I’ve been getting into the band Porcupine Tree more lately — and specifically the leader of the group Steven Wilson. He’s kind of low key persona in the prog-rock world, but after seeing an interview with him on YouTube I think we share similar musical tastes — and what makes for sonically good to great albums.
Case in point is the 1989 album, The Seeds of Love by Tears for Fears. Now, when it came out, I wasn’t all that impressed with the single “Sowing The Seeds of Love.” The whole ode to The Beatles was kind of overblown in both the video and the production of the song, but I purchased the record nevertheless. Had I judged the album solely on the first single, I might have skipped buying it. However, I’m glad my knee-jerk reaction to the single didn’t determine its fate as it relates to my record collection. Overall, the album is probably the best in their catalog. It took Tears for Fears three years to make the damn thing at the cost of one million-pounds — a sum unheard of at the time. The album was also recorded on digital audio tape (which they reportedly had hours and hours of takes collected — making mixing a tough slog for Bob Clearmountain and David Bascombe who got the job).
So, with cost overruns plus a mountain of music to mix down into eight tracks, plus Tears for Fears co-founder Curt Smith kind of checked out during the whole project, the album fell mostly on the shoulders of Roland Orzabal. He really rose to the occasion by creating (whether intentionally or not) a record that Rolling Stone described as “almost a concept album.” The recurrence of the “Sun and the Moon/The Wind and the Rain” throughout the record had a kind of male/female duality thing going on. And just to put a fine point on it, Oleta Adams was brought in and featured very prominently on a number of tracks.
For me — and to bring it back to Steven Wilson — it was the production of the album made it such a treat to listen to. There’s a lot to love about this record, but back when it came out CDs were becoming the dominant format for the music-buying public. I was no different than many folks who ditched their vinyl and jumped on the CD train. But it wasn’t so much CDs that made me notice that the record had great production values. It was making mixtapes and then either playing them back in my car or on my Walkman. Because I was making my compilation tapes sourced from LPs, 45s, and CDs, the quality and clarity of the audio would really stand out when the songs were lined up in playlist fashion. Now, for those who are picky about sound (and I’m one of them) back then you had to buy the right blank cassettes to really make sure your mixtape had the highest fidelity possible. I didn’t have a player that could play metal alloy tapes, so I bought Maxell XL-IIs tapes — which were one step below metal cassettes. What I noticed right away was how much sound separation and tasteful panning Tear for Fears had on the opening track “Woman in Chains.” It stood in stark contrast to “Sowing The Seeds of Love,” which seemed so jam-packed with effects, instruments, and compression that it made it difficult to concentrate on the verses — unless you were reading the lyrics. “Badman’s Song” (reportedly the first song written for the album) goes on a little too long, but given the amount of music the band recorded, it was probably difficult to reduce the scope of the song into something under five minutes with all the stylistic changes that occur throughout the song.
“Advice for the Young At Heart” is the most conventional sounding song of the lot. It got some radio play in the U.S., but it wasn’t as interesting or adventurous as “Sowing The Seeds of Love” or “Woman in Chains.” Where the album really takes off for me are the remaining tracks. “Standing on the Corner of the Third World,” “Swords and Knives,” “The Year of the Knife,” and even “Famous Last Words” were sequenced in such a way that the Rolling Stone reviewer who said that the record is almost a concept album wasn’t too far off the mark. I can see why Steven Wilson was so enthusiastic about the album. It has great pop hooks and the band was trying for a left-wing protest message that gave the songs more substance — even when, admittedly, Orzabal was just including phrases that he picked up from hither and yon (i.e., “I love the sunflower” was a bit of graffiti he saw outside his house but had no idea what it meant).
Among audiophiles, music recorded in the 1980s is often derided for the use of compression that gave albums a certain punch, but it all came by sacrificing a sense of openness where the music and the instruments could breathe. Sometimes the production techniques of the ’80s worked well, but other times records could sound kind of muddy and lifeless. The Seeds of Love, however, is an exception. The record is a sonic treat — if not close to a masterpiece. Even 31 years after its release, the album sounds very bright, full, and has great separation. So, it was a bit of a surprise that Steven Wilson remixed the album in 2015 to coincide with the record’s 30th anniversary in 2019. Alas, that 5.1 remix is still in the proverbial vault. If it’s ever released, it’ll be interesting to see what kind of mix he came up with — considering that he, like me, views the album as an example of audio excellence when it comes to high fidelity recordings.
Update on October 2020: The box set of The Seeds of Love has been released — including the 5.1 surround sound remix by Wilson that’s on DVD. And yes, I ordered it.
