Retro Spins: The Psychedelic Furs - Talk Talk Talk

 

I may have to take a step back and bite my tongue. In my last post, I gave the Fur's 1980 debut album a pass, stating that I knew better was on the horizon.

Success in the USA came for the Fur's with their 1981 released Talk Talk Talk, which peaked on the Billboard 200 at number eighty-nine. With it came the first iteration of their song, Pretty In Pink, which would serve as inspiration for the 1986 John Hughes film of the same name. However, singer / writer Richard Butler would later say that the cinematic interpretation had very little to do with the song's original intent.

Playing through it, I was expecting the band to tone down their punk roots and adopt a more pop oriented sound. In hindsight, that may have been an unrealistic expectation.

While I did enjoy Pretty In Pink, It Goes On, and I Wanna Sleep With You, Talk Talk Talk didn't make me the fan I was hoping it would have. It wasn't bad by any means, it just didn't resonate with me as much as I wanted it to. I chalk that up to the punk sound it encompassed, which isn't necessarily a genre I flock towards.

I'm still holding out hope that later albums break the mold and offer more. I'm also still relatively invested in chugging through those, which I suppose is a good thing since I already own them.

Basically, that's all I have to say, and for that, my mistake was not writing this at the same time as listening to the album, as I often do. Too much time has passed since then, and I've relatively forgotten most of it.

Tomorrow, I'll dive into 1982's Forever Now.

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Comics Corner: Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man 108

   

Title: Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man
Issue Number: 108
Release Date: November 1985

Highlights

• This issue immediately follows 107, and continues to occur at some point during the events of Web Of Spider-Man 11
• Death of Judge Horace Rosenthal, and Reverend Bernard Finn
• First appearance of Charles Bronson, Hugo Kelsey, and NYPD officer Arnie
• After getting blasted by Sin-Eater in the cliffhanger ending of last issue, Judge Rosenthal dies
• In an attempt to dodge Sin-Eater's shotgun fire, innocent people are hit with the shots
• Sin-Eater admits to Spider-Man he killed Captain Jean DeWolff
• Spider-Man see's Aunt May on the ground, and withdraws from the fight, but not before tossing a spider tracer on Sin-Eater, who immediately notices, and brushes it off
• After a quick change, Peter comes to his Aunt's side, turns out she's okay
• Detective Stanley Carter tells Spider-Man that he used to be a member of S.H.I.E.L.D.
• At the funerals of Jean, Stan see's Reverend Finn, and asks out loud if Sin-Eater takes requests, his colleague, Arnie calls him out for it
• While searching Jean DeWolff's apartment, Spider-Man comes across a drawer full of photos and articles about him, and realizes she like him - a lot
• Sin-Eater kill Reverand Finn in his church from a confessional box

Low Points

• None

Oddities

• None

Rating (based on a 1 through 5 Stans grading system)

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Retro Spins: The Psychedelic Furs - The Psychedelic Furs

I don't remember which came first for me. The Pretty In Pink soundtrack or randomly picking up a handful of their albums at a used CD store. Then there's the aspect of when I actually started hearing music from them that interested me. If I'm remembering correctly, I bought the soundtrack, then got a couple albums, then started hearing songs from them while perusing the 10,000 80's songs playlist, I found online.

The band initially consisted of Richard Butler (vocals), Tim Butler (bass guitar), Duncan Kilburn (saxophone), Paul Wilson (drums), and Roger Morris (guitars). By 1979, this line-up had expanded to a sextet with Vince Ely replacing Wilson on drums and John Ashton joining as a second guitarist.

Signing with Columbia Records, the Furs released their self-titled debut. However, depending on whether you bought the original UK or US release would not only dictate the cover you got, but the songs. While the UK pressing had nine tracks, the US release was expanded to ten. Additionally, the US version included the tracks, Susan's Strange, and Soap Commercial, which were not on the UK pressing. Further, the US release omitted Black Radio.

The album established the band on European radio stations, and became a hit in the UK, Germany, Italy, France, Spain and Australia. Success in the USA wouldn't come until their follow-up release, 1981's Talk Talk Talk.

Well, uh-oh. This is why I need to stop buying albums I know nothing about, filling in gaps for bands I'm fairly unfamiliar with. The Fur's debut, while okay, wasn't what I hoped it would be.

Though I don't normally have comments on the technical aspects of records, I do here. The music, while well balanced, overshadows the vocals of Richard Butler, who frankly sounds like he's either whispering, shy, or miles away from the microphone. It's hard to understand him, and it's not helped by his raspy mumbling voice.

Because of this aspect, even when the music is catchy, it's hard to get into the tune because I can't understand most of the words being sung. Which is a real shame since the guitar work of John Ashton hooks often.

With my introduction to The Psychedelic Furs being their bigger hits from later years, my ears were more so hoping to hear that mixture of post-punk and new wave. However, the latter aspect is missing from their debut, granted intentionally, but still catches me off guard with my expectation. Overall, I'd call it a solid punk release, but ultimately not what I was hoping to get from it.

If you told me I had to pick something standout, I'd opt for The Wedding Song. It's the only track which not only sounds great but seems balanced, mixing wise, across music and vocals. I also enjoyed the back-and-forth fades of the guitar towards the end.

While I'm not jumping up and down at the end of it, and ready to zoom into another Furs album, I'm not deterred either. I'm definitely going to push forward through their 80's discography and make my way to the end. I know that better stuff is to come, and that unto itself is worth staying the course.

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