Memories Fade...

Clockwise: featuring the music of Tears For Fears; Marshall Crenshaw; Barbra Streisand; and Bronski Beat.

When thinking of what to post about tonight, a flood of memories came to me. You know, the musical kind. Songs began began to play, in a random way. And that is when it occurred to me, I should post about memories. You see, so many of our memories are anchored in music. The songs and artists you were listening to at any point in your life begin to play, and you are brought back to a time, to a place, surrounded by the people you knew. How would I apply this to a blog post? I went into my iTunes, and typed in 'memory' and 'memories' and settled on four songs that fit that bill. One of those that did was by Tears For Fears off their 1983 debut, 'The Hurting'. I loved that album, with the dark and brooding music it contained. That could definitely be said about the song "Memories Fade", written by Roland Orzabal, who also took on the lead vocals.

I remember listening to a lot of music by Marshall Crenshaw, brought to me by my sister Kim. Together, we saw him playing live a couple of times, and enjoyed him. I think my personal favorite album was his 1985 release, 'Downtown', a slightly darker collection, with a bit of a raw edge. It also included a wonderful song written by Crendshaw, "Like A Vague Memory".

It was in the early 1980s that I started by love affair with Jimmy Somerville, then singing with the Bronski Beat. I loved every measure of music on their debut album, 'Age Of Consent', one of my favorite albums of 1984. And while many of those songs immediately invoke memories of an apartment in Brooklyn, or going out to a club in the Village, I love it all. So I decided to go by the rules here, and include a song that was included in the reissue of the album. This is the beautiful "Memories", which I swear has mystic qualities. It was written by Jimmy Somerville, Larry Steinbachek and Steve Bronski. I might add that the Bronski Beat and Somerville were the first openly gay musicians I remember listening to, and following. I still follow Jimmy's music today.

And, finally, I decided to bread the rules just a bit, for this song really is all about memories. In fact, the first that is the first lyric of the song. I am, of course, talking about the great song with lyrics by Alan Bergman and Marilyn Bergman and music by Marvin Hamlisch, "The Way We Were". It was sung impeccably by Barbra Streisand, the theme song to her 1973 movie of the same name. It is amazing, for it not only discusses how memories are strewn like scattered snapshots in our brain, but it also engages so many memories of listening to that song, when my heart was broken. It was always one of those songs I went to when a relationship ended.

Do you have songs that being back your favorite memories?

Worth Another Listen - Tears For Fears

In 1981, a couple of school buddies decided to get their own band together. Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith were inspired by some of the great rock artists of the time, Brian Eno, Peter Gabriel and the Talking Heads, and embarked on a career as Tears For Fears, along with Ian Stanley and Manny Elias. By 1983, they released their first album, The Hurting, which is how I first discovered them. I think you could argue it was one of the best albums of the early 80s, although the sales figures compared to the follow-up, Songs From The Big Chair, can't compare. The first time I saw and heard the video for Change, I knew I was going to be a longtime fan. It just made my little New Wave heart a tad more joyous.



But in case anyone would think I was listening to a perky band, they need only to give a listen to Mad World to know differently. This was actually the first single released for the album, although I didn't find it until later. In the video, Roland and Curt are looking like moody British schoolboys, the 'modern' equivalent of the boys from the great movie Another Country. Jacob and Katie, my nephew and niece, just love the video, and are surprisingly fond of the band, sing they are both pre-teens. The song has gone on to be much covered, as there was the amazing version of Gary Jules, and a fine job by Adam Lambert a few Idol seasons ago. Here is the original.



One of my favorite songs from the album was the beautiful Memories Fade. There is a dreamy quality to it, as well as a tremendous amount of raw emotion.



Another fantastic song was called Pale Shelter, which was another hypnotic song, filled with imagery pulled from any psychiatrists office.



As I said before, the next album, 1985's Songs From The Big Chair, which just tour up the charts with song after song. From Everybody Wants To Rule The World to Head Over Heals, that record seemed unstoppable. So did the band, which proved not to be true in the long run. In 1991, the band called it a day, with Smith and Orzabal going their separate ways. But they could not stay mad forever, as they were working together again in 2000. They maintain homes on different continents, as Smith and his family live in California, while Orzabal remains in their hometown, Bath, England. Curt and Roland still tour as Tears For Fears, and are, in fact, getting ready to kick off a new tour. You can check out new dates on Curt Smith's website, here.