Tears For Fears – Songs From The Big Chair

This is a flat transfer of the master tape and sounds like the best version to me. It is SUPER expensive though, and I don't feel the improvement is worth it. I would pay $50 for it, and no more.

This is likely the most well-rounded cd master of this album to exist. The original Mercury cd is the 2nd best sounding IMO. The OG is lower in gain overall, and some songs have much better low end on the MFSL version, but on other songs, the sonic differences are negligible.
As other reviewers have stated, the version of "Head over Heels" here cannot be found anywhere else. Apparently from a production master before it was edited for subsequent production masters. Perhaps the band did not like the drum fill at around 3:25? Who knows...but great to have a totally unique version.

Also, the Un-faded UK mix is a rarity. Also, only found here.

The only drawback is that the channels are reversed.

It makes me wonder what tapes MFSL were sent? (or what digital files)

"Songs from the Big Chair" eschews the entrenched bleakness and psychological viewpoint of its predecessor and instead champions emotional restoration. Such a bold thematic approach combined with the fact the duo - Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith - were exponents of primal scream therapy enabled them to access an array of themes and ideas. "The Hurting" was a minimalist, powerful yet understated synthpop outing firmly ensconced in its own neurosis, and although "Songs from the Big Chair" derives its title from Sybil, a child abuse victim with multiple personalities whose recovery was successful if sessions were conducted from her therapist's chair, a process which correlated with the duo's own experience of scrutiny from the music press, that is the only parallel linking the two albums. "Songs of the Big Chair" is the antithesis of "The Hurting" in almost every sense apart from elective differences. In actuality, the psychological catharsis of "Songs from the Big Chair" sees the duo overcoming the childhood traumas at the core of "The Hurting". Songs such as "Everybody Wants To The Rule the World" and "I Believe" showcase the duo's newfound outward thinking and consciousness of the world around them.

In achieving maturity and expansion of their ideology, Tears for Fears created their magnum opus in "Songs from the Big Chair", a rich tapestry of healing and demonstrative expression, aided by a more progressive yet accessible pop sound. "Mothers Talk" was released as a single six months in advance of the album and bridged the gap between the duo's previous new wave style and their adoption of a bolder, edgier outlook and immense soundscapes. However, it wasn't until the release of "Shout" that the duo's previously sparse arrangements were conspicuously more baroque and extroverted. "Shout" impacted the charts and definitively set the tone of the album with an abundance of live instrumentation and power chords, from propulsive percussion to a protracted guitar solo, all of which preceded the commercial appeal of its iridescent, less rigid and dramatic follow-up singles "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" and "Head Over Heels". Every track on the album utilises immediate pop hooks and sophisticated lyrics to attain conceptual connectivity, but therein lies the reason for its brilliance, because although it is at once calculatedly commercial, it also retains the emphatic vagary, pretentiousness and unflinching personal honesty of their less radio-viable work.

"Songs from the Big Chair" dared to deviate from the successful formula of its forerunner, and although the sonic and lyrical divergence offered new musical horizons for the duo, the album was equally as sweeping and bombastic, perhaps more so. It is the duo's most accomplished, cohesive and universally appealing album, a forthright musical statement that reigns supreme in the crowded market of beautifully executed and exceptionally produced records of the 1980s. Tears for Fears would produce another outstanding album four years later, but there was no possibility of it matching the quality of their sophomore masterpiece.

Rating: 5/5

One of the best and warmest sounding CD's, I have ever heard. They really got the mix spot on (despite the reversed channels issue). http://www.superdeluxeedition.com/feature/exclusive-remixing-tears-for-fears-and-the-stereo-channel-saga/

"The 1998 Mobile Fidelity Sound Labs audiophile CD pressing had a reputation for being the only reissue to get the channels ‘right’ by maintaining the stereo image as it was on the original LP. [...] That information effectively proved that the original UK vinyl pressing is incorrect – the stereo image is the wrong way round which is why the master tape has the 1998 Jon Astley note (see above) stating that it should be reversed. That instruction was either not followed for the MFSL CD or as is more likely they used different tape sources (Head Over Heels on the MFSL runs slightly longer than the standard album version which means that cannot have used the same tapes ). [...] The 2014 remaster and the 2014 stereo mix correctly reverse the channels when compared to the original vinyl release which – incredibly – is incorrect. The MFSL is also incorrect so its reputation for being the only ‘correct’ version now lies in tatters!"

The regular runtime for the UK Extended Mix of Shout is 7:40 minutes.
On this CD we find a first generation master from which the later production masters have been created. These were fade out after 7:40 minutes.
The full master is not fade out at this point and has a little „error“ at the end as the music is fading out and then fading in again for a few seconds.
As this version has never meant to be released in this full and unedited form it appears on no other media so far. Not even on the Super Deluxe Box Set of the Album which will be released in November 2014. Only the 7:40 min. version is included there which is surely disappointing for some fans.
In 2013 a shorter „full“ version was a released on the so80s Vol. 8 Sampler which runs 8:02 minutes. It is in fact the MFSL version which is faded out at 8:02 minutes in order to avoid the „error“ at the end.
Probably Blank & Jones did not get the permission to release the full MFSL version so this release is maybe the only „longer“ alternative to the original UK Extended Mix beside the MFSL CD.
Therefore only the MFSL pressing contains the full and unedited UK Extended Mix worldwide which makes it a true collector’s item.