Tears for Fears - 1983-05-14 - Rotterdam, NL (FM/FLAC)

(FM broadcast FLAC)

Recorded and broadcasted by VPRO Radio

Lineage 
Cassette > Audacity > CD Wave Editor > FLAC 8

Roland Orzabal - vocals, guitar, keyboards
Curt Smith - vocals, bass, keyboards
Manny Elias - drums
Ian Stanley - keyboards

01 The Way You Are
02 Suffer The Children
03 Pale Shelter
04 Watch Me Bleed
05 Start Of The Breakdown
06 Change (fade out)

notes
Tears for Fears were an English pop rock band formed in the early 1980s by Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith.
Their platinum-selling debut album, The Hurting, reached number one on the UK Album Chart, while their second album, Songs from the Big Chair, reached number one on the U.S. Billboard 200, achieving multi-platinum status in both the UK and the United States.
Their first album, The Hurting, was released in March 1983. For this LP (and the next), keyboard player and composer Ian Stanley and drummer Manny Elias were considered full bandmembers, though Smith and Orzabal were still essentially the frontmen and public face of the band.

The album, produced by Chris Hughes and Ross Cullum, showcased synthesizer-based songs with lyrics reflecting Orzabal's bitter childhood. The Hurting may be considered Tears for Fears' only true concept album, as references to emotional distress and primal scream therapy are found in nearly every song. The album itself was a big success and had a lengthy chart run (65 weeks) in the UK, where it reached no. 1 and platinum status. It also reached the Top 20 in several other countries and yielded the international hit singles "Mad World" (top 5 hit in South Africa), "Change" (top 40 hit in Australia, Canada, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands and South Africa), and a re-recorded version of "Pale Shelter". All three of these singles reached the Top Five in the UK.

Towards the end of 1983, the band released a new, slightly more experimental single, "The Way You Are", intended as a stopgap while they worked on their second album. The single was a Top 30 hit in the UK, but did not come close to matching the success of their three previous hits, despite a national concert tour in December of that year (captured on the "In My Mind's Eye" live video release). The single, which heavily featured sampling and programmed rhythms, led to a departure in Tears for Fears' musical approach.