This year Talk Talk Talk, the second album by The Psychedelic Furs, celebrates its 40th anniversary. Originally released in May 1981 Talk Talk Talk has the same musical style as the first album The Psychedelic Furs (1980), but with a lot more variety and sort of mainstream. The album was once again produced by Steve Lillywhite and is considered a masterpiece by fans and critics. Vocalist Richard Butler and former guitarist John Ashton once said that Talk Talk Talk's their favorite PFurs album, and is the second favorite of bassist Tim Butler.
Talk Talk Talk is probably best known for having one of the most iconic Psychedelic Furs songs of all time: "Pretty In Pink". In 1986 it inspired the John Hughes film of the same name and The Psychedelic Furs rerecorded the song for the movie. When "Pretty In Pink" first came out it peaked at #43 in England but the '86 version became an even bigger hit at #18, and it remains The Psychedelic Furs' only top 20 British hit. Over in the US the original song didn't chart but the new version entered the Billboard Hot 100. Even though "Pretty In Pink" only reached #41 it gave The Psychedelic Furs huge success. As for the true meaning of "Pretty In Pink", the plot in the film is not exactly like the story in the song, and it's not about a girl wearing a pink dress.
Besides "Pretty In Pink", Talk Talk Talk has other great songs. The opening track "Dumb Waiters" is my favorite song on the album and it is just so full of energy, it's great. "Dumb Waiters" actually became The Psychedelic Furs' very first song to enter the UK charts (at #59). The music on "I Wanna Sleep With You" is just fantastic and I absolutely love the way Richard Butler sang on the first verse; especially when he sings the line "I don't want you always/I won't hold your hand". "No Tears" has a thoughtful beauty to it, and for some reason whenever I would listen to the song I always think of the Autumn leaves and rain. I think it's because I got Talk Talk Talk during that season and "No Tears" brings me back to that particular time. Talk Talk Talk has a different version of "Mr. Jones", which is more raw and aggressive than the original. "Into You Like A Train" is a classic and soars with melodic passion; "It Goes On" has great upbeat choruses and a blazing saxophone solo, and on "So Run Down" the guitars and drums give the song a fueling, frantic kick. "All Of This And Nothing" has a very wonderful memorable beginning and end, and the instruments all work their own magic. The whole song feels personal and the last part of the lyrics always gets to me: "Now I'm left with all of this/A roomful of your trash". The demo of "All Of This And Nothing" (included as a bonus track on the 2002 remaster of Talk Talk Talk) has different lyrics and is interesting to listen to. And the last song, "She Is Mine", has a calming, beautiful melody with Richard Butler singing softly.
The thing I really don't understand is when Talk Talk Talk first came out in England it got a lot of negative reviews from the British press. What was the reason they didn't like about the album? Was it the music or was it because they didn't get The Psychedelic Furs at all? Talk Talk Talk wasn't included on the NME's 50 best albums of 1981 but they added "Pretty In Pink" on the 50 best singles list so at least that's something. I think Talk Talk Talk got a better reception in the United States but years after its release the UK press finally saw the light and gave Talk Talk Talk the praise and recognition it truly deserved.
Talk Talk Talk is the last album to feature the original guitarist and saxophonist, Roger Morris and Duncan Kilburn, because after the Talk Talk Talk tour they left The Psychedelic Furs due to the fighting and tension that was happening in the band. 20 years later when The Psychedelic Furs performed at the Coach House Concert Hall in San Juan Capistrano, California on December 10, 2001, Roger Morris got invited to play three songs ("Imitation Of Christ", "Sister Europe", and "Pretty In Pink"); and in recent years during the last few tours Roger joined as backup guitarist whenever The Furs toured in the UK and Europe. As for Duncan Kilburn, I don't know what he's doing nowadays but I hope he found something that he's happy with. We will always remember their contribution to The Psychedelic Furs and the wonderful music they gave us on the first two albums.
I was originally going to publish this article either on June 6th (the US release date for Talk Talk Talk) or May because I thought it would take me long but surprisingly it went very quickly and I got all the inspiration I needed. I feel like celebrating early anyway so I decided to release this post now. This Summer I am going to work on writing about World Outside's 30th anniversary so stay tuned for that one.
Hope you all enjoyed reading and happy 40th anniversary to Talk Talk Talk!
"I hope you get your invitation
It is here for you
Listen to the conversation
Playing pretty tunes"
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