Behind the Albums: Mirror Moves

A selection of quotes from The Psychedelic Furs on Mirror Moves, their fourth album, released in 1984.

Richard Butler: "There's suddenly been a lot of sections on this album being a move away from what we were originally doing, but nobody has seem to have noticed Forever Now was quite a big move away in itself. I agree that Mirror Moves is a big move away from the first two albums but I don't think it's so far from Forever Now in terms of accessibility." (Aquarian Arts Weekly 1984)

Richard Butler: "Mirror Moves was much more of a return to basics, in terms of rhythm and I think it's still a far easier album to build on. It was a joy to work with Keith Forsey and we've been talking to him about doing the next album. He's definitely the producer we want to work with for the future." (Aquarian Arts Weekly 1984)

Richard Butler: "When I listen to the first two albums now, they seem really full of confusion, angst, disgust & cynicism but I don't feel that way now. I think we can change things but I'm not the kind of songwriter that stands on a podium and shouts. I think you have to change things in a more gentle way for it to be effective. I think that this is a much more subtle album, as opposed to shouting." (Aquarian Arts Weekly 1984)

Richard Butler: "This is the first album where I'm writing love songs that are straightforward instead of hiding behind any masks." (Aquarian Arts Weekly 1984)

Richard Butler: "We've never been a band that's chased after acceptance. (Mirror Moves) is not that commercial. If we wanted to do that, we'd listen to what's on the charts and make music like that." (The Arizona Republic 1984)

John Ashton: "It's really an extension of what we've done before. It's just a little bit more accessible now, that's all." (Austin American Statesman 1984)

Richard Butler: "Some of the old songs were almost impenetrable whereas I don't think these ones [from Mirror Moves] are and it's purposely so. All the albums have had their difference. The first one was really just angry, the second one (Talk Talk Talk) was the most complicated lyrically and possibly the deepest, Forever Now was half way between that one and this one and Mirror Moves is definitely the clearest and easiest to understand yet." (Melody Maker 1984)

Richard Butler: "With Mirror Moves, we wanted to attack rhythm more, so we used Keith Forsey." (The Miami Herald 1984)

John Ashton: "The lyrics on Mirror Moves do sound happier than anything [Richard Butler's] ever written, but there's still an underlying darkness." (The Morning Call 1984)

John Ashton: "The love songs on Mirror Moves have an ambiguity about them. They're personal, about Richard's own feelings, but at the same time, they're for everybody. Most of the others aren't love songs at all. 'Heaven' is about nuclear war, 'Here Come Cowboys' and 'Highwire Days' are political, 'Heartbeat' is about life in the city, specifically about some people we know." (The Morning Call 1984)

Richard Butler: "It's a reflective kind of album; it's me taking a breath. I don't mean that in the sense that it's lazy; it's me taking a breath from politics and the cynicism of the first three albums... It's a bit more introspective—you know, when you stand in front of a mirror and do some soul searching." (Rockbill 1984)

Richard Butler: "It's a conscious decision to be much less abstract and ambiguous. Having written previously in a very abstract manner, I can see the value of working that way and might well return to it. For this album though, we simplified the music, so I decided to simplify the lyrics. I still prefer alluding to things rather than pointing them out directly, but on this album it's more basic; the real meaning of the song is only hidden under one layer of allusion instead of several." (Rockbill 1984)

Richard Butler: "We decided to make the sound cleaner and the lyrics simpler as well. I don't enjoy leaving all the double meanings behind, but I do want to be easily understood." (Star Hits 1984)

Tim Butler (on the switch from Todd Rundgren to Keith Forsey): "(Mirror Moves) was a different album, we wanted a different sound. A lot of people have said, 'Why didn't you stick with the same producer?' After a while you get to know the producer. It relieves that friction which is always important in production of an album. You get too at ease with somebody." (Tampa Bay Times 1984)

Richard Butler: "People were quite surprised at how much of a studio album Mirror Moves was, and we got a lot of flack from critics. A lot of people seem to want us to carry on making the first two albums, but things change, you know." (Record Mirror 1986)

Richard Butler: "The [songs] on [the upcoming Midnight To Midnight] are much simpler, and I think the ones on Mirror Moves were a lot simpler as well." (Alternate Beat 1986)

Richard Butler: "[Midnight To Midnight's] more guitar-oriented than last time, and the edges haven't been smoothed off so much. We wanted a bit of edge back into it. Mirror Moves was very much a studio album, and at the time we wanted to do one like it. Listening to it afterward, we decided we wanted something with more of an edge."(Austin American Statesman 1986)

Richard Butler: "We thought it was a little too smooth, soft. We wanted it like that at the time, but looking back on it, we kind of missed the edge." (The Boston Globe 1986)

John Ashton: "I think the [upcoming Midnight To Midnight's] going to sound more expensive, but there should be a bit more fire to it as well; the last two albums were maybe a bit smooth. This time it feels more like a band; we've got a real drummer and I can spend more time getting more attack on the guitar. For Mirror Moves we couldn't spend much time on that because we spent so long on the songs and the arrangements in the studio. Keith (Forsey) had a lot of influence in the writing stage. We'd come up with a few riffs and ideas and he'd come up with a beat for them on the Linn drum. That way we came up with something that sounded contemporary, but I don't know, maybe it was too big a departure for some people." (International Musician 1986)

Richard Butler: "[Mirror Moves] was a very emotional experience for me, to get it done on time." (Melody Maker 1986)

Richard Butler: "I think we've achieved a lot that we set out to do, and I think we've got a lot more to achieve. I just worry sometimes that too many people judge us by Mirror Moves because it's our most successful album and (they) think that it's representative of the band. Although it is an album that I'm proud of, I'd like people to look at all the strongest points of our career and judge us by that." (Winner Magazine 1986)

Richard Butler: "On Mirror Moves, we used a lot of drum machines and the feeling was very much of a studio album and we said, 'Well, how do you want to make this next album different?', and thought, 'More guitars, more of a band feel'." (Winner Magazine 1986)

Richard Butler: "When we did Mirror Moves, we had to wait ages for [Keith Forsey] to get out of the studio with Billy Idol." (Unknown source, 1986)

Richard Butler: "I don't think I really use [the word] 'heart' a lot. I think I used it a lot on the last album [Mirror Moves] — more than I've ever done before. On the first album, I used the word 'stupid' a lot. I just get different words that I like using at different times. On the last album, I think I used 'rain' a lot." (Audivisse fanzine, 1987)

Richard Butler: "We listened to Mirror Moves, the last album, after a couple years had gone by, and it sounded too studio. Keith Forsey is a great producer and everything, but personally I think he can tend to take a lot of the teeth out of the music." (Creem 1987)

Richard Butler: "John didn't get a proper lick in on [Mirror Moves]. And it was very atmospheric-feeling, that album, so he didn't get to make as much of a statement as a guitarist likes!" (Creem 1987)

Richard Butler: "We wanted a smoother, more keyboard-oriented sound. We did the album without losing the essence of the Furs." (News Press 1987)

Richard Butler: "With Mirror Moves, we made what was our most commercial-sounding record simply because we wanted to be heard on the radio." (The Philadelphia Inquirer 1987)

Richard Butler: "When we made Mirror Moves we went out and toured with that for about ten months, I think. And after ten months we didn't want to go straight in and make another album. We wanted to take a break." (Radio Luxembourg 1987)

Richard Butler: "Looking back at Mirror Moves, for all its strengths, I missed a lot of the edge on it. And I missed the guitar." (Radio Luxembourg 1987)

Richard Butler: "When we make an album we decide what sound we want and then we decide [inaudible] produce it by who's good at getting that sound. For instance, we loved the drum and the tight bottom end [?] sound that Keith Forsey got with the record, and like the slickness of the rest. So we went with him for Mirror Moves. That's what we wanted to do with that record." (Radio Luxembourg 1987)

Richard Butler: "Mirror Moves was really like a studio made album. We went in and put the drum tracks down first, sometimes with the bass, sometimes not. Then we'd put the guitar on top of that and then maybe we'd change the melody round a bit, so we'd go back and change the drum track on the drum machine." (Rock Express 1987)

Richard Butler: "Mirror Moves was a great album, but in retrospect I kind of missed the attack that earlier albums had had. We wanted to stick some more guitar edge on [Midnight To Midnight]." (Rock Express 1987)

Richard Butler: "We made [Midnight To Midnight] and Mirror Moves simple on purpose. Maybe at the expense of mystery, which is the way I enjoy writing. It's hard work making an album simple. The next one will be different – we're going back to not necessarily a roots feel, but a more aggressive feel, less structured." (Santa Barbara News-Press 1987)

Richard Butler: "I still think the band's off the wall. You definitely hear more of that on [Midnight To Midnight] than on Mirror Moves." I don't think the production there did John (Ashton, guitar) justice. All that weird chording... he doesn't play like anyone else I've ever heard." (Sounds 1987)

Richard Butler: "We wanted to go in and make a band album, as opposed to Mirror Moves which sounded like a studio record." (Sounds 1987)

Richard Butler: "I listen to Mirror Moves and I like it a lot, but it's not the way I'd like to hear the Furs presented. I'd like to make the ideal album that we could make, and our personalities didn't come through very clearly on that record. I miss the edge of the earlier records. It was probably as near to a commercial-sounding LP as we'll ever make." (Sounds 1987)

Richard Butler (on the band's current (at the time) change of their music since Mirror Moves): "It's a kind of harder sound to me than the last album Mirror Moves. We've got back to more guitar edge. The last one was a bit smooth for us, I think." (The Tube (UK TV) 1987)

Richard Butler: "I don't think the last two albums [Midnight To Midnight and Mirror Moves] were over-produced but they were very clean sounding." (MTV Europe 1988)

Richard Butler: "I think the closest we came to crud was on [Mirror Moves] – but I don't think we were actually crud." (New Musical Express 1989)

John Ashton: "The fourth album became more studio-oriented altogether and that's the one that became more accessible." (Fort Worth Star Telegram 1990)

Richard Butler (on the time when he, Tim Butler, and John Ashton had to send each other tapes while living far away from each other during the Mirror Moves and Midnight To Midnight sessions): "That was pretty unsuccessful. A large part of the writing had to be done in the studio, with ideas that you'd come up with by yourself. It worked with Mirror Moves, but with Midnight To Midnight, it kind of came unstuck and we lost direction. It just didn't work chemistry-wise. We're a band that works very much as a group of people." (Alternative Press 1991)

Tim Butler: "I guess outside influences were sort of making an impact. We weren't going out there and saying we have to have a more chart-oriented or listenable sound. We were slipping into that subconsciously.

"I think the scenario started with Mirror Moves, where we started to get clean and clinical, started using a bit too much keyboards and toning down the guitar sound." (Asbury Park Press 1991)

John Ashton: "We've found out that our music isn't something that you can push. You can put pressure on it, and we have put pressure on it and it's worked before. Like Mirror Moves was a lot of pressure in the studio." (B-Side 1991)

John Ashton (on the sound of World Outside): "We found we could have done better. That's why we changed directions. We were wrong. We should have stuck to what we're good at. Instead, we got more formulated with albums like Mirror Moves. Guitar-wise, I wasn't particularly happy with that album." (Courier Post 1991)

Richard Butler: "With the last two albums [Book Of Days and World Outside], we decided not to go into the studio until we had enough songs written, while with Mirror Moves and Midnight To Midnight, a lot of it was written in the studio. I think you tend to lose some of the excitement, the edge and the feel when you spend too much time in the studio." (Music Connection 1991)

Tim Butler: "Of all the albums we did, that's the only one that sounds like it was made in the '80s." (Should God Forget liner notes, 1997)

Richard Butler (on being asked if the first three albums were his favorites): "Yeah, but also the fourth (Mirror Moves), and the seventh (World Outside)." (iJamming! 2001)

Richard Butler: "On the first album, I had a thing with the word 'stupid.' I had to edit it out. And then with Mirror Moves it was 'star.' And 'rain' is always there, it's like 'Come on Richard...'" (iJamming! 2001)

Richard Butler: "I think any pressure came from ourselves, which is more of a pressure that came after the first two records. We make those two, and wondered, 'What do we do now? We don't want to keep on making the same records.' So it became a pressure to do something different with every record, which included Mirror Moves – 'Let's make a poppy Psychedelic Furs album!'" (Ink 19 2002)

John Ashton: "When it came time to record Mirror Moves I became more confident in my abilities as a player, and I think it came across that way, too." (Modern Guitars Magazine 2005)

Mars Williams: "Keith Forsey produced Mirror Moves and was the producer of [Billy Idol's] Rebel Yell. Keith was coming down to the show to see the Furs. Billy had the idea to put sax on 'Catch My Fall'. He said, 'So let's use Mars.'" (Penny Black Music 2009)

Richard Butler: "With Forsey, we hadn't written songs up front. We had ideas and we built them up in the studio." (Metro Times 2010)

John Ashton: "Mirror Moves was a total departure. It was very poppy, not really the signature sound anymore." (Veer Magazine 2015)

Tim Butler: "I think as the albums went along we changed from being a sort of aggressive new wave band, not really knowing our instruments and how to write songs properly, but we got away with it with the first album, but the progression to the songs on Mirror Moves being well-written pop songs." (Yorkshire Evening Post 2019)

Richard Butler: "On Mirror Moves, I doubled a lot of vocals, which smoothed out a lot of raspiness in my voice." (Magnet Magazine 2020)

Richard Butler (on being asked if it was true that Keith Forsey said Richard would sing the songs on Mirror Moves just once during recording): "Yes. But the funny thing with that is on a couple of songs, he wanted me to double it because my voice could be quite raspy and he wanted it to be smoother, so he would have me double it. So, although I really liked to sing the song just once, I doubled a couple of songs on that record, and it was hard work to do it because you sing a line once and then you've got to sing over it exactly the same so you can't really tell. If you're a little late on the word, you can tell, so you have to be quite exacting in it. So, I guess he got his revenge on me in a way." (Songfacts 2020)

Tim Butler: "There are things you record together as a band versus alone. I've recorded things for the Furs where it was just me in a studio with a drum machine. Mirror Moves. That turned out to be a great record." (Tower Records 2020)