The Psychedelic Furs

With songs as great as "Dumb Waiters," "Pretty in Pink," "Mr. Jones," and "All of This and Nothing," Talk Talk Talk actually improves on the Furs' debut. Richard Butler's combination of tenderness, Dadaist lyrics, and husky Bowie-after-decades-of-whiskey-and-cigs vocals make "She Is Mine" the album's centerpiece. The reissue adds three tracks.

On their second album, Talk Talk Talk, the Psychedelic Furs immerse themselves in a
decidedly unpsychedelic subject: puppy love. About this topic, they're gratifyingly frank
(sample song titles: "I Wanna Sleep with You" and "Into You like a Train"–a great one, that
last), even if they're charmingly bratty, too. For instance, these six English lads are heavily
into possession ("She Is Mine") and all that superficial surface stuff. Mrs. Jones, in... More >

Don't let Richard Butler's heartfelt snarl and Vine Ely's pounding pulse stun you into thinking that this merely recapitulates a great formula. It's richer melodically, texturally, and emotionally: Butler's '70s-'60s mind games have evolved into the bitter double nostalgia of a reluctant romantic who half-believed in 1967 and then half-believed again in 1976. And if commitment gives him problems, at least he's passionate about sex. I loved the first Furs album because it seemed so disposable; I love this one because it doesn't. (Grade - A)