The album spawned the title hit single "Sowing the Seeds of Love",[6] as well as "Woman in Chains", and "Advice for the Young at Heart", both of which reached the top 40 in several countries.

The Seeds of Love was an international success, entering the UK Albums Chart at number one, and top ten in other countries including the United States.

In October 2020, the remastered reissue of The Seeds of Love was released in several formats including a super deluxe edition, with B-sides, remixes, and a 5.1 surround sound mix.

Holland would go on to play an integral part in the writing and recording of The Seeds of Love, much as keyboardist Ian Stanley had on the band's previous album Songs from the Big Chair.

"The song "Sowing the Seeds of Love" was written in June 1987, the same week as the UK general election in which Margaret Thatcher and the Conservative Party won a third consecutive term in office (reflected in the lyric "Politician granny with your high ideals, have you no idea how the majority feels?").

Two other singles from the album, "Woman in Chains" (recorded as a duet with Adams) and "Advice for the Young at Heart" (the only track featuring Smith on lead vocals) reached the Top 40 in UK and internationally.

Lloyd Bradley praised The Seeds of Love in Q, summarising the album as "such a radical departure from Tears for Fears' robust, anthemic pop songs of the early '80s as to make them seem irrelevant.

[13] Los Angeles Times critic Chris Willman enjoyed the first three songs but lamented the "uncharacteristically frenzied rock 'n' roll climaxes" and "underdeveloped and overwrought" lyrics among the later tracks, describing the album as overall "just so-so".

[15] Simon Williams, writing for NME, perceived The Seeds of Love as a self-consciously "'adult' and 'mature'" effort and found that Tears for Fears had "tumbled from joyful pop simplicity to cliche-ridden complexity.

[22] Appraising the 2020 reissue for Record Collector, John Earls alluded to Orzabal's "obsessive determination to achieve Steely Dan levels of technical perfection", while crediting his "melodic gifts" with preventing the album from "becoming too overblown".

[19] On the other hand, Ira Robbins of Trouser Press had praise for the title track and Adams's soulful vocals, but described the bulk of the album as "absurdly overintellectualized" and "almost impenetrable".

[23] Following the reissue campaigns of The Hurting (2013) and Songs from the Big Chair (2014), in October 2020, the remastered super deluxe edition of The Seeds of Love was released in several formats, including B-sides, remixes, 22 previously unreleased recordings, and a 5.1 surround sound mix.

[8] Paul Sinclair, founder and head editor of the website SuperDeluxeEdition, co-compiled the track listing and interviewed band members, producers and collaborators for the extensive sleeve notes of the edition.