Tears for Fears‘ Songs from the Big Chair was definitely the best album of 1985 and one fo the best ever. It deserves a place on the list of 1001 Album… What is surprising is it is missing the band’s 1983 album The Hurting. The albums title comes from the 1976 film Sybil. Sally Field starred as a woman with multiple personality disorder who only felt safe in the big chair of her analyst.
The moment “Shout“opens the album, I feel a sense of excitement. Something wonderful is happening. This song makes me smile, which is something I hate to do.
“Everybody Wants to Rule the World” is one of the best songs because of the juxtaposition between the music and the lyrics. My favourite thing about the 80s were the lyrics and the music opposed each other. It was a tug of war with the mind and body. My body wants to dance to the sadness of the lyrics.
“I Believe” takes a turn down a lane of sadness. I almost always cry when I hear this song. And we bleed from our belief into “Broken“. The lyrics of a song can speak the whole truth of the moment we are barely hanging onto.
I stop believing everything will be alright
Broken
We are broken
Secret in motion when my feet are on the ground
Broken
We are broken
One little boy anger one little man
Funny how time flies”
“Head over Heels” is a moment we only feel once in life if we are lucky. I think I felt it, but anyone I have loved has not loved me back. It might be a mechanism that I was implanted with or built with that keeps me from relationships. I was created to be alone. I was created for sadness.
“Listen” ends the album with another beautiful song that is mostly music. Is it their way of saying life is sad in the end? At least we have beautiful music.
Overall, this is an album everyone should listen to at least once a year. I cannot really put into words how much I love this album, except to use the word love. I was fortunate to have seen them live twice. 10/10.
an ocean roars 