What's in a name? In the case of the Psychedelic Furs, not much. "Just because you call yourself psychedelic doesn't mean you're psychedelic," soft-spoken and sleepy-eyed singer/lyricist Richard Butler murmurs the morning after a late night on the town. "We're a bit heavy-going for psychedelic music; maybe we're like Hawkwind-type psychedelia or the MC5," he continues, seated behind a desk in Columbia Records' Manhattan headquarters. Anyway, "it's pointless trying to revive something.”
At the rate Butler and his fellow Furs--brother Tim (bass), John Ashton (guitar), Roger Morris (guitar), Duncan Kilburn (horns, keyboards) and Vince Ely (drums)-are progressing, he won't have to do this kind of clarifying much longer. In 1980 the band made an inauspicious recorded debut to scattered critical praise. Boasting a sound euphemistically labeled "beautiful chaos" in some quarters, the Furs specialized in a drab, blurry barrage of noise with their influences (Roxy Music, Velvet Underground, David Bowie) only partially digested. But Talk Talk Talk, this year's followup, Richard Butler discusses "positivism through negativity, "and other fun topics couldn't be a more pleasant surprise. Butler is starting to master his strangled, melancholy voice, and his group's musicianship has come into focus without losing any of its earlier drive. “We've learned how to play over the last year or so," the singer admits.
When art student Butler and his friends, none of whom could play an instrument, set out to form a band five years ago, Britain was awash with punk outfits. "I wanted it to be called Psychedelic Something," he remembers. "Psychedelic Shirts, Psychedelic Shoes....AIl the bands around then had punk names, violent names like the Clash and Sex Pistols. We wanted to cut ourselves away from that, because it was obvious most of those punk bands weren't going to be around very long."
The Furs' initial efforts didn't exactly sparkle. They played "pretty much dirges," Butler recalls. "If we knew two chords we'd play a tune that had two chords in it. When we learned another one we made up another tune. Some of them lasted 15 minutes; it was pretty horrific! We used to play vacuum cleaners and stuff like that on stage." He cites "The Black Angel's Death Song" from the first Velvet Underground LP as an early inspiration.
However unsteady their first steps, by 1980 the Furs had unleashed a self-titled debut album. Though he is particularly fond of "India" and "Sister Europe," Butler concedes the first LP was "pretty raw. Lyrically, it's trying to put things down, trying to say too many things in one song." In retrospect, he views its harsh attacks on institutions like the church and marriage as a way to gain a sense of direction— “positivism through negativity, as opposed to defeatism." The often disjointed lyrics were due to Butler's striving for a collage effect. "One part of a song didn't necessarily have anything to do with another-maybe wasn't even written in the same month."
Talk Talk Talk reflects a year of rapid growth; the influences are fading in favor of a more distinctive presentation. Produced by the tireless Steve Lillywhite (who did the honors on half of the first one), the LP has a clearer sound because there's more to hear, according to Butler. "lt didn't used to be that we had what could be called a lead guitarist and a rhythm guitarist, but it's developed that Roger likes playing rhythm and John likes lead breaks. They're often playing different parts. That's where the second album differs from the first. There are more melodies going on: keyboard melodies, vocal melodies, guitar melodies."
Butler has traded in his haphazard style of lyric writing for a more organic approach. "Normally I come up with a line I really like the sound of, build on it with a second line, and it sort of builds a scene for itself. Sometimes I finish a song and it's a couple of weeks before I realize what it's about."
Talk Talk Talk abandons knee-jerk negativity to deal so extensively with love that it might be called a concept album. Butler still appears a bit startled that the finished product is coherent. "It wasn't conscious; I was quite surprised when I found that out. But they're not love songs, they're songs about love and different points of view. For example, 'She Is Mine has a sad point of view; if you're having an affair you realize people have said and done the same things before. I Wanna Sleep with You' is quite obviously about sex.
“I’m not saying they're all my points of view," he adds quickly. "Some of them are, but I wouldn't like to say which. I like to hide behind the other ones," Butler laughs nervously. “It's mostly about love," he continues, "but there's no message to get across. It's as much me trying to understand it, which of course is absolutely impossible, as anything else. The only conclusion I can draw is that it's a pretty complicated business.”
This is reflective stuff for a man whose onstage persona matches the toughness of the Furs' first LP. In fact, Butler the performer confesses to feeling uncertainty rather than confidence. Offstage he seems-dare it be said? gentle and sensitive. "1 don't think I'm a rock star," he chuckles self-consciously. "I wouldn't say I'm massively extroverted, but I realized early on that singing is an extroverted position to be in."
He laughs again. "l'm the sort of person who doesn't dance at a disco because I'm shy about dancing. Instead I end up having to do it in front of a couple thousand people."