Vocalist Brett Anderson and guitarist Bernard Butler were previously members of the band Suede, who rose to prominence during the 1990s. Partway through the making of their second studio album Dog Man Star, Butler left; he was replaced by Richard Oakes. Butler continued as a session musician, playing with the likes of Aimee Mann and Tim Booth of James, and formed the project McAlmont & Butler with David McAlmont for The Sound Of... McAlmont & Butler (1995). The Butler went on to release two solo albums, People Move On (1998) and Friends and Lovers for Creation Records, which had folded by 2000.
While this was occurring, Suede continued releasing albums through to A New Morning (2002); which was unsuccessful commercially, with the band taking an indefinite hiatus by the end of 2003. A few days after Suede's final show in December 2003, Butler was contacted by Anderson, marking the first time the pair spoke in nine years. In January 2004, it was reported that Anderson and Butler had recorded music together. Anderson would visit Butler at his house to write new material. The pair decided to form the Tears, which also featured bassist Nathan Fisher, drummer Makoto Sakamoto and keyboardist Will Foster. By June 2004, the band made demos of 18 songs for possible inclusion on their upcoming debut album.
Here Come the Tears was a pop album, which takes influence from the work of David Bowie. Music critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine said it fell "between the incessantly catchy pop that wound up on Coming Up and the sighing romanticism and larger-than-life sweep of Dog Man Star". Anderson and Butler wrote the album's opening track "Refugees" as a reaction to how refugees are treated amongst the public and with immigration policies. Anderson said it began as a "song of identification with the hoards of refugees who were flooding London" a few years prior. It evokes some of the more up-tempo, glam pop songs from Suede's catalogue, namely from their 1993 debut self-titled album. For "Autograph", Anderson recounts his regrets about being intimate with groupies over the years. The song's harmonica part recalled the one heard in "Hand in Glove" (1983) by the Smiths. The ballad "Co-Star" is followed by "Imperfection", which continues the theme of Suede's "Obsessions" (2002), that has Anderson describe his partner's flaws, done in tribute to Sonnet 130 by William Shakespeare."The Ghost of You" deals with the subject of death, namely of Anderson's mother.
"Two Creatures" tackles the state of the world in the style of the Beautiful South and running away to Africa; "Lovers" comes across as a remake of "Trash", and recalls the work of Dodgy. "Fallen Idols" is about self-doubt, backed by Butler's Beatlesque guitar work that evokes Suede's "Stay Together (1994)". During a live performance, Anderson claimed "Fallen Idols" was about the life of the Who guitarist Pete Townshend. With "Brave New Century", Anderson said he wished to "humanise the immigrant communities", while also criticizing celebrity worship, which had become "more extreme and bizarre". Butler's guitars in it echo the sound of Led Zeppelin. "Beautiful Pain" uses drugs as a metaphor for a lover, in the vein of "There She Goes" (1988) by the La's, and discusses going cold turkey. Anderson wrote "The Asylum" about his father; Playlouder's David Barnett said it was "almost frightening in its frankness" as Anderson "more or less admits that he's bound for the loony bin". "Apollo 13" is a blues power ballad about a destructive relationship. Finally the album's closing song "A Love as Strong as Death" uses weather to convey emotions, and is reminiscent of the Dog Man Star closer "Still Life".
The album proved a successful comeback for Butler and Anderson as it was praised by critics. Although some critics felt the album sounded like later Suede sound, others said The Tears "shouldn’t be compared to Suede. They waived that right, however, when they managed to make Here Come The Tears sound exactly like Dog Man Star." At the end it was Anderson counted Butler's "epic guitar lines" by "writing his most vivid and stirring songs for over a decade".
No hay comentarios.:
Publicar un comentario