In the liner notes here, Curt Smith of Tears for Fears outlines the pop duo’s ambitions for their second album: “We wanted to get bigger … big guitars … big drums,” he writes, “a little more bombastic and a little more proud.” To celebrate its 30th anniversary, this 6CD box set (plus a picture book featuring bonus permed mullets) strips away some of that pomposity to reveal unreleased sessions, rarities and early mixes that contrast with the robust originals. Some of the B-sides – Empire Building, The Conflict – are industrial, metallic constructs that clang like a drum pad trapped in a washing machine, while an a cappella take of Shout is naturally odd and God-like, and a BBC session of Head Over Heels shows it in more vulnerable light. Some of the extra material is self-consciously experimental, but all of it celebrates a time when two blokes from Somerset made beefy, bizarre, sometimes preposterous pop and sold more than 30m records. Mission accomplished.
