Tears for Fears, ‘Songs for a Nervous Planet’: Album Review

The years have both scarred and enlivened Tears for Fears. Their 2022 comeback album The Tipping Point was sparked by a reunion, for the first time since 2004, between Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith after Orzabal’s wife died in 2017. The album was informed by her death, as well as the newly forged bond between the longtime collaborators, who went Top 10 across the globe for the first time since 1989’s The Seeds of Love. (Smith was not on Tear for Fears’ 1993 album Elemental.)

The resulting tour, completed in two stages after Smith broke four ribs in an accident that pulled them off the road for a year, was as celebratory as it was a validation. During the interim, their 1985 hit “Everybody Wants to Rule the World” reentered the charts, marking Tears for Fears’ comeback complete.

A victory lap is taken on Songs for a Nervous Planet, the group’s first official live album culled from a July 2023 show in Franklin, Tennessee, that includes fan favorites, songs from The Tipping Point and four new studio tracks. (A companion theatrical film is also being released simultaneously.) It’s the history of Tears for Fears, up to now, in 22 songs.

The concert tracks, expectedly, include their best cuts: “Everybody Wants to Rule the World,” “Sowing the Seeds of Love,” “Mad World,” “Head Over Heels” and “Shout” are all here, glimmering in their new settings while retaining the vintage new wave sparkle that made them hits four decades ago. It’s a little bit nostalgic but more than that it’s confirmation that Tears for Fears’ art-minded synth-pop hasn’t aged much in that time. These are great songs played by guys relishing their latest chapter.

Songs for a Nervous Planet‘s four new songs continue the path they trailed on The Tipping Point. There’s purification and spectacle on display as Orzabal and Smith continue their healing process. From the deceivingly joyous “Say Goodbye to Mum and Dad” (“Go tell all your friends society’s gone mad“) to the sweetly melancholic “The Girl That I Call Home” to “Astronaut,” about finding peace in being alone, this is assured art-pop for modern times that never neglects the duo’s past.