Here Come the Tears is the only studio album by English rock band the Tears. It was released on 6 June 2005 on Independiente. Frontman Brett Anderson and guitarist Bernard Butler had found success together earlier in Suede, with Butler leaving that band after just two albums. Suede's career was on pause when the two reunited for this project. In January 2004, the pair had begun recording music together in secrecy; they decided to form the Tears with bassist Nathan Fisher, drummer Makoto Sakamoto and keyboardist Will Foster. The band had accumulated 18 demos by June 2004, after which, they started recording the album. Sessions were held across various studios with Butler as the producer and finished by October 2004. Here Come the Tears is a pop album that evokes the work of David Bowie, and was compared to Suede's second studio album Dog Man Star (1994).

Here Come the Tears received generally favourable reviews from critics, many of whom highlight the Dog Man Star comparison; some praised Anderson's lyrics, while others thought they were inferior to his lyrics with Suede. The album reached number 15 in the UK Albums Chart as the singles, "Refugees" and "Lovers" peaked at numbers nine and 24, respectively. The Tears began performing publicly in December 2004, which was followed by the album's lead single "Refugees" in April 2005. They went on a tour of the UK leading up to the album's release, which was promoted with the second single "Lovers" in June 2005. The band performed at the T in the Park and Reading and Leeds Festivals, prior to a tour of mainland Europe. "Autograph" was released as the album's third and final single in October 2005.

Background and recording

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 (1994), 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). He reunited with McAlmont for Bring It Back (2002). Anderson would visit Butler at his house to write new material.

Butler produced the sessions with Anderson acting as the executive producer; recording was held at RAK Studios, 2KHz, Alsatian Nation, West Heath Yard and Miloco Studios. Butler and Nick Terry served as engineers at Alsatian Nation, while Sebastian Lewsley did the same at West Heath Yard. They were assisted by Helen Atkinson and Richard Woodcraft at RAK, Adrian Breakspear at 2KHz, Joe Hirst and Jimmy Robertson at Miloco, and Jackson Gold at West Heath Yard. Steve Price recorded the orchestra at Angel Studios. All of the songs, bar "The Asylum", were mixed at The Strongroom with assistance from Tom Paterson; "The Asylum" was mixed at Miloco. which takes influence from the work of David Bowie, namely his albums The Man Who Sold the World (1970) and Hunky Dory (1971). 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". RTÉ's Katie Moten said Here Come the Tears lacks any kind of substantial tempo changes, bar "A Love as Strong as Death", compared to Dog Man Star, which "boasted a host of varying beats and rhythms". It evokes some of the more up-tempo, glam pop songs from Suede's catalogue, namely from their 1993 debut self-titled album, as well as later tracks such as "Trash" (1996) and "...Morning" (2002). For "Autograph", Anderson recounts his regrets about being intimate with groupies over the years. "The Ghost of You" deals with the subject of death, namely of Anderson's mother. Butler's guitars in it echo the sound of Led Zeppelin. In December 2004, the band made their live debut, marking the first time Anderson and Butler had played a show together in ten years. In February 2005, they played three shows, one of which was at the London Astoria as part of the NME Awards, where they were supported by Nine Black Alps, the Dead 60s and the Magic Numbers. On 3 March 2005, Here Come the Tears was announced for release later that year. "Refugees" was originally planned to be released as the album's lead single on 18 April 2005, before it was delayed to 25 April 2005; the 7-inch vinyl version included "Break Away". Two versions were released on CD: the first with "Southern Rain", while the second featured "Feels Like Monday", "Branded" and the music video for "Refugees". To promote it, the Tears embarked on a tour of the UK intertwined with a few in-store performances and signing events. During the Sheffield date of the trek, the band performed the Suede song "The Living Dead". The following month, they played one-off shows in London and Belfast.

Here Come the Tears was originally planned for release in May 2005, before it was delayed to 6 June 2005. The album's artwork is an image called "Guests 1998" by Christopher Bucklow. To help promote it, Anderson went on a promotional press tour across mainland Europe, and the band appeared at that year's Glastonbury and Oxegen festivals. "Lovers" was released as the album's second single three days later; the 7-inch vinyl version included "Because You're Worthless". Two versions were released on CD: the first with "Song for the Migrant Worker", while the second featured "Low-Life", "The Primitive" and the music video for "Lovers". Following this, the Tears performed at the T in the Park and Reading and Leeds Festivals, before undertaking a tour of mainland Europe. Around this, "Autograph" was released as the album's third and final single on 24 October 2005.

Reception

Here Come the Tears proved a successful comeback for Butler and Anderson as it was praised by critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album has an average score of 74 out of 100, which indicates "generally favourable reviews" based on 17 reviews. Moten said the Tears "borrow a lot from that earlier partnership", with the album coming across as "far inferior to Suede's classic collection, 'Dog Man Star. She added that the listener "ultimately come[s] away thinking Butler and Anderson haven't done anything as The Tears that they didn't do better as Suede". BBC Music's Jamie Gill at the album's best it was as "fearless and ambitious as Suede's masterpiece Dog Man Star".

The staff at Entertainment.ie said Anderson counted Butler's "epic guitar lines" by "writing his most vivid and stirring songs for over a decade". Olga Bas of This Is Fake DIY said the album's first half had a "marked lack of truly impressionable lyrics. Not to say that happy songs cannot have good wordplay," though some lines "cannot help but inspire laughter at the silliness of it all". She was more complimentary for the second half, describing it as "much more somber and melancholy". musicOMH writer John Murphy saw an improvement with Anderson's lyrics, as he's "moved onto more substantial topics". Yahoo! Music reviewer Sharon O'Connell said that Anderson was "still penning lyrics about cigarettes, coffee, mascara and magazines, like he's just beamed in from the Bronze Age", an observation that Tangari and Andy Gill of The Independent also made. Molen said that while the songs were "interesting enough," after a while, "they start to blend into each other [...] and the repetition is what affects you most".

Here Come the Tears charted at number 15 on the UK Albums Chart. "Refugees" peaked at number nine, while "Lovers" peaked at number 24. Andrew Womack, of online magazine The Morning News placed the album at number 8 in its list of the top 10 albums of 2005.

Track listing

All songs written by Brett Anderson and Bernard Butler.

The Tears

  • Brett Anderson – vocals
  • Bernard Butler – electric guitar, string arranger
  • Nathan Fisher – bass
  • Makoto Sakamoto – drums
  • Will Foster – keyboards

Additional musicians

  • Sally Herbert – string arranger, conductor, strings
  • Gini Ball – strings
  • Dinah Beamish – strings
  • Catherine Browning – strings
  • Ian Burdge – strings
  • Gillon Cameron – strings
  • Calina De La Mare – strings
  • Howard Gott – strings
  • Steve Hussey – strings
  • Jackie Norrie – strings
  • Julia Singleton – strings
  • Anne Stephenson – strings
  • Lucy Wilkins – strings
  • Chris Worsey – strings
  • Brian Wright – strings
  • Skaila Kanga – harp
  • Matthew Gunner – French horn
  • Roland Sutherland – flute

Production and design

  • Bernard Butler – producer, engineer
  • Brett Anderson – executive producer, design
  • Nick Terry – engineer
  • Sebastian Lewsley – engineer
  • Helen Atkinson – assistant
  • Richard Woodcraft – assistant
  • Adrian Breakspear – assistant
  • Tom Paterson – assistant
  • Joe Hirst – assistant
  • Jimmy Robertson – assistant
  • Jackson Gold – assistant
  • Steve Price – orchestra recording
  • Christopher Bucklow – cover image
  • Richard Bull – design, art direction
  • Hamish Brown – portrait photography

Charts

{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"

|+Chart performance for Here Come the Tears

|-

! scope="col"| Chart (2005)

! scope="col"| Peak<br />position

|-

|}

References

Citations

Sources

<!-- This is a licensed stream for the album, which is allowed under Wikipedia polices -->

  • Here Come the Tears at YouTube (streamed copy where licensed)