Customer Reviews

Book of Days

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

While "Book of Days" has a similar melodic sound to the Psychedelic Furs previous album, "Midnight to Midnight," it is darker, and superior in every respect -- musically and lyrically. This categorizes "Book" as a truly superb album - in my opinion the band's best - since "Midnight" is quite good. Here, Richard Butler sings of feelings of regret, hopelessness and squandered time, which is a marked departure to the feel-good theme of the previous album.

Interestingly, "Book" starts off with one of the less stellar tracks, "Shine," a song which doesn't reflect the general tenor of the album. It can be argued that, on all of the band's previous albums, the first track is the strongest one on the album, or close to it. This is definitely true on the prior two: "Midnight" ("Heartbreak Beat") and "Mirror Moves" ("The Ghost In You"). The second track, "Entertain Me," is probably my favorite song on any Furs album (tied with "India"). "Entertain Me" starts off with what sounds like a jet plane or a race car, which leads into an intriguing bass line, reminiscent of The Cure's "Shiver and Shake." I wonder if Kurt Cobain was influenced by this song when writing the lyrics for his masterpiece "Smells Like Teen Spirit."

The title track, "Book of Days," about a women who feels she's wasting her life away, is superb, as is "Should God Forget," "Parade," and "I Don't Mine." There is no filler on this album, and it can be listened to repeatedly without getting stale. Perhaps the debut album of "The Psychedelic Furs" was more innovative, but I believe that "Book of Days" remains the band's seminal work.

I love the Furs and find each one of their albums and their differences (sometimes subtle, sometimes not) enjoyable. I am utterly flabbergasted that "Book of Days" and the following year's "World Outside" failed to sell. Both albums are similar in style with "Book" being the slightly better of the two, but they are poetic, haunting, and musically fantastic.I'm further surprised that both the Furs and their label Columbia are treating both CD's like "red-headed stepchildren" by practically denying their existence. On the remixed early Furs releases, the liner notes show a list of ALL Psychedelic Furs releases and "Book" and "World" are both missing... Such a shame that because they didn't achieve commercial success they now are blighted from corporate memory... and future sales.If you can find "Book of Days" and you are a Fur's fan, I strongly suggest buying it... and "World Outside" too.

an angry, brooding, but ultimately uplifting masterpiece. according to most accounts the band was repenting for the sins of their previous album "midnight to midnight" (which was weak for the furs, but strong, were it by any other band). the result was a pure, unadulterated, unrelenting onslaught of songs that blend together and become a cathartic whole greater than the sum of its incredibly perfect parts (much like "loveless" by my bloody valentine, another obvious ten best for the 80s).

the grinding wall-of-noise 'melodies' form moody landscapes over which richard butler paints bleak and melancholy tales from the depths of despair. the title track is my favorite, depicting the longing for change in the world of a person whose life is one endless chain of wrong decisions and missed opportunities. my other favorite, "torch" packs the equivalent punch of all the other tracks with nothing more than an acoustic guitar and cello. not many bands can pull that off.

depite all the doom and gloom, i find the album absolutely beautiful and cathartic. it is a genuine work of art, existing outside of timelines, eras and classifications. it stands alongside the greatest works of opera and jazz (both of which have the power to evoke deep emotions in me).

in summary, it is one of the greatest recordings of all pop music - the furs set out to pay pennance for their previous album, and in doing so they gave the world a gift that i hope may actually one day be understood by a larger audience and accorded the praise and respect it deserves.

In a total reversal from their glossy, commercial 1987 release, Midnight to Midnight, The Psychedelic Furs released their least commercial album, Book of Days, in 1989. They even put the "The" back into their name, as Midnight to Midnight" identified them as "Psychedelic Furs." To put this album into some context, 1989 was the same year that featured albums by other 'new wave' acts like XTC, The Cure, Elvis Costello, Howard Jones, and Love & Rockets....all of which had at least some videos air on MTV, which was still crucial to commercial success. But Book of Days went unnoticed by me and it seems many others for years. Now that I have acquired a copy to complete my Furs collection, I can review it. Overall, this is a fine album. Being a biased Furs fan, I can't say the Furs ever made a bad album. Mirror Moves and Midnight to Midnight seem to be mentioned as their weaker efforts, but both yielded significant songs. But I think Book of Days ranks with their first two albums and their final CD as their very best (so their first 2 and final 2 would be my picks). This project had the Furs going back to what made them so different and exciting. Highlights include "Entertain Me," the title track, "Parade," and "Wedding." This album is dominated by a droning, post-punk sound that requires several listens to grow on you. There is not much melody or hooks here, but this is a memorable set of darker songs (with the arguable exception of two slightly-brighter songs, "Shine" and "Should God Forget"). It returns the stripped-down production that won fans in 1980-1981. Even the horns have been benched compared to all their previous efforts (a sax appears briefly on "Should God Forget" and "Wedding"). I don't want to overstate how excellent this album is, but I do have to say that it seems to be a descendant of the Cure's "Pornography" album (which we can all agree was groundbreaking - 10 years ahead of its time). That might explain why it would be treasured today, but not back in the late 1980's, when high-production values were expected from every major band. This is just the Butler brothers, John Aston, and Vince Ely doing what they do best, without any care of going gold, let alone platinum, and good thing too. Back in 1989, I was 16, and I still blindly assumed that most albums that weren't on the Billboard chart must not be that good. But I wised-up towards the end of the year and bought Michael Hutchence's 'Max Q" album, which is still a great forgotten classic. Now I wish I had discovered this one as well. But no matter, I can crank it up today. If you ever liked the Furs, this is a must for your collection.

This offering is haunting,brooding and a recording that brang them back from the depths of mediocrity. This IS my favorite Furs recording and I get a kick out of the fact that when my friends ask me what am I listening to and I tell them they say are they still around? This is one of those rare recordings that sounds timeless,you wouldn't be able to say what year it was done unless you knew. If you like The Furs grab this and enjoy. Elements of The Cure and Joy Division abound and at the used price here a bargin. Interpol wishes they could have recorded a follow up album to their debut this good.

An intriguing album, this one is, as it is done in a somewhat different fashion than the previous Furs albums were, yet is interestingly instantly recognisable. There is nearly always in most of the songs, a solid beat beneath the tracks, and with it's obscure brooding melancholy sublimely imbued within the lyrics and wall of sound in the complexity-yet-simplicity of the instrumentation-fits perfectly within the sound of the late'80s, yet is ahead of it's time to the point that it will never go out of fashion, as alot of great classic alternative artists were doing back in the mid-late'80s and early '90s.

Rarely nowadays does one find an album in which ALL the tracks are of excellent quality, and this is one of those great works of art that do just that. This album should never have been taken out of print, as sadly, many of the works of this era were.
If you are fortunate enough to come across a copy of this album, by all means, get it! It would be wise of The Psychedelic Furs to re-release this. Personally, I am playing tracks from this and many other classic alternative, new wave, punk, and dance mix albums and singles on my radio mix-show on 88.3 FM Underground Groove Radio (affiliated with the Sourceofgravity UK djs) for those who are lucky enough to tune in and listen. The Psychedelic Furs are one of those artists who will always maintain regular airplay on this station due to the quality of their output. I have remixed some Furs tracks for extended airplay versions, and it is likely I may do so some of the superb works on this album as well.

The Psychedelic Furs...One of the greatest bands of all time, yet under-rated.

In the'80s this band was among the first artists that in my childhood I became interested in, as they have a sound that dared to be different and goes above and beyond the commercial pop artist's sound, as they were -and always will be- cutting-edge and somehow aloof from the pack. This perfect album proudly exhibits that cutting edge.

I'm not a huge Psychedelic Furs fan, but this is one outstanding record. It is much darker and brooding (more like "Sister Europe") than many attempts at pop (like "Pretty in Pink"). This was release just before grunge come on to the scene, and seems to fit in well with where music was heading at the turn of the 90's. "Book of Days" is my favorite release on this disc.

The Furs went for the wall of sound effect on this one, which is very different than any other of their albums. When this album was released in 1989 the shoegazer movement was beginning and they took some ideas with the help of an expert of building this type of sound, Dave Allen, longtime producer for The Cure, so I say that it was ahead because they actually made songs using this effect on the contrary to the early recordings by My Bloody Valentine which were messy, and if you listen carefully at the end of "entertain me" you'll see that MBV used some of the sound for their masterpiece "Loveless". This album has no hit singles and it's enjoyed best as a whole, it's a shame the timing of the release, because if it had been released in the early 90's it would have gotten more attention, instead of releasing "World Outside" a few moths before the alternative music revolution.

i have to agree with all the reviewers below. after some really lowest-common-denominator albums, the furs struck back with this onslaught of bleak / depressed / pissed-off songs. like the cure's pornography in it's tension and anger, this is the best the band recorded. dark, cathardic and painful. snatch up one of those 98¢ copies that are selling in the zshops..... this is amazing stuff!

I remember buying this CD back in 1990 when I was in the military stationed in Seattle, WA. I had tickets to a Furs concert that year, but their drummer broke his arm and I missed my one chance to see them, as they broke up shortly thereafter. My favorite Furs CD (that's not a compilation), Book of Days had great songs like "Shine" and "Should Got Forget You". I think this CD came out at a bad time - just when the decade was changing and that God awful Grunge was on the brink of rearing its ugly head. The Furs were an underrated band.