Everybody Loves a Happy Ending
Everybody Loves a Happy Ending is the sixth and most recent studio album by the British pop-rock band Tears for Fears, released on 14 September 2004 in the US, and 7 March 2005 in the UK and Europe. It was released some nine years after the previous Tears for Fears studio album, Raoul and the Kings of Spain, and was the first album featuring Curt Smith since 1989's The Seeds of Love.
Release
Work on the album began in 2000, after Orzabal and Smith ended their longstanding feud. The album was originally due for release in 2003 on the Arista label, but personnel changes in the label's management led to the band breaking ties with the label before any music was released. The album eventually surfaced in the US in 2004 when it was released on the New Door label, and in the UK in 2005 on the British independent label Gut Records.According to SoundScan figures, the album had sold 99,000 copies in the US by January 2008.
Reception
At Metacritic, which assigns a normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, Everybody Loves a Happy Ending has an average score of 65 based on 12 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews."Track listing
Note- "Size of Sorrow" was written by Roland Orzabal in the 1990s and was first performed live during Tears For Fears' Elemental Tour in 1993, as one of several new and unreleased songs at that time. This earlier version featured slightly different lyrics and the lead vocal was performed by vocalist/bass player Gail Ann Dorsey who was working and touring with the band at the time after the departure of Curt Smith. The studio version, as heard on this album, was sung by Smith.
- "Ladybird" quotes the English nursery rhyme "Ladybird Ladybird" in its chorus.
Personnel
- Roland Orzabal – guitars, keyboards, lead vocals
- Curt Smith – bass, keyboards, backing vocals, lead vocals
- Charlton Pettus – guitars, keyboards
- Fred Eltringham – drums
- Brian Geltner – drums
- Rick Baptist – trumpet
- Kenny Siegal – guitar, backing vocals
- Gwen Snyder – backing vocals
- Alexander Giglio – backing vocals
- Julian Orzabal – crowd vocals
- Laura Gray – crowd vocals
- Paul Buckmaster – orchestra arrangement and conducting
- Bob Becker – viola
- Charlie Bisharat – violin
- Denyse Buffman – viola
- Eve Butler – violin
- Mario de Leon – violin
- Joel Derouin – violin
- Stefanie Fife – cello
- Armen Garabedian – violin
- Berj Garabedian – violin
- Barry Gold – cello
- Gary Grant – trumpet, flugelhorn
- Maurice Grants – cello
- Julian Hallmark – violin
- Vahe Hayrikyan – cello
- Norm Hughes – violin
- Suzie Katayama – cello, contracting
- Roland Kato – viola
- Peter Kent – violin
- Steve Kujala – flute
- Gayle Levant – harp
- Michael Markman – violin
- Miguel Martinez – cello
- Robert Matsuda – violin
- Carole Mukogawa – viola
- Sid Page – violin
- Sandra Park – violin
- Sara Parkins – violin
- Joel Peskin – baritone saxophone, tenor saxophone
- Bob Peterson – violin
- Karie Prescott – viola
- Dan Smith – cello
- Rudy Stein – cello
- Lesa Terry – violin
- Josefina Veraga – violin
- David Washburn – trumpet, flugelhorn
- Evan Wilson – viola
- John Wittenberg – violin
Production
- Producers: Tears for Fears, Charlton Pettus
- Engineers: Steve Churchyard , Neil Dorfsman, Mark O'Donoughue, Charlton Pettus, Tom Schick
- Mixing: Tim Palmer
- Mastering: Stephen Marcussen
- Programming: Jayce Murphy
- Product manager: Michael Kachko; Project coordinator: Cindi Peters; Production coordination: Ute Friesleben; Assistants: Andy Gwynn, Pete Novak, Miles Wilson
- Illustrations and logo design: Alan Aldridge; Photography: Zoren Gold; Additional Design: Ryan Rogers
Charts
| Year | Single | Chart | Position |
| 2004 | "Call Me Mellow" | US Adult Top 40 | 28 |
| 2005 | "Closest Thing to Heaven" | UK Singles Chart | 40 |
| 2005 | "Closest Thing to Heaven" | UK Independent Singles | 8 |