The Psychedelic Furs – Made of Rain

The Psychedelic Furs are what you might call a “legacy” act. They’ve been around forever, since the late ’70s, and they found much success in the early ’80s with the albums Talk Talk Talk, Forever Now and Mirror Moves (Robert Smith of The Cure once cited Mirror Moves as one of his favorite albums). Sometimes “legacy” acts rest on their laurels and keep regurgitating the same old songs, the songs that the fans know well, during their live shows – there’s no new material. And that’s just what the Furs did. They still played out, but they didn’t release any new material for about three decades. Well, for fans of the band, the wait is finally over, the long overdue Made of Rain marks the band’s first release in 29 years.

The opening track, “The Boy That Invented Rock & Roll,” gets the album off to an unusual start. It sounds like David Bowie on the 1. Outside record, ya’ know when Bowie wanted to be like Trent Reznor for a few minutes. The song is followed up with “Don’t Believe,” a dark, synth-filled, new wave anthem where Richard Butler’s unique vocals and sardonic lyrics come to the forefront. Butler keeps the acerbic lyrics flowing. On “Come All Ye Faithful” he sneers “When I said I loved you and I lied/ I never really loved you/ I was laughing all the time.”

Elsewhere, on “Wrong Train,” which feels like a Peter Gabriel song and is one of the catchier songs on the record, Butler laments “I ran the wrong light/ Got in a car crash/ A wife that hates me/ So does her boyfriend.” “You’ll Be Mine” is reminiscent of The Velvet Underground, while “No-One” sounds like The Cure. “Tiny Hands,” lyrically vague, could be about Trump (who knows?) and probably is, but it’s by far the worst song on the record.

As long as you don’t expect any “Pretty in Pink”s or “She Is Mine”s on this record, you’ll be fine.

The Psychedelic Furs
Made of Rain
[Cooking Vinyl]