An Important Announcement

I was originally intended to not post anything for the rest of the month but I just have to come on here to announce something important. After when I published the list of my favorite single artwork on the 10th, I immediately shared the link to that post on Twitter (I rejoined back in October) and on my tweet I wrote, "At last here's my new blog post about my top 10 favorite @pfurs single covers!" Well, a week later, I looked at the notifications on my Twitter account and there was something that blew my mind.

The Psychedelic Furs shared my tweet on their official Twitter.

When I first saw that I was super ecstatic. I went over to The Furs' Twitter page and there was my tweet, on there with the words "Psychedelic Furs Retweeted" above it. To have my blog post being shared (or retweeted, I should say!) by my favorite band is such an incredible honor. And what makes The Psychedelic Furs so awesome is that whenever they would see, like, and share peoples posts it shows that The Furs really truly care about their fans.

Well then, see you all in January. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Photo: Paul Cox

My Top Nine 2019

Here is a collage that I made of my top nine Instagram posts of 2019. Just like last year, they are all photos of The Psychedelic Furs and I have to share them on this blog. The first post on the upper left is a photo of Richard Butler with the late singer Leonard Cohen, which was taken by Ebet Roberts back in 1988. The third post on the upper right was from the concert that I went to four months ago and it's one of my photos that I took there.

The Psychedelic Furs (Album) Ad

Here's an advertisement from the UK I found that featured The Psychedelic Furs' debut LP. When I saw the ad it made me realize how the album came out almost 40 years ago and it's hard to believe. In a few months I'm going to write a 40th anniversary post for The Psychedelic Furs so stay tuned for that one!

Top 10 Single Covers

Photo: Marcia Resnick

I was meant to start writing this post a month ago but it got delayed because I was busy doing the birthday posts for John Ashton and Tim Butler; plus I had been feeling a little under the weather and so my heart wasn't in the mood to write. But thankfully this post is finally here and it is another top 10 list. This time it's going to be my favorite single artwork from The Psychedelic Furs ranked in order. This covers the 7", 12", and CD single formats but on my list promos and reissues don't count. It has to be the original versions of those singles.

So let's get right to it, here are my top 10 favorite Psychedelic Furs single covers!





10. Heartbreak Beat - UK 7"

This has one of my favorite photos of The Psychedelic Furs and I just had to include it on this list. I have a soft spot for those clothes that Richard Butler, John Ashton, and Tim Butler wore and they just looked so awesome and good looking. "Heartbreak Beat" was released a year before Midnight To Midnight came out and it became The Furs' first hit song in the United States, where it peaked at #26.

9. Danger - UK single

The artwork for "Danger" totally screams '80s but in a good way, and the wild and zany shapes and colors match the energy of the song. When I look at the cover art it makes me think of 1980s/1990s board games where they have those types of shapes and colors on the boxes.

8. House - UK 12"

For some reason I just like the look of this. The picture is black and white with what looks like a bunch of sunflowers and it creates a somber, mellow, and calm vibe to it. That's how I view it, but it is indeed a beautiful picture.

7. All That Money Wants - CD single

I like how the photos of Richard Butler and Vince Ely are in their silhouettes and it's a great visual effect. This photo was on the back of the UK 12" sleeve while the front had John Ashton and Tim Butler. I think the Richard and Vince photo was on the front of the American 12" single as well.

6. We Love You - UK single

This artwork for The Psychedelic Furs' debut single is simple but the design is really cool. The sleeve also came in yellow and green colors but for me the "pretty in pink" one is my favorite. On the back of the sleeve it says "The Psychedelic Furs are beautiful chaos." What a great way to introduce a band.

5. Angels Don't Cry - UK 12"

This cover art was only for the New York Mix of the "Angels Don't Cry" 12" single. The original 7" single just has the band's name and song title while the 12" has a very great photo of Richard Butler. In fact, this photo is in the programme for the Midnight To Midnight tour.

4. Love My Way - UK 7" (Gatefold sleeve)

The perfect cover art for a perfect song. There are three different picture sleeves for the British single of "Love My Way." The 12" single has the band members on the front, the standard 7" has Richard and Tim Butler, and the 7" gatefold single (this one) has a lovely photo of Richard.

3. Heartbeat - UK 7"

I love the photo of Richard, John and Tim, the blue and purple colors, and the design of the cover art for "Heartbeat." The 12" single for "Heartbeat" had the airplane and stars on it (which was used for the Mirror Moves tour) and the band's photos are on the far right of the sleeve but in a smaller size. Here's a fun fact: A few years ago The Psychedelic Furs brought back that same airplane symbol for the 2016 tour. I have the t-shirt that has the symbol on it and it's so cool. Also the shirt is a great reminder of how wonderful the 2016 tour was, and I'm so lucky I was a part of it.

2. Heaven - Japanese 7"

What I really love about Japanese vinyl records is that they look like a lot of care was put into them. The sleeves are beautiful to look at and the records are known to have an awesome sound quality. The Japanese picture sleeve for "Heaven" is just absolutely gorgeous, and there is something magical about it. I love the stars on the cover and the picture of the band is great. It's interesting how The Furs' record label over in Japan was Epic, which you can see on the sleeve.





And now, my number one favorite is....

1. The Ghost In You - Japanese 7"

Another Japanese one! Like with the "Heaven" cover, this one is very gorgeous too. The Japanese text is so beautiful on this, and I just love the pictures of the band members, especially the one of Richard Butler. I was torn between this one and "Heaven" because they are both really beautiful but the sleeve for "The Ghost In You" takes my number one spot. Out of all the single covers I posted, which one is your favorite? Thanks for reading!

A Video About Rich Good

Today someone left a comment on my previous blog post and she said there was a video on YouTube that has Rich Good in it. When I saw the comment I got excited and immediately went to YouTube. There's a music-related series called Board To Death and on the 28th episode it featured Rich Good. The episode was filmed on July 19, 2019 during The Psychedelic Furs' Summer tour and they were in Cleveland, Ohio. In the video Rich talked about his guitar and soundboard and it was really interesting. I had a smile on my face the whole time I watched it and while watching I thought of how I actually met Rich twice in person. It is just an awesome feeling.

Here is the video. Enjoy!

Happy Birthday Tim Butler

I would like to wish a happy birthday to Tim Butler, born today in 1958. He, along with brother Richard, formed The Psychedelic Furs in 1977 and to this day they are the original members left remaining. Back when the band first started Tim originally wanted to play the drums but since he couldn't afford them, he decided to play bass instead. He was also a member of Love Spit Love and played bass on their first album.

During the years before I got into The Psychedelic Furs I didn't really pay attention to the sound of the bass guitar whenever I would listen to music. I liked the electric guitars better because they come with a variety of sounds while the bass just has a deep thump. Nothing else. But that all changed after I started listening to The Furs. There's something about the way Tim Butler plays and he's actually my favorite bassist of all time. He has his own unique style and the two songs that show how great Tim is are The Furs' "Mother-Son" and Love Spit Love's "Superman." I mentioned a couple or few times how the bass in "Superman" is just fantastic, and it is my favorite part in the song.

I really like the way how Tim Butler interacts with people at concerts. At points he would go up to the audience and sing the songs right to them, and if you sing back he nods his head at you in approval. I was one of those lucky people and it happened to me many times. Out of all the moments when Tim sang to me the one that stands out the most was at my fourth Psychedelic Furs show back in August. It was during "India," the encore, and Tim came up to me and we both sang the line "See the ceiling raining spit the beach is backwards, isn't it?" to each other. After that happened Tim gave me an approving nod, and it was so awesome.

Happy Birthday Tim, hope you have a great day!

In Portland, OR 8/1/19. Photo by me.