new introductory bit here.

This is a reviews page based on my own collection, which just keeps growing despite itself. If it isn't listed here, it's because I don't own it yet, or I haven't gotten around to it yet.

Also, bother your local "new rock" radio station and make sure they are playing "new rock" and not "Rock the Casbah," which is not new.

note: entries in red text indicate my pick for the artist's best available album. A gold numeral indicates the POPocalypse winner of the year's best album; second- and third-place winners are in blue. Green lettering indicates an obviously exploitative record company compilation without apparent artist input.

For a band that their leader called "the laziest group in the world," the Cure's output has been remarkably prodigious. With a catalog of fantastic albums, one of the most ardent fan bases in rock, and a position as a massive influence on the American underground, they closed out the 20th Century as one of the most consistently successful acts in the world.

Formed in Crawley in 1977 as Easy Cure, the band (initially Robert Smith, Laurence Tolhurst and Michael Dempsey) briefly signed to Hansa Records on the strength of their short, buzzsaw pop, but the label dropped them before anything was released. So they found a new home on Fiction Records and impressed the critics with a pair of very good singles: the existential "Killing an Arab" and the too-bright-for-words "Boys Don't Cry." An album, Three Imaginary Boys, followed, but only to small success. This record bears scant resemblance to their later work. Featuring 12 songs, none reaching four minutes, the material is often petulant and immature, with sloppy bass and no certainty in Smith's vocals. The album and singles were licensed by A&M for America since they wanted a "new wave" band, and repackaged as Boys Don't Cry, omitting a few tracks.

They supported the album as opening act for Siouxsie & the Banshees in 1979, starting a long-running association with that group when the Banshees split after a legendary spat at a record store. Robert Smith filled in on guitar for the duration of the tour, and shortly afterwards, the Cure suffered its first lineup change when Smith fired Dempsey, replacing him with Simon Gallup and adding Matthieu Hartley to augment their sound with keyboards. This lineup recorded the considerably superior Seventeen Seconds, which is lyrically in the same vein as earlier existential numbers like "Killing an Arab" and "Subway Song," but played much tighter, and with stronger vocals from Smith. Everything slowly builds up to the frightening showpiece "A Forest," their first chart single and an ominous harbinger of fear and things to come on 1981's bleak Faith, which was made after Hartley left them. Faith is a depressing triumph of inertia, afraid and hurt. These two records were put out by A&M as the double album ...happily ever after, long since deleted.

Later in 1981, they released the classic "lost girl" single "Charlotte Sometimes" before altering their voice from dark misery to dark anger. Recorded in what must have been a very bad mood, Pornography defined what the Cure's image will always be to the public, despite all the upbeat pop they've done: moody, black-clad death rockers with a miserable attitude. The music's wearing well, as Robert Smith's quite underrated skill as a guitarist comes to the fore and the complex drums draw you right in. Still, it's an awful moan at times. "Is it always like this?" Well, not necessarily, Bob. Pornography continued the band's streak of strongly-performing albums, but with little radio support or singles sales. And internally, the band was a drunken, angered mess, and Simon Gallup left. A&M dropped them.

In 1983, the Cure changed direction completely with an incredibly goofy pop song called "Let's Go to Bed." Featuring a jaunty beat and a bright, silly video by their director Tim Pope (who would direct every Cure video for the next decade), it didn't find much of an audience. No longer able to drum the faster-moving pieces, and beginning a lengthy slide into alcoholism, Laurence Tolhurst switched to keyboards and drum machines with the single "The Walk," which was even more upbeat and was their first top 20 single. In the US, these singles (six songs in total) were all issued by Sire on The Walk mini-LP. Also that summer, Smith teamed up with Banshee bassist Steve Severin in a side-band called The Glove. Their album Blue Sunshine (named after a legendary, but fictional, brand of LSD) made the top 40. That autumn, Smith formally joined the Banshees, recorded the top 5 single "Dear Prudence" and played with the group at two London shows to support the single before joining them in the studio to record the Hyaena album. And somehow, he found time to promote the Cure's engaging, wonderful and perfect single "The Lovecats," their first top 10, that October. Finally that year, Fiction released a Cure album called Japanese Whispers, collecting eight of the nine songs from the year's three singles. Sire went ahead and issued it in America anyway, not really caring that six of the eight were already available on The Walk mini-LP.

It's a rare year when the Banshees do a better album than the Cure, but 1984, the year when Smith played in both acts, was that year. The Top is a key piece of the short-lived '80s psychedelia trend, led by the great single "The Caterpillar." Most of the album features weird, raucous poetry and the band (effectively Smith and Tolhurst) in a strange improvisational jazz mood. Unfortunately, "Shake Dog Shake," "Bananafishbones" and the horn-heavy "Give Me It" succeed only in being annoying and loud. The title track is pretty good, though. The Banshees' Hyaena, released the next month, was leagues better, but Smith had finally quit the Banshees by then in order to tour for The Top, which didn't sell well enough in the US for Sire to continue with them. Joined on stage by Andy Anderson, Phil Thornalley and Porl Thompson, this lineup recorded the Concert album during dates in May. Released in October, it made the top 30, by which time the band lineup had changed again.

The hair growing and the attitude improving, the Cure, now a five-man studio piece, stomped through ten upbeat pop songs with smart lyrics and really great drumming. Anderson and Thornalley did not join the others in the studio. This lineup featured Smith, Tolhurst, Thompson and new drummer Boris Williams. Simon Gallup returns as bassist and the singles are the classic "In Between Days" (their first to chart in America) and "Close to Me." Now signed to Elektra in the US, the Cure finally paid attention to their American profile, which rose hugely with the onset of college radio and MTV's 120 Minutes. They were playing to crowds of 20,000 and the reissued single "Let's Go to Bed" did brisk business. Elektra also reissiued their A&M albums, splitting Seventeen Seconds and Faith into their proper formats for the first time domestically.

Designed as a double album, just an awfully short one, the Cure's 1987 effort was their first true worldwide success, with impressive chart showings in most nations. Musically and lyrically, it's incredibly unfocussed, veering from syrup and romance to anger and violence. The best tracks include "The Kiss," "Like Cockatoos" and "Just Like Heaven," their closest thing to a signature song and first US top 40. The shortest song of the vinyl and cassette versions, "Hey You!!!," was omitted to fit everything on one CD. It would be nice to see this reissued on a double-disc with the seven original B-sides and the many remixes the four singles generated. Roger O'Donnell joined the band as a second keyboardist, raising awkward questions about why the Cure needed two keyboardists.

1988 was the first comparatively relaxed year for the band, as they wound down a world tour and issued the only mildly successful "Hot Hot Hot!!!" single. When they resurfaced for 1989's Disintegration, it was without Tolhurst, whose drinking had become hazardous to his own health. Disintegration didn't need him. If you skip over the intrusive and subpar bonus tracks "Last Dance" and "Homesick" that were added to the CD version of the album, you've got one of the masterpieces of the 1980s, an epic of alienation and power that features the hits "Lullaby," "Lovesong" and "Fascination Street." The liner notes advise, truthfully, "This music has been mixed to be played loud so turn it up." None of the tracks present on the vinyl version of Disintegration are at all lacking; with enough energy to tackle abject pain, upbeat love and utter misery with equal vigor, the album has a wall of sound the likes of which would bury Spector. It is a truly remarkable album.

1990 saw another pair of albums, first up being the limited edition Entreat. Originally released for charity, this is a live album that features the band at Wembley during Disintegration's "Prayer Tour." All eight tracks are live versions of songs from that album and six of them are available as B-sides on their previous two singles. Reissued in a midprice version the following year, it made the top 10, but was not released in America. Also in 1990, the band promoted a remix album (discussed below) which featured one new song.

As O'Donnell left the group (to be replaced by Perry Bamonte), they were poised at the cusp of global stardom. Rising to the challenge, the Cure knocked one out of the park with Wish. This massive 1992 release shows the band at their poppiest ("Doing the Unstuck") and their most desperate ("End"). It's very entertaining and moody and worldwide audiences reacted very favorably. Wish crashed into the US charts at #2 without much radio support. Perfectly timed, the radio reacted with the second single, "Friday I'm in Love," ensuring months of heavy sales and sold out stadiums. By now, some of the British press began a predictable turn against the band, particularly as they released their third and fourth live albums within a month of each other. Initially planned as a double-live set, this was split up in a failed attempt to find stronger sales. Show is a compilation of hits and recent material. It contains pretty good versions of "Friday I'm in Love" and "Just Like Heaven" and a wretched version of "Never Enough." On CD, this is augmented by "Sideshow." Effectively a "Just Like Heaven" live single, this CD adds the three songs ("Fascination Street," "The Walk" and "Let's Go to Bed") that were on the cassette version and double-vinyl versions of Show, but left off the CD for space reasons. Paris can be considered the second half of Show. There's only one hit recreated here for the crowd ("Lovesong"), the others are minor singles and older album tracks, including spectacular versions of "One Hundred Years" and "Play for Today." It is the superior of the discs, but the one that sold the slowest thanks to the lack of "greatest hits" on it.

From there, the momentum should very well have carried them through years of hits, but they hit one of rock's more unusual stumbling blocks: a lawsuit from Laurence Tolhurst, who was talking about being unfairly dismissed and demanding profits. The band's right to perform was suddenly halted by the courts during endless months of trials, which happily saw the group exonerated. Reconvening in 1995, Boris Williams left after a decade and was replaced by Jason Cooper. Perry Bamonte also stepped down; he was replaced by Roger O'Donnell, the man he had replaced in 1991. The sessions resulted in Wild Mood Swings, which is pretty good but nevertheless a disappointment. Oddly, the singles are the weakest tracks on this engaging, otherwise fine album. "Club America," "This is a Lie" and "Jupiter Crash" are all stunning, with best-of-show award to the sexy "Numb." Most Cure albums have a crushing mood piece to end the record; "Bare" is spectacular and tragic and, had the rumors been true this time around, a great song to end a career. The tone, however, was one of resignation and effort, and "The 13th" was the oddest possible choice as lead single, one which cost them needed "comeback" airtime. A year later, the band was in limbo, and Robert released a single, "Wrong Number," under the Cure banner. It was recorded, however, by Reeves Gabrels and himself without anyone else in the band.

One of the running jokes about the Cure has been Smith's fatalistic announcements that every album since 1989 would be the band's last. After 1996, people started to believe him when, for the first time, the band stopped working without being forced. Rock's fashions had shifted massively during their absence, and after this second atypically long layoff, Smith and the same lineup as Wild Mood Swings returned with Bloodflowers in early 2000. A thematic continuation of the bleak themes of Disintegration, this one is dark and painful and very dense. No singles were drawn, although "Maybe Someday" was emphasized to radio. The tour wasn't very extensive and the album didn't stay in the UK or US top 40 for even a month. Maybe Smith realized that it was best to go out quietly and powerfully.

Despite the almost funereal sigh that saw the Cure's spotlight fade in the early autumn of 2000, the band has remained active, if almost surrepitously so. New and archive songs occasionally leaked out via their web site, and the group played some European festivals in the summer of 2001. Most recently, a Greatest Hits album and the single "Cut Here" emerged with all the grumpy feeling of an act playing out its contractual obligations. (2/02)

THE CURE: Staring at the Sea (1986, UK #4, US #48, ****)
All the A-sides from 1979-85, plus four bonus songs (the common link is that, although they weren't singles, the band had shot videos for each of them) and not a joker in the deck. Crap packaging.

THE CURE: Mixed Up (1990, UK #8, US #14, **)
This dance album features previously available remixes teamed with new recordings of old singles and new mixes of old tracks. A listenable if not too deep way to mark time between proper LPs.

THE CURE: Galore (1997, UK #37, US #32, ***)
A collection of their 1986-97 singles, along with the new release "Wrong Number." Like the earlier Staring at the Sea collection, the music is far better than the (thematically similar) packaging.

THE CURE: Greatest Hits (2001, UK #33, **)
This smells deeply of contractual obligation. It features 16 singles in chronological order, along with two new songs: "Cut Here," which is extremely good, and "Just Say Yes," which wouldn't have even made it as a B-side fifteen years previously. The album was initially packaged as a double CD with newly-recorded acoustic versions of all eighteen songs.

THE CURE: A L'Olympia (Paris 6/7/82, Swingin' Pig)
A very good audience recording of the band (a three-piece at this stage), touring Pornography before a crowd of Frenchmen who chant "oi" and make every impression that they're slamming in a pit. This doesn't make any sense until you watch the In Orange video and realize that the French spent the whole of the eighties thinking the Cure was a hardcore band. This is notable for containing a rare live performance of the B-side "Splintered in Her Head," and a never-released gem called "Forever," which, in edited form, later appeared on the limited edition cassette Curiosity.

THE CURE: Cold (Washington 11/15/84, Swingin' Pig)
Excellent soundboard recording of this Top show, proving that the live template the Cure followed as they became a hit act was in place early on. It includes rarely-performed numbers like "Happy the Man," "Secrets" and "The Caterpillar," and Robert's violent threat against whomever had turned the house lights on.

THE CURE: Stained Glass Smile (Love Cat Music)
This contains 19 professionally-recorded numbers from three shows in 1985, 1986 and 1987, ostensibly proposed for a follow-up to the 1984 Concert album. The 8 songs from the 1985 show feature the band at their most upbeat as they handle mainly singles. The 4 songs from 1986 show them very, very moody, and the 7 remaining songs from the Kiss Me tour, which focus on that LP's material, are energized with anger. Unfortunately, the compiler included two renditions of both "In Between Days" and "Charlotte Sometimes" and, with time running out, was forced to fade the last number, "Why Can't I Be You?," early. That wouldn't have been necessary if he'd skipped one of the doubles.

THE CURE: Hot Hot Hot (Torino 6/9/89, Red Phantom)
Not one of the best performances of The Prayer Tour, thanks in no small part to a probably inebriated Robert blowing the lyrics to a quarter of the songs, but this very good audience recording is a packed double-CD with a fabulous 12-minute "A Forest" and the tour's amusing "Why Can't I Be You?"/"The Lovecats" medley. Robert knows he's being taped, too.

THE CURE: Dressing Up for a Day Out (Glastonbury 6/26/95, KTS)
An awesome quality recording of the band, in one of their first public appearances after a lengthy (for them) layoff. They mainly do the expected hits, with a few surprises like "A Strange Day" and "Push," and preview a pair of songs from Wild Mood Swings, which wouldn't be out for almost another year.

THE CURE: The Dream Begins (Hamburg 2/1/00, unlabelled)
The first of several radio simulcasts in Europe and America to promote Bloodflowers, this one has apparently not made the rounds of for-profit bootleggers (could be wrong there) but is available in many trading communities. High points at this show include great versions of "Maybe Someday" and "A Strange Day."

THE CURE: Live at the Roxy 2000! (Atlanta 2/23/00, Laughing Cow)
I understand that this show, which was broadcast on WNNX and also on the web, was recorded by several tapers and a variety of versions are available. Laughing Cow did a pretty darn good job with their excellently recorded double-disc presentation. The band does most of the songs from Bloodflowers as well as some earlier moody pieces, many from Pornography and Disintegration.