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Furniture klaxon

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Furniture, the ‘Brilliant Mind’ Hit Makers, must have been one of the most out-of-time (and unluckiest) 80s bands. Only 1,000 copies of their masterpiece, the album The Wrong People, were pressed, then their label Stiff went bust the week it was released. It remained unavailable for 15 years, when Cherry Red managed to cut through the legal red tape and released it on CD (for the record, I must declare my involvement in this).

Now, reissue label Emotional Rescue have reissued the (pre-Stiff) debut mini-album When The Boom Was On and a new compilation EP of four 12″ singles tracks, including a previously-unreleased full-length mix of Bullet.

Out now on 140g vinyl or download (including 24/96 hi-res from Qobuz).

https://www.juno.co.uk/artists/Furniture/

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Comments

  1. The debut is a terrific record. All through the 90’s my mate Stuart & I toiled with a vinyl copy and a cassette to make a manageable CD copy – using his early consumer CD recording deck. About 2 months after we sorted it – we got word that the CD reissue was coming out – Shake Like Judy Says, She Gets out The Scrapbook ALL classics – I’d be interested in your role in the reissue – and how come the same can’t happen with Food Sex & Paranoia (also a great record…I have a CD somewhere)

    Stuart & I in fact exchanged emails this very week on the great news that Jim Irvin has uploaded some demos to Bandcamp as potential signs of a solo record – his Because record *also* being rather excellent…

    Now I’m off to Juno – in my last job, I was a lot closer to them. In fact I ordered a Galaxie 500 On Fire reissue and then went downstairs to collect it…

    • I had contact with Jim via Backs Records (who released the Because album). I’d tried to get Cherry Red, and other labels, interested but it was tied up in legal knots for years.

      Then, out of the blue, Hammy contacted me. Legal stuff had been resolved, Cherry Red wanted to do it but with a known face (a moonlighting Capital Radio producer who had done other work for them) as PM. So I was consultant. I had all the records, and actually cared.

      I made a tracklist, supplied vinyl rips where mastertapes were lost, sleeve scans, and so on. I got nothing for my time, and even had to buy my own CD (that’s Cherry Red for you), but my name is in the credits which is enough for me (I have a day job to pay the bills, thankfully).

      Oddly, the same moonlighting Capital Radio producer did the Love & Money project about the same time. I vaguely knew James Grant, so I ended up in the same role on that as well. Both CDs came out on the same day. I had to buy that, too.

        • I sort of disagree with the Discogs listing, by the way.

          When The Boom Was On is really the debut album, but it is a mini-album with only 6 tracks. It’s not an EP, or it is a very long one.

          The Lovemongers is listed in the album section but is really a compilation of singles and an odd unreleased track.

          The Wrong People is a masterpiece, whatever.

    • I envisioned debates over laminate on chipboard Vs solid pine. Hygena QA vs Habitat etc. Mark Ellen always said Athlete was the worst band name ever but I think we have a winner.

  3. Loved both their full length albums. I’ve owned The Wrong People on cassette, vinyl and CD at various points. I’ve got vinyl rips of their really early stuff too somewhere right back to Shaking Story/Take A Walk Down Town. All great stuff and the Because album too.

    I remember the compilation She Gets Out The Scrapbook mentioning somewhere about a forthcoming tape of unreleased tracks coming out which never saw the light of day.

    The 12” of Brilliant Mind is one of those extended mixes that doesn’t sound dragged out pointlessly with extra beats. In fact the 7” actually sounds like an edit of the 12”, especially the sax solo

    That post has really cheered me up as they rarely get a mention anywhere these days

  5. Not on the album you’re referring to, I know; but Song For A Doberman was my personal anthem in a period when I really went off the rails. I was convinced I was having a great time at the time, of course. Still a great song, though. Now I finally have the chance to buy the first album, I think I will. Thanks for the heads up.

    • It’s quite a lot more scratchy-indie than TWP or FS&P. Takes a bit of getting used to if you’ve started with the later stuff.

      TWP was produced by Mick Glossop, who next did The Waterboys’ This Is The Sea. 1986 was a good year for him!

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