Psychedelic Furs: "World Outside"

It would have been a real shame had the Psychedelic Furs ended their career with the bland, listless "Book of Days", a record that sounded like an unsuccesful attempt to conjure the glory days, replete with swirling guitars, cryptic lyrics and sleepy-eyed yet rough-edged vocals. But the guitars were just too smooth, the lyrics too banal and the vocals turned up too high in the mix. It's not a "terrible" record, but Furs fans deserve better, IMO.

Luckily, the band went on to record one more album, "World Outside", that sees them leaving the arena on a high note.

"World Outside" has little in common with it's predecessor. "Book" was shrouded in an ominous gloom, with producer Dave Allan apparently shooting for a minimalist approach. Not a whole lot of sonic variety to be found there. In contrast, Stephen Street's work on "World Outside" is interesting and engaging, best experienced through headphones (and I can't remember any other Furs release that sounded this good through phones). The album has a sound that is remarkably different than all that came before it.

Which is just as well, as the band seems to be in the process of enlarging their musical pallete. With the exception of Richard Butler's vocals (which sound very good here) there seems to be very little of the trademark Psychedelic Furs style here. It's ironic that the slight change in direction comes at the tail end of the band's career. And it's sad, because for the most part, the thing WORKS.

Stand out track here on "World Outside" is the song that was (wisely) released as the first single, "Until She Comes". A nice, dreamy feel with a wonderful, understated performance by Butler. Indeed, Richard Butler's style and sound seem to be all that's left of what the band has ever been. No doubt this has much to do with Street's production, which, at times, tweaks the music to the point where it's remeniscent of The Smiths (or maybe Morrissey's early material, sans Marrs, which he did produce). Yet, somehow Butler pulls it off and you never think of "World Outside" as his first solo record, which it might as well have been.

Unfortunately the high quality of the songs here seem to wane about halfway through. The album could have benfited from better sequencing, but then some of the less stellar tracks might have bogged down the whole affair. Furthermore (and this is a minor quibble) many of the songs end with fade-outs that seem to come too early. It's as if the second chorus ends so Street decides it's over, no more to be done with it, and he pulls it down much too quickly. In doing so he spoils any hope for some sort of atmosphere that could have served the record well.

It is true that I only listened to "World Outside" a couple of times when I got it several years ago. Usually when that happens, it means I wasn't too impressed. This time, however, I don't know why I didn't give it more attention. It certainly is worthy of it, at least the first 5 or 6 songs are.

Maybe the whole point of "Book of Days" was to try and please the fans who wanted the Psychedelic Furs to sound like the Psychedelic Furs, or at least their perception of what that sound was. In trying to do that, the group failed. Who knows but that they realized that this approach was no longer working for them. At any rate, the direction they took on "World Outside" turned out to be much more entertaining, even if it did sacrifice some of what you'd come to expect.

And it makes you wish they hadn't called it a day.