After The Hurting

TEARS FOR FEARS
The Tipping Point
[Concord – 2022] 

The question of relevance in popular music is a tricky one these days. And is surely a significant point when taking into account the standing of a band whose so-called glory days were decades ago. But despite the obstacles of chronology often sidelining artists of similar vintage, these gentlemen have managed to maintain an admittedly less prominent, but continued presence within the popular landscape, not only with the enduring popularity of their songs, but also the inclusion of these in beloved movies, as well as nods by current artists such as Drake, Lorde and The Weeknd. And so, almost 20 years after their last album—the critically acclaimed return to form ‘Everybody Loves A Happy Ending’ [Universal - 2004]—a new collection of songs by the Bath, England duo has returned them to the spotlight.

 

The rekindling of Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith’s long-standing but often interrupted friendship coupled with the overwhelming grief from the former’s beloved wife of 25 years passing in 2017, led the two old friends to reconvene in Smith’s Los Angeles home armed with acoustic guitars and not only purposely write some songs, but attempt to capture some of that old magic. Mission accomplished.

 

While Orzabal’s ruminations on his late wife and his new life without her inform these songs, it’s not a dour experience in the least, but one in which the cathartic balm of letting it out reflects a sense of peace and hope that dovetails with the band’s most uplifting moments. And while their trademark sonic palette is slightly less panoramic this time, it’s still imbued with the feel good nature of their big choruses and engaging melodies.

 

Welcome back, gentlemen. You have been sorely missed.

 

Released February 25, 2022.

Here We Are Now

CHUCK KLOSTERMAN
The Nineties: A Book
[Penguin Press – 2022]

To approach this tome as an exercise in nostalgia would be a mistake. What Klosterman does here is attempt to both explain what the last decade of the 20^th century was about from a cultural/social/political standpoint and, in doing so, place that chronological span in context. But because he’s made a name for himself absorbing, studying and commenting on pop culture, it becomes the lens thru which his observations and conclusions are refracted. Hence, his analysis equally explores in that manner the significance of the Nirvana/Kurt Cobain phenomenon; sports; the political implications of Ross Perot and his 1992 presidential campaign; and the rise of the internet, for instance.     

 

And while Klosterman is uniquely suited for a book of this nature, one that acknowledges and mostly focuses on how the youth of the time—aka Generation X, of which he is a member—were perceived and perceived themselves, he comes across here not so much as a participant but more like a well-sourced observer who knows the lingo, understands the vibe but isn’t really that attached to any of it. At least not as closely as one would expect. However, this approach, as it turns out, was Klosterman's deliberate intention to remove himself from the narrative as much as possible, for fear of turning the book into a memoir and thereby compromising his original mission in this case.

 

Regardless, in the end, this was the book that Klosterman was meant to write. The Nineties is an interesting and, at times, fascinating look at not just what mattered to a generation of young adults of that time and place, but also the way they processed the world around them, and how particular views and stances adopted by Gen-X were brought on by circumstances surrounding them that could not or would not be duplicated today. (The concepts of authenticity and "selling out" come to mind.) 

 

Klosterman has argued that the ‘90s are the last decade in American popular culture to have clearly delineated characteristics and identity, as opposed to the foggy interchangeability of the first couple decades of the 21^st century. For many of us, who have lived through these last three decades as adults, that murkiness rings quite true.