The most wonderful time of the year

March and April of each year always whizzes by for me. There is just so much going on that I can hardly breath. My birthday in early April seems like an afterthought. Last weekend alone I went to the Raptor game on Friday with jayman for our annual birthday night out (our birthdays are a day apart). And then on the Sunday, I attended my yearly baseball fantasy draft at the CBC building in downtown Toronto.


On top of that, I've just discovered the website facebook.com, so I really have no time to breathe.


Top 5 things I love about this time of year.

1. The beginning of baseball season. In general, I love the sport (that picture is Brewer second baseman Rickie Weeks who is poised to have a huge season). I love the statistics (the stats OPS and WHIP are just fascinating to me) and I just love the drama of the sport. My own softball team is getting ready to defend our championship starting on April 24th. As well, this year, I am in three different baseball fantasy leagues. The first being the aforementioned one with some CBC employees, the second one among employees at my office (I won this pool last year) and a third that our network just started online and I am helping test out for them.


2. Basketball season is at its most exciting. March Madness is in full swing. Though I did choose not to go in a March Madness pool this year. As much as i love the do or die action, there is no point for me to be in a pool. I don't know Texas A & M from Texas Tech. I literally am just guessing. And with so many baseball pools to worry about at the same time...I might as well save my money. Plus, as a basketball fan, there is the Raptors to care about as well. If you did not see the highlights from last night, Mo Pete threw up a hail mary of a three pointer with a second left to tie the game and put it to overtime where the Raptors ended up defeating the Wizards 123-118. What's funny about that three pointer is that Wizards star Gilbert Arenas literally threw the ball up in the air like he thought the game was over. Mo Pete grabbed it and shot that three pointer from about 31 feet out. It was his ONLY SHOT OF THE GAME!!! This shot will begin to develop legendary status. I still could not believe it when I saw it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cw_Y85Mi7Tg


3. Hockey is almost over. Yeah, whatever, I said it. In general, the sport is boring and silly and this year was no different. Plus, if the Leafs make the playoffs, it is impossible to get into sports bars at night. And if they win a game or god forbid a series...than there is an impromptu parade in various parts of the city. My highlight of the season had to have been the Wade Belak-Cam Janssen fight from March. As hockey fans will remember, New Jersey Devil Cam Janssen put a late hit on Tom Kaberle earlier in the season and the Leafs were looking for revenge. So Belak going after Janssen the next time the two teams met was as pre-destined as the fact that there will be a fourth Final Destination film. It's a good thing I already knew that Dancing With The Stars was on FOX because after watching this fight...it is hard to tell the difference. Take a look.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JlxEvNaLv-M

Having said that, I am playing in a road hockey tournament today. I am not even sure why.

4. The weather is getting better. This goes without saying. The toques and gloves get put away, you start wearing a "windbreaker" instead of a jacket. I never did understand that term windbreaker.

5. J-Mac and I always end up travelling somewhere at this time of year. Last year it was Florida for a family reunion. The year before that was Chicago. And, through much happenstance, we are going to Chicago again this year. She is going on business at the end of April. I am joining her on the Thursday of that week. Looking forward to it.

You've been posterized

Premiere Magazine has listed the top 25 movie posters of all time. It is an interesting list as it is not filled with obvious ones that we have all seen a million times. The list has more obscure films like Straw Dogs, Anatomy Of A Murder and Gun Crazy.

I have included the poster for an obscure 80s sci fi film called Krull. For some reason, I used to love this poster. I had it up in my room and I still have not seen the film. I don't even know what it is about. The only thing I know about it is that it was one of the first films for both Liam Neeson and Robbie Coltrane.

It's funny how movie posters have evolved. They used to work like a press release for the film. Stars names, pictures either from the film or what could be from the film. Little phrases detailing the excitement you will witness in the film (come for the action! stay for the romance!) stuff like that.

Then movie posters became more artsy thanks to the French New Wave genre and the amount of European films that were becoming available in North America. But with the advent of the home video market, production companies started making posters less subtle. You want horror, the movie poster is a guy with a knife/axe/chainsaw. You want nakedness, you get Shannon Tweed, dripping wet in what is clearly a very cold room.

My current favourite type movies posters are the ones that do not sell anything at all. They just have the lead actor or actress with a smug look on their face. In other words, they don't want to tell you what the movie is about, just that it stars this person...so it must be good.

Obviously, certain genres lead themselves to having better posters. Romantic comedies have to be the worst. It is usually the lead couple either looking happy or sad and nothing more.

Top 5 movie poster genres

1. Film Noir

2. Western

3. Horror

4. Science Fiction

5. French New Wave

Credit to the opening credits

The website the AV Club has listed the top 22 TV opening credits that best fit their shows perfectly. The page includes links to youtube with the actual sequences so you can see them for yourselves. It's a great list because instead of painfully boring ones like the one for Cheers, they have actual great ones like Dexter (my current favourite) and Homicide: Life On The Street.

Top 5 Opening Credits (not on that list)

1. WKRP in Cincinnati

2. Welcome Back Kotter

3. King Of Kensington

4. The Office (the British version)

5. House

Idol ramblings

So, again, the television industry has forced me to watch American Idol this year. Why do I blame the industry? Because every other single channel is so afraid of putting anything up against the juggernaut that is Idol that if you are watching TV, it is the only thing on. Don't get me wrong, I am not taping it or anything...but if it's on, I watch it.

It is not all that fascinating this year. There are to clear contenders. The first is Melinda Doolittle. Honestly, she is too polished and talented to even be in this glorified karaoke (pronounced care-a-oh-ka not care-a-oh-kee as tolyo lola has told me numerous times) show. Honestly, they should shut down this years contest and just declare her the winner. She is that good. But she is bizarre looking. She either has no neck or some mild osteoporosis that forces her to hunch her head out and make it look like she has no neck. Plus she has this false modesty reaction after she sings like she is shocked by the adulation. Lady, you're a good singer. You know it and I know it. This act is wearing thin.

Her biggest competition is from Lakisha Jones. She is almost as good of a singer as Doolittle without the act. Though her performance of Diamonds Are Forever this week was not great. Anyway, I think these two singers may cancel each other out and pave the way for the person I think will win...Gina Glocksen. She has great rock and roll name and has been choosing songs that best show off her talents. A couple of weeks ago, she chose to sing a Pat Benatar song. But she didn't do the obvious Hit Me With Your Best Shot. She chose Heartbreaker. This song may not be Benatar's most popular which actually helped. Do we really need to hear these 20 somethings sing songs recorded before they were born that the rest of us have already heard a million times?

Top 5 Pat Benatar songs
1. Heartbreaker
2. We Belong
3. Shadows Of The Night
4. Love Is A Battlefield
5. All Fired Up

This Idol season has not been without its interesting characters. The first is Antonella Barba. She did make it relatively far with an average singing voice. But what was really interesting was her backstory. After she first started appearing on Idol, racy pictures of her popped up on the internet. The first were ones were she was simply topless but other pictures soon popped including one where she is performing fellatio. The matter became moot as she was soon kicked off. More likely it was her complete destroyal of Corinne Bailey Rae's Put Another Record On, than it was the pictures.

The other interesting storyline is the ongoing success of Sanjaya Malakar. First off, his hair is ridiculous. It looks like Farrah Fawcett's circa 1978. Secondly, he is a horrible singer. He is currently still among the top 10 and is easily the worst of all the contestants. My sister, who is a huge fan of the show and has always watched it faithfully. Her theory is that each season there is always one person every year that people feel sorry for and they end up staying longer than they should out of sympathy. Other theories are that shock jock Howard Stern is imploring his listeners to continue voting for Malakar. There is also the website Votefortheworst.com. Since 2004 they have picked one weak performer and advised people to continue voting for that person. They do this to make the show entertaining but if you read the "about us" section of their website. They sound a little bitter. But still it is a pretty funny website.

The website I talked about earlier this week the Lefsetz Letter has a pretty funny posting about American Idol.

Speaking of television, if you watched the show How I Met Your Mother this week, you saw the scene just before the credits where Barney does his best David Letterman impression and gives a top 10 list of nicknames for a moving truck he was using to try and pick up women with. The list was pretty funny and a little racy for network tv. What you didn't see is him giving the names that didn't make the top 10 list as they never would have been allowed to be said at 8 pm on Monday night. Here is a link to that extended scene.

Wednesday with Wynton

I meant to post about this earlier but have been so busy with my two fantasy baseball teams that I haven't had time.

Last Wednesday, J-Mac and I along with Jayman and his very pregnant wife MC went to Massey Hall to see Wynton Marsalis and The Jazz At Lincoln Centre Orchestra. This tour was called "The Songs We Love" tour. It was fascinating as their entire set list was very famous jazz songs. We all literally knew every song from Tea For Two to All Of Me.

My personal highlight was their rendition of John Coltrane's arrangement of My Favourite Things. As well, the encore was a version of Duke Ellington's C Jam Blues. For this song, the 12 horn players stood at the front of the stage and each member riffed on the song for a minute or two. I really really wish I took pictures but it just seemed so classless to do it and would have ruined a great couple of minutes for me. Some idiot wearing a hoodie and arriving halfway through the show was taking pictures and I couldn't be like THAT guy.

Top 5 John Coltrane Albums

1. A Love Supreme

2. My Favourite Things

3. Giant Steps

4. Lush Life

5. Duke Ellington and John Coltrane

My favourite member of this orchestra has to be saxaphone player Ted Nash. Not only is he a terrific player (duh, obviously if he is working with Marsalis) but he is about the most expressive musician I have ever seen. He watches and listens to all the other members intently. If they do something he is really enjoying, you can see it in his face. If they do some weird riff, he gives them a double take like "man, that is crazy". When we saw this orchestra at The Hummingbird Centre last year, the piano player was doing this great solo. All the sudden he broke into Bobby Darin's version of I'm Beginning To See The Light. The look on Nash's face was classic. I find every time I see them in concert, I am always watching Nash to see how he is reacting.

Best CBC show ever?

I am not one to compliment the CBC. Their most popular show is Hockey Night In Canada and that says a lot about Canada's national network. There is an ongoing debate about whether a network that is funded by our tax dollars should be spending big bucks on sports is really something that should be happening. But that is a blog entry for another day.

What I want to talk about is a show on CBC called The Hour with George Stroumboulopoulos. I am not really a fan of watching a show hosted by a person younger than me. However, as I get older, this rule is becoming harder and harder to follow.

Stroumboulopoulos has made some interesting career choices. He started at the Toronto sports radio station fan as a board operator who later became on on-air personality. He moved to the alernative radio station called 102.1 The Edge before becoming a VJ on Much Music. His most interesting career choice was hosting a US music reality show called The One: Making A Music Star inbetween his first and second season hosting The Hour. The show's ratings for this wannabe American Idol were horrible and was cancelled after two weeks. The show is considered one of the worst failures in the history of television as its debut show was the second lowest rated pilot in the history of american network TV. The show's failure was probably related to its marketing (a blend of American Idol and Big Brother) and not to the host.

The Hour is now in its third season and airs at 11 pm on CBC as well as earlier on CBC Newsworld. The 11 pm is the more promoted show and goes up against The Daily Show on The Comedy Network. On the show, Stroumboulopoulos interviews everyone from musicians to politicians, actors to writers. Basically each show has enough content to interest everyone. And these aren't people just there to promote a new product. The interviews become lively debates and are quite interesting.

The reason I was moved enough to write a blog about the show was the interview with Bob Lefsetz last week. Lefsetz is probably one of the most fascinating and opinionated music columnists in the world. I highly recommend his website The Lefsetz Letter. His analysis of music is honest, forthright and without pretention. And it isn't all about new music or old music, it is about music in general. He has a lot of interesting theories as to why, for people like me in their thirties can't relate to new music and why a #1 album nowadays is nothing like having a #1 album 10 years ago in terms of sales.

For a taste, here is a column he wrote about why CD sales are tanking or detailing Paul McCartney's new deal with Starbucks. To get a real sense of what Lefsetz is all about, watch the interview Strombo had with him. Lefsetz expounds some interesting theories about the music industry and Strombo does actually begin to argue with him. The interview is only 15 minutes long but you'll wish it were longer.

Top 5 nicknames used for the CBC
1. The Mother Corp. (many people use this term)
2. The Corpse (as used by Frank Magazine)
3. The Canadian Broadcorping Castration (urban legend says an announcer once used this on air but it has never been proven)
4. The Communist Broadcasting Corporation (many conservatives call the network this due to its apparent left wing leanings)
5. BBC Canada (a nickname levied on the network during a 2005 strike in which most of their programming was picked up from the UK).

Raines' Reign

So I spent my Thursday night watching the new Jeff Goldblum show Raines. I thought it was amazing. At first glance, it feels a little Sixth Sense-ish with a dash of Ghost Whisperer. But it's much better than that.

Quirky actor Jeff Goldblum plays a police detective named Michael Raines who is able to talk to the dead victims. However, this is not like a cop version of Ghost Whisperer (whose success continues to confound me). He is able to "talk" to the victims. But seeing these victims is part of his own mental issues. He isn't really able to talk to them, they are a figment of his imagination and are unable to give him any information that he doesn't already know. And, as he learns more about them, they begin to evolve. For instance, in last night's pilot, he later found out that the victim was from Texas. From that point on, the character of the victim started speaking with a texan accent.

The show has a good pedigree with the producer being Graham Yost who previously helmed the underrated and quick cancelled cop drama Boomtown. The pilot itself was directed by Shawshank Redemption writer/director Frank Darabont. Here is an interview with Yost and Goldblum from the website comingsoon.com.

Goldblum seems to be one those you either hate him or love him type actors. My sister absolutely hates him. I honestly used to hate him as well. His one line as an pretentious partygoer talking on the phone with his guru in the film Annie Hall still makes me laugh. He says, "I forgot my mantra". Anytime J-Mac and I are at a party filled with pretentious people I say that line to her. Well, it makes me laugh anyway.

His style of acting where he talks in short sentances with long pauses but speaks each of those sentances really fast always makes me laugh. It has a weird rhythm that takes getting used to but once I saw him in The Lost World: Jurassic Park II I was hooked on him as an actor. The way he reads that line when they first arrive at that second island and everyone starts oohing and ahhing at the dinosaurs. He says "Oh, yeah. Oooh, ahhh, that's how it always starts. Then later there's running and screaming." Best line from any Jurassic Park film.

Top 5 Jeff Goldblum films
1. Invasion Of The Body Snatchers
2. The Fly
3. Deep Cover
4. The Tall Guy
5. Lush Life

So Raines is currently airing in ER's slot on Thursday night at 10 pm for the first two weeks. It will then move to its regular slot of 9 pm on Friday nights. Things aren't looking good for the show as NBC's original order of 13 episodes was shortened to 7 episodes three months before the show debuted but you never know. As a lead in for Law & Order, it could end up doing well.

Cory, Brad and Christina

As many baseball fans remember, Yankee pitcher Cory Lidle was killed in October of 2006 when he slammed his plane into a 40 story New York apartment building. There was a big debate in the airline industry as Lidle was an avid pilot but had just got his licence in February of the same year.

That debate has been long since forgotten but the accident which rained debris on the New York City sidewalk reminding many of 9/11 is still in the news. Why? Because New York City dentist Larry Rosenthal is suing...wait for it...Cory Lidle's grieving wife and family for $7 million because it was Lidle's careless flying that caused the accident. An accident that ruined his apartment.

"There's no excuse for smacking a plane into an apartment building in the middle of Manhattan," says Rosenthal's lawyer David Jaroslawicz. Apparantly, the Rosenthals' are "still homeless". Though I find it difficult to believe that they are actually sleeping on the streets.

But here is the rest of the story, Rosenthal is renowned for his lack of class. So much so that there is a website called www.baddentist.com that is all about his history. According to the website, "BadDentist.Com is a 100% free public service, created specifically to warn patients of the numerous complaints about Dr. Rosenthal, and to collect complaints about Dr. Rosenthal from patients." This paragraph explains all that you need to know about Rosenthal.

"Celebrity" dentist Dr. Larry Rosenthal has been sued at least five times for malpractice. Dr. Rosenthal has had his professional license suspended after he admitted to illegally purchasing and distributing hundreds of grams of cocaine and many other illegal drugs. Dr. Rosenthal got caught lying about all of this under oath, thereby committing perjury, a felony punishable by five years imprisonment. Dr. Rosenthal has been sued by a competitor for stealing client records. Right now, Dr. Rosenthal is being sued by his own associate dentist. In the filings of that case, Dr. Rosenthal's associate claims that Dr. Rosenthal is both a liar and a criminal. Additionally, a receptionist where Dr. Rosenthal used to work claims under oath that Dr. Rosenthal sexually harassed her and other co-workers. Dr. Rosenthal has also lied to the press many times in order to promote himself. Additionally, Dr. Rosenthal has now admitted that providing a list of patients who traded sex for free dental work would violate doctor-patient confidentiality. "

Speaking of death, Boston lead singer Brad Delp died on the weekend. He was home alone and only 55 years old. For some reason, I am beginning to think it may end up being ruled a suicide. Boston never came close to the heights of their debut, self titled album. It was the fastest selling debut album for any American group; and still has the most total sales for a debut album with over 17 million units sold to date.

Their second album, two years later called Don't Look Back just sounds like a collection of songs not good enough for their debut. Their third album Third Stage did not come out until 1986. It was a #1 album for four weeks but as a while it was pretty week in comparison to their debut. A fourth album called Walk On was released in 1994 and received little support from its record company and was done without Delp. According to wikipedia, there was a 5th album in 2002 called Corporate America but it went largely unnoticed. The last two albums did have one interesting feature, the booklet inside was dedicated to helping preserve the environment. It included links for website related to this topic.

Delp and Boston had been in the midst of recording a new album and a small summer tour had been planned at the time of his death.

Top 5 Boston songs off that amazing debut album

1. Rock And Roll Band

2. More Than A Feeling

3. Foreplay/Long Time

4. Hitch A Ride

5. Peace Of Mind

To make this blog entry a little cheerier, here is a link to the new video from Christina Aguilera. Why do I add it? Besides the obvious, it is one of the most bizarre songs I have ever heard on pop radio. It sounds like a remake of the 1941 Andrews Sisters' song Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HkBWQzuu6XA

This list is definately not hunky dory

The National Association of Record Manufacturers and the Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame have teamed up to release a "Definitive 200" list. This is a list that includes the 200 essential albums that every music fan should own.

I judge album lists like this on what David Bowie albums they have. If they only have The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust and The Spiders From Mars, it is a typical list. If they have that and Hunky Dory, it is a brilliant list. If they have Low, I say the list is too wacky to be taken seriously.

This list falls in the first category. But the problem is that this list has Ziggy Stardust at NUMBER 171. 171!!!!! According to this list, albums such as Avril Lavigne's Let Go, Boyz II Men's Cooleyhighharmony, the Footloose Soundtrack, Kenny G's Breathless and Usher's Confessions are all more "essential" than anything Bowie has done.

Judge the list for yourself.
http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/story/503100p-424336c.html

The wackiest part of the list that shows just how irrelevant it is, it has TWO Def Leppard albums on it. TWO. Even worse, these two are in the top 90. The TOP 90!!! And to go even further they list Pyromania (the better album of the two) at #86 while Hysteria (which may have had more hits but was too artificial and cold) is at #36.

Top 5 Def Leppard songs
1. Rock Of Ages
2. Animal
3. Photograph
4. Pour Some Sugar On Me
5. Bringin' On The Heartbreak

Rain's Reign

I have a music theory, well, not "theory" like I can actually read and understand music theory but an actual theory about music. No bad song has the word "rain" in the title. Or should I say, I have never heard a song with the word rain in the title that I didn't like.

Prince's Purple Rain, Led Zeppelin's The Rain Song, CCR's Who'll Stop The Rain and Have You Ever Seen Rain, Bob Dylan's Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall or even Bryan Ferry's cover of that same song, Phil Collins' I Wish It Would Rain, Guns 'n Roses' November Rain, Garbage's I'm Only Happen When It Rains, Elvis Presley's Kentucky Rain, Eurythmics' Here Comes The Rain Again, Bruce Hornsby's Mandolin Rain, Blind Melon's No Rain, Eddie Rabbit's I Love The Rainy Night, The Carpenters' Rainy Days And Mondays, Bobby Darin's Rain On My Parade even songs I should hate like Milli Vanilli's Blame It On The Rain or The Weather Girls' It's Raining Men are songs I don't completely get disgusted by.

Why am I talking about rain? Well, the trailer for the Adam Sandler's new film Reign Over Me is out and the movie looks like it is one of his good movies. I honestly think Sandler is a smart actor. What he does best as an actor is pick films where his character has this barely simmering rage that may or may not come to the surface. The problem is that sometimes his films border on silly (hello Billy Madison, Little Nicky, Big Daddy etc) and sometimes he picks a film with a good director and a good cast and the film can border on brilliant (hello Punch Drunk Love).

Top 5 Adam Sandler Films

1. Punch Drunk Love

2. Spanglish

3. Bulletproof

4. The Wedding Singer

5. Happy Gilmore (I guess, ask me tomorrow I will have a different #5 as I am really not a fan of any of his other films)

Searching for Sam

I received word today that Sam Adams Brewery has developed a new glass to drink their fine beverage. It is detailed above. It looks a bit like a coke glass but there are very good reasons for that shape.

Bead inside top rim - small ridge creates turbulence to increase CO2 and aroma release as beer enters palate
Lip of the Glass - places the beer on the front of the tongue where sweetness is tasted
Narrowness - enhances hop aroma by concentrating the head
Round Shape - greater volume to surface ratio maintains temperature longer
Narrow grip - reduces the beer's exposure to heat from the hand
Nucleation site - increases hop aroma release

The only reason I mention this is this all happens on the same day that I have booked my flight to Chicago in the last week of April. Yes, I realize Sam Adams is brewed in Boston, but, like a lot of major US cities. Sam Adams can be found on draught everywhere. Including fave Chicago restaurants such as Maggiano's and Uno's.

J-Mac is in Chicago on business in April and I am flying in on the Thursday to join her for a long weekend in the windy city. I arrive in Chicago around noon and plan on dropping off my stuff at the hotel and walking over to Uno's having a numero uno deep dish pizza along with a pint of Sam Adams while reading that day's Chicago Sun-Times. I am pretty sure it will be one of those perfect alone moments that happen few times in life.

Top 5 songs by the band Chicago

1. 25 Or 6 To 4

2. (I've Been) Searching So Long

3. Questions 67 & 68

4. Feelin' Stronger Every Day

5. Just You 'n Me

Tears for Fears for your faithful narrator

So, like you, I always thought Tears For Fears was a fairly overrated band. Their singles were vastly overplayed and their non-singles, while, there was a reason why they weren't released as singles. They weren't very good.


This actually started to change for me after seeing the movie Donnie Darko. During the closing credits, the song Gary Jules' cover of Mad World is played. It was familiar to me right away but I couldn't place it. The song was also used to great effect in the commercial for the Xbox game Gears of War.


My awareness of Tears For Fears, like with all north americans, began in 1983 with the singles Pale Shelter and Change from the album The Hurting. The songs were okay but didn't really distinguish themselves among other hit songs of the time.


Their career went into ridiculous overrdrive with their second album Songs From The Big Chair. Everyone owned this album but, to me, it was ruined because the first two singles Shout and Everybody Wants to Rule The World were just so overplayed. The latter singles from the same album Mothers Talk, I Believe and Head Over Heels. It's kind of funny that with this album Curt Smith, who appeared to be the lead singer on songs from the first album has become more like Wham's Andrew Ridgeley. While the Roland Orzabal, who appeared to just be a guitar player on the first album is now more like the George Michael of the band singing lead on all songs.


Like all bands that become this successful, this quickly, the fall began to happen quickly. Tears For Fears member Manny Elias left the band soon after their Big Chair tour and in 1985, the band had to pull out of Live Aid on that very morning as two other members quit.


It took until 1989 for TFF to release a follow up album and, to me, is their most brilliant. The Seeds of Love mixed influences from jazz and the Beatles...though I know many people who hated it due to how close it sounded to the Beatles (somehow it was okay for Oasis to do the same thing 10 years later). The songs Sowing The Seeds Of Love, Woman In Chains (featuring Oleta Adams) and Advice For The Young At Heart.


TFF essentially dropped off the planet after this. Smith left the band so the band really became focused on the sole remaining member Orzabal. He released a couple of albums under the TFF moniker but there was really only one memorable single Break It Down Again.


Despite absolutely no press here in North America, Tears For Fears released a comeback album in 2004 entitled Everybody Loves A Happy Ending. It was a reunion of Orzabal and Smith and actually works as a sequel of sorts to their 1989 Seeds Of Love album. It has the obvious Beatles' influence in songs like Who Killed Tangerine (that song's refrain ...and when you think it's all over is used to great effect in the film Fever Pitch), Call Me Mellow and Closest Thing To Heaven.

Top 5 Tears For Fears Songs
1. Badman's Song
2. Woman In Chains
3. Head Over Heels
4. Mad World
5. Sowing The Seeds Of Love


If you don't have any Tears For Fears, I highly recommend their 2 disc greatest hits called Gold. The first disc works as their biggest songs from the prime of their career and the second disc is like a bonus disc including the aforementioned Break It Down Again, New Star from the 1994 film Threesome and the best songs off their comeback album.