World Outside

The Psychedelic Furs

Product Details

• Audio CD (July 30, 1991)
• Original Release Date: July 30, 1991
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Sony
• ASIN: B0000027JQ
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #126,644 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Track Listings

1. Valentine

2. In My Head

3. Until She Comes

4. Don't Be a Girl

5. Sometimes

6. Tearing Down

7. There's a World

8. Get a Room

9. Better Days

10. All About You

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Bridging The Gap, December 6, 2000

By	John Orfield (Cincinnati) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

For whatever reason, the Psychedelic Furs' World Outside has just been one of those albums that has slipped through the cracks somehow. Actually, I do know why.

With all due respect to the other reviewer (who otherwise wrote a really good review, for someone who actually cares what SPIN Magazine thinks...), World Outside did not come out in 1992. It came out in 1991 and there's an enormous difference between 1991 and 1992 on the musical timeline. World Outside came out just a few short months before Nirvana's Nevermind was released and grunge swept everything else away. Everything smelled like Teen Spirit before anyone who cared about alternative music could really get to know World Outside. People like to think grunge just killed the "hair bands" but it also effectively killed the careers of a lot of 80s alternative holdovers. Or forced them to change. Indeed, when Richard and Tim Butler put out their next album (in 1994, as Love Spit Love), they had a decidedly harsher, guitar-based edge with virtually no synthesizers in sight (although, with Richard's trademark nicotine-coated voice, they still sounded for all the world like the Psychedelic Furs).

So why is World Outside important? Well, in retrospect, it's easy to see the Furs (and this album in particular) as the evolutionary link between 80's alternative bands like The Cure and Echo and the Bunnymen and 90's British icons like Oasis, The Verve, and even today's arbiter of cutting edge cool, Radiohead. Don't laugh -- compare the jumpy horns in "Don't Be A Girl" to the horns in Radiohead's "The National Anthem." If nothing else, there's a connection because those of us who grew up listening to the Furs in the 80's are now really into Radiohead. There is a link.

Okay, it's important, but is World Outside any good? I'm happy to say, yes. Maybe not a five star classic, but I personally think it challenges Mirror Moves as their best album (and, lyrically, World Outside probably IS their best). The highlights for me include the driving "Valentine," the fantastic 80's throwback "In My Head," the softly upbeat "Until She Comes," the la-la-la filled, anthemic "Tearing Down," and the yearning "There's A World." All together, it's a warm, emotional, yet upbeat album from a band that's just too important to ignore. Highly recommended.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Unjustly underrated, overlooked swan song, September 10, 2000

By	M. Nichols "fan of beer, motorhead and zombie... (West Chester, OH United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Though I don't believe that the Furs have ever "officially" broken up, 1991's WORLD OUTSIDE was the last release before the Butlers went on to Love Spit Love. Many rock resources have bashed this album unjustly, the most outrageous being the SPIN ALTERNATIVE RECORD GUIDE which gives the album the lowest possible rating, though the reviewer admits he's never even heard it. The truth is that WORLD OUTSIDE is a remarkable release, the best Furs album since MIRROR MOVES, which just seemed to get lost in the emergence of the now largely forgotten grunge movement.

WORLD OUTSIDE still sounds fresh eight years later, with songs like "In My Head," "Until She Comes," "Don't Be A Girl," and "Get A Room" fully deserving prominence in any Furs fan's regular rotation. The album as a whole returns to the stripped down sound of earlier Furs releases and remains unburdened by the overproduction (and often one-dimensional lyricism) of later Furs releases like BOOK OF DAYS and MIDNIGHT TO MIDNIGHT (though MTM's "Heartbreak Beat" is an all-time great).

In summary, an essential Psychedelic Furs album, equal if not superior to MIRROR MOVES and TALK TALK TALK. Butler coughs a love song like no one else, and he does so magnificently on WORLD OUTSIDE.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Their Best, August 21, 2001

By	Julia Truchsess "Julia Dee" (Sandy Hook, CT USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This album and the similarly-overlooked and underrated Book of Days are far and away the Furs' best efforts. I've been a fan since they first came on the scene, and yes, I love their earlier stuff, too, but it's a real shame that these two masterpieces are so unappreciated. They coincide with the band's return to England after living for some time in New York, and represent a backlash to the commercial rut they'd gotten into with Midnight to Midnight. I believe the band was severely disappointed with the total lack of interest shown by the public and industry towards these albums, and the bad taste still lingers to the extent that not one song from either was included in their recent reunion tour :-(.