The primary of two albums launched below the Tears For Fears banner throughout Curt Smith’s momentary absence from the band, 1993’s Elemental is commonly seen as a Roland Orzabal solo outing in all however title.
Consequently, although it peaked at No.5 within the UK and scooped a gold disc within the US, Elemental has largely remained beneath the radar. The album does, nonetheless, deserve an overdue reappraisal, not least as a result of it accommodates a few of the most affecting songs Orzabal has ever put his title to.
A interval of change
Looking back, Orzabal was present process a interval of profound change when he set his thoughts to composing the songs for Elemental. His cut up with Tears For Fears co-founder Curt Smith, in 1991, had proved painful. Additionally, his spouse was having a child whereas Elemental was put collectively, primarily in Orzabal’s house studio, Neptune. It was an area the place he needed “to head back to my roots and change nappies at the same time as recording,” as he joked in a promotional video that accompanied the album’s launch.
The comparatively intimate environment that birthed Elemental have been in stark distinction to the lavish, big-budget classes that resulted in Tears For Fears’ earlier album, the multi-million-selling The Seeds Of Love. Nonetheless, any assumptions that it will be a low-budget, DIY affair are ill-founded. Orzabal co-wrote the songs with Tears For Fears’ touring guitarist Alan Griffiths, however the man they employed to oversee the classes was Tim Palmer, a highly-renowned producer recognized for his large sounds and work behind the console with the likes of Robert Plant and Pearl Jam.
Orzabal and Griffiths could have dealt with nearly all of the devices, however Elemental was something however Tears For Fears unplugged. Certainly, whereas the intention could have been to strip issues again, Tim Palmer later admitted that Orzabal’s well-known quest for perfection was nonetheless very a lot in proof throughout the classes.
“He likes to keep going ’til it’s perfect”
“I think it’s fair to say [Roland] has a very firm idea in his head about how he sees things,” the producer mentioned. “He’s very critical of himself, which I tried to loosen up a little, because he likes to keep going ’til it’s perfect.”
Nonetheless, as songs such because the speedy “Goodnight Song,” “Cold” and the UK Prime 20 hit “Break It Down Again” proved, Orzabal’s unquenchable ambition had once more led him to comprehend widescreen, state-of-the-art pop songs with a timeless attraction. Certainly, as if acknowledging his goals to go as excessive as you’ll be able to go as a songwriter, Elemental additionally included “Brian Wilson Said”: an irresistible slice of Seashore Boys-esque pop which traveled method past homage.
Intriguingly, Orzabal’s reflective lyrics typically sat at odds with the fantastic sunbursts of his melodies. Chiming like an experience-scuffed replace of “Mad World,” the album’s dramatic titular track included fatalistic traces corresponding to “All the love in the world won’t stop the rain from falling,” whereas the title of the brooding “Mr. Pessimist” maybe mirrored its creator’s contemporaneous frame of mind.
“Everything in the universe is recyclable”
“The whole thrust of advertising [these days] is to make out everything is just wonderful, but life’s not like that,” Orzabal revealed, providing a little bit perception into the album’s content material. “Elemental is celebrating the fact that things do end. There’s a cycle to life. Everything in the universe is recyclable – even you!”
Such existential angst was, in fact, integral to the DNA of Tears For Fears’ signature hits corresponding to “Mad World” and “Shout,” so it’s no shock the band’s followers responded positively when Elemental first appeared, on June 7, 1993. The album was greeted by well-balanced critiques, corresponding to Rolling Stone’s (“Tears For Fears create a perfect synthesis of form and fancy, combining sublime pop orchestration with genuine insight”), and its common attraction ensured that it cracked the Prime 10 on either side of the Atlantic.
Buoyed by Elemental’s reception, Roland Orzabal reconvened with Griffiths and Palmer for 1995’s reflective Raoul And The Kings Of Spain, by which he explored his Spanish heritage, earlier than lastly reuniting with Curt Smith and starting a brand new chapter within the Tears For Fears story with 2004’s aptly titled All people Loves a Joyful Ending.
Elemental could be purchased right here.
