Blu-ray: Tears for Fears The Hurting & Tipping Point blu-ray audio DOLBY ATMOS

The album features the hit singles 'Mad World', 'Change' and 'Pale Shelter', all of which reached the top five of the UK charts in 1982-3. The Hurting, written solely by Roland Orzabal, is a loose concept album focusing on themes of childhood psychological trauma and Arthur Janov’s Primal Scream therapy, the theories behind which gave the band their name. Despite its dark subject matter, the album was a huge commercial success [topping the UK charts] and continues to resonate with younger audiences.

has created a Dolby Atmos Mix and a dedicated 5.1 mix which have been approved by the band. Additionally, the blu-ray will feature a previously unreleased instrumental mix of The Hurting and two previously unreleased bonus tracks.

The story behind these bonus tracks is rather interesting. When Steven Wilson was supplied with the multi-track tapes for remixing, he came across two unreleased versions of songs from the album. These were 'Mad World' and 'Watch Me Bleed', as produced by Mike Howlett, the man responsible for the first single version of 'Pale Shelter'. Howlett's might have ended up producing the album, but his working relationship with Tears For Fears was destined to be short-lived, with Roland Orzabal explaining to this writer in 2013 [on the 30th anniversary] that "he was trying to use the LinnDrum [machine] on everything and we were not very happy". Curt also thought that "Mike was far too commercial for us" and thus Mike Howlett ultimately made way for Chris Hughes and Ross Cullum to produce The Hurting.

Aapart from the first single version of 'Pale Shelter', none of Mike Howlett's work has ever been released and indeed Roland and Curt hadn't heard these tracks themselves since they were first recorded. This is a historical find and these rarities have sat, undiscovered, in the vaults for 40 years (probably because they were never mixed to a stereo). Both songs have now been newly mixed to by Steven Wilson and are included on the Blu-ray as special bonus audio.

Audio streams available on the SDE-exclusive The Hurting Blu-ray Audio:

The Hurting – Steven Wilson 2023 Dolby Atmos mix

The Hurting - Steven Wilson 2023 DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix

The Hurting - 1983 Original Mix in stereo (details TBC)

The Hurting - Steven Wilson 2023 Instrumental mix in hi-res stereo (96/24)

And the two bonus tracks, both mixed to hi-res stereo (96/24) by Steven Wilson, are:

Mad Word (Mike Howlett Version)

Watch Me Bleed (Mike Howlett Version)