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Tears for Fears: Scenes from the Big Chair
Tears for Fears Scenes from the Big Chair
Actor: Tears for Fears
Genres: Music Video & Concerts, Documentary
NR     2005

For the first time on DVD, the story of one of the biggest pop albums of all time featuring the legendary documentary Scenes From The Big Chair, a full live concert plus an exclusive, never-before-seen interview with the p...  more »

     
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Movie Details

Actor: Tears for Fears
Genres: Music Video & Concerts, Documentary
Sub-Genres: Pop, Rock & Roll, Documentary
Studio: Universal Int'l
Format: DVD - Color - Closed-captioned
DVD Release Date: 08/02/2005
Release Year: 2005
Screens: Color
Number of Discs: 1
SwapaDVD Credits: 1
Total Copies: 0
Members Wishing: 4
Edition: Import
MPAA Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Languages: English
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Movie Reviews

Back To the Future!
doggiedogma | Mob Town USA | 10/05/2005
(4 out of 5 stars)

"This is a single disc DVD highlighting the terrific album "Songs From the Big Chair". The DVD has a very nice documentary about the making of the album. There are interviews with founding members Curt Smith and Roland Orzabal, and the influential duo of Ian Stanley (keyboards) and Manny Elias (drums) as well. The interviews really help to fleshen out the album and brings the making and history of the album, songs and videos to life.

What really makes the documentary (and the DVD) is the live concert footage of the band in 1985 during their tour of Canada and Germany. The live footage has the band performing "Shout", "Broken (Reprise)", "Memories Fade", "Hurting", "Working Hour" and "Everybody Wants To Rule The World". Seeing the band perform these songs live right as they where becoming international stars is the highlight of this DVD. They were an extremely tight and professional band and it came across in their live shows.
The videos of "Broken", "Everybody Wants to Rule the World", "Listen", "Head Over Heels", "Mothers Talk" and "I Believe" are shown as well.

The one drawback of the DVD which keeps me from giving it a 5 star rating is the 1990 concert from California. The concert has the band touring for their latest album "Sowing The Seeds Of Love". The band and the show in itself is fantastic, BUUUUT for some unknown reason the band decided to go "artistic" and use black and white with color interspersed. This makes watching the concert VERY aggravating and a chore! This poor choice to use black and white and then to swith to color and then back to black and white every few seconds brings down the viewing experience. Just close your eyes and listen to the concert instead.

Overall, this documentary of Tears For Fears is very well done and the live concert from 1985 is a real treat! I recommend buying the DVD for the documentary. The price is real steep, but if you love Tears for Fears and want to see the original band live during the "Songs From The Big Chair" tour, buy it.
The following is the track listing for the DVD:
1 Broken
2 Everybody Wants to Rule the World (Promo)
3 Shout (Live)
4 Listen
5 Head Over Heels (Promo)
6 Broken (Reprise) (Live)
7 Memories Fade (Live)
8 Hurting (Live)
9 Mothers Talk (Promo)
10 I Believe (Promo)
11 Working Hour (Live)
12 Everybody Wants to Rule the World (Live)
13 Shout (Promo)
14 Women of Ireland (Live)
15 I Believe (Live)
16 Hed Over Heels (Live)
17 Change (Live)
18 Pale Shelter (Live)
19 Woman in Chains (Live)
20 Advice for the Young at Heart (Live)
21 Mad World (Live)
22 Medley: Famous Last Words/When the Saints (Live)
23 I've Got to Sing My Song (Live)
24 Badman's Song (Live)
25 Sowing the Seeds of Love (Live)
26 All You Need Is Love (Live)
27 Everybody Wants to Rule the World (Live)
28 Year of the Knife) (Live)
29 Shout (Live)
"
Different version from Universal in the USA
Cincy Saint | Loveland, OH USA | 05/25/2006
(4 out of 5 stars)

"This DVD is not exactly the same as the other listed on Amazon. This disk contains only the Big Chair documentary, the Chris Hughes interview, and the videos for:
Everybody Wants to Rule the World
Shout
Mother's Talk
Mother's Talk (US)
Head Over Heels
I Believe

It does not contain the Live Santa Barbara concert.

It was released by Universal in the USA so it is either Region 1 or Region 0 and plays fine on USA DVD players."
Great video companion to classic album
Rezaul Hasan Laskar | New Delhi, India | 08/28/2005
(4 out of 5 stars)

"There are some albums that come along once in a while and just seem to capture the spirit of the time they were produced in, and yet remain timeless. Tears For Fears' "Songs From The Big Chair" is one of those albums, and the band will probably be best known for this release.

"Scenes From The Big Chair" is the perfect video companion to that album. This 1985 documentary on the making and impact of "Songs From The Big Chair" has been spiffed up for DVD and reissued along with "Going To California", the band's second live concert video that was originally released in 1990.

The documentary catches up with the band on the road for 1985's Big Chair tour, and has Curt Smith and Roland Orzabal talking about how they came together with the other musicians to record the album. It also features the MTV-friendly videos for hits like "Everybody Wants To Rule The World", "Shout", "Head Over Heels" and live performances of "The Working Hour", "Everybody Wants..." and "Memories Fade" from a concert at Massey Hall in Toronto, Canada.

"Going To California" catches the band at two different concerts in Californiawhile on the road to promote "The Seeds Of Love" album. The band backing Smith and Orzabal is smoking and includes Oleta Adams on piano and vocals. (She even gets a solo turn on the song "I've Got To Sing My Song".)

The set list includes the best from the three albums that Tears For Fears had released till then and there are great versions of "Head Over Heels", "Pale Shelter", "Woman In Chains", "Everybody Wants..." and even a cover of the Beatles' "All You Need Is Love".

The video and audio quality? Well, the video on "Scenes..." is soft, lacks contrast and just about does the job. The sound has been upgarded to Dolby 5.1 but remains limited to the front speakers and is rather dull.

The concert, however, is a different kettle of fish, and sounds like something recorded more recently. There is considerable use of the surrounds, and the sound is clean and airy, with nice bottom end for the sub-woofer. And it is loud!!!! The video for the concert segment too is cleaner though there is a lot of grainy footage used for a dramatic effect.

Strangely, both concert and documentary are full screen but a new interview with album producer Chris Hughes that is included as a special feature comes in anamorphic widescreen.

Definitely one for fans of TFF and "Songs From The Big Chair"."
An interesting journey into one of the biggest rock albums e
Chris Youngblood | USA | 02/04/2008
(5 out of 5 stars)

"One thing I cannot stand is when people classify Tears For Fears as an 80's band! The duo consisting of Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith are not limited to only an 80's sound. The fact Tears For Fears released more music after the 1980's seems to be ignored largely due to the success of the album portrayed in this documentary. Songs From The Big Chair was an amazing record that gave the duo the stature of becoming one of the biggest bands in the world. Taking a drastic change in the style of their music compared to their earlier album "The Hurting" Tears For Fears became very commercial and it worked. A facinating look into the making of this record with interviews from the duo themselves and the backing tour members with some fun extra's. The additional interview with Chris Hughes recorded for this DVD is a real gem and a MUST listen to for any fan! He talks about trying to convince Roland Orzabal (The brains behind the duo) to add "Shout" and "Everybody Wants To Rule The World" to the record as they were sure to be smash hits! Well he was right and these two songs made Tears For Fears a household name. Included is some great tour footage from their exhausting tour in 1985 and 1986 promoting the record around the world.
Next comes a full length concert from a show recorded in Santa Barbara, California in 1990 which once again shows how the duo dramatically changed their sound for their next record "The Seeds Of Love". This show is a stand out show and shows how tight the band are, as well as how talented Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith really are. This concert is a drastic change from their previous tour for "The Big Chair" but was also the beginning of the end of Tears For Fears as people knew them. Roland and Curt were not even speaking to each other on this tour as their friendship and professional relationship began to dissipate quickly. The recording of the record for which this tour was promoting found Curt Smith being pushed out nearly entirely of all the recording as frontman Roland Orzabal took charge and took over nearly all of the vocals and instruments as well. Curt was reduced to playing bass on two tracks, singing one song and singing backing on one song. After this tour he and Roland spilt as Roland continued on as Tears For Fears. In 2003 Roland and Curt reformed and recorded one of Tears For Fears best records "Everybody Loves A Happy Ending" as this album was truely a partnership of the duo. Even still though Roland continued to dominate the vocals as he has become know as the "Voice Of Tears For Fears". This DVD is worth every nickel as it transports you to a time when pop music was at it's best...The 1980's!"