kevinpnb said:

Yeah... when it first came out, I wasn't feeling it AT ALL. Lately I find myself gravitating toward it.

I like HL a lot, but TFF FTW.

AlexdeParis said:

I was wondering where you were!

Apples to Oranges indeed. I'm a big fan of both groups (even the multiple incarnations of each group). The musical influence of HL's Reproduction, Travelogue and Dare is definitely hard to question. That being said, I've never considered HL's writing anything stellar. They've always been a bit more style than substance. Yes, there have been some great HL tracks over the years, but as a group (were they ever much of a band?) they've never really matured musically/lyrically as much as they should have (listen to the lyrics of Love Me Madly? from 2001's Secrets). Musically, they're only as good as who is producing them (albeit, I really enjoyed the sound/production of Octopus [Ian Stanley, a former member of TFF] and Secrets [Toy, from Tim Simenon production team]). They really struggled in the mid-eighties trying to find themselves musically. Hysteria is not the HL at their best, by any means. And, as much as I enjoy Crash, meshing Flytetyme's R&B/pop sound with HL was a big stretch (it didn't sound like HL... it sounded like Phil Oakey singing over Flytetyme tunes). If they would have had someone like Martin Rushent producing them throughout the 80s and maybe someone else "guiding" them throughout the 90s and 00s, they might have had much more consistency (not to mention, more albums period).

TFF, on the other hand, had growth through each of their albums. The comparison with HL only comes by way of The Hurting, because of its more synth-based approach to the production. I think the comparisons should end there. Even lyrically, The Hurting has nothing in common with HL. Basing the concept of a band and its lyrical content on Arthur Janov's primal scream therapy is as far from Human League as you can get. The Hurting just happened to come at a time when synth-pop was still in its infancy, and TFF obviously found it interesting. Not much to say about Songs From The Big Chair other than it's one of the greatest pop albums ever recorded. Some find The Seeds of Love a bit overblown, but if you dig deep you'll find a great album. Egos got a bit out of hand at this point. Some critics dismiss Roland's two solo TFF efforts as "pretentious", but I've always thought they were highly underrated -- Elemental and Raoul & the Kings of Spain. Don't let Raoul's title sway you... it's a great album (Me and My Big Ideas with Oleta Adams is just as beautiful as Woman in Chains). Great to see Roland and Curt patch things up and record one of their best in 2004, Everybody Loves A Happy Ending. They work well together.

If I had to pick one (although I don't think they are comparable), I'd definitely have to go with Tears For Fears... much better writing and growth throughout their career.