The Psychedelic Furs Classic or Dud

Huh, the sax is awesome! An only gets better!

okay this was good for a morning lol

you're in for crashing disappointment

I meant if pgwp disliked the sax, he better hold on loosely.

lol fair. least corny sax of the 80s tho.

Yeah, we're not talking Hot Sax(tm), we're talking skronky stuff inspired by Bowie's Berlin stuff. Regardless, Mars Williams, who toured/tours with the band a lot, has serious chops/cred.

First album is great.

It is true there are much worse instances of "hot sax" in the 80s than this. But I personally have an extremely low tolerance for the instrument when used in rock music. There are exceptions but not many. I will still give Talk Talk Talk a chance but I am bracing myself!

If you don't like that album I question not just whether you will ever like the band, but whether you will like tons of other good stuff. For me, Butler's voice alone is better than the entire catalog of many other acts. But no pressure.

Talk Talk Talk is legendary

Todd Rundgren’s production on “love my way” owns me

Josh - given your declaration, were you at the gig at the Chicago Metro with She Wants Revenge on support a few years back ?

if you were, then i am annoyed i ended up having to listen to JW whine on about how great he is as opposed to hanging out with you sir.

'a few years back' = a decade.

f*ck.

Seriously. But no, I've never seen the Psychedelic Furs. In fact, I have no idea why I didn't see their show with James last year. I love both of those bands.

I want to say they did a relatively recent tour with the English Beat as well, and it seemed like such a randomly desperate nostalgia pairing despite, as far as I've heard, both bands still being awesome live, which kind of made me kick myself for not going.

fair enough.
the show at the metro really surprised me.
richards voice sounded so good.
really surprised me.
oh, and all the band dressed head to toe in black.
no deviation at all.
gotta love such devotion.

There's no fucking reason why Made of Rain should be this assured and good.

I'm listening to the songs currently available on Spotify and holy shit

"Don't Believe" and "No One" kill. And the opener "The Boy Who Invented Rock n Roll" is their best in that field since "Forever Now."

"Come All Ye Faithful", "No One", "You'll Be Mine", and "Don't Believe" are the songs I'm listening to and, based on those four songs, this may be my favorite album of the year

Richard Butler has never lost it. Yes, he did take a detour into pop on "Midnight To Midnight" but everything else he's ever been involved with is at least very good, all worth hearing if you like his voice.

Suffice it to say I'll have more professional praise next week.

wow, Amanda Kramer is in the band now?

Very delightfully surprised to learn about all this.

And hey, Bandcamp preorder:

https://thepsychedelicfurs.bandcamp.com/

Holy shit is this good! Really interesting drumming, Richard Fortus' masterful and sympathetic production and of course Butler's presence. This is such a wonderful gift in these strange times.

no one talks about it but i low-key really love the Furs/GnR venn diagram. who could have ever predicted?

Maybe takes its foot of the gas a tad too early, but this is definitely worthy. Some serious '90s vibes to the production, which is perhaps why it also reminds me at times of ... Suede?

I love most of it.

Ooh, Alfred otm that there are some "Wish" vibes to some of this. Which is to say I guess, shoegazey sheets of guitar without being shoegaze?

"The Boy That Invented Rock n Roll" is just fabulous, what an opener.

"wow, Amanda Kramer is in the band now?" she has been for quite a while now

I bought Mirror Moves in 1986, so I'm OK with calling the 21st century "now"

"The Boy That Invented Rock n Roll" is just fabulous, what an opener.

Quite (listening to the album and that track now).

Truly one of the more amazing things about this is is the fact that since his voice *always* sounded like that, now that he's 64 years old and has kept his voice going through all the regular enough touring, it really hasn't felt like it's changed in the slightest. And that's not something that most singers can say.

If anything, the brutal touring schedule has kept it sharp and trim.

Is the soprano sax a new addition to the band's sonic arsenal?

I enjoyed your Pitchfork review, Alfred, though you seemed to like it more than the 7.0 score would imply.

The score was mine!

Really enjoying this too. Not too familiar with the Furs, tho I had the second Love Spit Love album when I was, uh, ten (why I wanted it I truly cannot say) and find myself hearing this in the context of that time. Seems a bit less sardonic, so far.

I was more curious than excited about this, but it is actually a good record! Everybody otm about Butler's deathless rasp sounding essentially unchanged. The alienation feels familiar and comforting under the circumstances, likewise the doomed melodicism.

Good songs. The productions is very 90s as pointed out above, which makes it a bit jarring (since my knowledge of the Furs mainly centers around TalkX3)

wow, this album is really beautiful! reminds me of the last Church album, shimmery production that sounds great at any volume, and as tipsy mothra says, the acid has aged like a fine whiskey, it absolutely sparkles.

Listened to some of this last night for first time. Not bad. Probably the first new P Furs I have listened to in decades.

To be fair, it's the first new Furs material in decades. The lead track, "The Boy That Invented Rock & Roll", with it's stuttering intro, should go on any best-of.

Agreed.

No lie.

Totally worthy of the band that did TTT, and that’s not nuthin.

"Ash Wednesday"! (and the rest)

I didn't realize John Ashton was fighting stage 4 prostate cancer. Apparently the band did a benefit show for him earlier this year in Woodstock, and now they're auctioning off this signed guitar (signed by Richard Butler, Tim Butler, Mars Williams, Amanda Kramer, Rich Good, Zack Alford and John Ashton):

https://entertainment.ha.com/itm/vintage-guitars-and-musical-instruments/the-psychedelic-furs-signed-schecter-electric-guitar/a/7275-85129.s?ic4=GalleryView-ShortDescription-071515

Really a tough situation, it's too advanced to operate on so he's been on chemo, hormone therapy and other things for the past year and I guess he'll be continuing treatment for the foreseeable future.

Only just noticed this news, terrible

One of my favourite rock sax guys ever, amazing tone, essential to all their best work

Slight rewind but still, fuck mortality

oh man I love those Christmas Ayler records too.

He's even adding to the din here

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kPfGwMdGHfU

Happy birthday, Richard Butler! I'd run into you like a train.

I'm seeing them next month!

I love those first 2/3 albums and although I'm not a big nostalgia boy i think I'd want to see them on the strength of that alone

They put on a great show - I saw the last tour with X before Mars Williams had to step away for cancer treatments and they were great. If you get to the front and to the very left or right, Richard will constantly walk up and kneel down and almost sing at you. (Assuming he hasn't changed his routine.)

I saw them open for Squeeze and Mars was there. Had to have been one of his last shows with them. They were great and best of all looked like they were really happy to be there. (See also: the English Beat.)

I saw them with the Jesus and Mary Chain back in November and met Elvis Telecom that night. Richard Butler still sounds amazing and they sort of move around for a bunch of 60+ year olds.

Great show last night. Hits-heavy, of course--which is what I came for, though they did a few from the newest album, which I really need to spend some more time with. Butler might have set a record for least amount of stage banter in a show I've seen (a few "thank you"s between songs and at the end was literally the extent of it) but still a dynamic performer.

I'm seeing them this autumn. I actually got the ticket because Anja Huwe of Xmal Deutschland is supporting them. I do like the Psychedelic Furs but wasn't sure if they'd be any good now so glad to see so many people have had a good time seeing them recently, now I'm really looking forward to that whole gig.

Still on a post-concert Furs kick, it turns out their setlist from the current tour--which according to setlist.fm appears to be the same for most of their current shows--makes for a good Furs sampler: https://music.apple.com/ca/playlist/setlist-the-psychedelic-furs/pl.u-LdbqrK5TxdlyMP

oh wow they're playing "In My Head" and "Forever Now"?!

Yeah, "Forever Now" was a definite highlight. Mild letdown: no "All That Money Wants." Also, nothing from Book of Days, which is kinda neither here nor there, even if that record has a couple songs I do like.

The Midnight to Midnight tour, they added alto sax to "Sleep Comes Down".. I wish they'd release a concert from that tour.