Talk Talk Talk

The Psychedelic Furs: Richard Butler (vocals); John Ashton, Roger Morris (guitar); Duncan Kilburn (horns, keyboards); Tim Butler (bass); Vince Ely (drums, percussion). Producers: Steve Lilywhite, Ian Taylor, Martin Hannett, The Psychedelic Furs. Reissue producer: Bruce Dickinson. Includes liner notes by Tony Fletcher. Digitally remastered by Mark Wilder (Sony Music Studios, New York, New York). Arguably the Furs finest hour, TALK TALK TALK is the perfect combination of gritty post-punk attack and angular, Bowie-ish art-pop. "Pretty in Pink" would become the band's signature tune when it was used in the John Hughes movie of the same name a few years later. Deservedly so, as it's a winning mixture of romantic desolation and pop-rock drive. The Furs also score with this combination on the explicit "Into You Like a Train" and "I Wanna Sleep With You," Richard Butler's tawdry rasp sounding right at home amid the hook-filled debauchery. Despite all the "romanticism," the band's iconoclasm is still firmly in place, as seen on "Mr. Jones," an update of Dylan's "Ballad of a Thin Man." TALK TALK TALK is where post-punk art and pure pop heart meet in a serendipitous multi-car pileup.