Richard Butler returns, and other similar stuff.

So I am back a little early and ready to return to rambling incessantly about music I like (and occasionally about music I don't).

Over the past months I had been hearing about the return of Richard Butler, most famous for his stint as the semi-androgynous, semi-arty and fully raspy-voiced frontman for the Psychedelic Furs, a band I generally liked throughout the 80s when I associated them with various Hughes movies with Molly Ringwald.

I had known that he fronted a second outfit in the 1990s, Love Spit Love, but had never really taken notice of them. However, recently I found both LVL's sophomore album and a promo copy of Butler's new solo debut in a bargain bin at Rasputin's in Fremont. So I picked them up on a nostalgic lark, as I had also been listening lately to the Furs again; you never can get enough Pretty In Pink or The Ghost in You.

So the short and the long of it is that LVL (at least the Trysome Eatone album) was a kind of update of the Furs sound, with a guitar attack closer to the very early post-punk that Butler and the Furs emerged from with some very polished production. I think this album would actually do better today then upon its initial release in 1997, as this is exactly the sound bands like The Bravery and Interpol are mining, with less grit and less mileage. This is especially apparent on songs like the crunchy Little Fist and the dark stomp of Sweet Thing. There is some really artsy dynamism and almost full metal heft to parts of More Than Money, and the catchy Believe. There are some dead spots, but all around this was a steal at the price, and any adolescent goober that drools over the latest Killers single needs to re-evaluate what the real deal is.

Now Richard Butler had been out of the spotlight for a decade and seems to have admitted in interviews to have gotten into painting and going through a divorce, the death of one of his parents, and otherwise building a series of human experiences to power this rather low-key debut solo album. The opener, Good Days Bad Days seems to be an introduction of sorts to the period that led to the making of this album. It is a delicate bit of arty pop arrangement (including rolling strings and a sustain-heavy guitar section). His voice still has the raspiness, but is tempered by a growing melodicism. This album is in some ways very much a throwback to his Furs days, at least in terms of the darker tones, but it is much more intimate and personal. There is an almost off-kilter Bowie-esque feel to Satellites, and a rather sweet beauty to Maybe Someday.

Much of the instrumentation reflects the background of collaborator Jon Carin, who has done work with the Furs as a session keyboardist, but has also had stints with Pink Floyd (Roger Waters-less) , the Dream Academy, Bryan Ferry, Live and Roger Waters (Pink Floyd-less). This means there are folk, art-rock, and electronic flourishes, which suits the melancholic core of this album very well.

If you want introspective and moody without the lightweight somber emo tendencies, then go for Mr. Butler's eponymous solo album, if you want some more kick go for Love Spit Love...or pick up one of the bazillion Psychedelic Fur's comps and get a little of both along with some mid 80s synth pop and new wave fun thrown in.