The Psychedelic Furs - Talk Talk Talk (1981)

Note: the CD I listened to was the 2002 "expanded and enhanced" reissue with 3 bonus tracks.

This is a very noisy album. I normally like Steve Lillywhite's production, but some of the material here isn't well-served. That's too bad because there are some good hooks hidden among these tracks. I'm fairly confident my buddy Jim played me a few tracks from this album back in the early '80s, but at the time I would have been turned off by the screechy saxophone tone, the often disjunct guitar solos, Richard Butler's immediately recognizable voice, and the overall aggressiveness of the music. Fast forward a few years and I finally got it. I don't necessarily like it at times and I have to be in just the right mood to listen, but I get it.

Press of the time:

• Smash Hits (8 out of 10): "one of the most exciting sounds in contemporary rock"
• Rolling Stone (★★★½): The Furs never fully grow up on this record, but that only leads to wonderful moments" 
• Trouser Press: "great improvement over their first"
• Musician: "lots of biting guitar, blaring sax and glorious echo"
• Robert Christgau (A): "I loved the first Furs album because it seemed so disposable; I love this one because it doesn't."
• Stereo Review: "I must confess that I rather enjoy the Furs' trashiness."

Album chart peaks:

• US Billboard Top 200: #89
• CashBox: #81
• Rolling Stone: #26

In The Village Voice's annual 'Pazz & Jop' critic's poll, this album placed a very respectable #15 for the year.

Tracks in order of personal preference, plus bands I'm guessing were influenced by this album:

1. Pretty in Pink (#43 UK) - As I once wrote, "The lyrics don't have anything to do with the [later] movie, but I'd sure watch a movie that was based on the lyrics."
   
2. Into You Like A Train
3. No Tears - beating R.E.M. to this kind of sound by a couple of years.
4. She Is Mine
5. Mr. Jones - sounding a bit like U2 here, or more likely, the other way around
6. All Of This And Nothing - an arrangement that could have easily fit on any of the first three Duran² albums. Or The Fixx.
7. It Goes On
8. I Wanna Sleep With You
9. So Run Down
10. Dumb Waiters (#59 UK)

Bonus tracks: Not much worth getting excited about. The single version of Mr. Jones, an "early version" of So Run Down, and a demo of All This And Nothing. How about throwing in the re-recorded version of Pretty in Pink for the movie soundtrack of the same name, Sony? The last track clocks in at 9:02. The demo of All of This and Nothing ends at 3:51 and, after a brief silence, is followed by a lengthy promo for the album which is Richard Butler introducing excerpts from Into You Like a Train, I Wanna Sleep With You, and Pretty in Pink. If I've already bought the album, do I need a hidden track encouraging me to buy the album? (my crack research department informs me the promo comes from an innovative flexi-disc sleeve for the 7" single of Dumb Waiters).

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: Around the time this album was released in 1981, I was starting the season with my local summer swim club. I'd had a very successful campaign the previous year when I competed in the 14-and-under age category. However, in 1981 I moved up to the "senior division" which was open to anyone 15 and up. This meant I was now competing with members of high school and college swim teams who trained year-round, not kids like myself who just wanted something to do during the summer. As you can probably guess, the first place ribbons of 1980 were replaced with 8th place finishes in 1981. Nonetheless, I enjoyed the social aspects of the practices and meets, plus by the end of the summer I was in great physical shape heading into my sophomore year of high school. But none of that has much to do with this P Furs album other than coincidental timing, so never mind. As you were.