About this site

I think it must have been my sister who bought me the cassette (remember those) of The Wrong People for Christmas in 1986. Although I liked “Brilliant Mind” I’d have probably not bought it myself, even though Smash Hits did give it a good review.

But boy, I’m glad she did. It didn’t change my life but it was an album that I valued. Hard to remember exactly what I must have thought at the age of 15, but I think I latched onto their glamourising of the everyday. Often in their songs the situations are not exotic but they have a film-like quality - for instance the “She’s been working late…” passage in “Scrapbook” or the description of Pierre listening to the radio in “Pierre’s Fight”. I’m reminded of working-class cinema like Saturday Night and Sunday Morning or Billy Liar. They had ambition - “Scrapbook” is monumental with its multiple-songs-within-a-song structure. Jim sings like an angel and I love the dialogue created with Tim’s voice. Hami’s percussion really jumped out for me too - he doesn’t just ‘drum’, he uses his kit as an instrument, and this was certainly the first time I’d heard a drummer do that, not that I’ve heard it much since. The songs seemed so grown up, dealing with lost or second-choice love but with a kind of nobility. The band could play too - the bass is sinuous on “Judy”, the keyboard fills are simple but perfect on “Brilliant”. Tim’s guitar tone on “Shoes” is to die for. It was one of those albums where every track was a good track, and “Pierre’s Fight” right at the end is almost avant-garde in its boldness, with the final line “this time / things will be different” a perfect closer.

I probably did occasionally wonder, post-1986, what happened to them, and I do remember being surprised when FSP popped up in 1990. I think I read at least one review and saw it for sale briefly at a local Woolworths (more nostalgia), but I didn’t buy it. I had less money - I was a student by then - and FSP just didn’t look like TWP and felt like it had a dourness to it, so I chose not to buy. I did go and see the band though, at the Junction in Cambridge. I must have had a programme from them - they were a new venue at the time. In a rare (for me) ‘pied piper’-like move I think I persuaded at least five people to make the seemingly epic trip there from the centre of town. I’d like to say it was one of the best gigs of my life but actually, although I enjoyed it, I realised everyone else wouldn’t know any of the songs so probably wouldn’t get much out of it, so I felt mostly anxious instead. I recall the band trading instruments on stage, and there was some mirth(?) when Sally sang “Doberman”. It did kind of look to me like they weren’t a band on their uppers though, and it was around date 20 of a 30-date tour so they were probably quite drained by that point.

So I never bought FSP and it stayed at the back of my mind as a lost opportunity. Were re-issues even a thing in those days?

Flash forward (20 years!) to 2010 and I was incredibly cheered to hear of the unexpected TWP reissue - particularly as it put the album onto CD for the first time. I’d stopped playing cassettes a long time ago. Loved the extra songs and the liner notes. I even wrote to Cherry Red to ask them hopefully if they had plans to re-issue FSP - they replied (thank you) politely in the negative.

Then sometime in 2019 (another decade) I had the very obvious thought - eBay. I don’t know why it took me so long. It arrived in the post and I played FSP for the first time on a long car journey, and I have to say I was disappointed - particularly with what seemed like the muddiness of the sound. It was quite unlike TWP and I particularly missed the finesse Hami had shown on the first album.

It was a grower however. I kept going back to it. Curiously the muddiness vanished - I don’t hear it any more, and now I just hear an astonishing collection of songs. Even songs I didn’t like that much to start with I now think are real crackers (e.g. ‘Subway’). I like it at least as much as TWP and definitely play it more.

Somehow I’d hit it at the right time. As coincidence would have it, the Emotional Rescue reissues were recently out and I found them on Spotify. I think I was barely aware the early work existed and even if I had known would have presumed it could never now be located. I was almost knocked off my chair to discover so much ‘new’ material and ended up buying nearly everything I didn’t already have between May and July 2020. Now I knew about eBay (and Discogs) there was no stopping me .

I then took the hightly unusual step (for me) of writing out of the blue to Jim to offer to put together a website about the band. Probably the first fanboy thing I’ve ever done. Very much an idea borne out of lockdown. I’m ‘in’ software and it would have been a good side project for me. Jim very graciously replied, along with Tim and Hami. The only issue was content - I didn’t really have any. The band had some cuttings but not enough, so the idea languished. I did write a couple of ‘appreciation’ articles which I’ve linked to, but beyond that it didn’t seem there was much else I could do.

Then in 2023 I had another ‘bright’ idea - the British Library, where they have copies of every issue of every periodical. I was able to find reviews and interviews from the period and suddenly had a lot more material. I still didn’t think I had enough though, and truth be told I didn’t really have the time and it seemed a little silly. Was there anyone interested other than me?

The final enabler has been AI. Suddenly I’ve got the means to do things quickly. Once I got to work I realised I really had almost exactly the right amount of content. It would have been harder in some ways with more material; what I had was ‘just right’.

And here we are. I hope you enjoy the site. I’ve had fun building it. I do genuinely hope this drives people towards Furniture’s music, as I think it’s really special. Most likely they would have rather been global superstars - they’re only human - but even if the chips didn’t fall the right way for them, it’s something to know they were appreciated.

I’m hoping to evolve the site a little from here. I believe there are other reviews and interviews (maybe!) to be found. Who knows - maybe rare tracks or live recordings too, and maybe I’ll get the chance to talk to some of the people who worked with the band. I’d also like to hear from anyone who saw them live, to record their memories (and maybe even photographs). I should also say I’m mindful of copyright and, given I have no rights to much of what is on here, will take it down if asked. My only defence is I don’t think I’m doing any harm - there doesn’t seem to be much leverageable monetary value in a 40-year-old review from a publication that is no longer with us, and I’m not looking to make a profit, but rules are rules. So, watch this space.

- Ken Tune, St. Albans, 2026