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Everybody Loves a Happy Ending is the sixth studio album by English pop rock band Tears for Fears, released on 14 September 2004 in the United States and on 7 March 2005 in the United Kingdom and Europe. It was released nine years after the previous Tears for Fears studio album, Raoul and the Kings of Spain (1995), and was the band's first album since 1989's The Seeds of Love to be recorded as a duo, as Curt Smith returned to the band.

Everybody Loves a Happy Ending
Studio album by Tears for Fears
Released	14 September 2004
Recorded	2001–2004
Studio	Charlton's Garage (Sherman Oaks, California); Sound City Studios (Van Nuys, California); O'Henry Sound Studios (Burbank, California); Old Soul Studios (Catskill, New York).
Genre	Pop rock art pop
Length	54:35
Label	New Door
Producer	Tears for Fears Charlton Pettus
Tears for Fears chronology
Saturnine Martial & Lunatic (1996) Everybody Loves a Happy Ending (2004) Secret World Live in Paris (2006)
Singles from Everybody Loves a Happy Ending
"Closest Thing to Heaven" Released: 21 February 2005 "Everybody Loves a Happy Ending/Call Me Mellow" Released: 2005

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 (namely the departure of L.A. Reid who had signed the duo) led to the band breaking ties with the label before any music was commercially released, with the record company only pressing up a number of red vinyl promos.[1] As Orzabal and Smith own the copyright, they left Arista without having to re-record the album and struck up a number of deals to release the record with various independent/heritage record labels around the world. The album eventually surfaced in the US in 2004 when it was released on the New Door label (a subsidiary of Universal Music), and in the UK in 2005 on the British independent label Gut Records. In 2020, after Orzabal and Smith signed with Irving and Jeff Azoff's Full Stop management company the record appeared on various streaming services worldwide.

According to SoundScan figures, the album had sold 99,000 copies in the US by January 2008.[2]

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."[3]

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	65/100[3]
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[4]
The Austin Chronicle	[5]
Blender	[6]
Drowned in Sound	5/10[7]
The Guardian	[8]
Mojo	[9]
Q	[10]
The Scotsman	[11]
The Times	[12]
Uncut	4/10[13]

Track listing

Notes

• "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.
• "Who You Are" is the first original song released by Tears For Fears to not credit Orzabal as a writer. A different version of the song appears on Curt Smith's solo album Halfway, Pleased, released in 2007.
• "Ladybird" quotes the English nursery rhyme "Ladybird Ladybird" in its chorus. It was the first collaboration between Smith and Orzabal since the split. Smith had presented the chorus to Orzabal, who wrote a verse to it. The first song written entirely together for the album was "Closest Thing to Heaven".[14]

Personnel

Tears for Fears

• Roland Orzabal – lead vocals, keyboards, guitars
• Curt Smith – keyboards, bass, backing vocals, lead vocals (4, 7)

Additional musicians

• Charlton Pettus – keyboards, guitars
• Kenny Siegal – guitars (4), backing vocals (5)
• Fred Eltringham – drums (1, 3-12)
• Brian Geltner – drums (4)
• Joel Peskin – baritone saxophone (9), tenor saxophone (9)
• Steve Kujala – flute (9)
• Rick Baptist – trumpet (1)
• Gary Grant – trumpet, flugelhorn (9)
• David Washburn – trumpet, flugelhorn (9)
• Alexander Giglio – backing vocals (5)
• Gwen Snyder – backing vocals (5)
• Laura Gray – crowd vocals (5)
• Julian Orzabal – crowd vocals (5)

Orchestra on "Secret World"

• Paul Buckmaster – arrangements and conductor
• Suzie Katayama – contractor
• Stefanie Fife, Barry Gold, Maurice Grants, Vahe Hayrikyan, Suzie Katayama, Miguel Martinez, Dan Smith and Rudy Stein – cello
• Gayle Levant – harp
• Bob Becker, Denyse Buffman, Roland Kato, Carole Mukogawa, Karie Prescott and Evan Wilson – viola
• Charlie Bisharat, Eve Butler, Mario DeLeon, Joel Derouin, Julian Hallmark, Armen Garabedian, Berj Garabedian, Norm Hughes, Peter Kent, Michael Markman, Robert Matsuda, Sid Page, Sandra Park, Sara Parkins, Bob Peterson, Lesa Terry, Josefina Veraga and John Wittenberg – violin

Production

• Tears for Fears – producers
• Charlton Pettus – producer, recording, drum recording (12)
• Neil Dorfsman – drum recording (1, 2, 3, 5-11)
• Tom Schick – drum recording (4), additional guitar recording (4)
• Miles Wilson – drum recording assistant
• Mark O'Donoughue – additional engineer
• Steve Churchyard – orchestra session recording (9)
• Tim Palmer – mixing at Larrabee North (North Hollywood, California)
• Andy Gwynn – mix assistant
• Pete Novak – mix assistant
• Stephen Marcussen – mastering at Marcussen Mastering (Hollywood, California, USA)
• Jayce Murphy – Nuendo programming
• Michael Kachko – product manager
• Cindi Peters – project coordinator
• Ute Friesleben – production manager
• Alan Aldridge – illustrations, logo design
• Ryan Rogers – additional design
• Zoren Gold – photography
• The Firm – management

Charts

Chart performance for Everybody Loves a Happy Ending

Chart (2004–2005)	Peak position
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[15]	57
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[16]	86
French Albums (SNEP)[17]	28
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[18]	35
Italian Albums (FIMI)[19]	68
Scottish Albums (OCC)[20]	60
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[21]	48
UK Albums (OCC)[22]	45
UK Independent Albums (OCC)[23]	10
US Billboard 200[24]	46

References

На других языках

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[de] Everybody Loves a Happy Ending

Everybody Loves a Happy Ending ist das sechste Studioalbum der britischen Band Tears for Fears. Es erschien am 14. September 2004 in den Vereinigten Staaten und am 7. März 2005 in Europa.

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- [en] Everybody Loves a Happy Ending

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[ru] Everybody Loves a Happy Ending

Everybody Loves a Happy Ending — шестой студийный альбом британской поп-рок-группы Tears for Fears, выпущенный 14 сентября 2004 года в США и 7 марта 2005 года в Великобритании и Европе. Он был выпущен примерно через девять лет после выхода предыдущего студийного альбома Tears for Fears, Raoul and the Kings of Spainruen (1995) и стал первым альбомом с участием Курта Смита со времён выхода The Seeds of Love 1989 года.

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