Customer Reviews

Soul on Board

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I dont think anyone would argue that Roland Orzabal is the by far the more accomplished musician,and cutting edge talent. Yet, Curt Smith is hardly an Andrew Ridgely no-talent, and does not deserve all the merciless invective he has had heaped on this effort. While no "Elemental", Smith's lovely vocals are pleasant enough to listen to, and there are at least a few catchy melodies enhanced by some first rate bass work. For the most part, the album comes across as lesser Culture Club songs with a new-age ambience. Mostly for fans.

1993 brought the first Tears For Fears album without Curt Smith, the classic "Elemental". Also released in the same year was this solo effort from Curt. The single "Calling Out" is the highlight, with its sweeping string arrangement carrying the tune along nicely. A few spins and the melody is stuck in your head. Unfortunately the singles ("Words" was the second) and album tanked in the UK, resulting in the cancellation of its proposed US release. An advance promo cassette was issued in the US, but no commercial release followed. The album was released in Canada (a territory that has been special for Tears For Fears, with a number of exclusive releases) and was a success in Spain. But the project ultimately was a failure. TFF fans will be want to hear this, but it is more of a collectors item than anything else. The two Curt-less TFF albums (the other being the masterpiece "Raoul and The Kings of Spain") are outright classics that leave this album in the dust. Curt himself hates the record, not a good indication of its quality.

One of the most underated singers in pop or rock.Curt has a lot of talent ,a lot of people think that Roland was Tears For Fears alone, granted he is a great songwriter and guitarist but he missed something when Curt left hopefully the last album from a few years ago won't be there last.as for this album it is a pretty good album and a shame that it's out of print as you see it going for $50 as an import.the best songs are Calling Out which was a single great song,Soul On Board,and Beautiful To Me which sounds like a Peter Gabriel song great vocals by Curt,Words also could of been a hit good song, the worst song is the last one Come The Revolution which has some annoying raps on it.not a classic album but worth having just for the few songs I mentioned.the record Curt made with a rock band Mayfield was a better album also hard to find but good to add to your Tears For Fears collection.

If you are purchasing this item for the Tears for Fears aspect...look elsewhere. I have everything that "Tears for Fears" put out; the material here resembles little of the Tears for Fears style except for maybe some of the work on "Sowing the Seeds". Yet this is a likeable work...a bit upbeat. Tears for Fears fans will recognize Curt's unique tone quality...but the music itself lacks the "edge" of Roland Orzabal who of course continued the Tears for Fears name for a number of albums after splitting. But that's ok with me...the music has an upbeat adult contemporary feel to it... not a special song, but easy to listen to as a whole album. I also own the Mayfield album which I like a bit more...but for those looking for something new, I do recommend this!

I didn't find this to be a great CD in and of itself. Yes a couple of the songs are pretty good, but the overall value of the CD is in putting together more of the story about what was happening post break-up to the two branches of sound from the the TFF tree. My rating would depend on the person buying it. A big TFF fan would want it as part of their collection as a sort of missing link between TFF and Mayfield, but as a stand alone CD to a casual listener...you may want to look at his newer stuff.

As a long time Tears For Fears fan I always though Curt was never used enough in Tears For Fears in the early days he sang more lead vocals and was as good as Orzabal If not better.the last Tears album he hardly sang except 2 or 3 songs so I hoped he would record an album of him singing solo.while not all of the songs are great there are some classic songs Calling Out,the title track,Beautiful To Me and Words are all great and the first two should of been big singles .the second side starts out great then get's worse with the rap song being the low point.more enjoyable than the Curt less Tears For Fears albums Roland released after Curt left.as a singer/songwriter myself this is a great album vocally and production wise for me to aspire to record.any Tears fan will enjoy it.