The original album cover
Tears For Fears’ third studio album, The Seeds of Love, is being released in a variety for formats on Oct. 9 via UMe/Virgin, for a belated 30th anniversary box set. The album, originally released in 1989, was a worldwide success, reaching #1 in the U.K. and #8 in the U.S., where it was certified Platinum. Since its release, the album has taken on mythical status for its scope, ambition, timeless musicality, and the fact that it took over four years to record.
Tear For Fears – Roland Orzabal (vocals, guitar, keyboards) and Curt Smith (vocals, bass, keyboards) formed in Bath, England in 1981.
As Orzabal says in the reissue’s Aug. 19 announcement, “Out of all our albums, I’d probably rank it highest. I think it surprised a lot of people, a lot of our peers as well, people who maybe we were being compared to in the mid-Eighties.”
Smith adds, “The tracks I liked then, I still like now. ‘Woman in Chains,’ ‘Badman’s Song,’ ‘Sowing the Seeds of Love,’ and ‘Advice For the Young at Heart’ have all stuck around. We still play those live.”
“Sowing the Seeds of Love,” with its homage to Sgt. Pepper, was one of the biggest singles of the group’s career.
The super deluxe box set, with four CDs and one Blu-ray, includes 22 unreleased tracks from demo sessions, live jams, studio sessions along with a definitive set of b-sides, and rare mixes. The Blu-ray also features a 5.1 mix by Grammy-nominated artist Steven Wilson.
The album is also being released as a remastered deluxe 2-CD set, single CD and remastered LP.
The first writing sessions for The Seeds of Love started when the band was touring in 1985, making use of soundchecks to sketch the outlines of new songs. Over the next four years, the pair would work with several producers, engineers, and many musicians before finally deciding to produce the album themselves with assistance from their Songs From the Big Chair engineer Dave Bascombe.
From the announcement: A key person in the making of the album was pianist and singer Oleta Adams, who Orzabal and Smith had seen play in the bar of their hotel while touring in 1985. She joined the recording sessions in early 1988 along with world-class session players such as drummer Manu Katché and bass player Pino Palladino and would play a massive part in songs such as “Woman In Chains” and “Badman’s Song.” These sessions in 1988 are perhaps the most fascinating tapes unearthed for the box set. These jams took place at London’s Townhouse studio, and disc four contains around 30 minutes edited down from over 24 hours of unadulterated in-the-studio live performance, exactly as it was performed at the time, complete with chatter, some laughter, and no overdubs. These jams include very different versions of “Woman in Chains,” “Badman’s Song,” “Standing On The Corner Of The Third World,” and “Rhythm of Life.”
While the band was pleased with these sessions, there was still at least another year of further recording, overdubbing, editing, mixing, tweaking and discussion, before the final mix was finished in New York in the summer of 1989.
See below for the 2-CD track listing.
The Seeds of Love Deluxe 2-CD Tracklisting
CD 1 – Original Album
NEW REMASTER BY ANDREW WALTER AT ABBEY ROAD
01. Woman In Chains: 6:31
02. Badman’s Song: 8:32
03. Sowing The Seeds Of Love: 6:19
04. Advice For The Young At Heart: 4:50
05. Standing On The Corner Of The Third World: 5:33
06. Swords And Knives: 6:12
07. Year Of The Knife: 7:08
08. Famous Last Words: 4:26
The Seeds of Love Super Deluxe Edition
CD 2 – THE SUN
45’s and B-sides
01. Sowing The Seeds Of Love – 7″ Version: 5:43
02. Tears Roll Down: 3:16
03. Woman In Chains – 7″ Version: 5:28
04. Always In The Past: 4:38
05. My Life In The Suicide Ranks: 4:32
06. Woman In Chains – Instrumental: 6:30
07. Advice For The Young At Heart – 7″ Version: 4:49
08. Johnny Panic And The Bible Of Dreams Instrumental: 4:18
09. Music For Tables: 3:32
10. Johnny Panic And The Bible Of Dreams Mix One: 6:22
11. Johnny Panic And The Bible Of Dreams Mix Two: 5:55
12. Sowing The Seeds Of Love – US Radio Edit: 4:04
13. Woman In Chains – US Radio Edit 1: 4:42
14. Advice For The Young At Heart – Italian Radio Edit: 3:40
15. Year Of The Knife – Canadian Single Version: 5:40
16. Johnny Panic And The Bible Of Dreams: 4:17
Related: The duo released a greatest hits set, with several new tracks, in 2017
1 Comment so far
Jump into a conversationI am so pleased to see this talented duo getting further recognition for an absolutely ground breaking album. The melodies have entranced me since it’s release. Will be putting in my order for that box-set.