The Psychedelic Furs

The Psychedlic Furs: Richard Butler (vocals); John Ashton, Roger Morris (guitar); Duncan Kilburn (saxophone); Tim Butler (bass); Vince Ely (drums). Producers: Steve Lillywhite, Martin Hannet, Ian Taylor, Howard Thompson, 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). Moniker to the contrary, the Psychedelic Furs bore little in common with the concurrent "psychedelic revival" of early-'80s British bands like Echo & the Bunnymen and Teardrop Explodes. Instead, they married post-punk guitar rock with an artier, Bowie-derived archness and a touch of the Velvet Underground's atmospheric din. The guitars of John Ashton and Roger Morris combine with Duncan Kilburn's gloriously trashy sax to produce a wall of sound that's involving but never overwhelming. Kudos for shaping this gargantuan aural attack must go to producers Martin Hannett and Steve Lillywhite. Over this transcendent racket, Richard Butler lays down his precocious, 40-packs-of cigarettes rasp. His world-weary, stream-of-consciousness poetics color the proceedings considerably. Johnny Rotten's snotty punk iconclasm is the building block for much of this album, but the band's larger agenda is already being implemented.