| Three Imaginary Boys | 1979 |
| Boys Don't Cry | review #2 | 1980 |
| Seventeen Seconds | 1980 |
| Faith | 1981 |
| Pornography | 1982 |
| Japanese Whispers (compilation) | 1984 |
| The Top | 1984 |
| Concert: Live | 1984 |
| The Head On The Door | 1985 |
| Standing On A Beach: The Singles (compilation) | 1986 |
| Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me | 1987 |
| Disintegration | 1989 |
| Mixed Up | 1990 |
| Wish | 1992 |
| Paris (live) | 1993 |
| Show (live) | 1993 |
| Wild Mood Swings | 1996 |
| Bloodflowers | 2000 |
| The Cure | 2004 |
If you've ever been in that kind of mood where absolutely nothing is going right in your life and you just feeling crawling into a hole to die somewhere, well... here's a band that you could find potential solace in. The Cure (aka tormented lead vocalist and guitarist Robert Smith with a bunch of slightly changing backing musicians over the years) are widely regarded as a major influence on the goth rock scene, and it's easy to see why - their gloom and doom soundscapes, often dirgey song arrangements and miserable lyrics of several of their numbers seemingly offer little hope from a bleak existence. Sometimes this approach can be quite successful (like with the stunning guitar tone and gripping song structures on the best moments of Disintegration) and other times quite boring (as with much of the dark and dragging Pornography, which essentially doesn't have much else to it).
However, there's actually much more to The Cure than just Robert Smith's mopey image. Underneath all the despair of this man lies a fine talent for writing extremely catchy vocal melodies, which very much contributes to the idea that the band was one of the best singles acts of the 80's (which might be pretty close to the truth from what I understand). And this might not be all that noticeable at first, but despite the sometimes uninteresting formula of a few of their releases, The Cure also welcomed the occasional amount of diversity and interesting creative ideas into their approach, whether it be neat rhythms like on The Head On The Door or almost becoming an upbeat pop band in several places on Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me and Wish - Bob really could be a great pop songwriter when he tried (he even could get a little, dare I say, wussy in his department too), and he could certainly arrange songs as well. Also, it's easy to forget that they actually started out writing concise two or three minute punkish ditties during their earliest period that were just as, and probably even more, dependent on melody and songwriting approach as they were on the actual atmosphere of the despair they're so associated with.
Of course, there are the obvious flaws of the band as well (as with any) - on several occasions, their songs can be dangerously dragged out way longer than they should be in their dirgier periods and the songwriting can be a bit uneven (their albums are for the most part really inconsistent, actually - even the best of them). Plus, there's also the matter of Robert Smith's voice, which I actually don't mind, as his depressed whining tone does fit both The Cure's music and the scene from which they came perfectly (of course, I do tend to be partial toward unique vocalists), but I can easily see why it would turn a lot of people away from the band in the first place, and even for me, sometimes the overwhelming self-pity and bleakness can be a bit much. These are only rare occasions, though.
Throughout the band's history (as Rich pointed out in response to my old intro) - Robert Smith and 'the band' have been on the verge of breaking up for quite a long while now, and the supporting tour for Bloodflowers has been said to be their last. But it's been that way throughout a lot of the band's history, so who knows if we'll ever hear from The Cure again (not including the form of a Robert Smith solo career, of course - as if that'll be a drastic departure from what we've come to know and love)? On to the reviews, anyway.
--Nick Karn
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COMMENTS
[email protected] (Rich Bunnell)
The Cure have been "on the verge of breaking up" for about 13 years and counting now. I believe that every album back to Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me has been reportedly the band's "last album," but more albums keep coming out in spite of this. Plus, even if the "band" actually did break up, Robert Smith would probably just embark on a solo career, and how different would his albums be from your average Cure album?
(reviewed by Nick Karn)
HIGH POINTS: Grinding Halt, Accuracy, Fire In Cairo, Object. LOW POINTS: So What, Another Day.
The Cure might be most well known for their gloomier, dirgey reputation, but judging by this one, that isn't exactly how they began. The songs on Three Imaginary Boys might very much cover by now familiar territory lyrically in parts, with death and doom and other really unpleasant topics, but musically, with only a few exceptions, the actual music isn't exactly as lifeless as what the subject matter might imply. Instead, this stuff comes across in a concise and catchy, often even fast-paced 2 or 3 minute pop song format, and it sort of bridges the gap between the punk rock spirit and the New Wave sound, never really quite fitting into either of those formats. Rob and the gang were still finding a style here, but if you ask me, the searching process was actually loads more interesting than what they'd come up with in the next few albums. These songs are really catchy, with neat vocal and musical hooks, lyrical approaches, and such.
Undoubtedly the two most effective songs on here that show this are "Accuracy" and "Grinding Halt" - the former tune has such a great bassline and extremely catchy melody that it seems almost like an upbeat, bouncy song about killing someone, and in the latter song, the line 'everything's coming to a grinding halt...' sounds fun over the positively fantastic fast guitar part in the chorus and minimalist groove going on in the verses (with the wildly entertaining '...no people' and 'stopped.... short...' hooks in there!). And of course, "Fire In Cairo" actually goes as far to create its' memorable refrain by spelling out the title at a fast pace, which works a lot more effectively than you might expect, and the verses are just great pop too. "Object", meanwhile, is a highly energetic riff rocker with totally effective vocal echoes in the verses, and it has the same hook power as the others.
Nothing else on the album really matches up to those four powerful highlights, but most of the rest of the songs are interesting in their own way. "Subway Song" in particular is a downright creepy short tune, with a quiet, ominous bassline and guitar part and lyrics that create the atmosphere of being followed in the subway, and as it fades out, a sudden scream comes back in to create a scary effect. The single "10:15 Saturday Night" is a worthy opening track, too, with an uptempo, though slightly dark, repetitive guitar part over paranoid lyrics (and I also love that 'drip, drip, drip..' part as it quiets down), and there's even a cover of the Hendrix classic "Foxy Lady", which is an intriguing diversion here - it's barely distinguishable as the same song, with the melody being changed around, plus it's played at a tempo more suited to the material here (and I bet that's probably not even Bob singing either).
Elsewhere, the snappy rocker "It's Not You" is a decent moment coming near the end of the album and the 'falling in love with a butcher' tale of "Meathook" is an intriguing lyrical moment - it's quite memorable, too, especially the repeating yells of the title throughout. And as far as weak material goes, "So What" probably owes the most to the punk spirit in lyrics and arrangement, but it's pretty much an incoherent and near melodyless rambling, and while not an awful song, the only feature of "Another Day" that grabs me is the dying guitar parts that creep up throughout. Why did they base the next few albums on boring stuff like this? At least the closing title track is a more worthy representation of that type of sound, since it doesn't forget to place melody over atmosphere. Quite good album in all, though, and I'd easily recommend it as the best early Cure money can buy if not for the more readily available version of this...
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(Nick Karn's review)
HIGH POINTS: Killing An Arab, Grinding Halt, Accuracy, Boys Don't Cry, Fire In Cairo. LOW POINTS: So What, Another Day.
The best comparison I can make regarding this and Three Imaginary Boys is the UK and US versions of The Clash differ from each other, as the US version of that album was put together in a very similar way as this was. Basically, this American bastard release takes the original Three Imaginary Boys, deletes four tracks from it and replaces them with singles from around the same time. Thankfully, this is one of those cases where I can say that the 'bastardized' album is very much superior to the original, as the singles are for the most part somewhat stronger than the album tracks they replaced - no offense to those songs or anything, but "Foxy Lady" and "It's Not You" are more like somewhat decent but ultimately just enjoyable filler, and even "Meathook" isn't really one of the better songs on there. I do kinda regret the loss of "Object", though, as I consider it one of the highlights from the original, but oh well.
The singles, though, are the main focus of this review, as all four of them are pretty much first rate numbers. The notorious "Killing An Arab" actually attempts a fusion of punk, pop and Arabic music (within the guitar parts), and it works phenomenally, with the often misinterpreted lyrics adding a dark edge to the extremely catchy melody (dig the opening bassline, too). There's also the somewhat more upbeat opener "Boys Don't Cry", a really nice foreshadowing of the band's ventures into that territory, and it's very very memorable both musically and melodically. To a lesser extent, "Jumping Someone Else's Train" is a very worthwhile fast-paced song that really nails the actual vibe of the title appropriately, and "Plastic Passion" is a weird and quirky, but interesting and intriguing rocker (with whatever the hell that backwards noise is after the title in the chorus). The only problems I have here is that the flow between tracks is slightly iffy at points, and that the two worst tracks on the original album in my opinion ("So What", "Another Day") are still here. But these are just minor complaints - with the addition of these superior singles amongst already very worthy songs, this suddenly becomes the early Cure album to own.
HIGH POINTS: Grinding Halt, Killing an Arab, Fire In Cairo, Boys Don't Cry, 10:15 Saturday Night. LOW POINTS: So What, Plastic Passion.
Ahh, the Cure! We all know them, we all love them - they're those standup comedians from England, right? Indeed. While everyone does know them, most people only recognize that one song about the days of the week, or acknowledge the presence of the gloomier Pornography-era mood music. Very few, aside from diehards, realize that they started out in the late 70s as a pretty basic punk band. On their American debut Boys Don't Cry, the sound is appropriately thin and underproduced, and the songs themselves are short and remarkably catchy.
While most of the songs on the album are a far cry from the later doom and gloom image that people would come to associate with the band, that doesn't keep them from being suitably unhappy. The title track, which opens the album, certainly fits the description. It's a painfully true statement, which is depressing enough as it is. The lyrics may be down, but the music takes the form of a bouncy and even somewhat cheerful pop song. Unfortunately, the song is completely atypical of the rest of album in that it doesn't sound like it was recorded in Robert Smith's garage, but it serves as a great preface for what the band would become in about five years' time.
Other highlights include the fairly well-known single "Killing an Arab," which is said to be "often misinterpreted." Right, if it isn't about killing an Arab, then I have no clue what the hell it could be about. Meaning aside, the lyrics are actually fairly frightening ("staring at myself reflected in the eyes of the dead man on the beach," anyone?), the bassline has to be heard to be believed - it carries the whole weight of the song on its shoulders, and the Arabian guitar adds the perfect final touch. What a great song. Another standout is the cold and slow "10:15 Saturday Night," the band's first real mood piece. It starts off softly, building and building until Smith starts singing...and then there's the chilling quiet effect when he repeats "drip, drip, drip, drip..." over and over again. It might be a little too long, but it conveys its intended atmosphere very well.
The album reaches a gentler, smoother moment with the pretty ballad "Fire in Cairo," whose main distinction is its many repetitions of "F-I-R-E-I-N-C-A-I-R-O!" It might get a little monotonous after a while, yet there's no denying its absolute catchiness. Try not to sing along to it. I also love the part where Smith sings, in a somewhat somber tone, "Burn like a fire, burn like a fire in Cairo." There was a time when I might've said it was the best on the album, but several spins revealed one more major high point. It comes near the end of the album, and it's called "Grinding Halt." What a fantastically bouncy and catchy song this is. The music will undoubtedly get your toes tapping, as it's somewhat uptempo and playful, and Smith's vocal melody is the best on the album. The "everything's coming to a grinding halt!" line in the chorus is just great. Then, of course, everything does come to a grinding halt with the genius ending. It's difficult to pick a very best from such an album, but this one ultimately takes the cake. And eats it, too.
None of the other songs reach the same plateau, but there are a few other worthy additions. The fast-paced single "Jumping Someone Else's Train" has a great guitar line that almost earns it high point status, even though the vocals aren't too great (does anyone else hear the "it's always the same" and "again and again and again..." lines from the following album's "A Forest" here? I sure do. In which case, the rewrite is far superior). "Accuracy" is a nice bass excursion - much like most everything else here, and "Another Day" and "Three Imaginary Boys" are okay slower, moodier songs toward the end of the album. Nothing terribly fantastic, but they're all listenable and occasionally enjoyable.
Like most of the Cure's albums, there is, unfortunately, a share of songs that just flat out suck. "So What" is the biggest offender, which drags on for two and a half minutes and goes absolutely nowhere except Smith's flat in Ugly Rant Land. There's hardly any tune at all, and the singing is awful. At least it's not thirty seconds longer than it actually is, as it says on the back of the case. So what? It's icky. While not nearly as bad, "Plastic Passion" isn't exactly the nicest piece of music ever written. It's just a little too weird for the rest of the album, and again I can't get into Smith's vocal tone. Similarly, the very short mood piece "Subway Song" does absolutely nothing for me. It's less than two minutes long, and repeats the same notes over and over and over until you think it's never going to en--andthenwegettoendurethisBLOOD-CURDLING SHRIEK at the very end. Lovely.
In the end, the album is quite enjoyable, with a a handful of great songs that I could listen to endlessly. It might not be as good as some people say it is, but it's a worthy "debut" (American bastard child of Three Imaginary Boys, at least) from one of the most depressing bands ever. While the band would get much better in time, this is a fascinating - and constantly intriguing - look at their humble origins.
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(reviewed by Nick Karn)
HIGH POINTS: A Forest, Play For Today. LOW POINTS: At Night, Seventeen Seconds.
Although the Three Imaginary Boys / Boys Don't Cry songs didn't exactly have a happy mood to them, it wasn't until The Cure's second proper studio effort that the depressing atmosphere really became the showcase of the sound. The songs are generally based less and less on stuff like the fast and entertaining pace of "Grinding Halt" and more like the slow mope of "Another Day", to draw a comparison there. Of course, as is typical of most of these sort of efforts, this is really a transition album to a more atmospheric, slow-paced sound, but that sound is a lot less interesting and unmemorable for the most part, at least at this point in their career. True, the mood-setting gloomy guitar parts are mostly in place, and that actually does help things, but there are a lot of aspects of the sound that actually work against the band.
In contrast to earlier, for instance, these are for the most part miserable, pulseless and often plodding tunes that aren't exactly helped by the minimalist production values, led by the endless repetitiveness of the guitar lines and the hypnotizing drum machines that aren't used in a good way. And a few of these tracks aren't even songs at all - stuff like "Three", "A Reflection" and "A Final Sound" basically serve as eerie, though insubstantial, haunted house instrumentals that are just there to create a mood and nothing more. Most of the actual songs aren't any more memorable, and it really hurts when the album gets really boring at the end with "At Night" and the title track, which really aren't awful, but they have neither captivating melodies or interesting builds, and as a result I just want them to end, particularly since I have nothing to look forward to at the close of the album.
Of course, I can say the material isn't really at all bad, and it's certainly not without its' share of highlights. The most well known single here is the standout - "A Forest" isn't really all that different soundwise from the others, but it has a few qualities a lot of the other compositions lack - a very catchy melody, a dramatic intro buildup that holds interest, and a fine beat to go along with the dark backing music. "Play For Today" is also noteworthy on account of its' fabulous bassline and chord progression, and, like "A Forest", the melody is actually memorable, and that helps the haunting music make an impression. That's mainly the problem with the rest of the tracks on here - they have fine promise in their mood, certainly, but somebody forgot about terribly memorable melodies, so that deprives any potential discussion I might have about em. Basically, since the album's two best songs can be found on the band's popular singles collection, I wouldn't really recommend this one, although many surprisingly hail this as one of the band's stronger albums - some idea that is kinda beyond me.
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(reviewed by Nick Karn)
HIGH POINTS: Primary, Doubt, The Holy Hour. LOW POINTS: Faith, All Cats Are Grey.
Okay, somebody was getting really unhappy here, as the general mood on Faith has even more of a somber quality than the previous album, with the emphasis continuing to be on slow song structures, mopey lyrics and gloomy atmosphere. Thankfully, though, the results are for the most part better, for the simple fact that the actual melodies are more memorable (I know this sounds obvious, but this is a critical point that many forget). Interestingly enough, the songs that mainly stand out here are the fast rockers (which was also true with the previous album to a lesser extent, though they had less energy and drive than the ones on here), but the album as a whole is actually more effective as a depressing mood piece than a record of truly spectacular individual songs, which is certainly a point going against it, but also makes Faith at least a mildly fascinating listen.
As for the more explicitly somber material, the best is probably the opening number "The Holy Hour", which begins things on a steady rhythm and an appropriately menacing guitar line that will be sure to get wedged inside your head, mostly due to its' repetitiveness and memorable tendencies, but it's well-structured enough to not get boring, and it does have a worthy hook. Even more depressing are "The Drowning Man" and "The Funeral Party", as their slow tempos and 'final' sounding atmospheres work effectively - the former in particular has handclaps in its' chorus that make the song's intent downright nasty, and the latter has a somber keyboard part that creates an absolutely miserable tone about as party-like as a really dirgey funeral atmosphere. To a lesser extent, "Other Voices" also works well as a hypnotizing, solitary piece that has a nice bassline driving it.
Speaking of nice basslines, this is exactly the most attractive feature of the rumbling "Primary", and the best of the 'fast rockers' I mentioned earlier - it's quite a nice diversion from the general atmosphere of the rest of the album, plus the melody is fast and truly exciting. "Doubt" also boasts something found on very few early period Cure songs - energy, and it helps that the overall mood of the track is angrier and more convincingly performed than anything else here. While those two tracks are the album's strongest, the only real weak points come in the lengthy closing title track and "All Cats Are Grey", as they both drag along (the former at almost 7 minutes) with unmemorable, primitive melodies and tiresome beats the whole way through. The quality songs here, though, ensure that Faith is probably the best of their 80-82 'doom and gloom' trilogy, and it's an album worth getting acquainted with if you're really into that sound, even if it isn't essential.
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(reviewed by Nick Karn)
HIGH POINTS: One Hundred Years, A Short Term Effect, A Strange Day. LOW POINTS: Siamese Twins, The Figurehead, Cold.
Taking The Cure's most overtly gloomy period to its' extreme, Pornography sets a tone even more depressing (and monotonous) than its' predecessors, and that's quite an accomplishment, with more harrowing guitar parts, often deadly slow paces, the typical Robert Smith 'whining', and lyrics as hopeless as the depths of hell. Unfortunately, the increasing depression doesn't exactly coincide with increasing songwriting quality; there are a few factors that make this an overall tiresome, even if sometimes emotionally affecting, listen. For one thing, practically every song has a single guitar part and/or tempo that never changes the entire time (and most of the melodies the songs are based on aren't all that solid to begin with), so with at an average length of over 5 minutes, the same-sounding mood and dragging nature of the material adds up to an often unsatisfying listen. This isn't a bad record by any means, though, as none of the actual songs are unworthwhile (just often poorly paced and arranged), and the bleakness actually works wonders on occasions.
The best songs on here, in fact, are actually a little more spectacular than those on the previous two albums - "One Hundred Years" manages to totally rule almost entirely on account of its' phenomenal echoey opening guitar riff, addictive rhythm and desperate melody that holds attention (not to mention the bleakness is at a height - opening line: 'it doesn't matter if we all die'), and makes it a despairing masterpiece. Elsewhere, "A Short Term Effect" has a really neat main hook driving that song, with 'dying vocal echoes' after each line and an effective pace to the rest of it, and "A Strange Day" is actually kind of beautifully melancholy, helped by its' Eastern vibe in between the verses and attractive vocal melody. I guess the closing title track has an intriguing main groove (though over the course of 6-1/2 minutes, it really runs out of steam) and interesting backwards masked voices to open it.
It's the rest of the album, though, that I'm really at a dead end about. The single "The Hanging Garden" is a good example of the album's frustrating tendencies in how it has a fine, reasonably fast paced rhythm (plus more really bleak lyrics), but unfortunately, the song doesn't really do anything with it. Then there's those two lengthy dirgey borefests in the middle of the album ("Siamese Twins" and "The Figurehead"), which are really monotonous, slow and melody-deprived numbers that simply fly out of my head and leave me uninterested, and "Cold" just substitutes rhythm and generic miserable 'goth rock' keyboards for actual attractive build, drama or melody. I mean, these tracks aren't exactly horrible, but even though this is a decent record in all thanks to its' highlights, it really demonstrates why this era of the band was at a creative dead end, preceding a brief break up until the next 'lost' Cure album two years later
OVERALL RATING: 6
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COMMENTS
[email protected] (Rich Bunnell)
Actually, the band didn't break up between this album and The Top; at this point Robert briefly became interested in wussy '80s dancepop and released a bunch of singles along with an EP called The Walk, all of which have been collected on the Japanese Whispers compilation. "The Lovecats" is probably the catchiest and most well-known song from this era.
(reviewed by Nick Karn)
HIGH POINTS: Let's Go To Bed. LOW POINTS: Lament.
Not technically a new Cure studio album, but this collection serves as an important turning point in the band's history anyway, as Japanese Whispers collects three singles released the previous year along with their B-sides. The very direction these singles took, though, show that just as it appeared Robert Smith could go no further with his bleak side on Pornography, in a seemingly random fashion, he turned to a completely different direction - mid 80's dance pop. Of course, he didn't abandon the mopier side perfected earlier completely - a few of the remaining tracks either mostly follow that direction or attempt to integrate the gloom with the poppier style that this compilation centers on. As for the overall quality of it goes, a lot of this material sounds overly fruity, dated and very often unmemorable to these ears, but luckily, there's not much bad or overly boring either.
There's also one classic throughout these tracks in the opening "Let's Go To Bed", which actually utilizes the bubbly pop style in a highly entertaining way, with the ascending chorus leading to that ultra-memorable 'do do do do...' hook, plus it has a great singalong verse melody and a groovy bassline, which makes it the runaway best song on here. Not that the other two singles don't have their charms too, but "The Walk" probably takes the not so attractive elements of the sound as its' focus, with its' really dated main keyboard part driving the song and unnecessary sounds in the background, even if the actual melody of it is quite excellent and enthralling, and the closing "The Lovecats" is better, mostly because it's arguably the single most catchiest tune on the album (good bassline too), even if it goes too uncomfortably pop-happy and almost cutesy. Only a bit, though.
As for the rest of the tracks, nothing on here really screams out 'I suck!' or anything like that, but most of these songs are just your typical decent B-side quality numbers and nothing more. "The Dream" probably would be really fun, since there's another good melody here, if not for more of those ridiculously dated keyboards and overall cheesy tone, while both "Just One Kiss" and "The Upstairs Room" are semi-interesting (the former a dark, techno-ish number, and the latter a hauntingly fast-paced pop tune), but again, nothing that special. Meanwhile, "Speak My Language" is an okayish, dippy bass heavy/piano pop entry, and the one nod to the older goth style ("Lament") just drags on and on with that monotonous drum beat and little melody to speak of. You know, this is an album that I should probably give a 5 - the three singles are all collected on not one, but two other singles compilations, and other than those tracks, this stuff hardly ever rises above merely decent and listenable. But it also never really goes out of it's way to bore either, and I'm feeling generous today, so a really low 6 it is.
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(reviewed by Nick Karn)
HIGH POINTS: Shake Dog Shake. LOW POINTS: Give Me It, Bird Mad Girl, Piggy In The Mirror, Dressing Up.
If the singles from the previous year showed Robert Smith moving further away from the doom and gloom sound of before with dance pop incorporated into the mix, the proper studio followup to Pornography finds him and the band getting a desire to prove that they can actually be a diverse band amongst all of this, as if so many people called that album monotonous or something (it was, by the way). Well, they would pull off the stylistic excursions very well on the next two albums for the most part, and while I respect The Top at least a little for attempting to do something different, this is just going too far. Simply put, the songs here suffer from a severe case of creative schizophrenia, as Bob and the gang just randomly run around attempting all these different musical styles they can and failing miserably at quite a few of them. And at no point does this thing ever hang together as an album.
Side one in particular suffers from these numerous flaws. It does admittedly start off with a good-quality Pornography style track "Shake Dog Shake", which has a captivating, almost haunting groove and incessantly repetitive chorus, though it doesn't bode well for the rest of the album that this just enjoyable song is the obvious best one here. What's the competition on this half? A crappy disco number with extraordinarily dated embellishments (come on guys, what is this? Saturday Night Fever?) that might be redeemed only a little by a nice bassline ("Bird Mad Girl"), an annoyingly bouncy pop tune that almost makes a lot of Japanese Whispers sound like Slayer in comparison ("Dressing Up"), a really, really awful wannabe punk/metal track with hideous whining, next to no melody, and yelling of its' title at the end ("Give Me It"), and a not exactly awful but still boring Eastern-style dirge with too much cluttered atmospheric sound effects ("Wailing Wall").
The second half isn't quite as bad in terms of unevenness, but still, it requires you to endure typically mediocre (though not unlistenable) Cure filler like the forgettable "Bananafishbones" and the cheesy war march "The Empty Room", plus awful Jim Morrison imitation vocals on the already ugly "Piggy In The Mirror". I guess I can't really knock the two other songs on the side too hard, though. The single "The Caterpillar", regardless of its' ugly intro and dorky verses, is an acceptable acoustic/bongo drum driven pop tune with a hummable refrain, and the closing title track appropriately recalls the older style again just like its' bookend, and while it's way too long, the slow, despairing groove it has does stick with you for awhile, I have to admit. Regardless of those minor successes, though, there's way too many experimental misfires here, so I wouldn't recommend buying this album. Of course, this non-task is conveniently made easier since it's now out of print (I got it on MP3s, by the way). Avoid if you're not a completist or diehard. The next one did the stylistic variation thing tons better.
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(reviewed by Nick Karn)
HIGH POINTS: Push, A Night Like This, The Blood. LOW POINTS: Six Different Ways.
I'm not exactly sure what happened to Robert Smith's songwriting during this period, as it appeared to be veering into a somewhat more schizophrenic direction, going all over the musical map. Although this might have seemed like a bad move, at least the last album did have numerous creative ideas, but they weren't used in the right way. On this album, however, the experiments and varied sound actually sound focused, and while The Head On The Door does go into a much more accessible, melodic direction, it doesn't do so at the risk of actually losing creative spirit - this is easily their most musically interesting and catchy album since the debut, and also one of their best works to this point. While it may not hold together as well as the following two efforts, and that the production gimmicks employed here make parts of the album sound a bit dated (though that's been corrected a bit since last time), it's hard not to take notice of how well the interesting variety and fine melodies here work.
The first side of the album in particular demonstrates a musical shift - for once, there are no overly boring, slow and gloomy goth songs in this stretch. "The Blood" does have pretty bleak lyrics, to be sure, but musically, it's really far removed from what came previously - the simple but fantastic, almost Latin flavored, acoustic guitar groove and rhythm adds to the overall addictiveness of the main melody, making it one of the more enjoyably mopey songs Rob has ever written. "Kyoto Song" is also kind of an interesting number with music that really evokes the Far East atmosphere of its' title through the keyboard parts, especially neat when combined with modern production techniques. The opening "In Between Days", meanwhile, seems to be a more normal, musically uplifting pop song in a territory that the band would fortunately explore to even greater heights on albums to come.
The most brilliant song on the album, though, comes in the form of the breathtaking "Push" - this is one of those tunes that support my idea that some of the most majestic guitar tones of all time came from the albums of this band (and this particular song has an amazingly appropriate piano part to go along with it), and the way the intro builds in an extremely exciting way through the first 2-1/2 minutes to the opening yell of 'go go go, push him away' before a really great bassline, it's just musical bliss. But curiously, it's surrounded by a couple of weirder, 'frozen in the 80's' pieces, the weakest of them being "Six Different Ways", an overly quirky tune with some dated and rather cluttered instrumentation (plus a really awkward melody). And the more rocking track "The Baby Screams" just sounds really silly with the wildly inappropriate electronic handclaps (even if it's a good song overall). The single "Close To Me" is better than those two, though, as it's a fun minimalistic piece based mainly on a steady uptempo rhythm that provides a nice pleasure, at least.
Within the last three songs, there's also another super classic here in the form of the beautifully played, brokenhearted love song "A Night Like This" (excellent lyrics), which has another exceptional poppy melody and gorgeous guitar touches to go along with an incessantly effective piano line that runs through it. So beautiful, I don't even mind the questionable sax solo. And finally, the last two songs on here are fine enough, I guess. "Screw" has some more almost unnecessary embellishments (and the melody isn't very good), but that awesome raw-sounding bass part almost makes up for it all, while the closing "Sinking" is about the only nod to the slow dirge style on the album. It's nothing particularly spectacular, but the mood is at least attention grabbing, and it never really bores while it's on, so I like it. But this time, those type of songs aren't the focus of the album - Robert Smith has found a great pop songwriting groove here to go along with his despairing style, and would use it to even greater effect on the next one.
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(reviewed by Nick Karn)
HIGH POINTS: Just Like Heaven, One More Time, The Perfect Girl, Why Can't I Be You, Torture, How Beautiful You Are, If Only Tonight We Could Sleep. LOW POINTS: Snakepit, All I Want.
Well, it may be somewhat predictable of me to think this way, but I'm convinced that the bamd's first attempt at a double length album is also their undeniable, tour-de-force masterpiece. Of course, it doesn't exactly reach perfection - several of the songs on the second half here in particular, as much as I enjoy them somewhat, aren't exactly too substantial, and there are a couple of them that, at least for me, count as boring or crappy filler here, but even so, this is about as great quality of an album as I think Robert Smith is capable of making. What makes it so great? Well, the balance between the more interesting diversions, the pop song masterpieces, and the more overtly depressing side of the man is at its' peak, and overall, the melodies are at an absolute peak here, working even better when a particular song has a fabulous atmosphere to go along with it.
This particularly works wonders on the top highlight here, and my pick for the greatest Cure song in existence - the astounding classic hit single "Just Like Heaven". Musically, this is just a glorious guitar pop paradise that just sounds timeless - just listen to how that heavenly electric guitar part merges with the 12 string acoustic to create a totally blissful effect. And of course, it also doesn't hurt that the quality of the actual melody is almost about as great, with extremely pretty lyrics to boot. Coming close behind it, meanwhile, is "One More Time", a simply shattering melancholy song, with one of the most hauntingly despairing, yet strangely beautiful, guitar parts I've ever heard, and the way that flute part makes its' entry before the vocals actually come in enhances it further (and of course, when Bobby actually does make his singing appearance, it still remains gorgeous).
Going down the track listing here, there are plenty of other songs I greatly enjoy listening to in their own way. We have more really really pretty romantic pop tunes in the gentle and understated "Catch" and especially "The Perfect Girl", where everything from the main gorgeous pop melody to the great keyboard and guitar interplay to the lyrics are damn near perfect. And is it just me or are there an unusually high number of uptempo songs for a Cure album? "How Can I Be You" is probably the most obvious of these as a fast and horn-filled number. The jealous lyrics here don't even come across as self-pity, since the music is so exciting and the song itself is extremely memorable and catchy. "Hot Hot Hot!!!" is even a really really entertaining funk number, with amusing vocal growls and a wildly entertaining little groove/guitar part and melody to make it a total pleasure.
Of course, just to remind us that this is The Cure we're listening to, there are some dirge-like numbers here. One of them, "Snakepit", is the weakest (and unfortunately, longest) track on the album - the repetitive guitar parts can definitely be hypnotizing as backing music, but the thing goes way too long at its' already uninteresting pace without building too much, so I always want it to end (especially since it comes before "Just Like Heaven"). The Indian sounding drone of "If Only Tonight We Could Sleep" (with appropriate sitar playing in there), though, really merges well with the typical Robert Smith whining, and it actually creates a mesmerizing vibe, and the opener "The Kiss" has a really lengthy and repetitive, but excitingly raw, opening 'jam' portion that builds into one of the most pissed off and miserable songs I've heard in this band's catalog, which is quite an accomplishment. Never bothers me much, though.
"The Kiss" turns out to be not all that unrepresentative of a lot of this material, in fact, as several of the other songs are built on fine energy, like when the guitar builds on the fabulous, fast paced interplay of the rhythm section and saxophone in "Icing Sugar" or the nice breakaway rocker "Shiver And Shake". The vocals are also delivered in a somewhat convincingly passionate manner in other songs, as on the convincing "Fight", which has a somewhat rebellious, anthemic tone that suddenly breaks out of its' relatively restrained verses into a powerful chanting orchestral keyboard chorus. It's also the vocals that really make the faster "How Beautiful You Are" (with nice subtle piano work, bass playing and passionate lyrics) and the Eastern tinged rocker "Torture" come alive - the music is well-written and captivating enough (fine bass work here), but that vocal presence, particularly in the chorus of the latter ('it's toooorrrrrrrture...') helps put it over the top.
Of course, I've probably praised this album enough for its' numerous very good or classic tracks (and there's even one more I didn't mention yet in the somewhat wonderfully dramatic acoustic tune "Like Cockatoos", which has a fabulous symphonic aura about it in the keys), so let me just point out the rest of the flaws in this 72 minute running time. Besides the boring and endless "Snakepit" dirge, there's also the bothersome "All I Want", whose hook is just not that wonderful, and that iffy chorus ('all I waaaant, is to hold you like a dooooog') makes things even worse. Plus, the ballad "A Thousand Hours" is musically and melodically pretty insubstantial, and when it is memorable, there seems to be a bit of tiredness to it. Regardless of these complaints (and the general flow of just 'good' tracks as it comes to a close), the top highlights here make the album a particularly excellent minor masterpiece, and I'd say it would be a good place to start if you want a good overview of many of the Cure's sides.
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(reviewed by Nick Karn)
HIGH POINTS: Lullaby, Fascination Street, Pictures Of You, Disintegration, Last Dance. LOW POINTS: The Same Deep Water As You, Homesick.
At this point in The Cure's history, Robert Smith seemed to be incorporating more and more uptempo (though not exactly upbeat) pop tunes into the songwriting, but on this one, he seemed to have a serious change of mood. Apparently, he decided that instead of using the double length 70 minutes plus material for the kind of stuff that was so prominent on Kiss Me, he just felt like stretching the songs out to appropriately dirge-like lengths (several of them hit the 7 to 9 minute range), and an absolutely miserable mood through several songs. Pornography might beat out this one in being the bleaker album overall, but I sure do know which one speaks to me a lot more in a dark room at high volume. This one is crammed with really well-developed melodies and a really majestically beautiful tone to the bleak guitar lines and keyboards, and Borenography isn't - simple as that.
The most notable thing about this album, though, is that these instrumental parts are, at their best, amazing. Occasionally in one's listening experience, the listener might think that a particular band has hit upon the perfect instrumental part that appears to be so simple, yet seems to timelessly come out of nowhere to rise the song to majestic heights in such a way they might wish the song could go on forever. Well, this is exactly the impression I get during several of the songs here, and it could be used to perfectly assess the keyboard and guitar majesty of the opening "Plainsong", as it has really simple, but somehow unique and moving, textures. And somehow the steady rhythm, keyboard tones, guitar line and the gloomy lyrics come to form an absolute melancholy minor masterpiece like "Last Dance", maybe one of the quintessential songs in defining the album's impact.
"Pictures Of You", meanwhile, is essentially a 7 minute groove that, in its' repetitive guitar and bass parts, that doesn't really have any build to it at all, but then why the heck is it so gorgeous and addictive to listen to? It's instrumentally majestic, and it's more proof of Smith's blossoming songwriting skills. This otherworldly sound even helps a song that might have sounded like filler otherwise ("Closedown") absolutely come to life. When they attempt a more hard-edged sound, like on "Fascination Street", the effect is absolutely breathtaking enough for me to call this song, among a few others on this album, one of the ultimate exercises in minimalism - there's nothing remotely complex about that bassline or guitar part at all, but the way it builds together in its' simplicity with that magical tone, the overall energy, and that atmosphere... let's just say that the lyrics and vocals really add to that once they come in.
Sometimes, though, the minimalism of this album takes getting used to - the first time I heard the title track, for instance, I was horribly bored by it. All it consists of is a simple, plodding dance groove with the same rhythm and guitar part over and over with occasional choir-like backing vocals for 8 minutes, but be patient with this one - it grows on you. Somehow, this one is thoroughly addictive in all its' plodding tendencies, cause the melody is insanely catchy, and the pace gradually seems to rise all the time by way of the lyrics (which are some of Smith's best ever - pure poetry). And unfortunately, on occasions the epic tendency gets out of hand - "The Same Deep Water As You" is a really slow 9 minute exercise in melodyless despairing boredom. I admire the passion in this song, but when it doesn't go anywhere or captivate at all, I get annoyed, and I could say the same thing with "Homesick", which has very nice piano work, but really not much of a melody, and it just drags at 7 minutes.
Besides all of this and the Far East-sounding slow dirge "Prayers For Rain" (with an extremely effective guitar line and more of a great atmosphere that really puts you in the middle of a pouring rainstorm to the point of almost drowning in it), there are a couple tracks that sound out of place on the album. The closing "Untitled" has a somewhat more normal and resolved vibe to it than the rest of the tracks, and it seems kinda anticlimactic as compared to the rest of the album. The melody also sounds a bit like a recycled, slowed down version of the title track to me, although the guitar part is OK. And of course, the huge hit "Love Song" is also heavily unrepresentative of the album as a whole, with a much more upbeat, poppy vibe than everything else here, and it sounds extremely weird coming in between "Closedown" and "Last Dance", even though it's a really good song.
Wow, somehow I've gone reviewing this whole really lengthy album (12 tracks, 72 minutes) without even mentioning the best song on here, and that would be in the form of "Lullaby", perhaps the scariest number in the entire Cure catalog, or at least one of them. Everything about the music is just extremely oninous and creepy, from the violin-like keyboards to the haunting guitar parts, with Smith just singing in a really quiet and calm voice to further add to the terror, and of course, the lyrics about how the 'spiderman is having me for dinner tonight' work about as great as they possibly can - this song, like everything else on the album, should be played loud in the dark. What an exhilirating effort here - if it weren't for the fact that a good fourth of it leaves me almost completely cold (it's the remainder that mostly blows me away!), this would easily be a total classic. As it stands, though, the best material here is just astonishing work, and as a whole, this surely ranks as The Cure's darker side at its' most quintessential.
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(reviewed by Nick Karn)
HIGH POINTS: Doing The Unstuck, Friday I'm In Love, Apart. LOW POINTS: Wendy Time.
Coming off of one of the gloomiest releases of their career in Disintegration, it was probably safe to assume that Robert Smith and crew had taken that part of their sound as far as it was going to go, so they went for just a bit of a change. The resulting album, the first of the 90's from the band, is almost in a way a combination of the elements from that album and the pop elements of Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me in a more energetic, heavier and sometimes even more raw format. The songs are still fairly lengthy (12 of them in 65 minutes), but in general, there are less instances of dirgier material, even if they are there. Even when there is darkness, it tends to be made more subtle, as this strikes me as a more mature version of the Cure's peak period, with a little more an overtly introspective feeling to the lyrics here. Wish also serves as one of the band's more even albums - maybe there might not be that many knockout tracks, but a lot of the material is nice to listen to.
Once again, of course, the biggest hit from the album is also the poppiest moment (and one of the best) - "Friday, I'm In Love" is a shiny and gorgeous successor to "Just Like Heaven", with chiming guitars, a sunny atmosphere and one awesomely addictive hook, though like the charming single "High" (with another great poppy guitar line and an equally nice little melody), it doesn't seem out of place this time, mostly because of the attempts at darkness I mentioned earlier are made more subtle. Even "From The Edge Of The Deep Green Sea", despite a title that might suggest a long epic from the last album, is transformed into a hard-hitting, hardly slow paced rocker that might lose a bit of steam as it goes on, but at least it doesn't really get slow or boring. "Cut", meanwhile, is a more angry and bitter, almost punkier, tune than what we're used to hearing from the band. What, could Robert actually be gaining some energy as he get a bit older?
Well, not exactly - there are still some hints of the Disintegration sound throughout, most notably in the form of the spectacular, although slightly overlong, slow ballad "Apart", which not only has great introspective lyrics, but also fantastically appropriate cold, icy whispers echoing the vocals to go along with its' bleak refrain. And "Trust" could possibly have thoughts of the poppier "Friday, I'm In Love" from just one track earlier wedged right out of your head, with more of the vintage despairing guitar lines so prominent in earlier work, and in a similar vein, "To Wish Impossible Things" also recalls the genius of how those beautifully melancholy, simple guitar parts and lyrics merge together so well. The closing "End" is also interesting in its' somewhat apocalyptic feeling, with the desperate guitar part, personal lyrics and the plea in the refrain ('please stop loving me... I am none of these things...')
As is usual with the band, of course, not all is that perfect here. The main flaw here is that the album as a whole seems to seriously lack cohesion between the tracks, despite an underlying theme of the beginning and end of relationships. The two weaker tracks here this time around are probably in the form of the 'opening' rocker "Open" (which certainly has hints of the more energetic material here, but outside of its' cool main riff, it kinda structurally rambles) and especially "Wendy Time", a melodically memorable pop number, but it's in an unusually annoying and dippy way, making it one of their weaker efforts in that vein.
One track later to close off side one, though, comes what is certainly one of their better pop tunes. "Doing The Unstuck" is usually dismissed by fans as one of their weaker numbers, but you know, it's not a crime for this band to write explicitly uptempo songs with a line that states 'let's get happy'. The song has extremely catchy 'acoustic overdrive' verses, but what really makes it work is the brilliant chorus burst at the end ('how wrong you can be, and how you really should know / that it's never too late / to get up aaaaand... GO!!!!!'), and that alone is enough to make me seriously tip my hat off to it. And elsewhere, there's also one more song I haven't mentioned in the form of "A Letter To Elise", a highly gorgeous slower tune with the emphasis on the lyrics and pretty melody that reflects the maturity of the album's material rather well, and that mature approach is probably a big part of what makes Wish somewhat enjoyable, even if it is a less spectacular step down from the 85-89 period.
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(reviewed by Nick Karn)
HIGH POINTS: Want. LOW POINTS: Bare, Round & Round & Round, Treasure, The 13th.
It's almost as if the more uptempo pop numbers on Wish had caused Robert Smith to think, "Hey, I kinda like doing these things!" and set out to create the most uptempo album of his career. I would guess that he also had the same desire to do more 'experimenting' that he did in the mid 80's to coincide with that, so in a way, Wild Mood Swings brings his 'progression' almost full circle. Also consider the fact that he wasn't yet bored with the traditional dirge approach to the songs either, and you have an album that hints at a more schizophrenic approach like The Top, and in a certain sense, it does have that same 'running around trying different styles and failing miserably at quite a few of them' feel. That brings the album down somewhat, but what really kills things is that both the 'happy pop music' and 'epic dirge' styles generally run out of steam in a big way here. Plus the album is over an hour long....
Actually, the first half is at least interesting, both from a highlight perspective and the novelty of watching The Cure fall flat at different 'experiments' view, and on the more positive note - the first couple songs here are actually quite good. The opening "Want" is undoubtedly the closest thing here to a classic Cure song, as it's kind of a heavier and edgier attempt at a dirge, and the only one of its' kind that really works on the album, thanks to a typically hypnotizing guitar line and well-written vocal melody. Even the slightly dancey, somewhat stupid "Club America", which has Smith singing in an actual low register, has a melody and groove catchy enough that it manages to work in spite of itself. And even though "This Is A Lie" drags somewhat, it still at least has a nicely melancholic symphonic tinge and a good melody.
Unfortunately, the album goes way downhill after that, as nearly all the remaining songs are either failed experiments, attempts at the earlier gloom style, formulaic rehashes, or irritatingly mediocre happy pop songs. Leading the first category are the most well-known single "The 13th" (which I will admit is certainly catchy, but in an incredibly stupid way, what with the melody and the ridiculously fake Caribbean music imitating vibe of the instrumentation) and "Strange Attraction", a potentially nice pop tune marred by a really uncomfortable early 90's dance-pop tone in the keyboards and rhythm that make the song sound dated the second it was conceived. Even the song closest to a typical Bob Smith composed pop number ("Mint Car") sounds more like a band trying to imitate The Cure rather than The Cure themselves, and the attempt at an atmospheric dirge to close the side ("Jupiter Crash") is just forgettable, though not awful.
But it's the second side of the album that really drives me up the wall, and in many ways it has the same 'soul-sucking' vibe as the infamous second halves of Calling All Stations or Union. Not that it's really as bad quality-wise, but sitting through a half hour of constant mediocrity or crap through annoyingly happy pop songs (especially the extremely dumb "Round & Round & Round" and the "Mint Car" rewrite "Return") or boring dirges (the potentially good but totally unmemorable Eastern-tinged "Numb", the completely melodyless and incredibly dragging last two tracks "Treasure" and "Bare") is quite a pain. The last of these songs in particular is truly horrible, going on for almost 8 minutes with almost non-existent melody and dull atmosphere when it has no reason to even go on for 3 or 4. Come to think of it, this album itself is probably the nadir of The Cure, even if, taken on a song-by-song level, it might actually be better than The Top (especially the highlights). But considering the sheer length of this as a whole and the long stretches of incredible mediocrity, I'd say it's a bit worse. More notably, though, this is a huge comedown from an impressive stretch of very good to great albums.
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COMMENTS
Well, i must say that i dissent with you. I think that Wild Mood Swings is really one of their best albums. In fact as time went by this album left aside my other favorite albums such as Desintegration, Kiss Me kiss me kiss me and Wish. The songs in generall are pretty catchy and cheerful. I do agree that is plenty of pop songs which i find lovely ( The 13th, Strange Attraction, Round and Round and Round,etc).
On the other hand you have songs that are heartbreaking such as Treasure (a song that has the tangible proof of great classical music because of the violin and other ornaments/arrangements. Sad and gorgeous), Jupiter Crash (the spelling sound of the sea, soft tunes and Robert Smith’s voice wich announces the chorus arrival), This is a lie (full of drama, wonderful and touching), etc.
Undoubtedly those mellow tunes are followed by a soft spoken Robert Smith who sounds deeper than ever.
Those incredible songs go through every pore of my skin and reaches my heart and soul.
In spite of the fact that The Cure became famous because of their gloomy music, in my view, it was productive for them to make such an energic and lighthearted CD.
It is easy to visualize that they are a chamaleonic band wich can not be classified in a particullar style.
Moreover they have experimented many different things and they evolved through the years, gaining fans and the recognition that they trully deserve.
At last but not least, i must say that The Cure is, the frontman, Robert Smith. Without his unique voice there will be no band anymore.
So, what can i say?, just push play and enjoy!
Best wishes..........
Cleopatra Pantazis
(reviewed by Nick Karn)
HIGH POINTS: There Is No If..., 39. LOW POINTS: Watching Me Fall, Bloodflowers.
This album has often been thought of as the third part of the gloomy trilogy that includes Pornography and Disintegration, and like the last few releases that came before, it has been threatened to be the band's final album. The overall sound of this effort, however, can be called arguably the most formulaic and boring in their entire catalog. And that's basically the root of the major problems I have with things here - the sound in general has already been explored far better on earlier albums (Disintegration seems to be the prominent influence), and as such the album adds very little to the band's legacy (whatever that may be). Also, it seems that they didn't really have a full grasp of the slow and dirgey song arrangements that they were returning to here, and probably as a direct result, almost every song on here is at least one or two minutes overlong.
These weaknesses are particularly true of "Watching Me Fall" - the melody to this song is already tiresome and fairly unmemorable, and there's really very little structure to it at all, so why the heck did they find it necessary to repeat it over and over again for 11 unnecessary minutes? The closing title track isn't really all that much better, though - it just basically recalls the more boring and dragging moments of the 80-82 albums with more modern touches to the sound. And it's 7 minutes. And although they're not bad tracks in the end, "Where The Birds Always Sing" and "Maybe Someday" aren't noticeable at all (at least they weren't for me) until around the third or fourth listen, but they turn out to be decent enough songs in their own right - the former is a nice ballad with more beautiful electric and acoustic guitar touches and the latter is probably the most uptempo and inviting number here, a welcome diversion from the others.
Still, despite the weaker moments and overly generic songwriting, if this is indeed Robert Smith's swan song, it's not too bad of a way to go out, as the remainder of the tracks, while overlong (except for maybe the stripped down gorgeous pop song "There Is No If...", where the verse melodies and backing acoustic and piano touches are equally beautiful, making it the best on the album), are all good. The slow acoustic guitar/bass dirge "Out Of This World", while simple and occasionally tiresome, is a good, hypnotizing way to open the album, "The Loudest Sound" also merges a hauntingly beautiful guitar tone, and "39" is a neat, edgier, slightly epic song that has almost industrial flavorings throughout both its' backing music, the vocal delivery is very passionate, and it's mostly quite enjoyable straight through.
See, there's not a whole lot bad to say about this album other than those two misguided lengthy mistakes, but for the most part, this is pretty much generic and not particularly moving or exciting Cure - just mostly enjoyable rehashes of material you've heard before and heard better ("The Last Day Of Summer", the remaining track on here that rounds out the album, fits that description pretty well). But I will say that if these 58 minutes was reduced to the best 40 or at most 45 minutes of music, the rating of the album would increase substantially for me. The final product, though, is only just decent and often overly formulaic, though things definitely could have been a whole lot worse.
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(reviewed by Nick Karn)
HIGH POINTS: (I Don't Know What's Going) On, Anniversary. LOW POINTS: Us Or Them.
So I guess Bobby's plan now is to release albums whenever an Olympic year comes around, it seems like. Apparently, judging by the album title this one is meant to be a new beginning for the band, and prior to its' release, I was also hearing rumors about how it would be The Cure's dark 'metal' album, not to mention that seemingly the first time ever, he actually didn't make any kind of 'this will be our last album/tour' announcement either. If the results here are any indication, though, it's really no big loss if he and his band decide to go out now - although for me this is an improvement on Bloodflowers and especially Wild Mood Swings, it's also even more apparent than on Bloodflowers that Robert Smith really has no great new ideas left at all, and this thing is almost irritatingly just 'decent' most of the way through (whether lightweight pop Cure or depressed dirge Cure is on display).
The most noticeable aspect of this album to me, though, is that in several songs, this just feels more like a self parody album than anything the band has ever released. I mean, there's various gloomy artwork that brings to mind what drawings from The Cure's fanbase would be like if they were made up of 4 year old preschoolers, and I don't think that's a coincidence. Look at these song titles, too - "Lost", "Never", an update for the World Wide Web with "alt.end", and, get ready for this, an actual Cure song called "The End Of The World" that, believe it or not, is actually one of the most upbeat, singable songs here, and in fact I believe it was actually the lead single! And there's also moments like the more parodic remake of the pissed off vocals from "The Kiss" in the 'I DON'T WANT YOU ANYWHERE NEAR ME...' chorus of "Us Or Them" that makes me go, like, just shut up already. Plus, the cliched 'despairing' 'Iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii can't fiiiiiiind myself....' yells of the opening "Lost" that, with its' minimalist creepy guitar line, pretty much set the tone for the rest of the album.
Nevertheless, The Cure is nowhere near as unappealing as I just made it sound - except for "Us Or Them" (which is actually tolerable beside that chorus otherwise, and I like the political slant of the lyrics), I kinda enjoy every song on here to some degree, a couple actually very good. In particular, I quite like the guitar layerings and cold atmospheric melody of the dirge-style "Anniversary" (about as good as your typical second-tier Wish track like, say, "A Letter To Elise"), and, for better or for worse, there are a few other songs that reveal this as certainly the most relaxed, pleasant Cure album ever released (the best of which being the uplifting in spite of its' title "(I Don't Know What's Going) On" with its' moving melody and organ backing, and other songs in this vein like "Taking Off", "Before Three" and the aformentioned "The End Of The World" not that far behind it).
And although it's definitely in no way deserves to be over 10 minutes long, I'm actually not that bored by the closing dirge "The Promise" and find it a little underrated by some people - the wall of wah-wah guitar noise, actual energetic drum fills, and a hypnotic bassline over Bob's ramblings ensures that more than half of it really captivates me at least, and it's melodically more memorable than the similarly aimless "Watching Me Fall". But really, I can hardly muster up that much complimentary praise for it, much like most of the album (including the more unmemorable stuff that I didn't mention). It's certainly a somewhat nice, consistently even listen while I have it on, but very little of it stirs inspiring feelings in me anywhere near the quality of their best stuff, and like I said, the lack of new ideas and self-parody feeling here is a noticeable problem. Maybe it really is time for Rob to hang it up.
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