''Made of Rain'' is the eighth
studio album
An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...
from English rock band
The Psychedelic Furs
The Psychedelic Furs are a post-punk band founded in London in February 1977. Led by lead vocalist Richard Butler and his brother Tim Butler on bass guitar, the Psychedelic Furs are one of the many acts spawned from the British post-punk scene ...
. Released via
Cooking Vinyl
Cooking Vinyl is a British independent record label, based in Acton, London, England, founded in 1986 by former manager and booking agent Martin Goldschmidt and business partner Pete Lawrence. Goldschmidt remains the current owner and chairman ...
on 31 July 2020, it is the first studio album from the band in almost 30years and has received positive reviews.
Recording and release
When the band reunited in 2000, they had intended on recording new material but principal songwriter
Richard Butler did not feel confident in any newly written songs until six months before prior to the sessions for ''Made of Rain''.
It is the first studio release by the group since 1991's ''
World Outside
''World Outside'' is the seventh studio album by the English Rock music, rock band the Psychedelic Furs, released 1 July 1991 by Columbia Records in the US. It includes the single "Until She Comes", which hit No. 1 on the US Alternative Songs, M ...
'' and was preceded by lead single "Don't Believe" on 31 January 2020.
The album was initially scheduled to be released on 1 May, but was delayed until 31 July due to logistical issues stemming from the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
.
The album is the band's first with members
Rich Good
Rich Good (born 17 June 1974) is a British musician and recording artist. His first recognised musical work was as a songwriter and founding member of San Francisco band The Pleased, alongside Joanna Newsom, Noah Georgeson, Genaro Vergoglini, Luc ...
(formerly of
The Pleased
The Pleased was an American pop rock and indie rock band formed in San Francisco, California in 2002 and active in California until their disbandment in 2006.
Description
The band featured prominent "freak folk" musicians and producers Joanna New ...
, who joined in 2009) and
Amanda Kramer
Amanda Kramer (born December 26, 1961) is an England-based American composer and touring musician. Kramer first gained prominence as a member of the techno-pop band Information Society and later performed with other alternative rock and new wave ...
(formerly of
Information Society
An information society is a society where the usage, creation, distribution, manipulation and integration of information is a significant activity. Its main drivers are information and communication technologies, which have resulted in rapid inf ...
, who joined in 2002).
Critical reception
Album of the Year sums up critical consensus as a 77 out of 100, with 12 reviewers
and
AnyDecentMusic?
AnyDecentMusic? is a website that collates album reviews from magazines, websites, and newspapers. Primarily focused on popular music – covering rock, pop, electronic, dance, folk, country, roots, hip-hop, R&B, and rap – albums are adjudg ...
rates it 7.2 out of 10 with eight critics.
Hal Horowitz of ''
American Songwriter
''American Songwriter'' is a bimonthly magazine covering songwriting. Established in 1984, it features interviews, songwriting tips, news, reviews and lyric contest. The magazine is based in Nashville, Tennessee.
History
The ''American Songwri ...
'' gave the release 3.5 out of five stars and called it "long overdue", with some repetition and an over-long runtime but several songs that highlight Richard Butler's talents as a performer and songwriter.
In ''
The Arts Desk
''The Arts Desk'' (theartsdesk.com) is a British arts journalism website containing reviews, interviews, news, and other content related to music, theatre, television, films, and other art forms written by journalists from a variety of tradition ...
'', Guy Oddy's three-out-of-five-star review looks forward to hearing the songs performed live to hear new music "which displays the band’s distinctive swagger".
Consequence of Sound
''Consequence'' (previously ''Consequence of Sound'') is an independently owned New York-based online magazine featuring news, editorials, and reviews of music, movies, and television. In addition, the website also features the Festival Outlook ...
's Jordan Blum had a B+ review, praising several technical aspects but also criticizing the sequencing and sameness of several songs.
In ''
The Independent
''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...
'', Elissa Bray gave ''Made of Rain'' three out of five stars and called this "a welcome return to the Furs’ classic blend of aggression, tender melody and brooding ambience" that is darker than previous material.
MusicOMH
MusicOMH (stylized as musicOMH) is a London-based online music magazine which publishes independent reviews, features and interviews from across all genres including classical, metal, rock and R&B.
History
MusicOMH was founded and launched by ...
's Ross Horton compared the work to artist as diverse as
Phil Spector
Harvey Phillip Spector (born Harvey Philip Spector; December 26, 1939January 16, 2021) was an American record producer and songwriter, best known for his innovative recording practices and entrepreneurship in the 1960s, followed decades later by ...
and U2 circa ''
The Joshua Tree
''The Joshua Tree'' is the fifth studio album by Irish rock band U2. It was produced by Daniel Lanois and Brian Eno, and was released on 9 March 1987 on Island Records. In contrast to the ambient experimentation of their 1984 release, ''T ...
'', summing up "At this stage in their careers, with nothing left to prove, The Psychedelic Furs needn’t have made anything this good"; his review is four out of five stars.
John Bergstrom of
PopMatters
''PopMatters'' is an international online magazine of cultural criticism that covers aspects of popular culture. ''PopMatters'' publishes reviews, interviews, and essays on cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, fi ...
had a mixed six out of 10 stars, with praise for "The Boy That Invented Rock and Roll" in particular but criticism of all other tracks as being "an anticlimax".
The review from Tim Sendra at
AllMusic
AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...
was also reserved in its praise, stating "It may not be
Talk Talk Talk
''Talk Talk Talk'' is the second studio album by the English rock band the Psychedelic Furs. It was released 15 May 1981 by Columbia Records. It was reissued with bonus tracks in 2002 by Columbia/Legacy and on vinyl in the UK in 2011 without b ...
, Pt. 2 or
Forever Now again, but it proves the Furs still have plenty of life left in them, and it's always nice to hear Richard Butler's voice no matter what the setting."
Track listing
Personnel
The Psychedelic Furs
*
Richard Butler – vocals,
production
Production may refer to:
Economics and business
* Production (economics)
* Production, the act of manufacturing goods
* Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services)
* Production as a stati ...
*
Tim Butler
Timothy George Butler (born 7 December 1958) is an English musician and songwriter. He is the bass player, and co-founder of the Psychedelic Furs. He is also the youngest of three brothers.
Richard, the eldest, is the lead singer of the Psych ...
– bass guitar, production
*Paul Garisto – drums, production
*
Rich Good
Rich Good (born 17 June 1974) is a British musician and recording artist. His first recognised musical work was as a songwriter and founding member of San Francisco band The Pleased, alongside Joanna Newsom, Noah Georgeson, Genaro Vergoglini, Luc ...
– guitar, production
*
Amanda Kramer
Amanda Kramer (born December 26, 1961) is an England-based American composer and touring musician. Kramer first gained prominence as a member of the techno-pop band Information Society and later performed with other alternative rock and new wave ...
– keyboards, production
*
Mars Williams
Mars Williams (born May 29, 1955) is an American jazz and rock saxophonist. Exposed to big band and dixieland jazz by his trumpet-playing father, Williams played classical clarinet for ten years, then migrated to saxophone in his last year of hig ...
– saxophone, production
Additional musicians
*
Richard Fortus
Richard Fortus (born November 17, 1966) is an American guitarist. He has been a member of the hard rock band Guns N' Roses, with whom he has recorded one studio album, since 2001. Fortus has also collaborated extensively with The Psychedelic Fur ...
*BT
*
Jon Carin
Jon Carin (born October 21, 1964) is a musician, singer, songwriter and producer who has been a longtime collaborator with the bands Pink Floyd and The Who, and the solo careers of David Gilmour and Roger Waters, Pete Townshend, Eddie Vedder, Kate ...
*Joe McGinty
*Paisley Fortus
*Clover Fortus
Technical personnel
*
Richard Fortus
Richard Fortus (born November 17, 1966) is an American guitarist. He has been a member of the hard rock band Guns N' Roses, with whom he has recorded one studio album, since 2001. Fortus has also collaborated extensively with The Psychedelic Fur ...
– production
*David Maurice – production
*
Tim Palmer
Timothy J. Palmer (born 4 October 1962, in North Shields) is an English record producer, audio engineer, guitarist and songwriter of rock music, rock and alternative rock, alternative music. He Audio mixing (recorded music), mixed Pearl Jam's d ...
–
mixing
*Jason McEntire –
engineering
Engineering is the use of scientific method, scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad rang ...
Charts
References
External links
*
*
{{Authority control
The Psychedelic Furs albums
2020 albums
Albums produced by Richard Fortus
Albums postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic