Once in a while I would look at my blog posts from six to five years ago about hearing the updates for Made Of Rain, and it's weird reading the posts right before and after the pandemic happened, especially the posts before things went downhill. But at the same time, it was wonderful when a new album was coming out and you're trying to find every information you could.
The Psychedelic Furs got Richard Fortus to produce Made Of Rain, and Fortus was a great choice because he's a fan of The Furs. Richard saw The Furs live when he was a teenager, his former band Pale Divine opened for them during the World Outside Tour, was the guitarist for Love Spit Love, and was even a member of the Furs when they got back together but only for a short time. Fortus guided the band through the recording process and offered good advice and directions. He played on some of the songs (for example, the guitar solo at the end of "Stars") and his two daughters were backing vocalists on "Don't Believe", "Ash Wednesday", and "Hide The Medicine". Richard Fortus did an excellent job producing Made Of Rain and if The Psychedelic Furs ever make a new album again, I hope Fortus will return to produce it.
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| Richard Fortus with The Furs, 2024. Photo by me. |
When Made Of Rain was recorded the band lineup at the time was vocalist Richard Butler and his brother Tim, the bassist; former drummer Paul Garisto, saxophonist Mars Williams, and two new members who made their very first appearance on a Psychedelic Furs album: keyboardist Amanda Kramer and guitarist Rich Good. Amanda Kramer joined The Psychedelic Furs in 2003 and used to be in the new wave group Information Society in the '80s, and had worked with Siouxsie Sioux during her solo years. Rich Good became The Furs' guitarist in 2009 and was in a band called The Pleased, who actually opened for The Psychedelic Furs all the way back in 2004. Richard and Tim Butler mentioned that this lineup was the best The Psychedelic Furs ever had, and I have to say I agree with them. They all have great chemistry together on stage and when you watch the live videos on YouTube, you could totally tell.
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| Photo: Matthew Reeves |
The first song on Made Of Rain is "The Boy That Invented Rock & Roll" and it is a great album opener; definitely right up there with "India" from the debut. In the Summer of 2019, on their co-headlining tour with James, The Psychedelic Furs performed "The Boy That Invented Rock & Roll" for the first time at a show in New York City. I remember watching the video of The Furs performing the song at that concert and feeling the excitement when Richard Butler announced to the audience they were going to release a new album. Rich Good wrote the music for "The Boy That Invented Rock & Roll", with lyrics written by Richard Butler (and the rest of the songs too).
Second track is "Don't Believe" and the music was a collaboration between Tim Butler, Rich Good, and Paul Garisto. It was chosen as the first single to be released on January 31, 2020 and it was so exciting to hear a brand new Psychedelic Furs song, and their first since 2001's "Alive (For Once In My Lifetime)" from Beautiful Chaos: Greatest Hits Live.
The third song "You'll Be Mine", with music by Tim Butler, was the second single released in March 2020 and it is one of my all-time favorite Psychedelic Furs songs. As I mentioned before, it came out when the pandemic began and I was worried about the state of the world and wondered if it would ever return to normal. But for some reason the music of "You'll Be Mine" gave me hope, and I felt incredibly lucky and grateful hearing The Psychedelic Furs perform that song when I saw them in Eugene, Oregon in October 2023. As much as I really love "You'll Be Mine", listening to it nowadays is bittersweet for me because of the passing of Mars Williams and I get emotional whenever I hear it, even cry at times.
The fourth track is "Wrong Train" and it was the last single released some time in 2021. "Wrong Train" is the oldest song on Made Of Rain and it first appeared on the Live At House Of Blues DVD from 2001, with music written by Tim Butler and former guitarist John Ashton. For years "Wrong Train" became a live favorite and I believe it is most of the fans' favorite song on Made Of Rain. There's an official music video for the song and it's inspired by the paintings of Richard Butler.
After "Wrong Train" is "This'll Never Be Like Love", track five, and is the second song composed by Rich Good. I love the outro of "This'll Never Be Like Love", with Rich and Mars Williams giving it their all, and I feel fortunate to hear this song in 2023 and seeing Rich and Mars performing the end of the song together.
Sixth song is "Ash Wednesday" and it's the first song composed by Paul Garisto. It is an absolutely great song and the break in the middle is one of my favorite pieces of music ever. The ending of the song is amazing as well, with beautiful guitar work by Rich Good.
Next is the seventh track "Come All Ye Faithful" and is the third song composed by Rich Good. Despite having the same title as the beloved Christmas hymn it is entirely different. Richard and Tim Butler stated that the song's dark and creepy feel was inspired by a David Essex song from the 1970s called "Lamplight". There's an official music video for the song but it doesn't have the band in it since it was made during lockdown. To be honest, personally the "Wrong Train" video is better than "Come All Ye Faithful's", because to me the video for the latter looks like an unofficial fan-made one.
After "Come All Ye Faithful" is the eighth track and my favorite Psychedelic Furs song, "No-One". I love this song so much and is the last one composed by Rich Good. As I said before, Rich deserves all the praise for writing the music for "No-One" because it is just beautiful and awesome. It was wonderful listening to it live at the Eugene concert and when I go see The Furs on September 16 I hope "No-One" will still be on the setlist because I want to hear it again. I want to mention that Richard Butler's voice in "No-One" and the rest of the Made Of Rain songs is unbelievably fantastic, and I remember when I heard "Don't Believe" for the first time his voice blew me away. He still sounds the same after all these years.
The music for the ninth song, "Tiny Hands", was composed by Tim Butler, and it's one of the more lighter sounding songs on Made Of Rain. The verses are accompanied by the harpsichord and then the choruses have an ethereal, psychedelia feel to it. Tim had confirmed in an interview once that "Tiny Hands" is about the current US president.
And now we come to the last three songs. "Hide The Medicine" is the tenth track and it is beautifully pouring with emotion. The music was written by Richard Fortus, and I heard that "Hide The Medicine" was originally supposed to be a Love Spit Love song but I don't know if it's actually true. Eleventh song "Turn Your Back On Me" is the second song composed by Paul Garisto and I think it's my third favorite song on Made Of Rain. There's just something about the simplicity of it that speaks to me and I love the music in this song. The final track, "Stars" is an amazing song and is one of my favorite album closers. The music was composed between Richard Fortus and Jon Carin. Jon Carin worked on and produced Richard Butler's solo album in 2006, and played keyboards on The Psychedelic Furs' Midnight To Midnight album.
A year after Made Of Rain came out The Psychedelic Furs digitally released "Evergreen", a song that was recorded during the Made Of Rain sessions but unfortunately it didn't make it onto the album. The music was written by Paul Garisto and it is a fantastic song. I really wish it appeared on Made Of Rain but at least it got released to the public.
During the time Made Of Rain came out it got favorable reviews from critics, became The Psychedelic Furs' second highest charting album in the UK (at #13, the first being Midnight To Midnight at #12), and Vive Le Rock! Magazine named it their album of the year. It also was received well from most fans while some of them (who are long-time Furs fans since the '80s) criticized Made Of Rain. I remember reading the responses from those fans and they said it didn't sound like a Psychedelic Furs album, the slow songs didn't fit, and how it sounded more like a Love Spit Love album with The Psychedelic Furs name slapped on it. I really hope the fans warmed up to the album and gave it a second chance, but these types of criticisms were the reason why The Psychedelic Furs didn't put out an album for over 20 years and honestly I don't blame them. They wanted to make an album of course, but they were worried that it wouldn't be on par with the previous albums and they feared the negative response from the critics and fans. And as for the music, it is The Psychedelic Furs but in the modern age, and the band said they didn't want to be stuck in the 1980s and make another Forever Now or Mirror Moves. Also the slow songs fit Made Of Rain perfectly, especially with the dark and melancholic themes of the album.
When I first started listening to Made Of Rain in 2020 it quickly became one of my favorites and I even placed it at number three on a ranking I did of my favorite Psychedelic Furs albums. Then in 2022 it jumped to number two, and in 2024 it went number one. Made Of Rain is my favorite Psychedelic Furs album, and it's probably my favorite album ever of all time. It is such a perfect album, and I hope The Psychedelic Furs are still proud of what they had created. The waiting was definitely worth it and I'm glad the band took their time making it and not rushing it out just to make us fans happy. Made Of Rain is a beautiful work of art and I still can't get over how good it is, especially in a world where music in recent years is so dull, soulless and unoriginal. Made Of Rain towers above it all, shining like a diamond with music that's beautiful, pure, and from the heart.
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| Photo: Matthew Reeves |
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