Tears for Fears - Songs For A Nervous Planet [2LP]

Part new studio music, part career-spanning concert, Songs For A Nervous Planet catches Tears for Fears in triumphant form across two LPs.

Released in 2024, it pairs four fresh studio songs with a live set recorded in Franklin, Tennessee in 2023, during the tour behind their acclaimed comeback album The Tipping Point. Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith sound reenergized here, revisiting songs from every era of the band with a sharp, sympathetic live band behind them and voices that have aged remarkably well.

The new material leads the way, with The Girl That I Call Home showing that their gift for bittersweet, melodic songcraft is fully intact. Then the hits arrive in force, from a brooding Mad World to a euphoric Everybody Wants To Rule The World and a thunderous Shout, each one carrying the weight of four decades of devoted listening.

The live sound is big and polished without losing its energy, and the setlist moves gracefully between the darker introspection of their early records and the widescreen pop of their mid-1980s peak.

For anyone who has followed Orzabal and Smith from the start, this is a generous snapshot of a band enjoying a remarkable second act, and a fine introduction for anyone just discovering them.