POO/OPO: The Psychedelic Furs

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Though "Love My Way" will assuredly be the fave, I still get shivers when I hear the opening strains of "India" off the first album.

― Alex in NYC, Friday, 5 July 2002 00:00 (10 years ago) Permalink

"Pulse" off the same album is pretty fuckin' fantastic as well.

― Alex in NYC, Friday, 5 July 2002 00:00 (10 years ago) Permalink

"all that money wants" is the one i always used to play on my radio show in college.

― drake, Friday, 5 July 2002 00:00 (10 years ago) Permalink

"Imitation of Christ," "Into You Like a Train" or "All of This and Nothing" will do for starters...

― Ned Raggett, Friday, 5 July 2002 00:00 (10 years ago) Permalink

Sister Europe ("honestly")

― Jeff W, Friday, 5 July 2002 00:00 (10 years ago) Permalink

"We Love You". "I'm in love with Althea and Donna/all that shit that goes uptown top ranking". I'd never really noticed Althea and Donna before I heard this song.

― Arthur, Friday, 5 July 2002 00:00 (10 years ago) Permalink

"Here Comes Cowboys"

― A Nairn, Friday, 5 July 2002 00:00 (10 years ago) Permalink

Either "She is Mine" or "Dumb Waiters" off Talk Talk Talk, all other answers have got to be kidding

― John Darnielle, Friday, 5 July 2002 00:00 (10 years ago) Permalink

Nonsense! :-)

― Ned Raggett, Friday, 5 July 2002 00:00 (10 years ago) Permalink

"Soap Commercial", for that guitar riff alone - then "Sister Europe" most likely.

― Paul, Friday, 5 July 2002 00:00 (10 years ago) Permalink

"Run&Run" - from the opening of "Go on, get Tarzan, Go on, get Jane / Go on get Superman, Get Louis Lane.." to the cynical invitation-to-a-party end section, I can only think of about 20 other songs ever made that I find as exhilerating as this track. Shame nobody else seems to like it.

― neil, Friday, 5 July 2002 00:00 (10 years ago) Permalink

Well actually I can go with "Into You Like a Train" also but after that I must reassert that all other answers are surely just kidding :)

― John Darnielle, Friday, 5 July 2002 00:00 (10 years ago) Permalink

"Run & Run" also features some absolutely fucking outstanding bass guitar playing.

― neil, Friday, 5 July 2002 00:00 (10 years ago) Permalink

"Forever Now" and "Heaven" are great, too.

― neil, Friday, 5 July 2002 00:00 (10 years ago) Permalink

Probably "India." I still respond strongly to that intro. kind of the way Alex described it. (Since everyone seems to be picking more than one for the pick only one post, I guess my next two would be "Pretty in Pink"--album version, please--and "Mr. Jones.")

― DeRayMi, Friday, 5 July 2002 00:00 (10 years ago) Permalink

"heaven", "heartbreak beat", and of course "the ghost in you", it being the second furs song i ever heard.

― cecilia, Saturday, 6 July 2002 00:00 (10 years ago) Permalink

Has to be "India" for that intro, and that calm before that avalanche riff. I remember hearing it for the first time when Peter Powell did the top 30 album chart rundown in 1980. It was the first time I'd even heard the name Psychedelic Furs, not surprisingly (I was pre- teen !) and quite frankly it frihtened the life out of me and I wanted to hear it again and again ! I think he only played it cos it was the first track and easiest to cue up, actually.

― Darren, Saturday, 6 July 2002 00:00 (10 years ago) Permalink

When I first heard it, I heard it on a show where the DJs often mixed one song into another. At first I thought the introduction was just a different track altogether that the DJ had rather brilliantly segued into this other song. My older brother used to buy me my weird new music for birthday and Christmas gifts (Eno, Fripp, Psychedelic Furs, and I forget what else he might have bought me--I realize the first two names don't obviously go together with the last, but I discovered them all at about the same time).

― DeRayMi, Saturday, 6 July 2002 00:00 (10 years ago) Permalink

Heartbreak Beat.

― Ally, Sunday, 7 July 2002 00:00 (10 years ago) Permalink

I've always been partial to the sublimely sinister "Alice's House."

― paul, Sunday, 7 July 2002 00:00 (10 years ago) Permalink

ALL OF THIS AND NOTHING!!!!!! (Although I can also support "She Is Mine". _Talk Talk Talk_ is a ridiculously great album.)

― Dan Perry, Monday, 8 July 2002 00:00 (10 years ago) Permalink

Ally, Ally, Ally....."Heartbreak Beat"? You cannot be serious! "Heartbreak Beat" was the absolute depth of their lowest possible period, when record execs dressed up the Butler brothers in glittery Judas Priest-circa-TURBO togs and poured a keg of sickly sweet production syrup all over their heretofore dignified, classily sparse sound. Argh!

― Incredulous Alex in NYC, Monday, 8 July 2002 00:00 (10 years ago) Permalink

Actually, "Heartbreak Beat" works for me too, as a big descending ballad -- and I always love the concluding keyboard part right at the end. The rest of that album didn't happen, though. ;-)

― Ned Raggett, Monday, 8 July 2002 00:00 (10 years ago) Permalink

6 months pass...

"president gas," for the part where they steal the cello portion from Stravinsky's Rites of Spring

(i've been listening to the Furs a lot lately again for some reason)

― Tad (llamasfur), Wednesday, 15 January 2003 23:40 (10 years ago) Permalink

Love My Way. Mainstreamin' it!

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Thursday, 16 January 2003 00:18 (10 years ago) Permalink

Can I just repeat "All Of This And Nothing"?

― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Thursday, 16 January 2003 00:21 (10 years ago) Permalink

Love My Way. Mainstreamin' it!

I see your "Love My Way" and raise you a "Pretty In Pink".

― Daniel_Rf (Daniel_Rf), Thursday, 16 January 2003 00:27 (10 years ago) Permalink

I have a soft spot for "President Gas" as well, even though it used to be one of my least favourite furs songs.

I will always love "Pretty In Pink" because the associations it brings are too good and too strong.

― Kim (Kim), Thursday, 16 January 2003 00:29 (10 years ago) Permalink

P.I.P. is a likely no. 2 for me. Once again America's public reaffirms it often knows best.

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Thursday, 16 January 2003 02:24 (10 years ago) Permalink

I like all of the above. No one's mentioned 'Susan's strange', that's
also good.

... wondering if there will ever be a band called the
Entheogenic Furs.

― mu, Thursday, 16 January 2003 03:14 (10 years ago) Permalink

btw ...

- what ever happend to the furs

- anyone here ever see them live?

- anyone know more background info about the band

― mu, Thursday, 16 January 2003 03:15 (10 years ago) Permalink

Let me repeat all my answers.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 16 January 2003 03:40 (10 years ago) Permalink

so "president gas" uses stravinsky spring cellos ? i don't know, but i don't think it's a fair thing to say about any band because you might mislead a newcomer into thinking the band's like frank zappa

notwithstanding, i think that song is just as o.t.m. now as it was 20 years ago when it was loosely associated with rayguns and insanity -- seems that just as it is now, back then there was that same super annoying name that seemed to be somehow maybe the shadows of the problem, george bush

― george gosset (gegoss), Thursday, 16 January 2003 07:30 (10 years ago) Permalink

2 months pass...

I feel I should interject here, being as though I have adored the Furs for almost as long as I've been a fan of music.

The Furs' best music, IMHO, was crafted in the era of Todd Rundgren as their producer. Forever Now, I feel, is their best effort, and I never heard a song from that album that I didn't like passionately. I know, I know, I've heard the words "radio friendly pop" before, but I thought Rundgren did really well in highlighting the band's Bowie-esque modern pop sensibilities.

I do have to say that there are very few songs from the Furs that I don't like, but some of the songs post-Mirror Moves were quite... well, not up to the standards of a Talk Talk Talk, for sure. Even the band is/was aware of that -- the Furs absolutely HATED "Heartbreak Beat", and us Fursphiles recognize that Midnight to Midnight was the requisite "we'll just be rock stars now, so we're just going to f*** off and do a totally commercial album" album. Chris Kimsey [sp?] hasn't been very kind with the artists he's worked with, hasn't he?

Oh, and I didn't want the Furs to re-record "Pretty in Pink" for the movie of the same name -- I thought the original 1981 song was more than good enough. *sighs* Oh well, no one's perfect, hmmm?

― Dee the Lurker, Wednesday, 2 April 2003 18:39 (10 years ago) Permalink

2 years pass...

Madison Strays = NYC Psychedelic Furs Karaoke Tribute Band

Yet another NYC Anglophile rock band, yet another US band that launch their music in the UK first. This lot go by the name of Madison Strays - their debut single "Last Train" is released on May 16th in the UK. It's already picking up airplay on 6 Music and apparently Radio 1 - they sound like a complete rip off of The Psychedelic Furs.

You can listen to the track on Myspace.com

― DJ Martian (djmartian), Monday, 2 May 2005 13:42 (8 years ago) Permalink

"She Is Mine."

Whoever Dee the Lurker is, he was spot-on about the virtues of "Forever Now" and especially re Todd Rundgren'ss production. I only bought it four months ago and now think it rivals "Talk Talk Talk."

― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Monday, 2 May 2005 14:02 (8 years ago) Permalink

Madison Strays = NYC Psychedelic Furs Karaoke Tribute Band

I was really, really, really hoping you meant this literally.

― The Good Dr. Bill (The Good Dr. Bill), Monday, 2 May 2005 14:04 (8 years ago) Permalink

YOU DIDN'T LEAVE ME ANYTHING THAT I CAN UNDERSTAND
GIRL I DIDN'T MEAN THAT STUFF I WANT TO TURN YOU ON

― The Ghost of Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Monday, 2 May 2005 14:05 (8 years ago) Permalink

Madison Strays apparently have a song called "Imitation of Psychedelic Furs" instead of "Imitation of Christ"

― DJ Martian (djmartian), Monday, 2 May 2005 14:10 (8 years ago) Permalink

ILM NewYorkers: are you aware of this band?

― DJ Martian (djmartian), Monday, 2 May 2005 14:12 (8 years ago) Permalink

― dan. (dan.), Monday, 2 May 2005 14:42 (8 years ago) Permalink

Where is the 00s alternative band that steals the Psychedelic Furs sound? We've got Gang of Four, a zillion Cure soundalikes, plenty of Echo and the Bunnymen--yet nobody wants to sound like the Furs. It's a shame.

OPO: All That Money Wants

― kornrulez6969 (TCBeing), Monday, 2 May 2005 15:32 (8 years ago) Permalink

"Heartbreak Beat," because I have a thing about songs that are about listening to music.

― Lyra Jane (Lyra Jane), Monday, 2 May 2005 15:39 (8 years ago) Permalink

"India"

― Myonga Von Bontee (Myonga Von Bontee), Monday, 2 May 2005 16:19 (8 years ago) Permalink

Mr. Perry is a wise individual.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 2 May 2005 16:32 (8 years ago) Permalink

Definitely Ghost in You.

In belated answer to mu: I must confess that I saw them a few years ago on the nostalgia tour B-52s/Furs/GoGos.

Phear my eightiesness, y'all.

― The Mad Puffin, Monday, 2 May 2005 19:07 (8 years ago) Permalink

Definitely, "Until She Comes"

― daavid (daavid), Monday, 2 May 2005 19:52 (8 years ago) Permalink

"Heaven"

― Seb (Seb), Monday, 2 May 2005 20:16 (8 years ago) Permalink

"Highwire Days" by a considerable margin. Then PIP (original version ffs) then Sister Europe

― Aaron A., Monday, 2 May 2005 20:59 (8 years ago) Permalink

I opened this thread confidently thinking "I bet no-one else will have chosen "Run And Run"...."

So: either "Run And Run" or "India".

― Stewart Osborne (Stewart Osborne), Tuesday, 3 May 2005 09:08 (8 years ago) Permalink

"Where is the 00s alternative band that steals the Psychedelic Furs sound? We've got Gang of Four, a zillion Cure soundalikes, plenty of Echo and the Bunnymen--yet nobody wants to sound like the Furs. It's a shame."

On the BBC Ceefax review of the Killers new single, the writer says they wear their Psychedelic Furs influence on the sleeve and that the singer "even sounds like Richard Butler at times".

Can't see it myself. He's a bit more whiney then sneering.

Oh, and I'll have "So Run Down", for the bit where Butler barks 'I get some clerk/talk, talk, talk, talk'.

― Peteski, Tuesday, 3 May 2005 09:22 (8 years ago) Permalink

A singer sounding like Butler: I'd say the one in British Sea Power is doing this way more obvious than the Killers' singer.

― willem (willem), Tuesday, 3 May 2005 09:55 (8 years ago) Permalink

3 weeks pass...

Whoa. The guitar player in Madison Strays used to play in a Canadian band in the early to mid-nineties called Red Autumn Fall. RAF wore their Smiths and Cure influences on their sleeves BIG TIME.

― Brooker Buckingham (Brooker B), Thursday, 26 May 2005 14:54 (7 years ago) Permalink

Will anyone defend "Midnight to Midnight"?

― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Thursday, 26 May 2005 15:35 (7 years ago) Permalink

"She Is Mine"

― TV's Mr Noodle Vague (noodle vague), Thursday, 26 May 2005 16:19 (7 years ago) Permalink

6 years pass...

how many times can one person repeat themselves on one thread?

anyway, I fucking love that song still

― THIS TRADE SERVES ZERO FOOTBALL PURPOSE (DJP), Wednesday, 28 March 2012 21:26 (1 year ago) Permalink

Of the later albums, I'll pick "There's A World". It has that epic sweep and Richard's wonderful croon but with a touch of menace that puts it over the top.

― Gerald McBoing-Boing, Wednesday, 28 March 2012 21:43 (1 year ago) Permalink

So many great songs.

I'm thinking the albums would go something like this:

Talk Talk Talk (classic)
Forever Now (classic)

then...

Psychedelic Furs
Mirror Moves (some great songs - production so-so)
World Outside (this one, BoD and MM can switch places depending on the day)
Book Of Days

and...

Midnight to Midnight (ooof)

― mr.raffles, Wednesday, 28 March 2012 21:57 (1 year ago) Permalink

6 months pass...

Heaven - such a great song, and video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_O90A0G8lA&feature=related

― Campari G&T, Sunday, 21 October 2012 23:07 (7 months ago) Permalink

poor Butler -- he looks cold!

― the ones that I'm near most: fellow outcasts and ilxors (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 21 October 2012 23:09 (7 months ago) Permalink

admirable of him to carry on with the video shoot though, despite it being such a rainy day.

― Campari G&T, Sunday, 21 October 2012 23:48 (7 months ago) Permalink

How are they live in 2012? I haven't seen 'em since the early 80s.

― curmudgeon, Monday, 22 October 2012 15:52 (7 months ago) Permalink

Anyone seen Blondie or the Psychedelic Furs this year?

I guess I should read this thread

― curmudgeon, Wednesday, 24 October 2012 03:45 (7 months ago) Permalink

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