The Psychedelic Furs: 40 Years of Beautiful Chaos

40 years ago, during the post-punk era, an album was released by a band who were newcomers and there was something unusual and different about it. It captured the sound that punk was famously known for but it was unlike any other. There was also a mix of new wave, art rock, and alternative and they were accompanied by a saxophone. With all of these sounds combined, they were known as the beautiful chaos. The vocalist, the one mysteriously called Butler Rep, definitely had that punk attitude. He wanted the world to know about his experiences, his feelings, or what was happening by singing and shouting loudly. His voice would be full of anger, bitterness, frustration, and sometimes hints of humor and sarcasm. But he did have softer moments too; with less of the snarl, his voice would get calm, melodic, and passionate. The front cover of the album shows the band members trapped in a room of bright neon pink, looking around with blank stares. And then it features the name of the band, one of the most iconic and extraordinary names out there, and they are...


The Psychedelic Furs.

Sadly I wasn't around when The Psychedelic Furs' eponymous debut LP came out but I wonder what it was like hearing the album for the first time back in 1980. A time when The Furs were a new band and you knew very little about them. The Psychedelic Furs was a top 20 hit in the UK and it got some success in America. Before the album was released in the US it sold really well as an import, its songs got played on the college radio stations, and it entered at #140 on the Billboard Album Chart.

Three of the songs ("Pulse," "We Love You," and "Flowers") were produced by The Psychedelic Furs, Howard Thompson, and Ian Taylor but the rest were produced by Steve Lillywhite. The Furs were inspired by Lillywhite's production on Siouxsie & The Banshees' first album The Scream (1978) and so they wanted him to produce their forthcoming debut. The band even went to the same studio where The Scream was recorded, at RAK Studios in London, to work on The Psychedelic Furs. The album was recorded in December 1979 and was finished after a short period of time.


The first song on The Psychedelic Furs is "India," one of the greatest album openers of all time and a huge fan favorite. It eerily begins with a guitar that sounds like radio waves and the sound starts out quietly at first, but... it keeps getting louder and louder. While it's going we're introduced to the slow tension of Tim Butler's bass and the cymbals from Vince Ely's drums, and they leave you wondering what will happen next. This lasts for two minutes and then suddenly we're greeted with a slap in the face by the beautiful chaos. It is that good.

"India" was the first song to mention the name Caroline and it became the name of the main protagonist on "Pretty In Pink" in 1981. But years later the name was brought up two more times on Love Spit Love's "Sweet Thing" (1997) and Richard Butler's "California" (2006). I had talked about this on one of my old blog posts and this is my own theory, but I feel that the Caroline in "Sweet Thing" and "California" is the same Caroline from "Pretty In Pink" and "India." It may not be true but it's a really fascinating theory to think about.


After the frantic pace of "India" we are then treated to the low-key "Sister Europe." "Sister Europe" is my favorite song on The Psychedelic Furs and it is magnificent. The guitars by John Ashton and Roger Morris are breathtaking and the sound of Duncan Kilburn's saxophone is glorious. The song is even more brilliant when performed live and in my opinion, the music outshines the studio recording. Richard Butler's vocals on "Sister Europe" are absolutely wonderful, and the lyrics are one of his best. The words to the second verse have been in my head lately and it shows how talented Richard is with his songwriting.

"Lonely in a crowded room
The radio plays out of tune
So silently
The radio upon the floor
Is stupid it plays Aznavour
So out of key"


Third track is "Imitation Of Christ" and like "Sister Europe" it has the same slow tempo but a little more calmer. The music is relaxing to the ears and towards the end the guitar sounds like a harmonica. Next song is the upbeat "Fall" and whenever I would hear it I think about a special memory that's associated with the song. When I saw The Psychedelic Furs the second time back in the Summer of 2016 they performed "Fall." While Richard Butler was singing the first verse he walked over to where I was and he shook my hand. It was the first ever handshake I got from Richard and it was so awesome.


The fifth song is "Pulse" and the music sort of reminds me of Siouxsie & The Banshees' early material. It marks the end of side one while side two introduces us to "We Love You." Three months ago I dedicated a blog post to "We Love You" for its 40th anniversary and here's what I wrote about the song:

"Back when 'We Love You' was released The Psychedelic Furs wanted to be heard, and wanted people to know what they're all about. The song has a '60s rock and roll feel to it, but there was nothing psychedelic about it. However it has its own version of psychedelia: the beautiful chaos. Powerful and loud, it screams in your face, but not too rough. With the combination of John Ashton and Roger Morris' guitars, Tim Butler's bass, Vince Ely's drums, Duncan Kilburn's saxophone, and Richard Butler's (aka Butler Rep) vocals, they created a unique and brilliant piece of music. A post punk gem that shines."


Seventh track is "Wedding Song" which has a danceable beat to it and Richard Butler tries his hand at what sounds like rapping (?) on one part in the song. After "Wedding Song" comes "Blacks/Radio," which is more like two songs in one and runs over six minutes. The music on "Blacks/Radio" is very amazing, and it truly represents what the beautiful chaos is all about. However, the song was removed from the US release of The Psychedelic Furs. On the first part in "Blacks/Radio" it mentioned a tongue-in-cheek quote from Andy Warhol which was repeated twice, and the people at Columbia feared it would be too offensive. So they replaced the song with two other recordings, "Susan's Strange" and "Soap Commercial," and also rearranged the tracks and changed the artwork for the album. Eventually "Blacks/Radio" finally made its first American appearance 17 years later, on The Psychedelic Furs' two-disc compilation album Should God Forget: A Retrospective.

And finally The Psychedelic Furs closes with the last song "Flowers," and it's more simple compared to the others but the beautiful chaos still shines through. After that, the album ends and you got to experience what was going on in The Psychedelic Furs' world, through its imagination, vision, art, and music. But I'm not done with the songs just yet.

Last but certainly not least I will talk about "Susan's Strange" and "Soap Commercial" for those who grew up with the US version of The Psychedelic Furs. The two songs were recorded in May 1980 and were produced by Martin Hannett. "Susan's Strange" was the b-side to "Mr. Jones" and "Soap Commercial" appeared on the 12" single of "Pretty In Pink" a year later. I actually heard "Susan's Strange" live once when I first saw The Furs in 2015, but back then I never knew about it until I got the 2002 remaster of The Psychedelic Furs in 2016. I hope someday The Furs will perform "Susan's Strange" again because I want to hear it after I became familiar with the song. Speaking of the 2002 remaster it has the original UK track listing, those two songs, and a couple bonus tracks. A demo of "Flowers" and The Psychedelic Furs' brilliant cover of Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht's "Mack The Knife."


It's hard to believe that it's been this long since The Psychedelic Furs came out. But the amazing thing is after all these years the album sounds fresh and still holds up, and it doesn't even sound dated at all. The same with The Furs' other albums, they are timeless and can be enjoyed by every generation.

Photo: Tom Sheehan

Richard Butler Interview & New Upcoming Post

I would like to start off by saying that today I discovered Richard Butler was interviewed by BBC6 and he talked about the new album and single. The interview was great and it was so nice to hear Richard talk. Here it is if you want to listen to it.

Lately I had been working on a new blog post which is about the 40th anniversary of The Psychedelic Furs' first album and it is all finished. At first I was going to publish it on March 7th (the date when The Psychedelic Furs came out) but I want to post it tomorrow. The reason why is because writing that blog was the most challenging one for me, and I'll tell you what happened during the process.

I began work on the post a week and a half ago because I wanted to have more time to write in case the usual writers block would come. I had trouble when I started but then the inspiration came into my head. I wrote, and wrote, and wrote until I finished the whole thing and I was good to go. But sadly, I did something that I shouldn't have done. I saw an arrow button that was curved to the left and I never used it before (I write my blogs on my mobile device because I don't have a computer at the moment). I clicked on that arrow to see what it would do and then... it deleted the whole thing. All my words, all my work, completely gone. My jaw dropped, and my eyes were wide in total complete shock. I was feeling queasy in my stomach and I kept repeating "What did I do?!" I felt like a big idiot and I didn't want to do it all over again. How could I possibly start writing and think of new words, new sentences? And I felt it wouldn't be as good as before. But then I decided to not give up and moved on. So how did I try the second time? Well, the answer was this: I'm not meaning to show off or anything but I have a really good memory, and the crazy thing was I actually remembered what I had written. I typed out the whole thing and from my perspective, it was 97 to 98 percent accurate of what I wrote before I accidentally deleted it. I still worked on it and changed/removed words and also added some stuff. Finally it got finished and I have to say, it is better than the original draft. Instead of having to wait until March I decided to post it on February 1st. I want to show the heart and hard work I put into that blog post and I can't wait to share with you all. See you tomorrow!

Photo: Simon Fowler

My Thoughts on Don't Believe: The New Single

A day before The Psychedelic Furs announced the special news (which was yesterday) I heard a couple people say on Twitter that BBC6 played a song that was supposedly The Furs' new single, called "Don't Believe." When I heard about it I was suspicious at first. How would they know when the band hadn't posted the announcement yet? Well, it turned out... they were right. Later in the day I got a comment on my latest post and it was from Gail, who is a PFurs fan and usually comments on my blog. She heard about the discussion too and so she searched for "Don't Believe." She found out the new single was uploaded on YouTube, and she thinks that since it was already the 31st over in the UK the song got posted. After reading her comment I immediately went to The Psychedelic Furs' official YouTube account and, behold, there it was... But before I go any further on the new single I discovered the name of the new album. After when I listened to "Don't Believe" I checked out the description and it said this:

"Taken from the new album by The Psychedelic Furs; Made Of Rain. Available to pre-order now."

There it is everyone. The new name for The Psychedelic Furs' long-awaited eighth studio album, Made Of Rain. It will be released on May 1st and the track listing has been revealed!


1. The Boy That Invented Rock & Roll
2. Don’t Believe
3. You’ll Be Mine
4. Wrong Train
5. This’ll Never Be Like Love
6. Ash Wednesday
7. Come All Ye Faithful
8. No-One
9. Tiny Hands
10. Hide The Medicine
11. Turn Your Back On Me
12. Stars


I'm still in shock about what happened and it feels like it's all a dream. But it is not a dream after all. It's reality. It's really happening. I am so happy, so excited that The Psychedelic Furs are finally coming out with new music. It's hard having to wait until May comes but it will be worth it. I had been waiting for four years and it's almost here.

And now, let's get right to the new single, "Don't Believe." I've listened to this song six times already and... It. Is. Awesome! The music in "Don't Believe" is a mix between the 80s and modern alternative and it is just perfect. Rich Good's guitar work is really incredible, and it was great hearing the signature sound of Mars Williams' saxophone. And Richard Butler... Wow... His vocals are absolutely amazing!! I was stunned when I first heard Richard's voice. He sings so good, and he doesn't even sound like he's 63 at all! On Record Mirror's review of Midnight To Midnight back in 1987 they said that Richard Butler's voice gets richer with age. They were definitely right, and nowadays it is still true.

To Richard and Tim Butler, Rich Good, Mars Williams, Paul Garisto, Amanda Kramer, and Richard Fortus, thank you all so much for this amazing song. I can't wait to hear what the rest of the songs on Made Of Rain are like, and I have a feeling they will be brilliant as ever!


Update: I heard that on May 14th The Psychedelic Furs are going to perform at the Royal Albert Hall in London. They will play the Made Of Rain album in its entirety and also some of their well-known hits. I'm looking forward to see what they'll do for the tour this year, especially in Summer.