Eighties Topalbums: The Psychedelic Furs - Mirror Moves

tracklist:

The Ghost In You

Here Come Cowboys

Heaven

Heartbeat

My Time

Like A Stranger

Alice's House

Only A Game

Highwire Days

The Psychedelic Furs was founded in February 1977 by the brothers Richard (vocals) and Tim Butler (bass). Occurred from the post-punk scene, the band developed in the following years towards new wave and hard rock. In 1980 the band debuts with the album the Psychodelic Furs, which is produced by Steve Lilywhite. In addition to the Butler brothers, the line-up consists of Duncan Kilburn (saxophone), Vincy Ely (drums), John Ashton (guitar) and Roger Morris (guitar). The album manages place 18 in the British album charts and also delivers success in Germany, Italy, France, Spain and Australia. Successor Talk Talk Talk ensures success in America and delivers with Dumb Waiters and Pretty In Pink the first single success in the UK. The latter will be the inspiration in 1986 for the eponymous film by John Hughes. In 1982 follows the album Forever Now, for which they ask Todd Rundgren to produce. It delivers the single Love My Way. Morris and Kilurn have already left the band and the band operates from the US. Vince Ely leaves the band after Forever Now.

Although Phil Calvert played the drums in the following tour, he left at the start of the Mirror Moves recordings. The group attracts Keith Forsey as a producer who also takes care of the drums. Surprisingly enough, with the four singles, Heaven, Heartbeat, Here Come Cowboy and The Ghost In You of the album, the group attracts a lot of attention, with Heaven at 29th place, being the highest ranking in the UK, at that. band knows how to generate. The Ghost In You scores high in Canada and helps make Mirror Moves the best album of 1984 on the Toronto New Wave Radio Station CFNY.

The group will record three more albums after Mirror Moves. The renewed recording of Pretty In Pink in 1986 gives the group their biggest hit. In 1991 the canvas falls for this very alternative new wave band. The Butler brothers continue under the name Love Spit Love.

In 2000, the Butler brothers regroup The Psychedelic Furs together with John Ashton, with Love Spit Love ex-members Richard Forus and Frank Ferrer being part of the band. Both will later appear in Guns 'n' Roses. The group is successfully touring the US, where it appears to be a fit for the years of tactful new wave bands, resulting in the album Beautiful Chaos: Greatest Hits live, which is recorded at The House Of Blues in Los Angeles.

Since then, the group has been touring successfully through the US and is playing Paradiso in Amsterdam for the first time in years on 5 June this year.

The Psychedelic Furs I knew until the beginning of 2000 only from the song Heaven, which here in the Netherlands managed to get the radio but did not do anything else. After a holiday in Switzerland, we returned in 2001 and listened to the American and English radio stations in Germany. Although The Great Commandment of Camouflage has nothing to do with this story, it was the start of my renewed interest in the music of the 80s.

Around that time the blogs of music lovers started to break through on the internet and the NWoutpost.com site also appeared online. On the blogs, weekly songs from 80's singles were made available and the NWoutpost was also a great source of inspiration. Today they are on YouTube, although the blog is still faithful. It is not surprising, therefore, that self-made collectors could not stay away and that's how different series appeared that Rare Hits Of The 80s, Rare Albums Of The 80s and The Unknown Beauty Of The 80s are the best known. On the compilations, songs from The Psychedelic Furs regularly surfaced, which aroused my interest and eventually led to the purchase of most of their albums. Mirror Moves quickly became my favorite, partly because of the rock-solid opener The Ghost In You (recently used in the Netflix series Stranger Things). 

Mirror Moves is a surprising album. From synthesizer-dominated New Wave (The Ghost In You, Highwire Days to Hard Rock (Only A Game), it all comes to an end and makes Mirror Moves a wonderfully varied album that explores the extreme alternative.