once the band had finished a lengthy touring and promotion schedule for the album, they took an extended hiatus from the music industry.
Background
Originally, the album was to be titled The Working Hour, but Roland Orzabal fought to change it to Songs from the Big Chair, which was derived from the 1976 television film Sybil about a woman with multiple personality disorder who only feels safe when she is sitting in her analyst's "big chair". A mostly-instrumental track called "The Big Chair" was released as the B-side of "Shout" in 1984, but was not included on the album.In an interview for the 2005 Deluxe version booklet, Smith noted "The Hurting really was influenced by modern technology at that time. Songs From The Big Chair expressed our desire to move on from there...It was an attempt to be less insular. We were very introverted on The Hurting; it was a very dark album. We found the need to be more outgoing on The Big Chair, and the use of big guitars and the things that we shied away
from before allowed us to do that...I remember Chris Hughes bringing in more American stuff; that's when we started listening to Steely Dan – even, dare I say it, to Bryan Adams, before he took off. And Bruce Springsteen. It was really to broaden our horizons more than anything else...As usual, it started with us demoing songs, but the demoing turned into the recording as we became attached to the original demos:' The band started to generate new material around the beginning of 1984. The first song written for Big Chair was "Head Over Heels;' which TFF played live during a tour undertaken between the two albums. Regarding the recording sessions for the album, "They weren't bad. There wasn't any real pain involved in doing Songs From The Big Chair. I certainly think not being as precious and breaking out allowed us to relax a little. I don't remember it as particularly a painful experience."
On the need to reach out to a bigger audience, "That certainly was the plan, more of Chris Hughes and the record company than ours. They saw the capability within us to really reach a bigger audience. I don't think we ever were concerned with it. But we liked the idea of doing something different; we definitely embraced that. That conscious effort to bridge the ocean between here and America was really more down to Chris Hughes and Dave Bates : I'll give Chris Hughes his due: he was a big supporter of 'Rule The World' and we weren't that sure of it, and in America that was the first single they really went for. And it broke the market for us.' Furthermore, "'Shout' is the obvious stadium thing. We consciously started with the chorus. It was kind of a sing-along; a protest song-like 'Give Peace A Chance,' or 'Hey Jude,' even. It had a really in your face chorus. But we never imagined it would take off like that. We're from Bath. We're not part of any scene. We've never been fashionable. We're quite insulated when we make records.What happens afterwards is really out of our hands. It's not something you can really plan for. We certainly can't. I don't think we're that clever."
Critical reception
In his review of Songs from the Big Chair, critic Barry McIlheney of Melody Maker stated that "none of you should really be too surprised that Tears for Fears have made such an excellent album", calling it "an album that fully justifies the rather sneering, told-you-so looks adopted by Curt Smith and Roland Orzabal on the sleeve", before concluding, "An awful lot of people will, of course, go on and on about overcoats, The Lotus Eaters and an alleged lack of depth. And an awful lot of people will have to eat an awful lot of words." Ian Cranna of Smash Hits described it as "looser, more exploratory than before" in nature, and noted its "unflinching lyrical honesty". Rolling Stone critic Don Shewey wrote that Tears for Fears "sounds a lot like a lot of other British bands" and observed traces of "U2's social conscience, the Bunnymen's echoing guitars and XTC's contorted pop wit" on the album, but commented that Chris Hughes' production "nudges Songs from the Big Chair slightly ahead of the pack." Robert Christgau was less enthusiastic in his review for The Village Voice, observing some substantial lyrics, particularly on "The Working Hour", and musical elements such as an "uncommon command of guitar and piano, Baker Street sax, synthesizers more jagged than is deemed mete by the arbiters of dance-pop accessibility". However, he felt these are all beneath grandiloquent lamentations suggesting "a depth and drama English lads have been falling short on since the dawn of progressive rock."In a retrospective review published on AllMusic, Stanton Swihart wrote: "In the loping, percolating 'Everybody Wants to Rule the World', Tears for Fears perfectly captured the zeitgeist of the mid-'80s while impossibly managing to also create a dreamy, timeless pop classic. Songs from the Big Chair is one of the finest statements of the decade." Mark Elliott of Record Collector agreed, while adding that it contained the band's "most consistently interesting material". Q remarked that the album "zeroed in on every angsty adolescent's desire to feel heroic, with a sound of spotlit, spacious sophistication plus anthemic choruses you'd bet your house on." In Stylus Magazine, Andrew Unterberger concluded that "even today, when all rock musicians seem to be able to do is be emotional and honest, the brutality and power of Songs from the Big Chairs catharsis is still quite shocking." Songs from the Big Chair has been included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. Slant Magazine listed the album at number 95 on its list of the best albums of the 1980s.
In February 2020, the album was the focus of an episode of the BBC's Classic Albums documentary series. The episode included new interviews with key personnel including Orzabal, Smith, Ian Stanley, producer Chris Hughes, engineer Dave Bascombe, and A&R man David Bates. Additional interviewees included Oleta Adams and John Grant.
Re-issues
In 1998, MFSL remastered and re-issued the album with an extended "Head over Heels" and two bonus tracks.The album was remastered and re-issued on CD in 1999 with bonus tracks, including B-sides and remixes. The track listing is based on the Special Edition cassette version of the album, which featured five B-sides as bonus tracks—including three tracks from The Hurting period. In addition to these tracks, it includes two remixes.
The album was re-released again in a deluxe edition 2-disc format in 2006 with the full collection of B-sides and many alternate versions and remixes of the album's tracks.
In 2014, the album was released by Universal Music Japan on SHM-SACD.
To mark the album's 30th anniversary, Universal Music released the album in five different formats on 10 November 2014, including a 6-disc Super Deluxe Edition which includes four CDs and two DVDs. This edition also includes a 30-page replica 1985 tour programme and a 32-page booklet. Additional formats released simultaneously include another 2-disc Deluxe Edition, a single disc remastered edition, a 180-gram heavyweight vinyl album, and a "Pure Audio" Blu-ray edition. The 5.1 surround sound mix is done by renowned remixer and progressive rock musician Steven Wilson. The 6-disc set was reissued in 2020, to commemorate the album's 35th anniversary, along with a new vinyl picture disc of the album.
Track listing
Original release
Notes- "I Believe" is dedicated to 'Robert Wyatt '
- In some US editions, the live reprise of "Broken" was omitted, and the end of "Head over Heels" led directly into "Listen". On these same US editions, the full 5:09 version of "Mothers Talk" was replaced with the 3:53 short version, resulting in an overall runtime two minutes and ten seconds shorter than the original album.
- In some later Canadian editions, "Head over Heels" and the live reprise of "Broken" was split into two separate tracks creating a nine-track release; the booklet and other CD artwork still had the original tracklist, however.
- A limited edition UK cassette version of the album contained many bonus tracks as well as a short version of "The Working Hour" ; the configuration was recreated on CD for the 30th anniversary with even more additional tracks appended.
- "Mothers Talk" on the remastered CD is the correct version of this remix, but has had additional reverb applied. The 1999 remaster is the only CD on which this "extra reverb" version can be found.
Deluxe Edition (2006)
- Track 4 was intended to be "Everybody Wants to Run the World" but was mistakenly replaced by a repetition of the album version ; the album's liner notes confirm this.
- Track 7 is labeled "U.S. remix" on the packaging but is in fact a different version from the real U.S. remix of "Mothers Talk" on the original vinyl singles. On CD, the real "U.S. remix" can be found on the compilations The Millennium Collection: The Best of Tears for Fears and Shout: The Very Best of Tears for Fears, as well as the 30th anniversary edition.
Super Deluxe Edition (2014)
Personnel
Tears for Fears
- Roland Orzabal – guitar, keyboards, lead vocals, grand piano on 5, vocal styling on 8, bass synth and LinnDrum programming on 1
- Curt Smith – bass guitar, backing vocals, lead vocals on 3 and 8
- Ian Stanley – keyboards, LinnDrum programming, arrangements on "Listen"
- Manny Elias – drums, drum arrangement on "The Working Hour"
Additional personnel
- "Shout": Sandy McLelland – backing vocals, Chris Hughes – drums
- "The Working Hour": Jerry Marotta – percussion and saxophone arrangement, Will Gregory – saxophone solos, Mel Collins – saxophone, Andy Davis – grand piano
- "Everybody Wants to Rule the World": Neil Taylor – second guitar solo, Chris Hughes – MIDI programming Drumulator
- "Mothers Talk": Stevie Lange – backing vocals
- "I Believe": Will Gregory – saxophone
- "Broken": Neil Taylor – guitar solo
- "Head Over Heels": Sandy McLelland – backing vocals, Andy Davis – grand piano, Annie McCaig – backing vocals, Marilyn Davis – backing vocals
- "Listen": Marilyn Davis – operatic vocal
Production
- Chris Hughes – Record producer
- Dave Bascombe – engineer
- Paul King – management
- Tim O'Sullivan – cover photography
Charts and certifications
Charts
30th/35th Anniversary Editions| Chart | Peak position |
| - | |
| Chart | Peak position |
| - |
Year-end charts
Certifications
Singles
| Year | Single | Chart | Peak |
| 1984 | "Mothers Talk" | UK Singles Chart | 14 |
| 1984 | "Mothers Talk" | Irish Singles Chart | 23 |
| 1985 | "Mothers Talk" | New Zealand Singles Chart | 50 |
| 1984 | "Shout" | UK Singles Chart | 4 |
| 1985 | "Shout" | Austrian Singles Chart | 6 |
| 1985 | "Shout" | Canadian Singles Chart | 1 |
| 1985 | "Shout" | Dutch Singles Chart | 1 |
| 1985 | "Shout" | French Singles Chart | 21 |
| 1985 | "Shout" | German Singles Chart | 1 |
| 1985 | "Shout" | Irish Singles Chart | 5 |
| 1985 | "Shout" | Norwegian Singles Chart | 5 |
| 1985 | "Shout" | New Zealand Singles Chart | 1 |
| 1985 | "Shout" | Swedish Singles Chart | 16 |
| 1985 | "Shout" | Swiss Singles Chart | 1 |
| 1985 | "Shout" | US Billboard Hot 100 | 1 |
| 1985 | "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" | UK Singles Chart | 2 |
| 1985 | "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" | Austrian Singles Chart | 19 |
| 1985 | "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" | Canadian Singles Chart | 1 |
| 1985 | "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" | Dutch Singles Chart | 2 |
| 1985 | "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" | French Singles Chart | 18 |
| 1985 | "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" | German Singles Chart | 11 |
| 1985 | "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" | Irish Singles Chart | 2 |
| 1985 | "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" | New Zealand Singles Chart | 1 |
| 1985 | "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" | Swiss Singles Chart | 13 |
| 1985 | "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" | US Billboard Hot 100 | 1 |
| Year | Single | Chart | Peak |
| 1985 | "Head over Heels" | UK Singles Chart | 12 |
| 1985 | "Head over Heels" | Canadian Singles Chart | 8 |
| 1985 | "Head over Heels" | Dutch Singles Chart | 29 |
| 1985 | "Head over Heels" | German Singles Chart | 55 |
| 1985 | "Head over Heels" | Irish Singles Chart | 5 |
| 1985 | "Head over Heels" | New Zealand Singles Chart | 12 |
| 1985 | "Head over Heels" | US Billboard Hot 100 | 3 |
| 1985 | "I Believe " | UK Singles Chart | 23 |
| 1985 | "I Believe " | Irish Singles Chart | 10 |
| 1985 | "I Believe " | New Zealand Singles Chart | 28 |
| 1986 | "Mothers Talk" | Canadian Singles Chart | 87 |
| 1986 | "Mothers Talk" | US Billboard Hot 100 | 27 |