The Psychedelic Furs
Studio album by
the Psychedelic Furs
Released7 March 1980 (1980-03-07)
Recorded1979
StudioRAK, London
GenrePost-punk
Length40:50
LabelColumbia
Producer
The Psychedelic Furs chronology
The Psychedelic Furs
(1980)		 Talk Talk Talk
(1981)
Alternative cover
US cover
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[1]
Christgau's Record GuideA−[2]
Classic Rock8/10[3]
Entertainment WeeklyB[4]
Q[5]
Record Mirror[6]
Rolling Stone[7]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide[8]
Smash Hits8/10[9]
Spin Alternative Record Guide7/10[10]

The Psychedelic Furs is the debut studio album by English rock band the Psychedelic Furs, released on 7 March 1980 by Columbia Records. It was reissued with bonus tracks in 2002 by Columbia/Legacy.[11] In 2020, Rolling Stone included the band's debut studio album in their "80 Greatest albums of 1980" list, praising the musicians for sounding like "a grand art project".[12]

The original UK LP had nine tracks. The US LP contained 10 tracks, deleting one track from the UK LP ("Blacks/Radio") and adding two others ("Susan's Strange" and "Soap Commercial"), and changing the order of the tracks significantly. The CD reissue contained 13 tracks, beginning with the original nine UK LP tracks (programmed in their original order), then adding the two additional tracks from the US LP release, plus a version of "Mack the Knife" and a demo of the album track "Flowers".

Lyrics

In both his delivery and content Richard Butler introduces the sarcastic style which would become his signature and makes use of a number of recurring motifs in the album's lyrics (track numbering refers to the CD issue).

  • "Stupid" (people, friends, dreams, sea) - tracks 1,2,4,6,8.
  • "Useless" (lives, sound, drivel) - tracks 1,2,5,7,9.
  • "Flowers" - tracks 1,4,5,9.
  • "Carpet/Floor" - tracks 1,2,3,9.
  • "Dancing/Reeling" - tracks 1,3,5,8.

Track listing

All songs were written and arranged by the Psychedelic Furs, with words by Richard Butler, and produced by Steve Lillywhite, except where noted.

Original UK LP

Side 1
  1. "India" – 6:21
  2. "Sister Europe" – 5:38
  3. "Imitation of Christ" – 5:28
  4. "Fall" – 2:40
  5. "Pulse" – 2:37 (produced by Howard Thompson, Ian Taylor and the Psychedelic Furs)
Side 2
  1. "We Love You" – 3:26 (produced by Howard Thompson, Ian Taylor and the Psychedelic Furs)
  2. "Wedding Song" – 4:19
  3. "Blacks/Radio" – 6:56
  4. "Flowers" – 4:10 (produced by Howard Thompson, Ian Taylor and the Psychedelic Furs)

Original US LP

Side 1
  1. "India" – 6:21
  2. "Sister Europe" – 5:38
  3. "Susan's Strange" – 3:13 (produced by Martin Hannett)
  4. "Fall" – 2:40
  5. "We Love You" – 3:26 (produced by Howard Thompson, Ian Taylor and the Psychedelic Furs)
Side 2
  1. "Soap Commercial" – 2:53 (produced by Martin Hannett)
  2. "Imitation of Christ" – 5:28
  3. "Pulse" – 2:37 (produced by Howard Thompson, Ian Taylor and the Psychedelic Furs)
  4. "Wedding Song" – 4:19
  5. "Flowers" – 4:10 (produced by Howard Thompson, Ian Taylor and the Psychedelic Furs)

CD reissue

  1. "India" – 6:21
  2. "Sister Europe" – 5:38
  3. "Imitation of Christ" – 5:28
  4. "Fall" – 2:40
  5. "Pulse" – 2:37 (produced by Howard Thompson, Ian Taylor and the Psychedelic Furs)
  6. "We Love You" – 3:26 (produced by Howard Thompson, Ian Taylor and the Psychedelic Furs)
  7. "Wedding Song" – 4:19
  8. "Blacks/Radio" – 6:56
  9. "Flowers" – 4:10 (produced by Howard Thompson, Ian Taylor and the Psychedelic Furs)
  10. "Susan's Strange" – 3:13 (produced by Martin Hannett)
  11. "Soap Commercial" – 2:53 (produced by Martin Hannett)
  12. "Mack the Knife" (Kurt Weill, Bertolt Brecht, Marc Blitzstein) – 4:18 (produced by the Psychedelic Furs)
  13. "Flowers" (Demo) – 5:36 (produced by the Psychedelic Furs)

Personnel

The Psychedelic Furs

Technical

Chart performance

Album

Year Chart Position
1980 Billboard Pop Albums 140

Singles

Year Single Chart Position
1980 "India/Pulse/We Love You/Flowers" Billboard Club Play Singles 36
1980 "We Love You" Billboard Club Play Singles 77

References

  1. ↑ Raggett, Ned. "The Psychedelic Furs – The Psychedelic Furs". AllMusic. Retrieved 2 August 2012.
  2. ↑ Christgau, Robert (1990). "The Psychedelic Furs: The Psychedelic Furs". Christgau's Record Guide: The '80s. Pantheon Books. ISBN 0-679-73015-X. Retrieved 2 August 2012.
  3. ↑ Quantick, David (September 2018). "The Psychedelic Furs: Vinyl Reissues". Classic Rock. No. 253. p. 99.
  4. ↑ "Psychedelic Furs; Talk Talk Talk; Forever Now". Entertainment Weekly. 8 March 2002. Retrieved 18 March 2017.
  5. ↑ "The Psychedelic Furs: The Psychedelic Furs". Q. No. 190. May 2002. p. 134.
  6. ↑ Anderson, Graham (1 March 1980). "Fur out, man". Record Mirror. p. 16.
  7. ↑ Fricke, David (5 March 1981). "The Psychedelic Furs: The Psychedelic Furs". Rolling Stone. No. 338. Archived from the original on 15 June 2009. Retrieved 14 April 2006.
  8. ↑ Sheffield, Rob (2004). "The Psychedelic Furs". In Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian (eds.). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (4th ed.). Simon & Schuster. pp. 660–61. ISBN 0-7432-0169-8.
  9. ↑ Starr, Red (20 March – 2 April 1980). "Psychedelic Furs: Psychedelic Furs". Smash Hits. Vol. 2, no. 6. p. 31.
  10. ↑ Hannaham, James (1995). "Psychedelic Furs". In Weisbard, Eric; Marks, Craig (eds.). Spin Alternative Record Guide. Vintage Books. pp. 313–14. ISBN 0-679-75574-8.
  11. ↑ Discogs
  12. ↑ "The 80 Greatest Albums of 1980 What came out of all this was, arguably, the greatest year for great albums ever". Rolling Stone. 11 November 2020. Retrieved 12 November 2020.
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