The Psychedelic Furs

With its sax, its theatrical introspection and its reverby guitar sound, no band sounds so much like the early '80s — and so unmistakably itself — as the Psychedelic Furs. Maybe it's the way the band dragged its artsy-glam influence beyond the punk era without disguising it first. Maybe it's Richard Butler's guttural voice, so distinct from those of his reedy counterparts. Whatever the case, the band's best work came at the beginning of that decade (the formative debut and the follow-up hit, Talk Talk Talk) and the end of it ('89's underrated Book of Days). Fourteen years after calling it quits, the reunited Furs, now based in upstate New York and facing middle age and parenthood, are working on a reunion album that should be worth previewing Friday. — Andrew Marcus