The Psychedelic Furs are terrible

[The Modernist]

Underrated.
They did a nice line in moody, but pleasingly abrasive, post-punk. Most of the early singles are really good ( my top pick the supercharged "Dumb Waiters") and they had some epic album tracks like " India" and the wonderful "Sister Europe". They went a bit wrong in the mid eighties, but who didn't, as they chased the MTV dollar.
They were never received much music press support and I think this has affected their subsequent critical reputation, at least in the UK. I don't think Simon Reynolds post-punk book even mentioned them.

[Hightea]

Love the first two albums lost interest after that.

[bobzilla77]

Like the majority here I thought they had some very good to great moments, but couldn't sustain interest for long. And when they are not good they really aren't good.

I'd still like to own a copy of Forever Now, maybe some day I will.

[Polishgirl]

Underrated.
They did a nice line in moody, but pleasingly abrasive, post-punk. Most of the early singles are really good ( my top pick the supercharged "Dumb Waiters")

Yes!

[Kinkhurt]

Underrated.
They did a nice line in moody, but pleasingly abrasive, post-punk. Most of the early singles are really good ( my top pick the supercharged "Dumb Waiters")

Yes!

The single is cut short though,there's more greatness available on the album version. Not an obvious choice for a single, the dissonance on that record is a thing of beauty. I love the wah guitar on that track - right on the edge of pedal operation - a bit too low in the mix for my liking though.

The single for Mr Jones is miles better than the album version - its got miles more bounce in it, something the 2nd album suffered from all the way through, to my ears.

[Jimbo]

Kudos for the band name which gave them a smidge of cred with we acid eaters of the 60s and 70s.

[Muskrat]

Was letting a YouTube playlist run and run as I couldn’t be bothered turning it off and when I checked it had been playing the Furs for two hours. All of it ghastly.
Terrible aren’t they?

And they speak so highly of you!

[Minnie the Minx]

Was letting a YouTube playlist run and run as I couldn’t be bothered turning it off and when I checked it had been playing the Furs for two hours. All of it ghastly.
Terrible aren’t they?

And they speak so highly of you!

[Ranking Ted]

Underrated.
They did a nice line in moody, but pleasingly abrasive, post-punk. Most of the early singles are really good ( my top pick the supercharged "Dumb Waiters") and they had some epic album tracks like " India" and the wonderful "Sister Europe". They went a bit wrong in the mid eighties, but who didn't, as they chased the MTV dollar.
They were never received much music press support and I think this has affected their subsequent critical reputation, at least in the UK. I don't think Simon Reynolds post-punk book even mentioned them.

Yep, that’s it. Their MTV phase - which was rather iffy- has seen them rather unjustly overlooked - for me, things like Sister Europe and All Of This And Nothing stand up extremely well.

[Sambient]

So Longlegs and I saw them perform late last year. A comfortable old local theater that's great for seeing comfortable old artists.
Songs I'd not listened to in ages suddenly fully remembered as I mouthed along to some lyrics.
There's something sexy in the sound. There's also a proto-emo over-earnestness: let's write very literary sounding lyrics, okay?
The performance was timeless in that detached post-punk tradition. The playing was spot on.
Had a great time. Bought bootlegs t-shirts outside after.

[Belle Lettre]

Underrated.
They did a nice line in moody, but pleasingly abrasive, post-punk. Most of the early singles are really good ( my top pick the supercharged "Dumb Waiters")

Yes!

"Flowers " is mine.

[Minnie the Minx]

I gave them another go today.
They sounded even worse than last time, so I'll probably give up now.

[Shagger Dave]

I like all the first four, then it was steeply downhill....but their last (final?) effort, World Outside was very decent. "Don't be a girl" and this queasy beauty were standouts:

"Get A Room" is the keeper off that record. I was pleasantly surprised by that one, having written them off after "Heartbreak Beat" in the mid 1980s. I do like the first few records, perhaps their rep is a little inflated but they did write some great songs (Love My Way, Pretty In Pink, President Gas, India).

[Kinkhurt]

This thread finally delivers ..... underwhelming to say the least - wheres the space, dynamics and anybody not called Butler ?

[C]

I have a couple of their albums and I enjoy them very much

Robust stuff





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[Neil Jung]

I have the first 4. Playing Forever Now erm, now.

[C]

NP





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[C]

I have a couple of their albums

Four actually...!



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[Nervous Ned]

I got into them just before the first album via a Peel session that included the brilliant Sister Europe. Followed them up until the third album by which time whatever attracted me to them had all but gone. Trouble is, when they were good they were very, very good ... so this is my playlist with the album nos in brackets. This tells its own story!

India (1)
Sister Europe (1)
Blacks/Radio (1)
Flowers (1)
Dumb Waiters (2)
Pretty in Pink (2)
Love My Way (3)

There was a cheapo compilation on Castle Communication in the 90's which contained most of my favourites. The selection was skewed towards the early years and the sleeve notes all but admitted they went crap rather quickly. There was one track called Angels Don’t Cry which was good, bar an absolutely awful middle 8. Think that was on a later album.