''The Psychedelic Furs'' is the debut studio album by English

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

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 on 7 March 1980 by

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music, Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese Conglomerate (company), conglomerate Sony. It was founded on Janua ...

. It was reissued with bonus tracks in 2002 by Columbia/Legacy. In 2020, ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

'' 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". 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 "Mack the Knife" or "The Ballad of Mack the Knife" (german: "Die Moritat von Mackie Messer", italic=no, link=no) is a song composed by Kurt Weill with lyrics by Bertolt Brecht for their 1928 music drama ''The Threepenny Opera'' (german: Die Dreig ...

" and a

demo Demo, usually short for demonstration, may refer to: Music and film *Demo (music), a song typically recorded for reference rather than release * ''Demo'' (Behind Crimson Eyes), a 2004 recording by the band Behind Crimson Eyes * ''Demo'' (Deafhea ...

of the album track "Flowers".

Track listing

All songs were written and arranged by the Psychedelic Furs, with words by Richard Butler, and produced by

Steve Lillywhite Stephen Alan Lillywhite, (born 15 March 1955) is a British record producer. Since he began his career in 1977, Lillywhite has been credited on over 500 records, and has collaborated with a variety of musicians including new wave acts XTC, Big ...

, except where noted.

Original UK LP

;Side 1 #"India" – 6:21 #"

Sister Europe "Sister Europe" is a song by the English rock band the Psychedelic Furs, taken from the band's 1980 debut album, ''The Psychedelic Furs''. Written by the band and produced by Steve Lillywhite, it was released in February 1980 by CBS as the album' ...

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

Original US LP

;Side 1 #"India" – 6:21 #"Sister Europe" – 5:38 #"Susan's Strange" – 3:13 (produced by

Martin Hannett James Martin Hannett (31 May 1948 – 18 April 1991), initially credited as Martin Zero, was an English record producer, musician and an original partner/director at Tony Wilson's Factory Records. Hannett produced music by artists including Joy ...

) #"Fall" – 2:40 #"We Love You" – 3:26 (produced by Howard Thompson, Ian Taylor and the Psychedelic Furs) ;Side 2 #"Soap Commercial" – 2:53 (produced by Martin Hannett) #"Imitation of Christ" – 5:28 #"Pulse" – 2:37 (produced by Howard Thompson, Ian Taylor and the Psychedelic Furs) #"Wedding Song" – 4:19 #"Flowers" – 4:10 (produced by Howard Thompson, Ian Taylor and the Psychedelic Furs)

CD reissue

#"India" – 6:21 #"Sister Europe" – 5:38 #"Imitation of Christ" – 5:28 #"Fall" – 2:40 #"Pulse" – 2:37 (produced by Howard Thompson, Ian Taylor and the Psychedelic Furs) #"We Love You" – 3:26 (produced by Howard Thompson, Ian Taylor and the Psychedelic Furs) #"Wedding Song" – 4:19 #"Blacks/Radio" – 6:56 #"Flowers" – 4:10 (produced by Howard Thompson, Ian Taylor and the Psychedelic Furs) #"Susan's Strange" – 3:13 (produced by Martin Hannett) #"Soap Commercial" – 2:53 (produced by Martin Hannett) #"

" (

Kurt Weill Kurt Julian Weill (March 2, 1900April 3, 1950) was a German-born American composer active from the 1920s in his native country, and in his later years in the United States. He was a leading composer for the stage who was best known for his fru ...

Bertolt Brecht Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht (10 February 1898 – 14 August 1956), known professionally as Bertolt Brecht, was a German theatre practitioner, playwright, and poet. Coming of age during the Weimar Republic, he had his first successes as a pl ...

Marc Blitzstein Marcus Samuel Blitzstein (March 2, 1905January 22, 1964), was an American composer, lyricist, and librettist. He won national attention in 1937 when his pro-union musical ''The Cradle Will Rock'', directed by Orson Welles, was shut down by the Wo ...

) – 4:18 (produced by the Psychedelic Furs) #"Flowers" (Demo) – 5:36 (produced by the Psychedelic Furs)

Personnel

The Psychedelic Furs * Richard Butler –

lead Lead is a chemical element with the symbol Pb (from the Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a heavy metal that is denser than most common materials. Lead is soft and malleable, and also has a relatively low melting point. When freshly cu ...

and background vocals *

John Ashton John Ashton may refer to: Entertainment * John Ashton (composer) (1830–1896), Welsh musician * Will Ashton (John William Ashton, 1881–1963), British-Australian artist and art director * John Rowland Ashton (1917–2008), English author * John ...

–

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

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 The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

*Vince Ely –

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

*Roger Morris – guitar *Duncan Kilburn –

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to pr ...

s Technical *Howard Thompson – executive producer *

Phil Thornalley Philip Thornalley (born 5 January 1960) is an English songwriter-producer who has worked in the music industry since 1978. He is perhaps best known for co-writing (with Scott Cutler and Anne Preven) the song " Torn" (made famous by Natalie Imbr ...

– engineer *

– producer

Chart performance

Album Singles

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Psychedelic Furs, The The Psychedelic Furs albums 1980 debut albums Albums produced by Steve Lillywhite Albums produced by Martin Hannett Columbia Records albums