Best Psychedelic Furs Album

Forever Now sucks? Really? It and Talk Talk Talk are neck in neck for my vote. Ornate, if not downright florid in points, with their best songwriting. Todd Rundgren's best pop production until Skylarking.

@Alfred: Mirror Moves was a serious high school jam for me. The earlier ones might have more substance or critical moments, and I actually like every Furs album besides M2M and most of World Outside, but Mirror Moves is a sentimental fave.

All of This and Nothing truly is one of the great comps: a must-own, and "All That Money Wants" is one of the best new tracks appended to a comp (maybe it IS their best album).

I really dislike Forever Now, but I'm old as the hills: I was an excited fan hoping for something even more awesome than Talk Talk Talk and instead the blur of guitar noise had been sheened over and the vocals were recorded all "listen to what the man has to SAY!" instead of fading into the overall gooey morass - Talk Talk Talk was weird and brave and creative, Forever Now has its moments but is a weak followup imo

Talk Talk Talk was already slicker than the s/t debut, so I didn't mind them going further in that direction with Forever Now. The first three are all good but Alfred otm about All of This and Nothing so that's what I voted for.

i went with the first album as that is the one that had the most impact on me. really have no problem with any of the catalogue though.saw them in 1981/82 at the commodore in vancouver which was great too.

Talk, Talk, Talk is, I am pretty sure, the record that I have played the most in my life. It is special to me for so many reasons (soundtrack to my angst filled high school years, first make-out record, record that I smoked the most pot listening to, etc, etc.)

Saw them live on that tour as well; still one of my fave shows ever.

There's not a bad song on that record.

I was also let down a bit by "Forever Now" but haven't heard it in years. Maybe it's time for a reassessment.

The heady swirl of Forever Now's title track may be my favorite P-Furs moment.

As for Mirror Moves, the second side is pretty weak, but the first smokes. According to AllMusic, there's a Shep Pettibone remix of "Heartbeat." Anyone heard it?

Gasp! "Alice's House" is probably my favorite Furs song of all.

Tough choice between the first two, but I had to go with Talk Talk Talk.

_Should God Forget_ is an even better comp - it showed me how much they recovered after M2M. There are days when the best of their last 2 albums is my favorite stuff.

Gasp! "Alice's House" is probably my favorite Furs song of all.

The demo on Forever Now is even better.

What songs are worth listening to after MTM? All I know are "Until She Comes" and "Should God Forget."

Have you not heard Book of Days, Alfred? That needs to be remedied, like, asap.

all I have is the self-titled, i thought it was pretty good, not amazing. how does it compare to their other stuff?

Their later stuff is less woozy.

Alfred's introduction reminds me of that old Neil Young song: "Even Richard Butler has got soul."

AFter *Talk Talk Talk* I only know singles, but based on those, I hear them as a band in serious decline from that point forward. I don't mind a few later songs, but the sound of those first two records is so much what attracted me to them in the first place.

This should be Talk Talk Talk by a landslide.

Really? I went for the first album, but that probably has to do with my having the first one around age 17, and not actually picking up Talk Talk Talk until ... post-college, anyway.

Alfred Book of Days is third best after the first two

seriously

I was very disappointed with Forever Now when it came out, and then the next album really put the seal of certainty on my feeling that they had jumped the shark.

I've always assumed that M2M was their jump-the-shark moment, which Butler acknowledged as such.

yeah but Forever Now really...if you were into Talk Talk Talk and you weren't disappointed with Forever Now then what was you smokin' at the time, they didn't even have weed like that then. The drop in quality was just enormous, despite a great title track.

"LOVE MY WAY"! "PRESIDENT GAS!" "DANGER"!

Stepping onto a poll thread for once -- John D. OTM on Forever Now being a step down compared to Talk Talk Talk, though I might be kinder to it on the AMG review I did, I can't remember (and almost don't want to look).

"Love My Way" just wasn't as good as "Pretty in Pink" OR "Into You Like a Train," and the way the vox were treated on the whole FN album was so much less cool & different from the sort of undifferentiated blur of disaffection that governed the first two: it was boring, and his singing style was exaggerated, like he didn't trust the listener to hear what he was trying to do so he had to really spell it out. (In short, the Bowie emulation got more pronounced.) "President Gas" & "Danger" were just huge embarrassments to me - well beneath a band that only a year or so before had been writing stuff like "She Is Mine," which looks down at the entirety of Forever Now from a very great height

I guess we simply disagree, John, especially about "President Gas," which more and more seems like one of the crucial political songs of the first half of the decade -- simultaneously ambivalent, muscular, and sinister -- and the chord/tempo change from the verses to the chorus is quite wonderful.

(but, yeah, "She Is Mine" is their greatest love/hate song; I don't think they ever topped the first 25 seconds).

More like President Ass.

Book of Days is massively underrated for sure - "Torch" is one of their best songs ever, period, and the overall darkness and moodiness of the record was a return to form.

sorry, john, but the phrase "return to form" is copyrighted by paul maccartney (or is it dylan?)

this thread could easily morph into "Defend the Indefensible: Keith Forsey"

talk talk talk is the obvious classic, s/t the only-slightly-less-obvious classic, mirror moves the underrated wild card, forever now better than sell-out complaints suggest (but still the weakest of the four). i'm voting for mirror moves just to keep it from being too lopsided.

I love _Talk Talk Talk_; and _Psychedelic Furs_ has a great gritty intensity and energy. But I also think _Forever Now_ and _Mirror Moves_ have some great stuff on. As has been said above, _Book of Days_ is also top, and I used to really like _World Outside_ too. Hmmm, I think I'm going to spend the rest of the say listening to the Psychedelic Furs, so thanks for starting the poll!!

Oh god how did I come to this thread so late. "Psychedelic Furs" is like the batsignal to me... sigh...

TALK TALK TALK ftw obviously, but BOOK OF DAYS is awfully close. Alfred, if you haven't heard it you really must. And know going in it's a serious grower. If you're bored the first time and it all sounds the same, it's working.

"Run And Run" alone... hell, the opening and first verse verse of "Run And Run" alone should be enough to keep FOREVER NOW from ignominy, though I understand the disappointment in the Rundgren move, and "Love My Way" is a really sorry single for the Furs to be known by. Still, "Run And Run." I haven't listened to it in probably two years and I still remember the guitar solo note for note.

But the real dark horse here is MIDNIGHT TO MIDNIGHT. Look past the unfortunate production and there's a seriously great raft of songs there - maybe even their best collection front-to-back. And if I could get the search to work right I'd post my back-in-the-days rants to that effect...

The X factor in all this: Vince Ely. I can't prove it, but note that when he came back so did the Furs ("All That Money Wants," BOOK OF DAYS).

Oh, and BOOK OF DAYS gets my vote. In a sane world, it would have been their ACHTUNG BABY.

PS - how weird is it that there is now only one degree of musical separation between Richard Butler and Axl Rose?

One song from <i>Forever Now</i> I haven't seen anyone make note of is "Only You and I." Best song on that record, no question. It's always the one that pops in my head and makes me want to hear the whole record, and I'm always slightly disappointed.

(props to "Run and Run," though)

haha your primitive tags are no good here

Ha, I forgot to hit the convert button.

"Sleep Comes Down" is quite good too.

Now I need to hear Book of Days.

I went with the debut, easy. Talk Talk Talk would be second; Forever Now third. My hunch is that they're one of those bands that got progressively more bland and less interesting with each subsequent album, but I can't say I've actually been keeping up with the last however-many-albums-I-haven't-kept-up-with.

"So Run Down"
"Into You Like A Train"
"All Of This And Nothing"
"She Is Mine"
"Dumb Waiters"
"Pretty In Punk"

COME ON PEOPLE THIS IS REALLY KIND OF OBVIOUS

If only it was "Pretty in Punk"

It should be noted that the Rapture do a fantastic version of "Dumb Waiters," and that I think some emo band somewhere should have long figured out that covering "All of This and Nothing" would be a good idea (if not necessarily a good end result).

Is there a collection of B-sides anywhere? I am particulary looking for the song Aeroplane. Their version of "Mack the Knife" as well.

I had several fantastic 7" that I got rid of (don't ask.) It still kills me.

"Aeroplane" is on the Forever Now re-issue (yet another reason to buy the album) and on that B-side comp.

"She Is Mine" is a great song, but I've always hated the line "I had to pay a muscle man, to get me off the floor"...I mean, Richard Butler?!...his own granny could probably snatch him up in one hand...

Isn't it self-deprecation? Butler's voice reeks of irony.

Talk Talk Talk

still in my top 200 all-time.

Is there a collection of B-sides anywhere?

Allmusic.com is your friend. _B-Sides & Lost Grooves_ has "Aeroplane" but the Furs weren't much of a b-side band. That comp is mostly alternate versions. "Mack The Knife" is on the reissue of their debut.

I'll probably get skewered for this, but I absolutely adored his Love Spit Love albums and solo album as well. LSL is one of those artistic stretches that really works for me, the grungey guitars with Richard's smoky vocals, and lyrically I feel they're strong as well.

I actually saw LSL on their first tour, small club date. Fun time, he seemed relaxed!

the first LSL album was fuckin' awesome

the second one considerably less so

Ecstatic nihilism maybe

Anyone seen them live lately? Worth going to?

Here's a setlist from their NYC show last fall. From a review I read of a gig from last weekend, the set is very similar.

1. Love My Way
2. Heartbeat
3. Like a Stranger
4. President Gas
5. The Ghost in You
6. In My Head
7. All of This and Nothing
8. Believe (Love Spit Love cover)
9. Pretty in Pink
10. No Easy Street
11. Sister Europe
12. It Goes On
13. I Don't Want to Be Your Shadow
14. Heaven
Encore:
15. She Is Mine
16. Forever Now

Songs 11-16 represent an unbroken string of awesomeness.

so i'm going to see The Psychedelic Furs tomorrow night 7/12/2013. anyone seen them lately, are they any good these days?

puts on All of This and Nothing, should have played this weeks ago.

I saw them a few years ago, they were fun. The Butler boys were still really into it. Felt very much a nostalgia show, but that's OK.

Yeah, they're one of those great lingering bands, like the English Beat, who get stuck on unbalanced nostalgia bills. Like, Tonight, the English Beat, with Kajagoogoo! Or See the P Furs ... with the Romantics!

I started a thread almost identical to your question a long time ago. Too bad I've still never seen The Furs since the show got rained out. I did see Blondie in 2011, though, and it was a good time.

Anyone seen Blondie or the Psychedelic Furs this year?

that 2004 thread was before before my time. loved reading it.

this comp is OK, not great. sort of understand why i wasn't a huge fan.

so i decided to put on Talk Talk Talk on Spotify right after the comp. my faith is restored, hell yeah if they have this kind of energy i could have a great time.

unbalanced nostalgia bills

like when they toured the us a few years ago with the happy mondays.

oh wow, the Happy Mondays are great. even if it was for a brief moment in time.

lol

The Rock ‘n’ Roll San Diego Marathon and Half Marathon Post-Race Concert

Who: The Psychedelic Furs, with ZB Savoy & The Chivalry

When: Sunday — Psychedelic Furs play at 10:30 a.m.

i didn't remember Talk Talk Talk being this good.

i'm an albums person and nights like this reinforce that. albums are what make music my greatest passion.

talk talk talk is at least that good tbh.

ps did Alfred ever check out Book of Days?

back to the Mondays for a second. i was in the so called goth stage and started to hear of some dance movement. somehow convinced my friends to go along with it. the tour was called Call the Cops with Adamski and 808 State opening. legendary night, changed my life to be honest. the purity of it all was realized but that might have had more to do with the ecstasy i was on. Yin and Yang.

can you tell i'm off tomorrow?

lol, how did i not bump my own thread?

Happy Mondays and the Psychedelic Furs 2009 tour

Alfred adores "House."

First three Furs albums are untouchable They're awesome to hold in store for people who think the band some mere new wave has-been or also-ran. For a while, this band had it going on.

The best bits of all subsequent albums are top notch as well, but yeah the consistency of the first three is fantastic. Richard's voice, the blurty sax and the overall vibe is really transportive.

brilliant band.
saw them a few years ago live in chicago.
i wept it was so good (then again, that could have been a surge of homesickness ... )
love how the whole band wear black.
no deviations from the form.
and richards vocals were fucking amazingly on form ...
in summary : highly recommended if you have any love for this bands catalogue.

so i'm off should be fun.

I love the first three albums like I'd love the children I don't hae.

glad you finally got around to book of days. think imma listen to torch right now.

the guy who plays jaime lannister on 'game of thrones' sounds like he's basing his speech patterns on richard butler's vocals, particularly "president gas"

i had a good time last night and was an alright show. they seem to play all of their hits. was really hoping to hear "Alice's House" but that didn't happen. they came back with their encore and played "Pretty In Pink." Richard Butler looks great is fit and in great health. his voice has held up very well. would have loved to of seen them around 30 years ago, i bet they rocked.

At risk of bragging, I did see them (almost) 30 years ago when Mirror Moves was released. By far the best sounding show I saw that year. I wasn't really a huge fan at the time, the glossy production on MM really put me off - I really just went to see The Bangles who were opening. Glad I stuck around. Guitarist Jon Ashton had more equipment on stage than all of King Crimson combined.

Taking sides: stupid vs love.

I won't even try to find the right superlative for All of This and Nothing, it's simply essential

^^^ I should've written that line

these always rule but this one's a real public service

What's everyone's view on Love Spit Love?

I adore both albums unreservedly.

I haven't listened to either LSL album in a long time, but I love "Fall On Tears" (from the second album) as much as any Furs song.

I, too, love "Until She Comes".

might quibble about the order of 2-4 but there's almost nothing between them to me. the album experience for the first 3 must be quite different depending on US/UK because of the weird and obviously wrong tracklistings chosen in the US

The re-sequencing of the first album especially is...bizarre.

1st LSL is very very good iirc, second one much less so

...well, no, though, looking up the Trysome Eatone track listing -- "Long Long Time" is real good, "Fall on Tears" is real real good, and "It Hurts When I Laugh" is real good -- if I can remember all those melodies from a very minor album all these years later, that speaks in their favor to me

1st LSL is very very good iirc, second one much less so

Love Spit Love is brilliant. It's Richard reclaiming his lyrical crown and working with a band that nails the unique vibe he generates. Richard Fortus' touches with cello and mandolin and the sort of circus organ of Jon Brion creates a sound that is both aggressive and comforting. Their cover of "How Soon Is Now", a track that some days I could name as my single favorite song ever, is wonderful.

"Book of Days", damn, this song.

SHE'S 24 AND FEELS IT
LIKE A WASTED YEAR
FOR EVERY DAY THAT PASSES
SHE IS LEAVING ONE DAY
ONE DAY NEVER COMES

THIS ROAD IS POISON

I mean, I’m on the record re: Book of Days...

I ended up picking up "Book Of Days" and "World Outside" and really rate them. It's not surprising that not many even know them, all it takes is one bad album and the rats flee the ship and miss out on later excellent work (Gang Of Four, Killing Joke, etc.)