2022 Album Eliminations: Tier 2, Week 4

This week’s elimination results:

Alice TM – Little Bodies in Orbit VS. Tears for Fears – The Tipping Point
Tears for Fears – The Tipping Point

Parliament – The Mothership Connection VS. Tom McGuire & the Brassholes – Tom McGuire & the Brassholes
Tom McGuire & the Brassholes - Tom McGuire and the Brassholes

Amythyst Kiah – Wary & Strange VS. Marillion – An Hour Before Its Dark
Amythyst Kiah – Wary & Strange

This week’s contentious showdown was definitely Tears for Fears VS. Alice TM, and its an example of a weird phenomenon that this structure sometimes brings to light. I had Alice TM pegged as a dark horse favorite early this year, and I have a history of resistance to some of Tears for Fears’ other work. I put The Tipping Point against Little Bodies in Orbit knowing that if it were to go on, it would have to prove itself.

And it did. Big time

My usual criticism of Tears for Fears centers on the way in which they often dance with overly clean, nearly sanitary production, resulting in lack of edge that borders on "Adult Contemporary." The Tipping Point has a LOT of edge, however, in its devastatingly personal content that sees singer Roland Orbazal wrestling with the tragic death of his wife. As much as I really love the unique vibe of Alice TM’s album, and it has no lack of personally revealing lyrics, several of the songs on The Tipping Point are emotionally moving in a way that I could not ignore.

Once I accepted that perhaps The Tipping Point is superior to Little Bodies in Orbit, it really opened up for me, and I quickly came to appreciate aspects of the album that I had ignored up to that point. I might not have had this revelation if I didn’t force myself to think about it in relation to another outstanding album.