In the Randomised Record series, I take us both on an adventure to (re)discover my record collection. Fate decides: whether it be that obscure grunge album I bought recently or that emo rap record from 2017. Nothing is safe from the hands of the randomiser! I will listen to the entire album and highlight my favourite song off of it here on the blog. Do I still enjoy my records as much as when I bought ‘em? Let’s find out. Today, episode 5: ‘Songs From The Big Chair’ (1985) by Tears For Fears.

I often tell myself I should buy more classics to add to my collection. The majority of the purchases I do are those of records from after the year 2000. The only time I do find myself buying classics is either when I accidentally stumble upon one just as I was listening to it, or whenever I’m willing to spend many of my precious minutes searching through crates full of poor quality “5 for £5,-“ kind of records. Since the chances you will actually find something good are so extremely slim, the latter never really happens. Leaves us with the first scenario, which revolves all around being at the right place at the right time.

This is exactly what happened in the early stages of the year 2024, right as I was listening to Tears For Fears’ 1985 classic ‘Songs From The Big Chair’ a bit. After welcoming ‘Head Over Heels / Broken’ to the Jam of Today universe, I found myself playing this record a couple of times before coincidentally finding it in a record store, right as I was buying a gift for my partner’s birthday. “May as well buy this one too”, I told myself. 

Truth be told, I don’t listen to that many classics throughout the week. There’s just such a big amount of music on the planet that I’d rather listen to that niche thing I’d never heard of from 2022 than, let’s say, play ‘Nevermind’ again for the 50th time. Obviously, today’s album doesn’t need a very in depth review as we probably all have heard it many times in the past, but it certainly makes for a good excuse to add another massive 80s classic to the playlist.