Talk Talk Talk (+ Bonus Tracks)

Entertainment Weekly - "...Their best by far..." - Rating: A- Q - 3 out of 5 stars - "...Amongst a slew of early-'80s British acts who had American sucess...John Hughes would build a film around [track] Pretty in Pink..." Q - 3 Stars - Good - "...still one of the most exciting post-punk sounds....their dark, echoey wall of sound takes on a life of its own....Richard Butler's hoarse, sub-Lydon sneer and mocking portrayal of messed-up characters provides the perfect vocal complement to that flying, swirling sound..." Mojo - "...Spunkier and poppier and sported the original 'Pretty In Pink'..." CMJ - Ranked #5 in CMJ's "Top 20 Most-Played Albums of 1981". Entertainment Weekly (3/8/02, p.75) - "...Their best by far..." - Rating: A- Q (7/96, p.144) - 3 Stars - Good - "...still one of the most exciting post-punk sounds....their dark, echoey wall of sound takes on a life of its own....Richard Butler's hoarse, sub-Lydon sneer and mocking portrayal of messed-up characters provides the perfect vocal complement to that flying, swirling sound..." Q (May 2002, p.134) - 3 out of 5 stars - "...Amongst a slew of early-'80s British acts who had American sucess...John Hughes would build a film around [track] Pretty in Pink..." Mojo (5/02, p.122) - "...Spunkier and poppier and sported the original 'Pretty In Pink'..." CMJ (1/5/04, p.8) - Ranked #5 in CMJ's "Top 20 Most-Played Albums of 1981".

Arguably the Furs finest hour, TALK TALK TALK is the perfect combination of gritty post-punk attack and angular, Bowie-ish art-pop. "Pretty in Pink" would become the band's signature tune when it was used in the John Hughes movie of the same name a few years later. Deservedly so, as it's a winning mixture of romantic desolation and pop-rock drive.
The Furs also score with this combination on the explicit "Into You Like a Train" and "I Wanna Sleep With You", Richard Butler's tawdry rasp sounding right at home amid the hook-filled debauchery. Despite all the "romanticism", the band's iconoclasm is still firmly in place, as seen on "Mr. Jones", an update of Dylan's "Ballad of a Thin Man". TALK TALK TALK is where post-punk art and pure pop heart meet in a serendipitous multi-car pileup.|