Tears for Fears: The Seeds of Love Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		5.0
Video		0.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		5.0
Overall		5.0

Tears for Fears: The Seeds of Love Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman October 13, 2020

Maybe there's something to primal scream therapy after all, given the incredible success of "Shout" and the album it came from. It's a well recognized statistic that many newcomers to the recording industry hit it big with their first album, only to experience what is often called a "sophomore slump" with their second outing. While Tears for Fears claimed the Number 1 spot in their native United Kingdom for their first album Tears For Fears: The Hurting, the album didn't do nearly as well in the United States, and in fact even the song from that album that became one of the band's most memorable early efforts, "Mad World" (used to such devastating effect in Donnie Darko, albeit in a so-called "cover version"), failed to chart on this side of the pond at all. Perhaps at least a little ironically then, Tears for Fears' second at bat, Tears for Fears: Songs from the Big Chair, made it to Number 1 globally (including the United States), but managed to get to "only" Number 2 in the UK. That album nonetheless catapulted the band into a level of renown and success that few aggregations ever experience, something that built considerable anticipation for their third album, The Seeds of Love, which it took Tears for Fears some four years to complete after Songs from the Big Chair came out. The Seeds of Love marked considerable growth for the group, both in terms of production expertise, but even in terms of personnel, as in the celebrated guest vocals by Oleta Adams.

I'll talk about some of the non-disc swag in this set in the Supplements section, below, but following this paragraph are the contents of all the discs. I've seen some online data that lists the mixes on the Blu-ray disc as including Steven Wilson's 5.1 mix, the original 1989 Bob Ludwig mastering, and what is described as a "new remaster". While someone didn't do a very good job of proofreading and his surname is therefore spelled in a couple of different ways, in several places on this packaging the non-Ludwig stereo track is described as the "2015 Andrew Walter Remaster". In the very nice insert booklet, Steven Wilson also mentions that "you won't find a new stereo mix here", though I'm frankly not sure whether or not he's just referring to the original 1989 version, or is drawing a distinction between a mix and a master (and/or remaster). All of that said, here are the contents of the discs, all of which come in nice gatefold cardboard sleeves with the titles as described below and some nice artwork:

Blu-ray – The Rain / The Seeds of Love Mixes – Steven Wilson 5.1 Mix, 2015 Andrew Walter Remaster, Original 1989 Bob Ludwig Mastering

• Steven Wilson 5.1 Mix

  1. Woman In Chains

  2. Badman’s Song

  3. Sowing The Seeds Of Love

  4. Advice For The Young At Heart

  5. Standing On The Corner Of The Third World

  6. Swords And Knives

  7. Year Of The Knife

  8. Famous Last Words

• Original 1989 Bob Ludwig Mastering

  1. Woman In Chains

  2. Badman’s Song

  3. Sowing The Seeds Of Love (

  4. Advice For The Young At Heart

  5. Standing On The Corner Of The Third World

  6. Swords And Knives

  7. Year Of The Knife

  8. Famous Last Words

• 2015 Andrew Walter Remaster

  1. Woman In Chains

  2. Badman’s Song

  3. Sowing The Seeds Of Love

  4. Advice For The Young At Heart

  5. Standing On The Corner Of The Third World

  6. Swords And Knives

  7. Year Of The Knife

  8. Famous Last Words

CD 1 – The Seeds of Love

• 1. Woman In Chains
• 2. Badman’s Song
• 3. Sowing The Seeds Of Love
• 4. Advice For The Young At Heart
• 5. Standing On The Corner Of The Third World
• 6. Swords And Knives
• 7. Year Of The Knife
• 8. Famous Last Words

CD 2 – The Sun / 45s and B-Sides

• 1. Sowing The Seeds Of Love – 7" Version
• 2. Tears Roll Down
• 3. Woman In Chains – 7” Version
• 4. Always In The Past
• 5. My Life In The Suicide Ranks
• 6. Woman In Chains – Instrumental
• 7. Advice For The Young At Heart – 7” Version
• 8. Johnny Panic And The Bible Of Dreams Instrumental
• 9. Music For Tables
• 10. Johnny Panic And The Bible Of Dreams Mix One
• 11. Johnny Panic And The Bible Of Dreams Mix Two
• 12. Sowing The Seeds Of Love – US Radio Edit
• 13. Woman In Chains – US Radio Edit 1
• 14. Advice For The Young At Heart – Italian Radio Edit
• 15. Year Of The Knife – Canadian Single Version
• 16. Johnny Panic And The Bible Of Dreams

CD 3 – The Moon / Radio Edits and Early Mixes

• 1. Year Of The Knife – Overture
• 2. Year Of The Knife – Early Mix – Instrumental
• 3. Sowing The Seeds Of Love – Alternate Mix
• 4. Tears Roll Down – Alternate Mix
• 5. Year Of The Knife – Steve Chase 7″ Remix
• 6. Badman’s Song – Early Mix
• 7. Advice For The Young At Heart – Instrumental
• 8. Year Of The Knife – The Mix
• 9. Johnny Panic And The Bible Of Dreams – Mix One Edit
• 10. Sowing The Seeds Of Love – Early Mix – Instrumental
• 11. Woman In Chains – US Radio Edit 2
• 12. Year Of The Knife – Canadian Single Version – Instrumental
• 13. Famous Last Words – French Radio Edit
• 14. Woman In Chains – Reprise

CD 4 – The Wind / Demos, Diversions and Jams

• 1. Rhythm Of Life – Demo
• 2. Advice For The Young At Heart – Demo
• 3. Swords And Knives – Demo
• 4. Famous Last Words – Demo
• 5. Sowing The Seeds Of Love – Demo – Instrumental
• 6. Badman’s Song – Langer / Winstanley Version – Instrumental
• 7. Woman In Chains – Townhouse Jam
• 8. Broken – Townhouse Jam
• 9. Rhythm Of Life – Townhouse Jam
• 10. Badman’s Song – Townhouse Jam
• 11. Badman’s Song – Reprise – Townhouse Jam
• 12. Standing On The Corner Of The Third World – Townhouse Jam

Tears for Fears: The Seeds of Love Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

While this is in essence an audio Blu-ray, there is a video component delivered in 1080p in a 1.78:1 aspect ratio encoded via AVC, as disclosed in the screenshots accompanying this review. All of the images accompanying each track are animated, though rather subtly at times. Some have a number of changes, with various elements wafting over a background, while others are relatively static. Due to the nature of the video element, I'm not scoring this.

Tears for Fears: The Seeds of Love Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Blu-ray disc offers Steven Wilson's surround mix delivered in either DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 or LPCM 5.1. The two stereo mixes are offered via LPCM 2.0. I won't spend much time discussing the stereo tracks on the disc, other than to state that the 2015 Andrew Walter remaster is considerably louder and to my ears offers more clarity than the original 1989 Bob Ludwig mastering (which is perfectly fine in its own right). The Steven Wilson surround mix is wonderfully immersive, despite some arguably picayune qualms about various elements like missing sound effects that Wilson discusses in his notes in the insert booklet. There are numerous memorable instances of discrete channelization in Wilson's mix, and I was repeatedly struck in several of the tunes with the clarity of the multi-layered backup vocals, especially when they're offered in the rear channels, offering a wonderful counterweight to lead vocals placed more forward. Percussion often ping pongs between channels and there are moments where even different parts of the trap set are doled out to individual channels with, for example, the kick drum in the left and hi hat in the right channels. The band's use of various studio bells and whistles offers Wilson opportunities for a solidly active sonic playground, and just to cite on example in this regard, there is some really fun panning and ping ponging of the sound effects in Swords and Kisses.

Tears for Fears: The Seeds of Love Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This comes housed in a box measuring approximately 5.5" wide by 7.5" high by 1.25" deep. The box houses the five discs, as outlined above, each in their own gatefold cardboard sleeves. There is also a beautifully appointed insert booklet with new interviews with Roland and Curt, as well as a reproduction of the tour program.

Tears for Fears: The Seeds of Love Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

I worked for a woman whose son had moved to Los Angeles and who ended up as part of the effects team working on the memorable music video that accompanied Sowing the Seeds of Love. The omission of that pretty iconic music video may be the only thing lacking from this otherwise beautifully produced and packaged set. Any fan of Tears for Fears will want to have this release in their collection, and unless these last couple of months of 2020 are suddenly glutted with incredible Blu-ray releases, I can't imagine this not making my Top 10 list for 2020. Highly recommended.