Psychedelic Furs
Unless His memory is seriously shot, the big guy upstairs couldn't possibly have heard vintage Furs like "Pretty in Pink" and "Sister Europe" and not remember. The swirling guitars in "Pretty" and the way Richard Butler's smoked-too-many-cigarettes rasp creaks around the metronomic rhythm of "Sister" create a memorable effect. This two-disc, 33-track anthology includes the best-known album cuts from the now-disbanded British group (which recorded between 1979 and 1991) and eight tracks previously unreleased in the U.S. Although the latter series, which presents the band as a lackluster concert attraction, mostly includes superfluous live numbers, the Furs' cover of "Mack the Knife," a 1959 No. 1 hit for the late Bobby Darin, alone makes God worth the effort of pulling out a credit card. Culled from a 1980 BBC performance, the post-punk epic rumbles with enough electricity to give old Darin himself a jolt. (Columbia/Legacy)
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