Wednesday, January 4, 2017

Psychedelic Furs - Forever Now - 1982

Although not my favorite Furs album, Forever Now was their third US release, and the one that showed a major shift in personnel and also sound (according to Wikipedia).  There are a lot of great songs on here, but this was one that was initially purchased by me on vinyl back in the mid-90s while raiding a used record store.  It was a big one in the Westport neighborhood in Kansas City.  I can't remember the name of the store, it's since gone out of business....  So, although a fantastic 80s Post Punk masterpiece, all I can think about in relation is listening to this as I was also listening to Techno, Grunge and Britrock.  So, no real nostalgia there to pull you back to your 80s days from me, unfortunately.

Even though the British release cover is good, I prefer the US release cover.  Probably because it was my first view of the album.  I didn't see the British version until I picked up the 20th anniversary edition on CD.  And, as with too many other remaster deluxe versions, I had to add remixes to the album as they were left off.  I think if they're even going to bother with making these deluxe versions, they need to also include any additional mixes and remixes, even if to just flesh out the rest of the CD.  I mean, this one had live versions of some of the songs, which I think is dumb to begin with (so I pulled them out of the track listing).  Why would you want to listen to ONE live song?  Or two or three that fade in the beginning and fade out at the end?  If you're going to release live tracks, at least make it a live disc so it's like a whole show...

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I'm still working on my compilation week sets.  This has been a tough one, even harder than the Techno one (that no one liked.)  I'm on my last compilation, and it's a Chill Out set.  But, my Chill Out tunes are so diverse, I can't get a good mix.  The segues and styles contrast a little to much, and one disc also is a little too limiting.  It'll end up being a double disc set, but that also makes it twice as hard for track selection.  I have seven different compilations spread over six days.  Three of them are double disc, and only three of them are compilations I had already made.  And ALL of the covers are new.  So, it's been a tough one.  Listen to me whine.  I still love it.

9 comments:

  1. Oh my gosh, I love, Love, LOVE this album! It came out right about the time I started my first year of college, and Richard Butler's gravelly voice was my constant companion in my dorm room and on my Walkman (I used to buy albums and immediately make cassette copies of my vinyl to accompany me around campus) during my study nights at the library. Along with Duran Duran's "Rio" and Kim Wilde's "Select," it was one of my most-listened-to albums during that first year at Tulane. I still love it (and those other two!) after all these years.

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  2. PLEASE SAY IF YOU ARE LOSSY OR LOSSLESS. TA.

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  3. Compare the above two comments:

    One is embracing the fact that KidChaos, American Dude(TM) is posting a hitherto obscure album by "the Furs" (never heard of it before myself and I'm British(and old)) AND wallowing in the memory when we had Walkmans and cassettes and....

    then we have someone who has NO INTEREST WHATSOEVER in LISTENING to the music.

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    1. I did find it irritating. I was trying to come up with some sarcastic quip about all my files being "rippyed from Youtubeless", but it just sounds dumb, so I was going to ignore it. I'm glad you pointed it out.

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  4. Not sure if you read it wrong, or where you read it had their facts way wrong, but the first album and Talk Talk Talk were most assuredly also released in the US.

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    1. I am only recounting my personal account with the album. When and where I got it, which version, so on and so forth. If you know this blog, you'd understand that I don't necessarily run off of facts here but my own relation to the material being posted. A lot of times I'll be right, but in some cases I may look like a complete and fucking utter moron, like now. It only takes a few keystrokes and mouse clicks to verify it.

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  5. The Music Exchange? Miss it terribly. Just stumbled onto your blog, and am really enjoying it. Excellent work.

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  6. This version of the album has a different take of "Yes I Do" which is way worse than the record which is the one I wanted to hear, you bastard Richard Butler...

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  7. Thanks for sharing this! This was in heavy rotation in my cassette collection as well... Frequently in the Walkman on the bus. This album was indeed a departure from the earlier releases. I guess it impressed me as grittier, and maybe that is why it is my favorite Furs album.

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