An Amazing Discovery

Yesterday I went out to do some errands with my family and I brought my iPod with me so I could listen to The Psychedelic Furs. But there was something special about that day. It was the third year anniversary of the second Psychedelic Furs concert that I went to, and the feeling of those special memories came to me. I was wearing my Mirror Moves t-shirt which I wore at that concert, and on my iPod I listened to a playlist I had created where it has the songs The Furs performed on that night, and I kind of got emotional when I listened to it, especially during "The Ghost In You."

But while I was listening to "The Ghost In You" there was something in the song that I discovered. My headphones have been acting up lately, and the reason why is because when the headphones are plugged in and if the jack gets turned the sound will go away. Not completely, just a faded sound where you barely hear the music and you couldn't hear the vocals. Whenever that would happen I would turn the jack over and over until the sound comes back. It really gets annoying sometimes.

Anyway, when the second chorus of "The Ghost In You" was playing the jack acted up and so I tried to get the sound back. As the chorus was ending a part of it caught my attention while the sound of the headphones was acting up. After when I listened to the playlist I played "The Ghost In You" again. When the choruses came on I turned the headphone jack to make the sound go away and here is something amazing: I could hear Richard Butler's backing vocals clearly. Not perfectly but enough where you could actually sort of hear the words! It reminded me of the live performances of "The Ghost In You" where at the end of the song Richard would sing the BVs part separately.

Hearing the BVs with the faded sound of my headphones was an awesome discovery. You'll probably think it's not really that exciting but to me it is. I guess there was something good that came out of the messed up headphone jack after all!

New Album Update #2

Yesterday I heard some information about The Psychedelic Furs' new album and this time it wasn't from an article online. On YouTube someone uploaded The Psychedelic Furs' July 12th New York concert in its entirety, and I clicked on it just so I could hear the new song "The Boy That Invented Rock And Roll." It was really awesome and I'm thinking of listening to the song a lot just so when I go see The Furs next month it will be familiar to me (if they will perform it). Anyway, after the new song ended Richard Butler thanked the crowd and suddenly he said this:

"We've got a new album coming out next year!"


Next year. No. Way.

After when I heard Richard say that I was absolutely excited and speechless. Honestly I kind of wish it was this year but I'm willing to wait. I feel it's more fitting to release the new album in 2020 because that year will be the 40th anniversary of The Psychedelic Furs' first LP. I'm already looking forward to see what the band will do for their 2020 tour, especially if it will be a tour promoting the new album.

I think this is the first time in my whole life that I had gotten truly excited over a new album. I mean maybe I had with Green Day and a couple bands I used to like, but not as super excited as this. It's a wonderful feeling to know The Psychedelic Furs will be back with new music soon. Also hard to believe how the new album will be the band's first in 29 years. Almost three decades... Wow, that's crazy.

I wonder how the songs on the new album will sound like, and I bet they will be amazing. Can't wait until 2020 comes, and now time to go listen to "The Boy That Invented Rock And Roll" again.

A New Furs Song?

A week ago The Psychedelic Furs started their Summer tour and lately I had been going on Setlist FM to see what songs they played. So far the ones that got me excited were "All Of This And Nothing" and "Sleep Comes Down" and I hope I will hear those two songs when I go see The Furs, especially "All Of This And Nothing." It would be a delight to hear that song.

But there was something that caught my eye and it got me excited. Last night The Psychedelic Furs did a show in New York City and someone updated the setlist for that concert. I looked and one of the songs on the list said "New Song?!?" I was blown away, and it made me wonder if it's a song from the upcoming new album. Or it could either be "Wrong Train" or "Little Miss World," those two songs that The Furs had done live before but hadn't recorded them yet. I'm really hoping it's a new original song, because ever since I heard a little info about The Psychedelic Furs' new album five months ago, it made me super pumped for it. The thought of hearing new PFurs material is very exciting.

Here is the link to the setlist for the New York concert. https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/the-psychedelic-furs/2019/the-rooftop-at-pier-17-new-york-ny-139e89f1.html


7/14/19 Update: Okay just now I looked at the setlist for tonight's show in Maryland and the new song has a name! It's called "The Boy That Invented Rock And Roll" and it looks like it might be a new Psychedelic Furs song! https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/the-psychedelic-furs/2019/the-fillmore-silver-spring-silver-spring-md-6b9ef662.html

I went back to the setlist for the New York concert and the new song's name was added. It said that "The Boy That Invented Rock And Roll" was performed live for the first time ever on that night!

Glastonbury Review from Record Mirror

A review of the 1986 Glastonbury Festival appeared on the July 5, 1986 issue of UK magazine Record Mirror and was reviewed by Andy Strickland. The only important thing about Glastonbury '86 (and all of Glastonbury's history) was that The Psychedelic Furs were one of the headliners. Andy's review of The Furs' performance was positive, and I'm very glad to see that. Usually the people at Record Mirror didn't understand The Psychedelic Furs but at least there were a few who did.

Anyway, here is the review of The Psychedelic Furs' appearance at the 1986 Glastonbury Festival.


But it's The Psychedelic Furs that we've all come for. Not seen on these shores for a goodly while and taking the stage to deliver a corker of a set. Richard Butler's recent Lydonesque appearance is bolstered by some garish tartan trousers and enigmatically curt introductions to a largely "greatest hits" set: "President Gas," "Heaven," a slightly shaky "Love My Way," and a great "Bring On The Cowboys." [it's "Here Come Cowboys"...]

The band's stadium rock blasts clear as a bell from an excellent sound system as the wind gets up and the well oiled sardines push closer together to enjoy the finale to a great first day. If only we realized that another third of the weekend's crowd was still stuck in that leafy Somerset lane trying to get in. Next morning there are a lot of [ticked] and [ticked] off Furs fans who didn't make it in there.

– Andy Strickland

Back at the Hall

This blog will sort of be off topic but two days ago my dad and I went to Portland, Oregon to see Howard Jones live for the very first time. Now the reason I'm talking about Howard Jones is because he performed at my favorite venue, the one that I always associate The Psychedelic Furs with... the Revolution Hall.

When I was a kid I remember listening to the cassette of Howard Jones' 1993 compilation The Best Of Howard Jones in the car. The songs I remembered hearing were "What Is Love?," "New Song," "Pearl In The Shell," a tiny bit of "Always Asking Questions" and "Hide And Seek," "Things Can Only Get Better," "Like To Get To Know You Well," "Life In One Day," "Everlasting Love," and the one that is the most nostalgic to me, "No One Is To Blame." Years later when I was a teenager I wanted to get into Howard's music so I bought that very same album on CD, and then later I got his other albums.

Howard Jones at Revolution Hall 6/30/19.

Seeing Howard Jones live was an incredible experience, and he was just so awesome. Plus he was extremely talented with his keyboards, and it was really interesting watching him play. Howard would interact with the crowd and told stories about some of his songs. My favorite song he did was definitely "No One Is To Blame" and it was just him on his electric piano. It was very reminiscent of the original version of that song from Howard's second album Dream Into Action (1985). The support bands were All Hail The Silence and Men Without Hats (the audience went wild for "Safety Dance") and they were good and fun to watch. What's cool was Howard Jones brought the members of both bands on stage with him to perform two of his songs.

My dad and I sat in the balcony and it was the very same spot from when I saw The Psychedelic Furs two years ago. And it was during that time when I threw my letter over the balcony and thought it didn't land on the stage. I might have seen the area where I met Rich Good the second time and him showing me he got my letter. I wish I had the time to go over there and take a closer look.

It was really nice seeing the Revolution Hall again and it was fantastic watching Howard Jones perform over there. But like I said earlier, I will always associate the Hall with The Psychedelic Furs because of those wonderful moments. Being at the Revolution Hall brought back so many memories and it will always mean a lot to me. I hope The Psychedelic Furs will come back to the Hall someday.

*All photos by me*