Let's Rank All The Psychedelic Furs Albums!
I’ve covered a bunch of my favorite “first wave” bands here at the snobbery but I still have a handful to go, and it’s time for the Butler Bros and company… The Psychedelic Furs!
I’ve seen the Furs at least a half dozen times live going back to June 2nd, 1987 at the Fox Theater in Detroit on the Midnight to Midnight tour, and I even saw the Love Spit Love offshoot at Industry in Pontiac in 1994. As a side note, the two Love Spit Love albums are just as good as Psychedelic Furs albums and would be towards the top of this list, but alas they will not be included here.
The Furs were a frustrating band for quite some time because when they reformed in 2000 after the Love Spit Love years they toured for TWENTY years without releasing a new album. 824 shows. As……yes, an oldies act. That’s what you become when you do that. They were the only band out of all of them from that era to do that. Even The Cure didn’t do that… The Cure played 263 shows over the course of 13 years without a new album to support - and keep in mind they had 13 albums along with more EPs, singles and B-sides to pull from. The Furs had 7 albums of material to play over and over and over again and even then they barely touched three of them. Not even close.
So when The Furs finally released a new LP in 2020 (albeit without original guitar beast John Ashton) there was no guarantee on what we’d get. Now, don’t get me wrong. Every time you see the Furs live they do kick ass. They are consummate pros and Richard Butler is an amazing showman and frontman. And thankfully they delivered a great new LP, and put themselves back in the category of active band. And if I’ve been harsh in my comments so far, let’s still be clear: I LOVE THIS BAND. You won’t hear much negative talk from here on out… So with that said, let’s rank their 8 albums.
A couple of ground rules as usual. As mentioned before, no Love Spit Love albums, and no live albums or collections. If you are inclined to purchase any of these you can click on the album cover and use my Amazon affiliate links to get them. I may receive a small commission if you do.
Let’s Rank All The Psychedelic Furs Albums!
The Psychedelic Furs - Book Of Days - Sony UK
8. Book Of Days (1989) Book Of Days was the band’s response to what they felt was a bit of a sellout they were pushed into by the label on Midnight to Midnight two years before. But this album is still really good. There isn’t a bad or really even an average Furs album. Every album is good at worst. This one is less overtly melodic and polished than Midnight to Midnight. You don’t really hear a lot of (if any) keyboards or any sax here. Just kind of dark and dense with a lot of feedback drenched guitar. But all of the things that make this the least accessible Furs album are indeed part of its charm. The exception - either a concession to needing a single or just them not being able to help themselves in coming up with something pretty, is the second single and minor hit which got a little play on MTV, House. Torch is a nice mostly acoustic guitar/cello number but even Torch has an ominous undertone thing happening. What’s kind of funny is that this still sounds like The Psychedelic Furs throughout - Richard Butler sings with his signature phrasing, but on a song like Parade it’s just deliberately….dour. But that also kinda makes it cool. Not the album to start with, but once in a while I’ll come back to it.
The Psychedelic Furs - World Outside - Columbia
7. World Outside (1991) The last album before putting the brand on ice for the rest of the grunge decade. It’s a bit of a bounce back and happy medium between Midnight to Midnight and Book Of Days. More melodic but not so ultra shiny. For example, Get A Room sounds like a sequel to Torch but it’s definitely a little prettier. Sometimes is flat out gorgeous and the single Until She Comes is really solid. My other faves here start with the opener Valentine which is almost a bit….heavy (?) in a great way - it kicks ass. Tearing Down which at 5:23 is the longest track and feels like the centerpiece with some great extended jamming, and the laid back closer All About You. There are a couple duds here for me that keep it from being elite like Don’t Be A Girl which as a single was a…..choice, and Better Days which sounds like they’re forcing it. Overall a winner though, and a bummer not only that they called it quits at this point but it’s the last studio album with John Ashton on it.
The Psychedelic Furs - Made Of Rain - Cooking Vinyl
6. Made Of Rain (2020) The comeback. No signs of rust here and refreshingly this album has some new sounds on it - it’s not just rewrite of the “Furs sound” while still sounding like no one BUT the Furs. I hope they do this again because there is clearly still magic there. Of course they never really left, they just stopped creating as a band, so it’s great to hear them inspired again. Rich Good replaced John Ashton on guitar around 2009 and has been the guy since and he’s solid. The lineup has been pretty stable with Amanda Kramer on keys for over 20 years now, and this is the last release with Mars Williams who sadly passed away after a battle with cancer in 2023. As for the songs it’s funny that I’ve never thought about the Velvet Underground influence in the Furs music very much even though it’s very clearly there, and you hear a nod to Venus In Furs (yes, that’s where they took their name from) in the droning sounds of the brilliant second single You’ll Be Mine. Opener The Boy That Invented Rock & Roll, Don’t Believe and Come All Ye Faithful (and no it’s not that one) are all highlights. This album could easily be higher on this list - the order was tough to settle on. I could have swapped it with Midnight to Midnight at 4 and kept the debut right between, but I’m sticking to this order with my personal (and maybe even guilty) love for Midnight to Midnight taking priority - it’s my snobbery.
The Psychedelic Furs - Legacy
5. The Psychedelic Furs (1980) The debut starts with as good of an opener for a new band as you can find with the incredible India. The buildup is so long and it’s damn effective - you can bask in it while you savor the beginning and the blast that’s coming with Tim Butler’s bass, John Ashton’s snarling guitar and Richard Butler’s manic full on cracking-gravel (is that a thing?) voice declaring that India is his “love song”… “INdiaaHUHHHHHH!!!!” It’s great to hear the band at their young and hungriest - still a little raw in spots but not suffering too much for it - still fully arrived and fully realized. Sister Europe is another highlight (Foo Fighters covered it) which is an effective crawl where you first notice that sometimes he sounds like Bowie. Susan’s Strange, We Love You, Imitation of Christ - all gems.
The Psychedelic Furs - Midnight to Midnight - Legacy
4. Midnight To Midnight (1987) The Furs never had commercial “hits” per se - yes they had well known songs, but strictly speaking by the numbers their biggest hit on the “Billboard Hot 100” was Heartbreak Beat from this album at 26th. This album was a deliberate push for mainstream success so yes, it was a sellout strictly speaking. But, it’s great - and I’ll not allow any slander of it here. You can indeed hear it right away with the echo on the vocals and just the layered big sound and that keyboard doubling his “feels like love” and “world don’t stop” in the verses, the big horns on the big choruses by the late, great Mars Williams (what a showman) - all of it. But it’s all…..great! In fact all of these songs are great - it bums me out that Richard Butler called this album “hollow, vapid & weak.” What can I say, I was 16 and this one meant a lot to me. I love Shadow In My Heart, Angels Don’t Cry, the title track - these are some of my favorite Furs songs.
The Psychedelic Furs - Mirror Moves - Sony UK
3. Mirror Moves (1984) The strange thing about this one is I find that much of it kind of sounds the same, which might not sound like a ringing endorsement but it works well as a mood. This album doesn’t have much of an edge as a whole - where it shines in in the beauty of some of these tracks like the amazingly gorgeous opener The Ghost In You. It just feels GOOD. Probably their prettiest song and in the convo for the whole genre. This song should have been bigger. Here’s an acoustic performance of it from 2010 that I just found - Richard’s performance here gives me chills. Here Come Cowboys is awesome too - we haven’t talked about Richard Butler’s phrasing which is unique - the way he leaves sentences dangling - he loves doing that. “It gets so hard at times…..to take it serious. It really gets to be a drag when…..all you really need is love.” I love it and it makes it fun to sing in the car hehe… And by the way if The Ghost In You is the prettiest Furs song then maybe Heaven is number two? Heartbeat with that awesome sax intro, Like A Stranger which is also such a great melody with the fun horn during the chorus… yeah the songwriting is totally on point here. Only A Game and High Wire Days are great for the finish.
The Psychedelic Furs - Forever Now - Legacy
2. Forever Now (1982) The top two albums on this list are a toss up for me. After working with Steve Lillywhite on the first two albums, Todd Rundgren was brought in for the third album which also saw the departure of a couple original members of the band in original sax player Duncan Kilburn and second guitarist Roger Morris. Rundgren brought a new level of experience to the band and some people still feel this ended up being a bit of selling out but I’ve never heard it. How many times can a band be accused of selling out just because they’re trying to improve the craft? KISS legitimately sold out about 15 separate times but it was because they were deliberately chasing the money and the trends at all costs. My point with the Furs is that they never made a bad album, nor did they ever make one that strayed that far from what the Furs sound like. I don’t hear “sellout” with the Furs - I just don’t. The opening title track is an anthem - pure Furs and one of my favorites. Such a great chorus! Love My Way is also perhaps their definitive single of the 80’s - yeah I know the case is obviously there for Pretty In Pink for obvious reasons but Love My Way with that iconic marimba hook (played by Rundgren) is in the conversation. It was also on MTV a TON back in the day. They’ve opened with Only You And I a couple times which is SUCH a cool opener - “Bang Bang BYE BYE!!!!” Everything here is fantastic. President Gas couldn’t BE more relevant today as a cynical and searing take on the government and it’s a great song - what a great riff with the extended instrumental break in the middle which is just sublime. Run And Run with those lyrics - who the heck is “Hamburger Mary?” Lol… No Easy Street and Yes I Do are another strong double shot to finish.
The Psychedelic Furs - Talk Talk Talk - Legacy
1. Talk Talk Talk (1981) I’ll put this one at the top because it does seem to be that single moment where they took a big leap forward before things started to change with lineups, labels, producers etc, and it’s John Ashton’s moment at his most potent on guitar throughout. But it’s not like it’s by a mile. The top three albums on this list are really the peak era. Of course here we start with the original version of Pretty In Pink, and I say original version because much of the world was introduced to this song when it was redone for the John Hughes film with horns and more polish. Richard Butler and Steve Lillywhite’s recollections in this interview piece are fascinating. Not surprisingly, neither of them like the rerecording and Butler said the movie, while inspired by the song, actually has nothing to do with the song. Mr. Jones is a killer - a chugging banger of aggression that just kicks ASS. What a riff, and there’s a moment at about the 3:28 mark as Richard wraps up a howling vocal sequence of “AaAaAaAaAaAaAaAaAallllllllllllllright now….” where the dissonant noise is backed out and the band just JAMS for the last 30 seconds. Hell yes. No Tears is really nice, and Duncan Kilburn gets credit for the great sax solo here. I was given a whole new appreciation for Dumb Waiters when I saw them close with it live - they jammed it out removing players one by one until there were only drums. It was so cool and you can hear that version on the 2001 live release Beautiful Chaos: Live where it’s almost 7 minutes long (the studio version is only 5:06). While this album has a ton of energy though, as you’ll generally find on all Furs albums it’s not just all aggression which would never suit them. She Is Mine is a beauty, and the closer All Of This And Nothing gives them space to stretch out some with some very cool acoustic interludes. Into You Like A Train and So Run Down are also awesome. So yep, Talk Talk Talk is on top but it’s really a tie for me with Forever Now as I mentioned before. You can’t go wrong with either one as your starting point, or even just going chronologically will serve you well to get the story as it unfolded.
So there you have it! Thoughts? Feel free to chime in with your comments!
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