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Tears For Fears / The Seeds of Love reissue coming in October

By Paul Sinclair

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The wait is finally over! 4CD+blu-ray box set of the 1989 album

The reissue of Tears For Fears‘ 1989 album The Seeds of Love is officially confirmed today after literally years of hints, rumours and whispers, along with a fairly large dose of frustration from fans who were left disappointed when the TFF reissue bandwagon ground to a halt in 2014, after The Hurting and Songs From The Big Chair box sets in consecutive years.

Although five physical formats are available (more on them later), the one everyone is going to be interested in is the 4CD+blu-ray super deluxe edition box set. It features a remaster of the album (created by Andrew Walter at Abbey Road in 2015), a CD of B-sides, remixes and edits, and then two CDs of unreleased audio. The fifth disc is a blu-ray featuring a 5.1 surround sound mix by Steven Wilson.

As some SDE readers may be aware, as with The Hurting and Songs From The Big Chair reissue campaigns, I have been deeply involved in this project (since late 2014!), co-compiling the track listing, writing sleeve notes and interviewing band members, producers and collaborators for an extensive ‘in their own words’ history of The Seeds of Love which features in the 36-page booklet which comes with the box set. It has been a pleasure and a privilege to be part of this process and there’s some irony in the fact that the reissue has now taken longer than the original album to reach fruition!


‘The Seeds of Love’ 4CD+Blu-ray super deluxe edition (click image to enlarge)

The box set is beautifully presented and the four additional bonus discs have the titles ‘The Sun’ (CD2), ‘The Moon’ (CD 3), ‘The Wind’ (CD4) and ‘The Rain’ (blu-ray) and explore different aspects of the album.

CD 2 – ‘The Sun: 45s and B-sides’ features flip-sides such as ‘Always in the Past‘ and ‘My Life In The Suicide Ranks‘ and the various mixes of ‘Johnny Panic and The Bible of Dreams‘. The much-desired ‘Canadian Single Version’ of ‘Year of the Knife‘ (a completely different mix and only issued as a promo single) is released here commercially, for the first time, and other rare radio edits and instrumentals are also included.

As stated, nothing on CD 3 and CD 4 has ever been commercially released anywhere. CD3 –  ‘The Moon: Radio Edits and Early Mixes’ starts with an extraordinary ten-minute ‘suite’ of ‘Year of the Knife’ segueing from an imposing orchestral version (‘Overture’) to an unheard instrumental mix with a unique and hitherto unknown spooky synth intro! Other highlights on this disc include an alternate mix of ‘Sowing The Seeds of Love’ that runs for nearly seven-and-half-minutes and doesn’t fade at all, ending in laughter and screaming, an alternate version of Badman’s Song, numerous attempts to create a single version of ‘Year of the Knife’, an instrumental/backing track mix of Advice For The Young At Heart and a brilliant early take on Sowing The Seeds of Love – it’s an instrumental but this sounds incredible!

CD 4 – ‘The Wind: Demos, Diversions & Jams’ features some truly amazing content, including four home demos recorded by Nicky Holland, Roland’s songwriting partner for five of the eight tracks on The Seeds of Love. These are ‘Rhythm of Life’, a song that never made it onto The Seeds Of Love (and was later given to Oleta Adams), ‘Advice For The Young At Heart’ with Roland on lead vocals, ‘Swords and Knives’ and ‘Famous Last Words’.

Talking of Oleta, she joined The Seeds of Love sessions in early 1988 along with world-class session players such as drummer Manu Katché and bass player Pino Palladino and Oleta would of course play a significant part in songs such as ‘Woman In Chains’ and ‘Badman’s Song’. DAT tapes of these sessions –  which took place at London’s Townhouse studio – were discovered early in the research process and so CD 4 contains around 30-minutes of highlights of these live-in-the-studio sessions, exactly as it was performed at the time, complete with chatter, some laughter and no overdubs. These jams were mixed at the time by Dave Bascombe and include very different versions of ‘Woman in Chains’, ‘Badman’s Song’, ‘Standing On The Corner Of The Third World’ and ‘Rhythm of Life’. They are a fascinating insight into Roland’s process (Curt was rarely present) and one of the many highlights of this package.

Perhaps the most interesting peak-behind-the-curtain is a instrumental version of Badman’s Song as produced by Clive Langer and Alan Winstanley! In January 1987, after Chris Hughes had left The Seeds of Love project (he would return) new inspiration was sought. Roland told me: “We met up with Clive and he took my Fairlight and drums version of ‘Badman’s Song’ and we worked on that, but of course at that point, it wasn’t a duet at all. In fact, it wasn’t anything like the monster it became. It was much simpler and didn’t really have the essence of what it gained when Oleta came along.”

The sessions were aborted for the simple reason that (according to A&R man Dave Bates) “Roland decided it wasn’t working. There just wasn’t the spark and it was not the thing he was looking for.” These almost mythical sessions with Langer and Winstanley are a fascinating part of the legendary four-year gestation period and the audio offers a glimpse down the path not travelled.

Beautiful themed disc and wallet designs exclusive to the super deluxe

For the final disc,  Blu-ray – ‘The Rain’, Steven Wilson has created what he calls a “very immersive 5.1 surround sound experience” by rebuilding the album from the multi-track tapes. It took the best part of a year to locate all the tapes and was an incredibly complicated process. Steven says that by the time he had all the elements for ‘Year of the Knife’ the multi-track session ran to “well over 100 channels”! Steven’s 5.1 mix of The Seeds Of Love was created with the input and approval of engineer/co-producer Dave Bascombe and Roland Orzabal and he goes into some detail in the booklet around the challenges of creating this mix.

Although there is no new stereo mix (Steven Wilson calls the original mix “sonically one of the best sounding albums I’ve ever heard”) the blu-ray does contain both the newly remastered version of the original mix and significantly, for the purists, Bob Ludwig’s original 1989 mastering.

The box set is the same height and width and style as the previous Tears For Fears boxes (it’s actually not quite as thick) and each CD comes in a gatefold card wallet, which make great use of those ‘sun’, ‘moon’, ‘wind’ and ‘rain’ illustrations. It includes a tour programme replica (in miniature) and the aforementioned booklet. For the latter, I interviewed Roland Orzabal, Curt Smith, Chris Hughes (Producer of Songs From The Big Chair), Dave Bascombe (co-producer of The Seeds of Love), Nicky Holland (songwriter, keyboard player and backing vocalist for The Seeds of Love), Oleta Adams and Dave Bates (Head of A&R, Phonogram),

The four CDs on the box set feature a total of 50 tracks. By my estimation, eight tracks have never been commercially issued on CD, one track is new to CD in the UK and 22 tracks are previously unreleased. This does not include the eight tracks of audio which make up the surround sound mix, so technically that’s 30 previously unreleased audio tracks.


Two-CD edition offers discs one and two from the box set

Moving on from the box set, there’s a two-CD digi-pak edition which features discs one and two from the box set (but not the interviews in the booklet) a gatefold black vinyl edition and a single CD version. Universal Music have also created a special picture disc edition of the album which is only available via their channels.

The Seeds of Love will be reissued on 9 October 2020. Given my involvement in this project, it’s probably no surprise to hear that SDE is selling the box set – and the black vinyl edition –  over on the SDE shop. Use this link to pre-order or alternatively make use of the buy buttons below. SDE stock allocations are guaranteed – if you pre-order we will supply! Other purchasing options are listed on the widgets below.


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The Seeds of Love - 4CD+blu-ray box set

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The Seeds of Love – 4CD+blu-ray box set

CD 1 – ORIGINAL ALBUM
NEW REMASTER BY ANDREW WALTER AT ABBEY ROAD

01. Woman In Chains: 6:31
02. Badman’s Song: 8:32
03. Sowing The Seeds Of Love: 6:19
04. Advice For The Young At Heart: 4:50
05. Standing On The Corner Of The Third World: 5:33
06. Swords And Knives: 6:12
07. Year Of The Knife: 7:08
08. Famous Last Words: 4:26

CD 2 – THE SUN
45’s AND B-SIDES

01. Sowing The Seeds Of Love – 7" Version: 5:43
02. Tears Roll Down: 3:16
03. Woman In Chains – 7” Version: 5:28
04. Always In The Past: 4:38
05. My Life In The Suicide Ranks: 4:32
06. Woman In Chains – Instrumental: 6:30
07. Advice For The Young At Heart – 7” Version: 4:49
08. Johnny Panic And The Bible Of Dreams Instrumental: 4:18
09. Music For Tables: 3:32
10. Johnny Panic And The Bible Of Dreams Mix One: 6:22
11. Johnny Panic And The Bible Of Dreams Mix Two: 5:55
12. Sowing The Seeds Of Love – US Radio Edit: 4:04
13. Woman In Chains – US Radio Edit 1: 4:42
14. Advice For The Young At Heart – Italian Radio Edit: 3:40
15. Year Of The Knife – Canadian Single Version: 5:40
16. Johnny Panic And The Bible Of Dreams: 4:17

CD 3 – THE MOON
RADIO EDITS AND EARLY MIXES

01. Year Of The Knife – Overture: 1:47
02. Year Of The Knife – Early Mix – Instrumental: 8:50
03. Sowing The Seeds Of Love – Alternate Mix: 7:22
04. Tears Roll Down – Alternate Mix: 4:07
05. Year Of The Knife – Steve Chase 7″ Remix: 4.29
06. Badman’s Song – Early Mix: 7:56
07. Advice For The Young At Heart – Instrumental: 4:56
08. Year Of The Knife – The Mix: 06:55
09. Johnny Panic And The Bible Of Dreams – Mix One Edit: 3:43
10. Sowing The Seeds Of Love – Early Mix – Instrumental: 6:40
11. Woman In Chains – US Radio Edit 2: 4:19
12. Year Of The Knife – Canadian Single Version – Instrumental: 5:40
13. Famous Last Words – French Radio Edit: 3:07
14. Woman In Chains – Reprise: 6:39

CD 4 – THE WIND
DEMOS, DIVERSIONS AND JAMS

01. Rhythm Of Life – Demo: 5:12
02. Advice For The Young At Heart – Demo: 4:52
03. Swords And Knives – Demo: 3:51
04. Famous Last Words – Demo: 4:12
05. Sowing The Seeds Of Love – Demo – Instrumental: 6:06
06. Badman’s Song – Langer / Winstanley Version – Instrumental: 7:30
07. Woman In Chains – Townhouse Jam: 7:06
08. Broken – Townhouse Jam: 1:37 Tears For Fears
09. Rhythm Of Life – Townhouse Jam: 3:09
10. Badman’s Song – Townhouse Jam: 8:17
11. Badman’s Song – Reprise – Townhouse Jam: 2:50
12. Standing On The Corner Of The Third World – Townhouse Jam: 9:09

BLU RAY – THE RAIN
STEVEN WILSON 5.1 MIX, ORIGINAL ALBUM MIX &  NEW REMASTER

Steven Wilson 5.1 MIX

01. Woman In Chains: 6:30
02. Badman’s Song: 8:32
03. Sowing The Seeds Of Love: 6:19
04. Advice For The Young At Heart: 4:55
05. Standing On The Corner Of The Third World: 5:33
06. Swords And Knives: 6:20
07. Year Of The Knife: 6:55
08. Famous Last Words: 4:11

Original Album Mix (Bob Ludwig 1989 mastering)

01. Woman In Chains: 6:31 (Original album master)
02. Badman’s Song: 8:32 (Original album master)
03. Sowing The Seeds Of Love: 6:19 (Original album master)
04. Advice For The Young At Heart: 4:50 (Original album master)
05. Standing On The Corner Of The Third World: 5:33 (Original album master)
06. Swords And Knives: 6:12 (Original album master)
07. Year Of The Knife: 7:08 (Original album master)
08. Famous Last Words: 4:26 (Original album master)

New remaster (by Andrew Walter at Abbey Road)

01. Woman In Chains: 6:30 (New remaster)
02. Badman’s Song: 8:32 (New remaster)
03. Sowing The Seeds Of Love: 6:19  (New remaster)
04. Advice For The Young At Heart: 4:55 (New remaster)
05. Standing On The Corner Of The Third World: 5:33 (New remaster)
06. Swords And Knives: 6:20 (New remaster)
07. Year Of The Knife: 6:55  (New remaster)
08. Famous Last Words: 4:11 (New remaster)

The Seeds of Love vinyl LP remaster (same tracks on picture disc)

Side 1
01. Woman In Chains: 6:31
02. Badman’s Song: 8:32
03. Sowing The Seeds Of Love: 6:19
04. Advice For The Young At Heart: 4:50

Side 2
01. Standing On The Corner Of The Third World: 5:33
02. Swords And Knives: 6:12
03. Year Of The Knife: 7:08
04. Famous Last Words: 4:26

The Seeds of Love 2CD deluxe

CD 1 – ORIGINAL ALBUM
NEW REMASTER BY ANDREW WALTER AT ABBEY ROAD

01. Woman In Chains: 6:31
02. Badman’s Song: 8:32
03. Sowing The Seeds Of Love: 6:19
04. Advice For The Young At Heart: 4:50
05. Standing On The Corner Of The Third World: 5:33
06. Swords And Knives: 6:12
07. Year Of The Knife: 7:08
08. Famous Last Words: 4:26

CD 2 – THE SUN
45’s AND B-SIDES

01. Sowing The Seeds Of Love – 7" Version: 5:43
02. Tears Roll Down: 3:16
03. Woman In Chains – 7” Version: 5:28
04. Always In The Past: 4:38
05. My Life In The Suicide Ranks: 4:32
06. Woman In Chains – Instrumental: 6:30
07. Advice For The Young At Heart – 7” Version: 4:49
08. Johnny Panic And The Bible Of Dreams Instrumental: 4:18
09. Music For Tables: 3:32
10. Johnny Panic And The Bible Of Dreams Mix One: 6:22
11. Johnny Panic And The Bible Of Dreams Mix Two: 5:55
12. Sowing The Seeds Of Love – US Radio Edit: 4:04
13. Woman In Chains – US Radio Edit 1: 4:42
14. Advice For The Young At Heart – Italian Radio Edit: 3:40
15. Year Of The Knife – Canadian Single Version: 5:40
16. Johnny Panic And The Bible Of Dreams: 4:17

The Seeds of Love single CD remaster

NEW REMASTER BY ANDREW WALTER AT ABBEY ROAD

01. Woman In Chains: 6:31
02. Badman’s Song: 8:32
03. Sowing The Seeds Of Love: 6:19
04. Advice For The Young At Heart: 4:50
05. Standing On The Corner Of The Third World: 5:33
06. Swords And Knives: 6:12
07. Year Of The Knife: 7:08
08. Famous Last Words: 4:26

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