The Hurting

Updated on Oct 01, 2024

Edit

Comment

Released 7 March 1983 Length 41:39 Release date 7 March 1983 Producers Chris Hughes, Ross Cullum		Recorded 1982–1983 Artist Tears for Fears Label Mercury Records

The Hurting (1983) Songs from the Big Chair (1985) Genres New wave, Electropop, Dark wave Similar Songs from the Big Chair, The Seeds of Love, Everybody Loves a Happy En, Tears Roll Down (Greatest, Raoul and the Kings of Spain

The Hurting is the debut studio album by British new wave band Tears for Fears. It was released on 7 March 1983, and peaked at No. 1 on the UK Album Chart. The album was certified Gold by the BPI within three weeks of release, and reached Platinum status in January 1985.

The album contains Tears For Fears' first three hit singles – "Mad World", "Change", and "Pale Shelter" – all of which reached the Top 5 in the UK. It also contains a new version of the band's first single, "Suffer The Children", which had originally been released in 1981.

The album was remastered and reissued in 1999, and included four remixes as bonus tracks and an extensive booklet which described the recording process of the album. A 30th Anniversary reissue was released on 21 October 2013, in both double-CD and deluxe 4-disc boxed set editions.

Mad world by tears for fears original hq 1983

Track listing

All tracks written by Roland Orzabal, except "The Way You Are" written by Orzabal, Curt Smith, Ian Stanley, and Manny Elias.

Note

† Cassette only bonus track

Notes

† – The 1999 remastered version of the album incorrectly credits Curt Smith as co-writer and Mike Howlett as producer of "Pale Shelter" (Long Version). As confirmed on the original releases, Smith did not write any of the tracks for The Hurting and this version of "Pale Shelter" is actually the 1983 12" extended version of the song, which was produced by Chris Hughes and Ross Cullum. Howlett produced the original 1982 version.

†† – "The Way You Are" was originally a non-album track, though the 12" version was included on the remastered version of The Hurting in 1999.

2013 30th Anniversary Editions

Two deluxe editions of the album were released on 21 October 2013. One is a double CD comprising CDs 1 & 2 (as below), and the other is a 4-disc boxed set comprising CDs 1–3 and a DVD, a book containing interviews, a new essay from Paul Sinclair about the album, a replica of a 1983 tour programme, a discography and photos. The first 500 pre-orders from the Universal Music online store also included a vinyl 7" single of "Change" in a rare earlier picture sleeve.

Notes

† – Track 4, labeled as "Ideas As Opiates (Alternate Version)", was intended to be the first version of the song (originally released as the B-Side to "Mad World") but was mistakenly replaced by a previously unreleased version of the album track.

†† – Track 15, although labeled as "We Are Broken", is actually "Broken Revisited" which is a slightly extended version of the original track and was first included as a bonus track on the limited edition cassette of Songs from the Big Chair in 1985 and later included on the 1999 remastered edition and 2006 deluxe edition of the same album.

Personnel

Tears For Fears

Roland Orzabal – vocals, guitar, keyboards, rhythm programming, lead vocals on tracks 1, 4–7, and 10

Curt Smith – vocals, bass guitar, keyboards, lead vocals on tracks 1, 2, 3, 8, and 9

Ian Stanley – keyboard programming, computer programming

Manny Elias – drums, rhythm programming

Additional personnel

Chris Hughes – rhythm programming, tuned percussion, conducting

Ross Cullum – jazz high, dynamic toggle

Mel Collins – saxophones

Phil Palmer – palmer picking

Caroline Orzabal – child vocal on "Suffer the Children"

Charts

Album

30th Anniversary Deluxe Edition

Singles

Songs

1The Hurting
2Mad World3:32
3Pale Shelter4:34

References

The Hurting Wikipedia

(Text) CC BY-SA

Contents