condition (record/cover): EX / VG+ (light general wear)

In a lot of ways, “Pretty in Pink” sets the tone for Talk Talk Talk: the sound is thicker and punchier than The Psychedelic Furs, with merciless drummer Vince Ely mixed high, and Mr. Butler singing about a subject that he really didn’t touch upon that much on the first record, sex. In the case of “Pretty in Pink,” it’s a sympathetic look at a girl who is giving it up in an endless and so far fruitless search for love, and the cruel boys who were taking advantage of her. With Duncan Kilburn trading his sax in for an organ that provides color, especially in the second half of the song, and Ely going into a modified Phil Spector beat on the chorus while the guitars swirl around him, “Pretty in Pink” sounded just like its name, an absolutely lovely pop confection. That said, in 1981, there was absolutely no way that anybody who sounded like Richard Butler — as raspy and scabrous as ever, even as he was hitting more of the notes — was going to break the mainstream.