For this part of the In Depth series, we look at the life and times of new wave legends, the Psychedelic Furs.
You can imagine, being the son of a communist research chemist and an artist, and then going to art school himself, that it was perhaps somewhat inevitable that Richard Butler would end up in a band.
We first find the band rehearsing in the Butler's front room in southwest London, at the height of punk in 1977. You can imagine that didn't last very long and they were kicked out due to the noise of rehearsals.
For this enterprise, Richard was joined by younger brother Tim on bass. Initially called RKO, then Radio, the pair were augmented by Paul Wilson on drums, Roger Morris on guitar and Duncan Kilburn on saxophone. They hadn't intended to include sax in their sound, but Duncan was a friend of Roger's and turned up to a rehearsal one time with him. The name changed one more time - they considered being The Europeans - but settled on the Psychedelic Furs and so the story begins.
Psychedelic Furs
Even before they got a record deal and got around to making records, Wilson left, to be replaced on drums by Vince Ely, and John Ashton joined as a second guitarist, bringing them up to a sextet.
The self-title debut album was produced mostly by Steve Lillywhite in 1980 (he would also produce one other notable debut that year - by working with a certain Irish four piece called U2 on their Boy album), but several tracks were produced by Martin Hannett. The album made Rolling Stone's Top 80 of 1980.
Tim Butler later told Ink19 that the bands sound was a combination of Roxy Music and the Sex Pistols. AllMusic says of them at this time, that they have, "a healthy fascination for late-70s Bowie (and in turn, for his own attraction to Krautrock) the then sextet kicked up a slightly monochromatic but still attractive storm on their debut."
Talk, Talk, Talk
Steve Lillywhite was back at the helm for the Furs' second album, Talk, Talk, Talk. This one was released in 1981 and made a bit of a dent in the US, reaching number 89 on the Billboard chart. AllMusic noted the change, pointing out with this album that, "the Furs introduce a brighter, poppier side to their underground rock edge."
Disruption & Forever Now
Before they could get to making a third album, Morris and Kilburn left the band somewhat abruptly. John Ashton noted of this time between the albums, that it was, "a bit of a dark period in the bands history."
Steve Lillywhite was too busy to produce a third time; Columbia were interested in possibly matching them up with David Bowie, who was known to be a fan - but he was a busy man and the band did not want to wait around for him to be free. So, instead they ended up taking a seeming random turn, getting paired with rock produce Todd Rundgren.
It seemed to be an odd pairing, he was a known to be a bit more Meatloaf than new wave, but somehow it worked out. Rundgren brought them over to his Woodstock studio and set about adding new elements to their sound and getting them to focus in on their potential. There were several horn players, a classical cellist and a pair of backing singers. Flo & Eddie were well known session singers, and Rundgren called them in to add some layers to several tracks. The trouble was, the band were not particularly keen on backing singers! They did, however, eventually warm to them and even allowed them to sing on Love My Way, which would go on to be one of their biggest hits.
Love My Way would become their first foray into the US Billboard Hot100, ending at number 61 and also reaching 20 in the UK. But their were more twists to come.
Ely out, Mirror Moves and that film!
An increasingly unhappy Vince Ely quit the band as soon as Forever Now was done and he was replaced for the tour by Phil Calvert (ex-Birthday Party).
1984 had the band in the studio with Keith Forsey producing Mirror Moves, with Forsey doing most of the drumming duties himself. The album spawned the single Heaven, which made number 29 in the UK. The album was included in Robert Smith's top five albums at that time.
Celebrity Furs. fan, actress Molly Ringwald (Breakfast Club, Sixteen Candles), persuaded director John Hughes to write a film script around one of her favourite tracks. It was a classic off of Talk, Talk, Talk called Pretty in Pink. Their were rumours that Hughes was going to get another band to do a version of it, so the Furs jumped into the studio and did their own updated version instead.
We'll go with the original of Pretty in Pink here though - its a more nuanced version.
That was to be a mixed blessing. Hughes did end up using this new version as the theme tune to the film of the same name, but he had misunderstood what the song was about - as it is actually about a woman who sleeps around a bit and thinks she is popular as a result.
Midnight to Midnight
The success of the remade Pretty in Pink meant that the band felt like they were under pressure to get back into studio before they were ready. That did at least mean legendary Hansa studio in Berlin (famous for Bowie and Iggy in the late 70s). They were paired this time with Chris Kimsey, who had produced the Rolling Stones and had just finished making Misplaced Childhood for prog-rockers Marillion.
Released in 1987, Midnight to Midnight was generally acknowledged as a downturn in form, with even Richard Butler referring to it as, "hollow, vapid and weak." The Sydney Morning Herald would later refer to it as "over-produced and underwhelming." Despite the lack of critical enthusiasm, it was a commercial hit, reaching UK number 12.
The end of the beginning
The next two albums seemed to go largely unnoticed (which is a shame because they are both very good). 1988 had seen a new single, All That Money Wants, be well received, a Best Of album wrapping up those first five albums, and the return of Vince Ely to the drumkit.
1989's Book of Days was produced by David M. Allen (The Cure, Sisters of Mercy, Depeche Mode and Human League) and presented some darker tones again. A review in the L.A. Times in December 89, sums up the bands varying sounds through the 1980s. "[The band] has alternated between churning up sandstorms of dense, distorted sound and laying down winsome pop with gentle surfaces and enticing melodies."
This was followed in 1991 with World Outside, which had Stephen Street (The Smiths, The Cranberries) behind the desk. Lead single, Until She Comes garnered some attention, but made little commercial impact.
Although Book of Days and World Outside made little commercial impact - there were some great songs on them - like this one.
Hiatus, reformation and Made of Rain
Following World Outside, the Psychedelic Furs went on an extended hiatus. Richard and Tim formed a new band called Love Spit Love, with Richard Fortus and Frank Ferrer.
But in 2000, the Furs made a return to the stage, with no new material but an ongoing touring entity - of which, Fortus and Ferrer were to join. But by 2019, the band were ready to commit some material to record and they started to work on what would become Made of Rain.
An original release date of 1 May 2020 had to be pushed back because of logistics issues caused by the Covid pandemic, but it eventually surfaced on 31 July to generally positive reviews. Elissa Bray writing in the Independent, commented that the album was, "a welcome return to the Furs' classic blend of aggression, tender melody and brooding ambience."
This return to recording created a fitting cap to four decades in the music business. And despite never quite hitting the commercial heights that had been expected of them at various times, they have built up a committed fan base, including some well known names over the years; the aforementioned David Bowie, plus David Byrne (who is said to have argued with Bowie once, about who got to produce the next Furs album), The Killers (who also have become friends of the band) and more surprisingly, Joe Elliott (lead singer of Def Leppard).
We'll leave the last word to another part of popular culture. 2017 Oscar winning film Call Me By Your Name (Best Adapted Screenplay) included Love My Way. Tim Butler went to watch it and seemed very pleased at all the Furs references in the film, including where someone says, "Yeah, we went to England to see them last year, Richard Butler's great."
Comments