Tears For Fears - Everybody Loves A Happy Ending

Among the benefits of picking up the new Tears for Fears album--the band's first since 1989--maybe the least obvious is looking cool in front of friends. Flick it on over cocktails, say, and brows will furrow: Few would think to match the heaving, synth-heavy boys who lit up the '80s with "Head Over Heels" to this new material. Which is mostly a good thing. The vocals of lead singer Roland Orzabal, powered by some all-cylinders thing, still squash all traces of irony in their path, and there's a moodiness to the music, minus a lot of the old broodiness, that borders on the masterly. Yet the sound has changed completely. Old-school overproduction has fallen away in favor of real guitars, pounding pianos, and a melody-driven, Beatle-y sensibility. It's there on the title track and first single "Call Me Mellow," and only slightly eclipsed by something pleasantly Bacharach-ish on "Secret World." Everybody who loves a happy ending will find one here: Tears for Fears skirts the has-been trap impressively, translating years of experience into play-it-again, sophisticated modern pop worth paying attention to. --Tammy La Gorce