Through the Looking Glass: 40 Years of Mirror Moves

Happy 40th anniversary to The Psychedelic Furs' fourth studio album, the wonderful Mirror Moves. It was originally released in the UK in May 1984, but it seems to me that people only remember the North American release date, which was August 21, 1984. Mirror Moves was produced by Keith Forsey, who was the producer of Billy Idol's Rebel Yell and Pat Benatar's 1988 top 20 hit "All Fired Up." Mirror Moves became The Psychedelic Furs' second album to hit Gold in the US after selling 500,000 copies. In 1985 Robert Smith of The Cure mentioned that Mirror Moves was one of his favorite albums.

The music is similar to the previous album Forever Now, but in my opinion, it is more commercial sounding but it still has the Psychedelic Furs sound. It is the most eighties sounding out of all their albums, but not in a dated way; I like how the music sounds in all of its eighties glory, and to me it is uplifting, positive, and enchanting.

When Mirror Moves came out The Psychedelic Furs were a trio, because after the release of Forever Now in 1982 original drummer Vince Ely left. The only members remaining were Richard Butler (vocals), Tim Butler (bass), and John Ashton (guitar). They didn't have an official drummer at the time, so Keith Forsey played the drums on Mirror Moves; although the drums on "Heaven" and "Here Come Cowboys" were played by session musician Tommy Price.

Mirror Moves is best known for having the singles "The Ghost In You" and "Heaven". "The Ghost In You", which opens the album, is one of The Psychedelic Furs' most beloved songs. The iconic synthesizer sound was played on the Fairlight keyboard, and what's funny is I read somewhere that the band called it the "Chipmunk in the Bath" sound.

"The Ghost In You" is my parents' favorite Psychedelic Furs song and for me there's two special moments connected to the song. At my second PFurs concert Richard Butler held my hand and was singing to me during the "Stars come down in you" part, and at my fourth show guitarist Rich Good was looking at me while doing the backing vocals on the first chorus and waved at me.

Last October while I was working in retail the radio actually played "The Ghost In You" and I was ecstatic. I had a feeling the reason why the song was played was because it was during the Halloween season (they also played Oingo Boingo's "Dead Man's Party" and the Ghostbusters theme), and with the word "ghost" being in the title they probably thought it's a scary, spooky song. Personally, I don't think of "The Ghost In You" as a Halloween song and there's nothing spooky about the lyrics.

"Heaven" is another beloved track and despite the song being called "Heaven" there isn't anything spiritual or religious about it. It's about planes dropping nuclear bombs. According to Richard Butler in a 1984 interview with Smash Hits: "The words are like clues to what it's really about, which is nuclear war, but you need to think about them to realize that."

After reading that quote, what Richard said was so true, especially when you pay attention to the hidden meaning in the lyrics. Here are four examples:

"And a world at the window gone underground."

"There's a hole in the sky where the sun don't shine."

"And a clock on the wall and it counts my time"

"And I'm standing on ice when I say that I don't hear planes."

Tim Butler once said that he always gets amused whenever people would dance to "Heaven" at concerts because while the music's light and poppy, they're dancing to a song that's about a heavy subject and probably the majority of them think "Heaven" is a happy tune. "Heaven" is actually the second Psychedelic Furs song to reference nuclear war, with the first being the 1982 b-side "Aeroplane".

One of the songs that's more on the rock side is "Alice's House", and it is about an insane asylum. The song was recorded during the Forever Now sessions but it didn't make it on the album because The Psychedelic Furs were unhappy with it. But then later they re-recorded it for Mirror Moves. The early version of "Alice's House" is available to listen to and it is really good. It first appeared on the Should God Forget compilation in 1997, and then as a bonus track on the 2002 remaster of Forever Now.

There are other great songs on Mirror Moves as well. "Here Come Cowboys" is a cool song, "Heartbeat" is so energetic and fun, "My Time" has one of the most beautiful opening lines ("You got rain in your eyes and a head full of stars"), plus "Like A Stranger", and "Only A Game". Every time I listen to "Like A Stranger" I always think about a video I saw of The Psychedelic Furs performing that song at a concert in England back in the late 2010s. In the video a British man in the audience was loudly singing the whole song off-key, and the funny thing is you could barely hear Richard Butler. I don't know if the man was drunk, but it's so hilarious. My favorite song on Mirror Moves is the final track, the fan favorite "Highwire Days", and it is one of Richard Butler's favorite songs to perform live.

Mirror Moves has one of the most iconic album covers of all time, with the photo of Richard Butler on the front cover (plus Tim Butler and John Ashton on the back), taken by photographer Brian Griffin. There are actually a few minor differences to the album cover in some territories. With the UK and European releases, the band and album names and the outlines of the stars have a light purple/blue color, and with the US and Canadian releases the band name, album title and stars are yellow, and "The Psychedelic Furs" is repeated again above but in a different font. The design of the album artwork was a tribute to Colin Fulcher, aka Barney Bubbles, who passed away a year before Mirror Moves came out. Colin designed many album covers, with one of them being Forever Now (the original UK artwork, not the US one).

There's one more thing about Mirror Moves that I want to discuss, and it is the introduction of an important and great musician who became a member of The Psychedelic Furs. The one and only Mars Williams.

Mars Williams first joined The Psychedelic Furs during the Forever Now Tour after when his former band The Waitresses (known for their hits "I Know What Boys Like" and "Christmas Wrapping") split up. The interesting thing is that Keith Forsey was at one of The Psychedelic Furs' shows and when Keith saw Mars, he wanted Mars to play on Billy Idol's song "Catch My Fall" on Rebel Yell, because Billy wanted a saxophonist to play on the song.

On Mirror Moves, Mars played saxophone on the songs "Here Come Cowboys", "Heartbeat", "My Time", and "Like A Stranger". I absolutely love the intro of "Heartbeat" and I'll never forget when The Psychedelic Furs opened with that song when I first saw them in 2015. It was so incredible. "My Time" and "Like A Stranger" have great saxophone solos and I feel lucky to experience the latter song live in 2016. I wish The Furs played "Here Come Cowboys" and "My Time", I bet they would be amazing live.

Mars Williams during "Like A Stranger", 2016. Photo by me.

After Mirror Moves Mars would eventually play on the 1986 rerecording of "Pretty In Pink", and two more PFurs albums, Midnight To Midnight (1987) and Made Of Rain (2020). He also played on two b-sides, "Another Edge" (b-side of "The Ghost In You") and "New Dream" (b-side of "Heartbreak Beat"), and in the 2010s worked with Satellite Paradiso, John Ashton's band.

The way Mars Williams played the saxophone on Mirror Moves and those two albums was magical, and I like to imagine there were stars, sparkles and glitter coming out of the saxophone every time he played. And after hearing Mars he made me appreciate and become interested in the sound of the saxophone. But out of all the saxophonists I've heard so far (and that includes original PFurs sax player Duncan Kilburn), Mars Williams was the one who truly shined for me, like a shining star.

I know I already had written a tribute to Mars Williams back in November when he died but I wanted to talk about him again for Mirror Moves' anniversary because that was the first appearance of Mars and his brilliant music with The Psychedelic Furs. I want to keep his memory alive and I want people to know more about him and the impact he made in the music world.

I'm getting teary-eyed right now typing this because it hit me pretty hard when Mars Williams passed away, especially when it happened a month after I saw The Furs in concert. Even though it's almost a year it still doesn't feel real. This October I will be seeing The Furs for the sixth time but sadly it will be my first concert without Mars being there. I honestly don't know how the show will be like, but the best things I can do are having a good time and keeping Mars in my thoughts.

In closing, I would like to say thank you so much for reading, and happy anniversary Mirror Moves. <3

Mirror Moves Japanese Ad #2

Here's another Japanese advert for Mirror Moves. I love how the ad looks.

The Ghost In You Ad

Here's an advertisement for the Psychedelic Furs' "The Ghost In You" single, with lyrics included.

Concert Ads #45

On the 3rd and 4th of September in 1984 The Psychedelic Furs played their first two Japanese shows at the Yomiuri Hall in Tokyo, Japan during the Mirror Moves tour. It looks like tickets were ¥3,900 and the advanced ones were ¥3,000.

An Unexpected Miracle

While I was working on the last hour of my shift on Monday morning, something unexpected happened.

I mentioned this on one of my posts on my Green Day blog, but I work at a Walmart and they have their own radio station which they would play 24/7. They would play some songs I like, but most of the time they would play songs I'm not into. On the post from my Green Day blog, I wrote that they played two songs from American Idiot even though they weren't singles.

Anyway, on that particular morning they played a song which made my jaw drop.

The song they played was The Psychedelic Furs' "The Ghost In You"!!!!

I was really surprised and excited because they never play The Furs' music. I was thinking maybe they played "The Ghost In You" because it's the month of Halloween and it mentions the word "ghost" in the title and choruses. Or maybe not, but it was a delight hearing that song!

A thought occured to me which made me depressed thinking about it, since all my coworkers heard "The Ghost In You" playing, they probably don't know who The Psychedelic Furs are and don't know this beautiful song. Sigh.....

Concert Ads #43

During the Mirror Moves tour on May 31, 1984 The Psychedelic Furs, along with Front 242, Shriekback, and The Sisters Of Mercy performed at the Pallieterhal in Lier, Belgium.

Mirror Moves Japanese Ad

I found this Japanese advert for Mirror Moves and it looks absolutely great.

Italian Concert Review 1984

On June 10, 1984 The Psychedelic Furs performed at a venue in Bari, Italy during the Mirror Moves tour, and a review of that show was published in some newspaper. I found the review on an Italian website and I had to use Google Translate to see what it was saying. I did the best that I could to translate it so here's the English version of the review. Originally written by Marcello Nitti.

Puglian Weather for The Psychedelic Furs

The Psychedelic Furs have landed in Puglia, performing an impeccable concert in the municipal field of Triggiano (Bari).

The Butler brothers group was expected with impatience given the constant increase of aficionados of the group and criticism almost always positive that the world press has always reserved for them.

The show has been a compendium of their career, from "Love My Way", "Pretty In Pink", "Sister Europe", "President Gas", "Heaven", "Imitation Of Christ", and concluded with "Into You Like A Train" and "India". In summary they performed sixteen songs comprising "Angels", an unpublished [song], garnering acclaim from the audience present. [This part is funny to me because the reviewer said "Angels" is an unreleased track. It was actually "Only You And I" from Forever Now, and "Angels" was the working title of that song.]

Richard Butler was accompanied by his brother Tim on bass, John Ashton on guitar and by four other friends playing keyboards respectively, and drums, second guitar and horns.

A concert of good rock music, where the focus was all facing Richard which with his hoarse voice has given an unmistakable timbre to the sound of The Psychedelic Furs.

This Italian tour allowed The P.F. to promote their last album Mirror Moves which comes out at almost two years away from the excellent Forever Now and to be known to a wider audience.

After carefully listening to Mirror Moves, at least two tracks are striking for immediacy and warmth, "The Ghost In You" and "Heaven", which have now reached a high level of composition.

Carrying on is "My Time" which encloses ethereal atmospheres, then the still hard "Heartbeat", which the "extended" published version made the rounds of discotheques, perhaps the least typical song of the group. With "Alice's House", "Like A Stranger" and "Highwire Days", Richard Butler sings with hoarse passion and stays there to those days that preceded moments of crisis, those days that are like a rope placed there to help you up the hill to embrace the sun.

Marcello Nitti

Behind the Songs: Like A Stranger

Photo: Brian Griffin

Interviewer: "Do you have a favorite song from Mirror Moves?"

Richard Butler: "It changes often, but right now probably 'Like A Stranger' and 'Here Come Cowboys.'" (Music Life 1984 [Japanese magazine])

Richard Butler (on being asked which was his favorite song to perform live): "Oh goodness, that would be tough. We started playing a couple that we haven't done for a long, long time. We were just playing 'Like A Stranger' from Mirror Moves [for the 2009 tour] and that sounded really good, and I was very pleased to be doing that. And you know, we haven't played that song in... Gosh, since it came out." (That Modern Rock Show (89.1 WFDU) 2009)

Behind the Songs: My Time

Richard Butler: "Some songs are written specifically for women, like 'My Time' was written from trying to see things from a feminist point of view." (La Edad de Oro 1984 [Spanish TV])

Richard Butler: "My father had [Charles Aznavour's] records, and he's somebody I did quite like. He wrote some fantastic songs. Some for Edith Piaf, another of Dad's favorites. There's a melancholy to that whole French thing, and we've had a couple of songs that dabbled in that feel. I think 'My Time' from Mirror Moves has an element of that." (Record Collector 2020)

Behind the Songs: Alice's House

Interviewer: "So how many songs have you got ready for the new LP [Mirror Moves]?"

Richard Butler: "Yeah, there are a couple...but whether we'll use them or not, I don't know. There's one we recorded with Todd [Rundgren] that we didn't like the drum sound on, so we might re-record that, it's called 'Alice's House.'" (ZigZag 1983)

Richard Butler: "'Alice's House' is an asylum, and it's just a song basically about madness. Where it says, 'in the softest room,' you can take that as a padded cell, and 'you sing without a key.' Well, I always associate people who are insane as singing way out of tune, plus, you're in a room without a key. 'The butler is serving tea' is just sort of a wild image, and 'wearing a shirt without any sleeves' is simply a straitjacket. It works on illusions like that." (Artist Magazine 1984)

Richard Butler: "The thing is, if you start with a basic sequence of chords that sounds good, you can do anything at all with it. You could probably take the chords from a Motorhead song and do a reggae version of it, an MOR version, a punk version, or whatever. Once we have got that, we play with it until either it ends up as a song we like or we chuck it. Only once have we done a song from scratch twice that was 'Alice's House' off Mirror Moves. We recorded it originally with Todd Rundgren to go on Forever Now but we didn't like the way he did it. And we did it again with Keith Forsey. For some reason, that song was just a [__] to get recorded, even the second time round. We nearly didn't put it on Mirror Moves either, it was such a [__] to get done." (One Two Testing 1986)

John Ashton: "We lumped ['Love My Way'] in with the demos that we were doing [for Forever Now], and none of the record companies saw it [as being a single]. They saw 'Aeroplane.' They saw a version of 'Alice's House' that we did that they liked a lot, which came later. 'Alice’s House' never made it to Forever Now." (Popdose 2012)

John Ashton (on playing the demo of the song to Andrew Eldritch of The Sisters Of Mercy): "I couldn't tell whether he was impressed or not. He's very…." [puts palm in front of his face]. (2015 interview)

Interviewer: "What are your favorite classic Psychedelic Furs songs to play?"

Rich Good: "'Soap Commercial', 'Sister Europe', 'Dumb Waiters', 'Only You And I', 'Alice's House'… Honestly, there's not really any I don't like playing." (Post-Punk.com 2022)

Behind the Songs: Here Come Cowboys

Interviewer: "Have you got any song titles yet?"

Richard Butler: "Yeah, one of them's called 'Here Come Cowboys' (laughs) which is about the macho-men you get around in an Italian neighborhood like this [in New York]." (ZigZag 1983)

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 [Mirror Moves] is a much more subtle album, as opposed to shouting. I also think 'Here Come Cowboys' is ideal for the elections coming up (laughs)."

Interviewer: "There's a line in that song that goes 'all we really need is love.' Is that your current philosophy?"

Richard Butler: "Yeah! I think a lot of the cynicism on the early albums was just me hiding my real feelings. The cynicism was largely a perception. I didn't want to put my own feelings on the line as much as other people's feelings which is easier. At the time, I wanted the songs to reflect my feelings other than performing them and with [Mirror Moves] I think I'm generating feelings more." (Aquarian Arts Weekly 1984)

Richard Butler (on being asked if the song was about Ronald Reagan): "Yeah, yeah, he's obviously the most famous one [cowboy] but it's also an attack on TV heroes." (Artist Magazine 1984)

Richard Butler: "It's subliminally political; it doesn't scream its message out. I don't like songs that do. I'm not a fan of The Alarm or The Clash." (BAM Magazine 1984)

John Ashton: "Most of the [songs on Mirror Moves] 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)

Interviewer: "Do you have a favorite song from Mirror Moves?"

Richard Butler: "It changes often, but right now probably 'Like A Stranger' and 'Here Come Cowboys.'" (Music Life 1984 [Japanese magazine])

Richard Butler: "The way I write, I can get away with being political. I think 'Here Come Cowboys' can have radio play and get away with being political, whereas something that openly slams politics won't get played. In a lot of ways, my method of writing is a lot more difficult—I work in a more insidious way. If someone hears our song on the radio and likes it, he or she might not realize what it's about, but they'll go out and buy it. Then, after repeated listenings, they realize the song's meaning. So, we've gotten through to somebody who doesn't think like us as a matter of course. In that way, we've been more successful as conveyors of ideas if we'd put the messages right up at the front at the beginning." (Rockbill 1984)

John Ashton (on being asked what's the point of not playing "Heartbreak Beat" live): "I'd like to do it, but it comes down to a band vote. This is a democratic band! I don't care much for 'Cowboys' but I wouldn't mind doing 'Heartbreak Beat', so there you go." (Fort Worth Star Telegram 1990)

Richard Butler: "[Columbia] had always been pretty good -- besides making a lot of mistakes in choosing singles. We bowed to their will, we thought, 'They're a record company, they probably know better than we do about it.' I thought releasing 'Cowboys' as a single was a big mistake..." (Ink 19 2002)

Richard Butler: "I recall we had a big disagreement with the American record company, because 'Heaven' was in the Top 10 in Canada and the video was everywhere, but then America decided, for some bizarre reason, to release 'Here Come Cowboys' instead. Which failed. I'll never understand their rationale behind that." (Record Collector 2020)

Behind the Songs: Highwire Days

Richard Butler: "It's an attack on the press, and it's just saying that you can see through it all. There are still weird delusions that I can't get rid of like 'They tore up our kisses and ran' is one I tend to think is maybe too complicated." (Artist Magazine 1984)

John Ashton: "Most of the [songs on Mirror Moves] 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 (on being asked if he had done anything that reached the hallowed heights of art): "I think onstage, some of our greatest moments. I don't know, the song 'Highwire Days' sometimes, for some reason. It changes me. It changes what I am. Suddenly I feel massive. I feel like my voice is big enough to fill a big place, whereas sometimes you can be there onstage singing away—and you're looking out and you can see this big place and it doesn't feel like you're big enough to fill it. But then, with a song like that it just seems like you fill it with no problem, that and more." (Creem 1987)

Richard Butler: "There's no other job in the world where people applaud you every three minutes. I'm just an applause addict. There are times, particularly during 'Highwire Days,' when everything sounds so massive and I'm singing as hard as I can and feel THAT big, and the audience can see me and they feel THAT big, and then everything seems worth it. All the hotel lounges and endless airports, everything is worth it just for one song." (Melody Maker 1987)

Richard Butler: "'Highwire Days' is more about the press and how people... You can look at things yourself and find out more about what's going on 50 to 60 percent of the time than you can from reading the papers. You don't get the straight news from reading the papers and you don't get the straight news from television. You have to actually become involved and interested in what's happening to the world and what's happening to the environment." (Interchords 1988)

Richard Butler: "This was about the first song I wrote after I'd given up drinking. It's my favorite to do live. People say we're not very good at reaching out to an audience, but of the songs we do, this is probably the most successful. The chorus isn't exactly happy, but it seems triumphant." (Melody Maker 1988)

Richard Butler: "It's a song really about... I think you can see more what's going on in the world yourself most of the time, rather than watching television. I mean, especially in America, most television is commercial TV." (MTV Europe 1988)

Richard Butler (on the news and advertising): "That's what really gets me irritated about it. You know, you're getting holes in the ozone layer and the holes in the ozone layer are caused by companies like DuPont making CFC gas for aerosols. And also by companies like McDonald's using the packaging that they use for, you know, that stuff. And so the news never really tells you – they never really tell you who's to blame for what's going on because these people are big advertisers. And if they tell you about them on the news they're going to pull their advertising. So you're getting a kind of biased view of the news and the only way to really find out what's going on is to look into it yourself. And it was that kind of anger that made me want to write 'Highwire Days.'" (MTV Europe 1988)

John Ashton: "I originally wrote the music for National Lampoon's Joy Of Sex. Thank goodness they never used it! Live, the song was ALWAYS BRILLIANT!" (Should God Forget liner notes, 1997)

Interviewer: "What are your personal favorite Psychedelic Furs songs and why? Which do you enjoy playing live?"

John Ashton: "'Dumb Waiters' for its sheer full on attack. 'All Of This And Nothing', 'India', 'Pretty In Pink', 'President Gas', 'Heaven', and 'Highwire Days', for pretty much the same reason." (Modern Guitars Magazine 2005)

Behind the Songs: Heartbeat

John Ashton: "Most of the [songs on Mirror Moves] 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: "When I write things I tend to like them very structured and not off-the-wall. I like this to be happening here, and that there, and everything to flow very smoothly. Without the edge that John adds, I think I'd end up hating my own songs. Also, a lot of the best songs tend to come off these weird riffs that John comes up with. They're not quite what you'd expect and so I tend to react to them differently vocally.

"Like 'Heartbeat', which is one of my favorite songs now. That was like a rock song and I just couldn't get along with it at all. But John did all these things to it, tweaked it about, and at the last moment I twigged and stuck a vocal on it. It was done the day before [Mirror Moves] was due to be taken and mastered actually... I always leave the vocals to the last minute anyway, but on this one I had to stick it down in two takes, and then John came up with an idea for the horn parts which we slapped on, and then it was gone!" (One Two Testing 1986)

Richard Butler (on being asked if The Furs or the record company were behind the remixes of "Heartbeat"): "We did the remixes. John actually mixed the remixes with Keith Forsey. I like the remixes. It's one of my favorite things he's ever done, I think. It's just like a different direction." (Radio Luxembourg 1987)

Richard Butler: "It was really funny the way ['Heaven'] worked out. We were a song short for the album Mirror Moves. The lyric was originally written for 'Heartbeat', but seemed to fit 'Heaven' much better." (Melody Maker 1988)

John Ashton: "I wrote the music. Richard wrote the lyrics. Ed Buller felt we should change the chorus—he was right. Mars Williams came up with this really whacked intro. Live, it only worked if you paid attention to Paul [Garisto] counting in the actual song, not Mars. Also, Paul being the drummer always had a handle on the situation and saved our bacon many a night." (Should God Forget liner notes, 1997)

Interviewer: "If you and Richard ever have an argument, what's it usually about?"

Tim Butler: "Hmmm..."

Interviewer: "Girls?"

Tim Butler: "No... how a song should sound like, or which song is good or not."

Interviewer: "As in, 'This is crud, I refuse to play it'?"

Tim Butler: "No, there's been instances where we'd have to cajole Richard for weeks, convince him that a tune is good... and finally, when it's been recorded and mixed, he'd turn around and say, 'That's really good.'

"A case in point is 'Heartbeat,' from Mirror Moves. Richard didn't like it, but we'd carry on in the studio after he'd gone, we'd change it around and add or subtract bits. One day, Keith Forsey played it back to him, and Richard said, 'What’s that?' 'Oh, this was the one you didn't like.'" (Intermittent Signals 2011)

Tim Butler: "We did a remix with [Keith Forsey] of 'Heartbeat' off of Mirror Moves. We were in the studio when he did it, and it was fascinating. He did it in one-minute sections. That is a good remix -- the New York mix of 'Heartbeat.' I'm not really a huge fan of remixes and dance floor stuff when it came in the '80s, but I know New Order picked up on it and ran." (Westword 2013)

Behind the Songs: Heaven

John Ashton: "Most of the [songs on Mirror Moves] 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: "'Heaven' has quite a serious subject: nuclear war — though I choose to talk about it in a general way. That's the way I write. Instead of saying there's an aeroplane in the sky, I say 'There's a hole in the sky where the sun don't shine.'" (No. 1 1984)

Richard Butler (on "Heaven" doing well in the UK): "It's probably the most accessible thing we've ever done and also we've got a hard core of fans here. I'm just pleased that we've come back after two years and done this well, I can't think of many bands who could do that. I'm flattered." (Record Mirror 1984)

Richard Butler: "The words are like clues to what it's really about, which is nuclear war, but you need to think about them to realize that." (Smash Hits 1984)

Richard Butler: "I like songs to sound optimistic, but I can never actually sing an optimistic song. Even 'Heaven' is packed with depressing images." (Melody Maker 1987)

Richard Butler: "'Heaven's' a strange song because we were working in the studio I remember, it was at Saturday night and we were going to kick it in the head for Sunday and Keith Forsey said, 'We really need a new song.' We were working on these other songs that were getting [inaudible]. And I said, 'Well look, I'll come in tomorrow with Tim [Butler] and we'll try to write a song.' And so, I went in and Tim had this idea for the bass rundown, which is a straight kind of rundown. And he started playing that and I was sitting at the keyboard and I started playing the keyboard part for it. I had some lyrics that I had been saving for another song – or writing for another song – and they just happened to fit. So I went in the studio and started singing 'em to the tape we just made for the other stuff and it fit together perfectly. It was written in about two and a half hours and that was it." (Interchords 1988)

Richard Butler: "I don't think I have a happy voice and uplifting songs like 'Heaven' aren't the type of song I feel we do best. It's a good song, but a little too poppy to be one of my personal favorites." (Melody Maker 1988)

Richard Butler: "It was really funny the way that worked out. We were a song short for the album Mirror Moves. The lyric was originally written for 'Heartbeat', but seemed to fit 'Heaven' much better. I was really surprised it was a hit." (Melody Maker 1988)

Richard Butler (on artists covering The Psychedelic Furs' songs): "It's not just Live and Counting Crows. Elvis Costello did a version of 'Pretty In Pink,' and Annie Lennox did a version of 'Heaven.'" (Billboard 1997)

Tim Butler: "Written one morning in the studio by Richard and I, before the others arrived. Originally recorded, as was the rest of [Mirror Moves], using a drum machine, the drums were later replaced by Tommy Price. The song was pretty much finished in a day. One of the coolest things about this song is the pairing of serious lyrics with a very 'poppy' tune." (Should God Forget liner notes, 1997)

Interviewer: "What are your personal favorite Psychedelic Furs songs and why? Which do you enjoy playing live?"

John Ashton: "'Dumb Waiters' for its sheer full on attack. 'All Of This And Nothing', 'India', 'Pretty In Pink', 'President Gas', 'Heaven', and 'Highwire Days', for pretty much the same reason." (Modern Guitars Magazine 2005)

Richard Butler: "'Heaven' was written in the studio. It took a day to write that." (Metro Times 2010)

Interviewer: "What else will you be playing when you come over here because the Talk Talk Talk album doesn't last that long so there will be plenty of time for some other stuff?"

Tim Butler: "Well I think we have to throw in the obligatory semi-hits like 'Heaven', 'Heartbreak Beat'… 'President Gas' probably." (This Is Not Retro 2010)

Interviewer: "When you were getting a lot of songs on the radio, 'Heaven' and 'Ghost In You' got a lot of airplay. Speaking of confusion, did anybody ever assume you were a little bit more religious than you were?"

Tim Butler: "No, because the lyrics to 'Heaven' are pretty heavy lyrics and they're not about anything spiritual. It's about planes flying over ready to drop bombs, nuclear bombs. 'And I'm standing on ice when I say that I don't hear planes.' It's sort of strange that people would dance to it and stuff with a happy vibe, when it's quite a heavy song." (Songfacts 2013)

Interviewer: "I've talked about some of the songs that I really like that you guys do. Do you have any particular favorites that you love?"

Tim Butler: "Yeah, my three favorites, I would have to say, would be 'Heaven,' 'President Gas' and 'Only You And I.'"

Interviewer: "And what do you like about those?"

Tim Butler: "They are constructed the best and all the parts of the instrumentation is perfect for those songs. They're some of the best-realized songs in our catalogue." (Songfacts 2013)

Tim Butler: "The two songs that get the most reaction live are actually 'The Ghost In You' and 'Heaven.' I don't know what makes those songs get more of a reaction. I would have thought 'Heartbreak Beat' would because that's our biggest single, but it doesn't. I don't know how these things work." (Cleveland Scene 2014)

Interviewer: "You're playing singles from your back catalogue on this tour in the autumn. Which ones are you most looking forward to playing?"

Tim Butler: "My favorite songs we've ever done are 'Heaven' and 'Only You And I,' which wasn't a single but I hope we put it in there." (Outline Magazine 2017)

Richard Butler: "I've always been fairly melancholic I suppose. Along the way, I guess there have been certain songs that were celebratory, like 'Love My Way' and 'Heaven'." (Hot Press 2020)

Interviewer: "Is there pressure, given the stature of some of those early singles, to the new material [from Made Of Rain] standing up to these songs that have been in people's minds for almost 40 years?"

Tim Butler: "That's the one reason why it took so long. 'Love My Way' and 'Pretty In Pink' and 'Heaven': our audience knows those and they're very eagle-eyed. If something comes out that's not up there in quality they're gonna say. They're not gonna hold back." (The Pitch 2020)

Richard Butler: "I recall we had a big disagreement with the American record company, because 'Heaven' was in the Top 10 in Canada and the video was everywhere, but then America decided, for some bizarre reason, to release 'Here Come Cowboys' instead. Which failed. I'll never understand their rationale behind that." (Record Collector 2020)

Richard Butler: "For some reason, when writing, I always seem to tend towards the melancholic. And sometimes, also, anger. There have been very few 'celebratory' songs... I suppose perhaps 'Love My Way,' possibly 'Heaven.'" (Record Collector 2020)

Tim Butler: "We have always been a pretty dark band, except for a few things. There's 'Heaven', but even the song 'Heaven' has got dark lyrics. On the outside, it's a dance tune, but the lyrics are about looking out your window and seeing bombers flying over. It's a pretty dark visual there." (Tower Records 2020)

Richard Butler: "About half [of Mirror Moves] was written in the studio – 'Heaven' certainly was – and lyrics to a lot of them were. 'Heaven' is one of those songs that came really quickly – Tim just started playing that descending bassline and I started singing along with it almost immediately. Keith put some drums on it and John came later and put a guitar on it and that was it." (Uncut 2020)

Tim Butler (on why he enjoys playing "Heaven" at concerts): "Because it's a song that gets people dancing – but it's about planes going over dropping bombs. The music and the lyrics, you wouldn't expect [them] together." (The Aquarian 2022)

Tim Butler: "The songs we can't get out of not playing are 'Love My Way,' 'Ghost In You,' 'Heaven,' and 'Heartbreak Beat.' Those are the ones that, if you take out of the set, you'll get lynched." (Nuvo 2023)

Interviewer: "Is there any song that you guys have that you think captures best what you're about? I know a lot of people would know a lot of your famous songs. Is there a song you'd point to for somebody that's never heard of you to have a listen to first?"

Tim Butler: "I'd say 'Heaven'. 'Heaven', yeah."

Interviewer: "That's actually one of my favorite songs of yours as well. Have you any memories about recording that song back in the day or did it come easy? Was it hard or anything like that?"

Tim Butler: "It came easy. It came from a riff or downward progression that I'd been playing with the drummer on the soundtrack of the tour before we recorded Mirror Moves. And I was playing it in the studio with Keith Forsey. He was like, oh wow, that's cool. You know, what's that? I said, that's just a thing I've been messing around with. And then Richard started singing along you know, Heaven, the chorus part of it. Yes. And he said, OK, now go somewhere else, you know, like chord wise. Right. So, I just went to the first chord to the F and that was pretty much it. We recorded it that day. And John did the guitar solo and everything in two takes. So, it's really easy. It's one of the easiest songs I think we've ever written. If only they all were."

Interviewer: "One of the most well-known as well."

Tim Butler: "It's amazing. It is. It's strange how things are. And a song like 'President Gas' took forever and we ended up using two different takes, the beginning, and the end after the breakdown. So, you know, some things come easy, and some things come hard, like life." (Left Of The Dial Music 2025)

Behind the Songs: The Ghost In You

Interviewer: "Have you got any song titles yet?"

Richard Butler: "Yeah, one of them's called 'Here Come Cowboys' (laughs) which is about the macho-men you get around in an Italian neighborhood like this [in New York]. 'The Ghost In You' is another idea for a title." (ZigZag 1983)

Richard Butler: "You could say that 'The Ghost In You' is a love song, where I think that would have been hard to say about any of our songs in the past." (Star Hits 1984)

John Ashton: "It was too commercial for some people but in other ways not commercial enough. Plus some people think we're a bit grim." (International Musician 1986)

John Ashton: "We did use a Fairlight, one of the early ones which was quite tatty, but we did a deal with the guy that owned it that we'd flightcase it up for him — we used it for about six weeks, I think. That lead sound on 'The Ghost In You' — we call it the Chipmunk in the Bath sound — was done on a Fairlight. We had a lot of grief with that, I remember; if we tried using a sequencer all the sustain would disappear — it was all done by hand in the end." (International Musician 1986)

Richard Butler: "If I was to do the song again I'd like it to have a coarser sound. The magic songs like 'Imitation Of Christ' and 'Sister Europe' have is in their fragile nature. It's what I love about some Velvet Underground songs, or Prince's 'The Cross'. They're very fragile and only just hold together and I think that adds something.

"'The Ghost In You' is too bright and sturdy. It's about being haunted by someone inside, someone you can't get out of your mind." (Melody Maker 1988)

Richard Butler: "I'm enjoying singing on [the Book Of Days Tour]. We've been doing acoustic versions of songs like 'The Ghost In You' and 'No Tears'." (Puncture Magazine 1989)

Richard Butler: "Our songwriting has never been that radically different. It's mainly been production differences with records. I think songs like 'The Ghost In You' could have been off Talk Talk Talk or Forever Now. It's just the way that we treated them." (The Bob 1990)

Richard Butler: "We haven't finished rehearsing yet [for the 2002 tour]. So far, we've been rehearsing about twelve songs. I think we're going to be more 'moody' this time around. We're playing songs like 'Imitation Of Christ'… obviously, we've rehearsed 'The Ghost In You,' because we need to throw some old ones in there… 'Sometimes,' off of World Outside." (Ink 19 2002)

Richard Butler: "A lot of people think that 'Pretty In Pink' was our biggest hit, which it actually wasn't. It got a lot of recognition for us because of the movie, but actually, as a single on the charts, before that we had 'Love My Way' – which was a bigger hit, and certainly 'Ghost In You' was a bigger hit." (Ink 19 2002)

Richard Butler: "'Ghost In You' is a lovely song to play." (That Modern Rock Show (89.1 WFDU) 2009)

Tim Butler (on him and Richard writing songs): "We would write songs together. I would start playing a riff and if a particular riff caught Richard's fancy, he'd start writing lyrics and then go from a riff to a chorus. I remember ['The Ghost In You'] came together very quickly. Richard would write lyrics on napkins or pieces of paper, they'd be falling out of his pockets!" (That Music Magazine 2013)

Tim Butler (on the keyboard sounds in "The Ghost In You" and "Love My Way"): "Those were both written by Ed Buller who was our keyboard player at the time. He did those keyboard parts off the top of his head. I think he thought they captured the atmosphere and the lyrics of the songs. Those are the most memorable parts of those songs." (Cleveland Scene 2014)

Tim Butler: "The two songs that get the most reaction live are actually 'The Ghost In You' and 'Heaven.' I don't know what makes those songs get more of a reaction. I would have thought 'Heartbreak Beat' would because that's our biggest single, but it doesn't. I don't know how these things work." (Cleveland Scene 2014)

Tim Butler: "We were already hitting the charts before the re-release of 'Pretty In Pink'. 'Love My Way' was top fifty and 'Ghost In You' was a top forty hit." (Jubilee Cast 2017)

Tim Butler: "Songs like 'Love My Way' and 'Ghost In You' are the only light songs. And they're not particularly light, but they're not as dark and, dare I say, rock 'n' roll-y as most of the set." (Music-Illuminati 2018)

Tim Butler: "When you hear 'Love My Way' in Call Me By Your Name, or 'The Ghost In You' in the background of Stranger Things, you think: 'Wow, these songs still mean something, they still stand up'." (Portsmouth.co.uk 2019)

Tim Butler: "Recently, 'The Ghost In You' was used in Stranger Things on Netflix, and the film Call Me By Your Name (2017), used 'Love My Way' quite a lot." (WriteWyattUK 2019)

Richard Butler: "The songs that sound more retro are the ones where we delved more into synthesizers—'Ghost In You' perhaps." (Magnet Magazine 2020)

Tim Butler (on The Strokes sampling "The Ghost In You" on their song "Eternal Summer"): "When I first heard about it, because I'm not a huge fan of The Strokes, I was a bit wary of it, but I ended up really liking it. We met the singer [Julian Casablancas] years ago when we played The Viper Room and he came to see us and he seemed like a nice guy." (NME 2020)

Richard Butler: "I think 'The Ghost In You' still sounds pretty good, but it's not as timeless as, say, 'Pretty In Pink' or 'Dumb Waiters' or even slower songs like 'She Is Mine'." (Rock Cellar Magazine 2020)

Interviewer: "The first lines in 'The Ghost In You' I misheard for most of my life. I thought you were singing 'A man in my shoes runs enlightened.' But you're not, are you?"

Richard Butler: "No, it's 'a man in my shoes runs a light.' As in a traffic light."

Interviewer: "So it's 'running a light and all the papers lied.' What is that opening section of that song getting at?"

Richard Butler: "It's saying a person like me, or perhaps even me, takes chances, runs a light.

"It's my little metaphor for taking chances, and then it goes into pretty straightforward, 'The papers lied tonight, but falling over you is the news of the day.'" (Songfacts 2020)

Richard Butler: "Keith [Forsey] came over to London and he sat in on rehearsals. We'd just be throwing ideas around and playing bits and pieces, and I think it was him that picked up on the part for 'The Ghost In You' and said, 'That's great, what you're playing there. Do that again!' We improved on it and put the keyboard on with an odd sound, and built it out of that." (Uncut 2020)

Richard Butler: "It's strange that [Love Spit Love's] version of 'How Soon Is Now' has become well known through Charmed. And the Furs kept showing up in movies – 'Love My Way' was in Call Me By Your Name, which was great, and Stranger Things had 'The Ghost In You'." (Uncut 2020)

Interviewer: "The Furs have had a recent pop culture resurgence: 'The Ghost In You' was used in Season 2 of Stranger Things, and 'Love My Way' features prominently in 2017's Call Me By Your Name. Have you seen either?"

Tim Butler: "Oh, yeah, I watched all the episodes of Stranger Things, and once I heard Call Me By Your Name had 'Love My Way' in it, I went to go see it." (USA Today 2020)

Tim Butler: "The songs we can't get out of not playing are 'Love My Way,' 'Ghost In You,' 'Heaven,' and 'Heartbreak Beat.' Those are the ones that, if you take out of the set, you'll get lynched." (Nuvo 2023)

Tim Butler (on being asked if there was someone who inspired the lyrics to "The Ghost In You"): "I wouldn't want to speak for Richard. I think Richard likes his lyrics to be interpreted in a way that makes you feel something. So, whatever an individual wants to make of it that's OK. That's why also I think it's a timeless song. I don't think it ages." (Tallahassee Democrat 2023)

Behind the Albums: Mirror Moves

Interviewer: "So what are your current plans?"

Richard Butler: "We're just writing at the moment – I've got a little Casio and a porta-studio, and we're going into the studio with producer Keith Forsey soon for the next album."

Tim Butler: "Plus we've got to re-acquaint ourselves with John [Ashton] and Phill [Calvert]!"

Richard Butler: "Yeah – we haven't seen John for ages and he's been writing songs too. I don't know what sort of stuff he's been doing, but I've been writing songs from drums up really, so I don't know what it'll be like when we put it all together. Probably on this album there'll be more individual songs just because John can't possibly collaborate with us while we're over here [in America]!" (ZigZag 1983)

Interviewer: "Mirror Moves seems like a very big departure for the band, musically and lyrically."

Richard Butler: "I don't think the change has come overnight. 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)

Interviewer: "Your lyrical attitude seems to have changed quite a bit on this album. On the first three albums, you seemed to be looking at the world with a mixture of amusement and disgust and assuming that there was nothing one could do to improve things. Mirror Moves seems to allow for the possibility of positive change."

Richard Butler: "Yeah, I'm a lot more optimistic these days but having said that, I still feel cynical about a lot of things. I think I've gotten better at presenting both sides of things."

Interviewer: "Was the positive side always there for you, or did you only discover it recently?"

Richard Butler: "I think I've only recently discovered it. 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. I also think 'Here Come Cowboys' is ideal for the elections coming up (laughs)."

Interviewer: "There's a line in that song that goes 'all we really need is love.' Is that your current philosophy?"

Richard Butler: "Yeah! I think a lot of the cynicism on the early albums was just me hiding my real feelings. The cynicism was largely a perception. I didn't want to put my own feelings on the line as much as other people's feelings which is easier. At the time, I wanted the songs to reflect my feelings other than performing them and with this album I think I'm generating feelings more." (Aquarian Arts Weekly 1984)

Interviewer: "Have you encountered any resistance to Mirror Moves from your longtime fans?"

Richard Butler: "Normally. Occasionally, longtime fans will come up and say 'This album isn't as good as the last two. Why have you sold out?' that it can't sound as raw because Tim and John have gotten very good as players, and they've gotten very interested in sounds. The first two albums were pretty much live - it was like: walk into the studio, plug in your guitar and go. Tim and John have come a long way as musicians." (Aquarian Arts Weekly 1984)

Interviewer: "Mirror Moves is the first Furs album to include love songs. I suppose that a lot of your earlier tracks could be defined as love songs but…"

Richard Butler: "I think they were songs about love, better than love songs. 'Sister Europe' was kind of a love song but it was hidden behind imagery. 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)

Interviewer: "Every time you release a new record, you change producers. Is there a particular reason for that?"

Richard Butler: "There's various reasons. First, working with a new producer is a learning experience. When we worked on Mirror Moves with Keith, the experience we got from working with Todd Rundgren before was helpful. Most bands work with the same producer, but for us, working with producers is like being in school. Each producer does something different. Todd Rundgren was good with melodies and synthesizer arrangements so we ended up using a lot of synths. Keith Forsey is also great. He's worked with Giorgio Moroder for a long time making dance music. That's why the bass and drums sound the best. So I think working with a new producer is important in the learning experience." (Music Life 1984 [Japanese magazine])

Interviewer: "What was the reason you met up with Keith Forsey?"

Richard Butler: "There were a lot of options. So we wanted a producer who was strong with bass and drums. Our manager suggested his name to us and we liked what we heard on Billy Idol's LP. It's a different sound from ours, but the bass and drums were tight. Keith himself is also a great drummer."

Interviewer: "The Mirror Moves LP has a brighter sound to it — would you consider yourself an optimist or a pessimist?"

Richard Butler: "I'm a realist (laughs). I have a bit of both in me." (Music Life 1984 [Japanese magazine])

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: "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: "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: "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 the earlier albums 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 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)

Interviewer: "A large part of the Furs' beauty to me was always the uncertainty, the wondering what the lyrics were about, the personal interpretations."

Richard Butler: "Yeah, and I enjoy writing them so that meanings appear and you can follow that lead instead of setting out with something in mind."

Interviewer: "But you lost your ability to torture a cliché – such a shock after Mirror Moves which was very nearly perfect in its gleaming melancholy. That album was like a Venus Flytrap – so gorgeous you were enticed inside and then – snap! Dangerous as [__]."

Richard Butler: "Yeah, I enjoy lyrical twists. We did get lost on Midnight To Midnight but, recently, we've been getting back in touch with what we do best." (Melody Maker 1988)

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)

Richard Butler: "We spent too long in the studio making Midnight To Midnight, and we lost direction. We were doing something which had always worked until then, which was saying, 'we've got ideas, let's go and write the material in the studio,' which is something we've done ever since Talk Talk Talk. We've tried to push the sound in different directions, and it worked. I think Forever Now was a good album for that. I think that Mirror Moves, for what we were trying to do with it, was a good record. And then I think we came unstuck." (The Bob 1990)

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)

Interviewer: "You took radical chances in altering the band's sound first with Forever Now in 1982, and then with Mirror Moves in 1984. What was the impetus behind your change in direction?"

Richard Butler: "We didn't want to keep making the same record." (Greatest Hits liner notes, 2001)

Interviewer: "Are the first three your favorite albums?"

Richard Butler: "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)

Interviewer: "You essentially took full control of the guitar reigns after the departure of Roger Morris. Was that an easy task? The classic Mirror Moves album came from that period. Tell me about that."

John Ashton: "Well, on one hand it changed the sound of the band completely, and although I had more room to do my thing, it was hard to come to terms with at times. Recording Forever Now, we used keyboards, sax and cello. It was a total departure from the two previous albums, which were much denser sounding. 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)

Interviewer: "How did you get involved with Billy Idol and end up doing Rebel Yell?"

Mars Williams: "Keith Forsey produced Mirror Moves and was the producer of 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)

Interviewer: "I think I'm right in saying that the shows you're about to come and do will be revolving around the Talk Talk Talk album?"

Tim Butler: "Yes, that's right… it's kind of a popular thing to do now, but the idea is to do that on this tour and then on the next tour we'll do the whole of Forever Now, and then the whole of Mirror Moves… I don't know if we'll be able to face doing the same thing for Midnight To Midnight though!" (This Is Not Retro 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: "A few people have said [Made Of Rain] sounds like World Outside. It's certainly not like the commercial, sheeny side of Mirror Moves [1984] and Midnight To Midnight [1987]." (Mojo 2020)

Interviewer: "Keith Forsey said that you would sing the tracks on Mirror Moves just once. Is that true?"

Richard Butler: "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."

Interviewer: "Wow."

Tim Butler: "Mirror Moves. That turned out to be a great record." (Tower Records 2020)

Tim Butler: "After the success of 'Love My Way' we thought we'd take some steps forward and go into a more commercial, poppy territory, so we chose Keith Forsey because he had just recorded Rebel Yell with Billy Idol. We thought, 'Who better to keep our English sensibilities but tap a bit more into the American market?' The length of time we took on albums stepped up – once you realize what you can do in the studio, you always try to polish something even more. If something's good you always feel, 'I could do it better, this is gonna be out there forever', so you can sort of second-guess yourself."

Richard Butler: "Keith came over to London and he sat in on rehearsals. We'd just be throwing ideas around and playing bits and pieces, and I think it was him that picked up on the part for 'The Ghost In You' and said, 'That's great, what you're playing there. Do that again!' We improved on it and put the keyboard on with an odd sound, and built it out of that. But about half this record was written in the studio – 'Heaven' certainly was – and lyrics to a lot of them were. 'Heaven' is one of those songs that came really quickly – Tim just started playing that descending bassline and I started singing along with it almost immediately. Keith put some drums on it and John came later and put a guitar on it and that was it."

Tim Butler: "For every other album the core band had played and then we'd overdubbed on top of that – but for this one, the tracks were pretty much me in the live room with a drum machine, and everything else was overdubbed. It worked out, but it was quite stressful. It's hard to get the vibe like that, so it was the most taxing record from my point of view." (Uncut 2020)