Sowing the Seeds of Love Done Again

TEARS FOR FEARS: The Tipping Betoken (Concord)

Rating:

Verdict: Worth shouting about

AVRIL LAVIGNE: Love Sux (Parlophone)

Rating:

Verdict: Rides the punky-pop wave

JOHNNY MARR: Fever Dreams Pts 1-4 (BMG)

Rating:

Verdict: Works up a sweat

As fully paid-up members of the 1980s pop club, Tears For Fears could have played the nostalgia carte du jour on their showtime album in 18 years.

With hits such every bit Shout and Everybody Wants To Rule The World in their repertoire, the duo could easily accept 're-imagined' some of their erstwhile songs and signed up for a legacy tour.

But Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith have never wanted to tie themselves to a specific decade, and The Tipping Indicate vindicates their decision to shun the heritage circuit.

It's a purposeful, audacious return that shows why the 2 former classmates from Bath have become an unlikely touchstone for cutting-edge acts such as The Weeknd, Drake and Lorde, all of whom have covered or sampled their music.

But Roland Orzabal and Brusk Smith accept never wanted to tie themselves to a specific decade, and The Tipping Point vindicates their decision to shun the heritage circuit

Orzabal and Smith, both sixty, have form when information technology comes to taking their time. But even by their standards, The Tipping Point has not been like shooting fish in a barrel.

An attempt at modernising their sound by working with younger, trendier collaborators hit the buffers. Brusk considered quitting. And so the pandemic arrived.

Roland also had to argue with the grief of losing his wife Caroline, who died in 2017 afterward a long illness. Several numbers, including the championship track and the heart-wrenching Please Be Happy, were written as he watched her condition worsen, and it'due south impossible not to be moved by the raw emotion in songs informed past his anguish.

Not that The Tipping Point is gloomy. Guitarist Roland and bassist Curt, who both also sing and play keyboards, combine ambitious arrangements with catchy choruses.

Avril Lavigne has timed her latest comeback well

They begin with a curveball. Their hits of the 1980s were either sombre electronic singles like Mad World or large pop numbers like The Seeds Of Love. No Pocket-size Thing is neither. An ode to freedom — 'Have a trip to America, permit the wind blow right through your hair' — it harks back to 1970s folk-rock.

But at that place'southward familiarity, too. The championship track, on which Roland recalls sitting by his wife's infirmary bed, addresses the fragility of life, but does so against a rhythmic backdrop that will have fans back to the synth-driven shuffle of Everybody Wants To Rule The World. It'due south a archetype Tears For Fears double whammy of emotional heft and pop accessibility.

Rivers Of Mercy, which begins with the sound of a police siren and an exploding tear gas canister, is the closest they get to a protest song, admitting the most polite protestation song since Coldplay tried something similar with Trouble In Town in 2019.

Elsewhere, Chief Plan is a melodic dig at a former manager and Break The Human being echoes 1989's Woman In Bondage in addressing sexual inequality. Wolverhampton vocalist Carina Round guests on Long, Long, Long Fourth dimension, her harmonies adding fresh layers to the duo'southward vocals, merely equally soul singer Oleta Adams did in the 1980s.

Orzabal and Smith say they spent vii years getting this render just right. Information technology was time well spent: the heritage circuit can live without them for now.

Avril Lavigne has timed her latest comeback well. Having broken through 20 years ago with the teenage drama of Complicated, the Canadian'southward render coincides with a punky pop renaissance that has seen former Disney star Olivia Rodrigo crank up the guitars and K-pop singer Huening Kai release a annotation-perfect embrace of Lavigne's 2002 hit Sk8er Boi.

The singer, 37, is now mentored by Glimmer-182'southward Travis Barker, who drums, co-writes and produces, and she sticks to a high-octane, guitar-driven template, moving abroad from the ballad-heavy tone of 2019'southward Caput To a higher place Water.

'Like a ticking time bomb, I'm nigh to explode,' she roars on Missive, with Barker pounding away on his drumkit.

Having had two failed marriages, she's in no mood for romance. Bite Me finds her inviting an ex-lover to pick up his apparel from the front 1000. 'Y'all're gonna wish I was your wifey,' she chides. Honey It When Yous Hate Me is a he-said-she-said duet with Blackbear.

She doesn't possess the vocal range to shine on big pianoforte ballad, Cartel To Honey Me. Otherwise, her punky chutzpah is just the ticket for the electric current revival.

Johnny Marr's new album highlights both his strengths and shortcomings

Former Smith Johnny Marr has played with The Pretenders, The Cribs and Small-scale Mouse, and was a correspondent to the No Time To Dice soundtrack. His solo career has been patchier, and a new album highlights both his strengths and shortcomings.

Fever Dreams Pts i-4 reiterates his stature equally one of rock's most versatile guitarists. His energetic riffs are inventively layered, but, across 16 songs, his lack of a frontman's personality are exposed.

He's at his best fusing rock with New Guild-ish synths on Spirit, Power And Soul, and Receiver is similarly steeped in his Mancunian rock roots. Both tracks could come into their ain when he takes to the road, supporting Blondie, in the leap.

Tears For Fears' UK bout starts on July ane (tearsforfears.com).

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Source: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-10549795/ADRIAN-THRILLS-Tears-Fears-sowing-seeds-love-again.html

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