gandalfe
Well-Known Member
So the past couple days I've been listening to the new (2022) Tears for Fears album. There's a pattern for me that bands that I've liked for years or growing up, somehow it's easy to neglect new music being released because my idea of who the band is becomes pretty cemented in whatever great albums I listened to while growing up. As a result of life and also the way things have changed in society over the past 20 years, I don't experience music in quite the same way as I did growing up. While listening to an entire album happens, the availability of that has drastically changed, so it's harder (for me) to consume something as an album rather than individual tracks. In conjunction with this, every album has skippable tracks and most albums aren't great from start to finish (even if there are still one or two tracks that aren't as great). I'm pretty picky (in terms of albums, I really only have a handful of them). So I'd say it's been at least 20 years where I've found something where I've said it's an amazing album. But color me surprised about this most recent TFF album. I'd put this up there with Songs From The Big Chair. I'm surprise there hasn't been much fanfare for this, but again that's, to some degree, dictated by how society consumes music.
Three tracks I'd highlight here:
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AixmRjSWNZ4
This is a more upbeat and catchy one.
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jx2UQzbQDPw
I thought it was funny how strong of a Beatles vibe it gives off even just 10 seconds in and then he mentions the Beatles within the first minute. Good song, though.
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oc7whFL5UEk
This is the real gem on the album.
This album is phenomenal. My wife and I went to see them last year, and even the songs she didn't know (she hadn't listened to the new album) she thought were moving.
Another one who has been putting out great stuff the last few years is Gary Numan. He's taken the influences he put out into the world (most obviously Nine Inch Nails) and brought it back to himself.
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHomCiPFknY