A humble beginning for a soon to be worldwide popular band.
The band's (not-so) punk album. Catchy, quirky, three minute songs that jangle. No keyboards at all on this album, they were just a three piece (and original founding bass player Mike Dempsey is still hanging around). Very different from the later "Just Like Heaven"/"Close To Me" sound. So, if that's what you're familiar with, you won't hardly recognize them on this album. It does have some of my more favorite stuff of theirs on it though: "10.15 Saturday Night," "Accuracy," "Fire In Cairo," etc.
~Austin
REMASTERED AND EXPANDED...
On the 25th anniversary of the album, it was remastered and issued as a two disc set. The first disc is just the regular album remastered and sounding fantastic while disc two has an enormous amount of demo versions with the band sounding very punk rock. Some songs never made it past demo stage and are thus exclusive to the bonus disc. Like I said, it's all very raw punkish sounding stuff without the greatest of fidelity so how much you enjoy it depends on how interesting you think The Cure as a punk band is. Among the highlights of the demos are super slow solo Robert version of "10.15" and two otherwise unheard songs ("The Cocktail Party" and "Winter") that preview where the band would be headed in years to come. Interesting stuff. And just plain fun to hear. Some live stuff and singles are tacked on (though "Killing an Arab" is nowhere to be found). There's a pretty fantastic live version of "10.15" that ends the disc and while it isn't the highest quality recording, the uniqueness of the performance more than makes up for it. It's played at a super fast speed that allows the band to cut the tempo in half at the end of the song and play an almost dub reggae variation -- awesome. Overall, not entirely worth the 60+ minutes it occupies, but there's a few gems included that should definitely be heard.
Basically the same thing, 'cept not as good.
Basically the same album as Three Imaginary Boys but it's put "Boys Don't Cry," "Plastic Passion," "Jumping Someone Else's Train," "Killing An Arab," and "World War" in place of "Object," "Foxy Lady," "Meat Hook," "So What" and "The Weedy Burton" subsequently sacrificing mood for "better" songs. They may have been better in terms of accessibility but they messed up the flow of the original album. Don't get me wrong though, they are great songs and all must haves if you like the first album.
~Austin
Depression: in beautiful, hyponotic sonic format.
Adding keyboards to the mix, making them into a four piece, this is the proper second album from Robert Smith and company. By this point, Mike Dempsey left the band (or got kicked out, depending on who you ask) and mainstay Simon Gallup replaced him. Matheiu Hartley was added as a fourth member on keyboards as well. This is really an epic album. Unquestionably my favorite album of theirs. But, I certainly wouldn't recommend it to anyone as their first taste of the band. It's a very gloomy record. The subtleties of it are quite amazing. Guitar chords and phrases are repeated into oblivion and I could understandbly see how someone could call it kind of "samey." But still, these are some of Robert Smith's finest songs. Evidenced by the fact that "A Forest" remains a pillar in their live sets to this day.
~Austin
REMASTERED AND EXPANDED...
Offering more live recordings than the Three Imaginary Boys disc, this one was kind of disappointing for me because it's most likely my favorite record by the band. It's not that what's here isn't good (it is), it's just that there isn't much that's new to me. No, I'd never heard the demo for "Another Journey By Train" but it's so similar to the final recording that it left me wondering what the point of inclusion was. The only redeeming things to be found on the extra disc are the alternate mix of the cryptic track "Three" (in which you still can't understand a word RS is saying!) and the great live recording of "In Your House" in which RS changes the lyrics to detail his hatred for small talk. Hilarious. Pretty good "At Night" towards the end too. The regular album benefits greatly from remastering.
More gloom, anyone?
This album contained a few (somewhat) experiments with the band's sound, while pretty much picking up right where the previous record left off. Mostly slow, borderline droning tempos and very bittersweet melodies dominate the album. When it comes down to it though, none of these experimentations with the band's style really hold up all that well on their own. It's within the grooves of this awkward album that the hazy depression of "The Funeral Party" could revolve right into the super fast agressive tune "Doubt" without sounding the least bit uncohesive. It's a truly unique affair. Practically all of The Cure's stages and sounds are represented at least once on this album (something like "The Funeral Party" would've fit right in on Disintegration). It's like a forty minute biography of the band. By this point, the band had gone back to being a three piece as Matheiu Hartley left on the Seventeen Seconds tour. And it pretty much goes without saying that if you like the last album, you'll like this one as well.
~Austin
REMASTERED AND EXPANDED...
The first disc has the 30 minute instrumental "Carnage Visors" tacked onto the original album while disc two makes up for the uneventful extras on the Seventeen Seconds bonus disc. There's only a couple demos that sound the same as their finished counterparts. A couple of the demos are so different, it's like getting new songs from the band. In particular, "Doubt" receives a super slow, super moody wordless rendition that really helps to understand the finished product while "Primary" gets a serious makeover from aggressive rocker territory into a more subdued, reserved area. It's like the song knows it's tottally brilliant and resists the temptation to show off, making it that much better because of that. It's a wow moment. In addition, you get three almost entirely instrumental demos for songs that were abandoned: "Going Home Time", "The Violin Song", and "A Normal Story"; "Going Home Time" being the real gem of the entire disc, it's an absolute tragedy that it never made it out of the studio. Among the live stuff, you get the 10+ minute version of "Faith" from the b-side of the "Charlotte Sometimes" 12" (and "Charlotte..." appears here to close out the disc, thankfully) and a nice early run through of "Forever." Overall, completely worth the time and money in all aspects.
A sonic haunted house
You could see this one coming from a million miles away. Now considered one of the pillars of goth rock, Pornography stands as one of the band's all time classic recordings. If Seventeen Seconds and Faith were the countdown, this album is the explosion that goes in all directions at once. From songs that describe losing your virginity as if it were the worst thing that could ever happen ("Siamese Twins") to acid soaked images of dead animals falling from the sky ("The Hanging Garden"), this album just drowns itself in its own excess. Understandably called mopey and suicidal upon its release (it's quite a change for the dissonant side of things), it proved to be very influential and a definite fan favorite over the years. It is quite a good record once you get past the initial shock of the whole thing, but unfortunately most of the best parts of this record are drowned in the over-the-top production techniques of the day. Good, but initially challenging.
~Austin
REMASTERED AND EXPANDED...
Lotsa demos, lotsa live stuff. About half the demos are previously unheard things, so they're fun. "Demise" falls into the category that "Going Home Time" created by being an absolutely intruiging instrumental that simply shouldn't have been deserted. "Break"" is cool as it's obviously the starting point for "Siamese Twins." "Airlock: The Soundtrack" is only interesting as a piece of trivia; I've yet to sit through the entire thing once. Among the live stuff, you get the first ever live performance of "A Strange Day" along with "All Mine", the other mysterious live-only song the band plays every so often. The most interesting thing by far and the single coolest thing to come out of this remaster campaign yet is the previously unheard "Temptation" and its sequel "Temptation Two aka LGTB". If you haven't figured it out yet, the "...aka LGTB" is short for "Let's Go To Bed." The song bears little resemblance to what I would recognize as "Let's Go To Bed" on the wordless first version, but on part two, it picks it up a little more with Robert's vocal melody until finally in the last twenty seconds or so of the song, he blurts out that unforgettable melody and it's nothing short of a total shocker. It just throws the song into an entirely different context knowing that it was originally intended for inclusion on this album and that it was a very dark and almost threatening song. Awesome.
Care for a one-eighty, Mr. Smith?
After Pornography, The Cure dwindled down to two members: mainstay Lol Tolhurst and of course frontman Robert Smith. Perhaps in the midst of watching his band falling apart, Robert took it upon himself to lighten up. In return, he delivered this album. Like its predecessor, it almost feels like a statement of a style. In this case that statement is, "I'm a weirdo that likes to dance." Although it does have quite a pop feel to it, it's a fun and stimulating record that revealed some of Robert's best songs ever. And even though it's essentially just a compilation of the singles released between 1982-1983 and their b-sides, it fits and flows together well. The best song is "The Lovecats." It's got a super catchy hook and a cool retro feel to it with an upright bassline. Catchy, fun, and totally eccentric, Japanese Whispers is one of Robert's finest achievements, via a journey into synth-pop land.
~Austin
Robert loses his mind and decides to record it, Part One
The last album was eccentric? Well, this is just plain bizarre then. Often referred to as The Cure's psychedelic album. And with good reason. It's a strange affair, no question. And rumor has it that Robert now hates the record with a passion. I don't see why, because even though it's totally weird and Robert sounds like he's pretty stoned the entire time, it's a fun listen. It doesn't really sound like anything else they'd done up until this point, and nothing else in their catalogue really sounds like it. Their was a hit off this album with "The Caterpillar" which is good fluff, but the album has a lot more to offer. It's mostly much darker than that particular song as a whole. "Bananafishbones" is odd without question, but one of the band's more intruiging numbers. While "Shake Dog Shake" is one helluvan opener, it would become a live staple for years to follow, and rightfully so. Easily one of their most misunderstood, least cohesive, and at the same time diverse albums, it's definitely not for everyone.
~Austin
REMASTERED AND EXPANDED...
Demo city, basically. 13 of the 17 songs included here are demos (the rest are live), so you know you're bound to hear some unkempt, yet entertaining, stuff. In the previously unheard department, this album has a few fairly tasty morsels to offer: "You Stayed...", a swirling, wildly psychedelic number that has vocals, but no real words; the holy grail of the rarely heard Pornography leftovers, "Ariel" (though this is a previously unheard studio recording, that Kid Jenson Session recording is still in the vault for now); "A Hand Inside My Mouth" which is a seriously demented early rendering of "A Man Inside My Mouth" that musically resembles the lounge act incarnation of the Cure on acid having a bad trip; and finally "Sadacic" which is the starting point for "New Day" and it makes a sick joke out of the finished version. All pretty great stuff and it will all be worth scrutinizing for longtimers. The demos for the songs you already know are pretty standard. Mostly, the instrumentation isn't as filled out and it's generally even more daft and contently disturbed than the finished version because of the overall sparseness. All of the songs were pretty much finalized by the point they were documented, so no real surprises happen, but nearly the entire album is included in demo form so you kind of get an alternate version of the album, which you don't see me complaining about. There are some alternate final mixes of a couple songs, but they're just uneventful, seemingly included for completeness. The live selections are a bit disappointing as there are no recordings of "Birdmad Girl" (only played a handful of times) and/or "Happy the Man" (one of a very few b-sides the band actually incorporated into their live set for a while). On the plus side, you do get "Bananafishbones" and it totally rocks. Plus, the version of "Forever" from the old Curiosity Anomolies cassette. Overall, a good investment for hardcore fans as it provides some interesting insights into the band's most misunderstood album.
First official live album
As most live albums go, this is more or less a footnote in the band's discography. Even though the album was recorded on The Top tour, they focus mainly on the singles from each of their respective albums. But to hear them rip through a great tune like "Primary," you can't really be upset. The lineup is the same one that recorded The Top full length and the mood is kept very similar as that album; very dark and demented. Robert really shows some great chops on guitar on "The Hanging Garden," which receives an all around superb rendition. A very interesting artifact indeed, especially when hearing "A Forest" come out sounding awkward and almost rushed (the tune would pick up steam in the later year when Simon Gallup rejoined the band and brought his unmistakable touch back to the song). Maybe not essential, it's definitely a fun listen for fans.
~Austin
Robert at the crossroads
Ok, so this is what The Top was meant to sound like! After The Top tour, Phil Thornalley (who was filling in for Simon on bass) and Andy Anderson (who had taken over drumming duties from Lol) left the band. Robert hired former Thompson Twins drummer Boris Williams, original founding Easy Cure member Porl Thompson became official, and Simon rejoined. Voila! Instant great record! This thing is solid from beginning to end. Heck, even the b-sides are fantastic (more on that later). Song after song of (what would become) the vintage Cure sound. It's hard to even pick highlights because every song is so great. This is definitely where Robert Smith found a happy medium between his ever looming pop tendancies and his always present dark side. Spectacular!
~Austin
REMASTERED AND EXPANDED...
Packed to the brim with demos and some great ones at that! First of all, between pretty standard home and studio demos for things like "Inbetween Days", "Push" and "Close to Me", there is some seriously weird shit going on here. In the category of unheard, you get the two really dark instrumentals "Inwood" and "Innsbruck". Neither one really sounds like it morphed into something else and I'm unsure of the potential each one had to become something great, but their inclusion here is cool nonetheless. There's another stab at "A Hand Inside My Mouth", retitled here "Mansolidgone", that is just as bizarre as it was previously. Several of the demos here have wordless vocals, but every now and then, RS places different vocals into tunes and you'll probably recognize the famous line from "Six Different Ways" on more than a few songs. An interesting curiosity is "Lime Time" which sounds a little like "Inbetween Days" played in a different key and RS starts out the song with "Yesterday I got so old..." but it soon goes on to include more "Six Different Ways" references. Overall, it just sounds weird. "A Few Hours After This..." is by far the most interesting thing here though as it musically resembles its finished self, except it's played entirely on guitars. Gives the song a completely different feel. Also lyrics from "Screw" and "Six Different Ways" pop up. The demos that are pretty much finished and resemble their final versions are all played with a relative ease and a sort of cocky swagger and the whole thing feels really relaxed, despite some bizarre occurances. The funny thing is, they are all played on these primitive synthesizers and sometimes, they end up sounding like outtakes from the Nintendo soundtrack music archives. Hilarious. But intruiging. Live selections are uneventful. Version of "Sinking" is cool. They should bring that one back. Arguably my favorite of the remasters so far.
Incredible collection of some of the band's finer singles and their incomparable b-sides
Sure it's essentially a greatest hits or best of collection. But what makes this stand out from your average compilation album is the fact that practically all of the b-sides for the hits are accounted for as well. They took (almost) everything that was released through singles only and put it all together here in case you missed it the first time. Fantastic idea. I'll just skip commenting on the singles. They're all great, worthy of being compiled and re-released. The b-sides however are a completely different bag. The b-side of a single basically gave them the freedom to do whatever they wanted. Be it a remix, or a song that just didn't make the album, it was fair game to release whatever. The Cure never did -- and never would -- waste a b-side. The songs here range from the band's earliest days, and Cult Heroes-like rock and roll numbers like "I'm Cold" to the brilliant Head On The Door-esque number, "Throw Your Foot." Most of the singles can be associated with their a-sides merely by their sound. For example, any dilligent listener could tell you that, for the most part, the same guitar effects are used on the droning instrumental "Descent" as are used on its a-side, "Primary." Likewise, if you couldn't tell "Happy The Man" was recorded during the Top sessions by the way Robert is singing, you just weren't paying attention. For the most part, the songs here are not cohesive by any means at all, but for most fans, having all these great b-sides together in one place is good enough and that is easily excusable. It's almost like finding an entire unreleased album. Excellent.
~Austin
A NOTE FORM THE AUTHOR...
This review is in regards to the cassette release of this album. Neither the CD or vinyl releases contain any of the b-sides. And all three formats contain differing selections of the singles (the CD containing the most songs and the vinyl containing the least), though they all are fairly similar, covering the essentials.
Head On The Door meets Pornography, chaos ensues
Though far from my favorite album of theirs, I have to recognize the variety and diversity of this and give credit where it's due. While I definitely think it's a bit too long and there a few too many forgettable songs to be found, there's still enough downright great moments that it's hard to write the album off altogether. It's a very manic album. In fact, much like Faith it switches from low gear to high gear from song to song fairly often. But, unlike Faith, it doesn't mesh nearly as well. This album did yeild a few rather big hit singles, however, and they are among the LP's catchier and more enjoyable moments ("Just Like Heaven" is one of the band's all time really standout tracks). This is an ambitious album -- in fact a double LP on vinyl -- but, unfortunately, it's a case of ambition outweighing execution. Perhaps had the album been trimmed of a few pounds and brought down to a single disc it would have been a worthy follow up to The Head On The Door. Don't get me wrong, nothing on here is so terribly bad it's unlistenable, but some of it feels kind of stagnant. The intentions are there, but the bark doesn't always match the bite. But when it does...
~Austin
REMASTERED AND EXPANDED...
Just so you know, "Hey You!" has finally made its digital debut! The entire album now appears in its original running order on one disc. It's about time. Disc two is a disappointment, to say the least. There are no unheard songs and everything is pretty much finished, so you know all the words and riffs already. Absolutely no surprises happen and the finished versions are better anyway, so the entire thing is tedious and seems kind of pointless. There's some alternate final mixes of a few songs and they are utterly pointless as well. The live selections are good though. Five songs that haven't really popped up in live sets since the Kissing Tour are played, inclduing excellent renditions of "How Beautiful You Are..." and "Catch". The disc ends with one of the infamous long versions of "Why Can't I Be You?", complete with a slew of improvised verses. It makes for a spiffy ending to an otherwise outright disappointment.
The band's most perfectly realized album and a true work of artistic genius
This is the biggie. Where Kiss Me... was sunny and extroverted, this album is dark and isolated. Chances are, you ask most Cure fans what their favorite album is, and they say this one. And rightfully so. It's an epic piece of work with not a bad, or even "just alright" song on it. For me, it's right up at the top of the totem pole of Cure albums. But, I would not recommend it as your first taste of the band. For every pop-inflected single like "Pictures Of You" or the big hit "Lovesong," there's a dark, dissonance filled epic like "Fascination Street" or the title track. But the album is one of those growers. Will sound a million times better on the tenth listen than it did on the first listen. Because of that, I can't really make it my highest recommendation. But I can see how someone could justify doing so.
~Austin
ABOUT THE TRACKLISTING...
The CD and cassette releases have two songs not on the vinyl: "Last Dance" and "Homesick"
Mixed Up: Mixed results
A strange little oddity here. Some of the mixes on here I quite like. Others just left me scratching my head. They included a lot of the extended remixes taken from the 12" singles. Only about half the album is new remixes. Those are a mixed bag. Generally, this stuff is amusing upon the first few listens but grows old pretty fast. If you don't have all the 12" singles with the extended remixes, this is a great collection. But most fans could probably do without it.
~Austin
Fantastic live mini-album from one of the band's most legendary shows
I'm not completely clear on the on the origins of this one. It is an official release but, from what I gather, it was either available for purchase in very limited quantities or it was a promotional only release. Either way, one thing's for sure, it's great. The majority of the material was released through single b-sides from Disintegration (where the album takes its entire set list from) but it does include a few songs that were otherwise unavailable in official release. The band rips through a good portion of the Disintegration long player with a certain easy and relaxed feeling, really giving it their all on "Disintegration" and "Fascination Street." Overall, it's a great and welcome addition to any Cure fan's collection; arguably their best (officially released) live album.
~Austin
An album so manic and chaotic, it'd be hard to dislike
To follow up an album like Disintegration and not make yourself look foolish would be a hard task for anybody. Perhaps Mr. Smith realized this and that's why he chose to offset Disintegration's beautiful melodic melancholy introspective feel with such a manic, driving record like this one. In between such British invasion-like hook filled pop jewels like "High" and the big hit "Friday I'm In Love," you get a strange collection of sometimes challenging songs that, by all logical accounts, shouldn't work when brought together. The Cure's most manic album. Robert has never gone from sounding as pissed off as he does on the incredible starting point "Open" to as happy and carefree as he does on the great single "High." But, make no mistakes, this is possibly The Cure's loudest album to date; with no less than three of the album's songs taking their sweet time to rise up from washes of distortion and white noise. But not to discount the fact that Wish contains some of the band's finest ballads ever with tunes like "A Letter To Elise" and the title track, "To Wish Impossible Things." All of these songs are a clever yin to the rest of the album's yang, and besides a few duds, this album stands as a very successful follow up to Disintegration, and one of the band's very best records.
~Austin
The 'commercial' live album
The Wish tour gets a fine document here on this live album. Most of the Wish full length is present and most of the songs recieve more or less standard run throughs with no big surprises occurring. The set is fairly well thought out and runs smoothly enough. The only really great moment is the segue from "From The Edge Of The Deep Green Sea" into "Never Enough." For the most part though, this is for completists and the particular concert is better viewed on the accompanying movie of the same title.
~Austin
ABOUT THE TRACKLISTING...
The regular set was too long to fit onto one disc, so us Americans got a special EP release titled Sideshow which compiled the missing tracks and added the exclusive track "Tape (Intro)." The (excellent) encore sets were still not issued, but can be heard and seen on the film.
The 'other' live album
The fact that this album starts off right away with two selections from Pornography should clue you in right away that this was for all the fans who were somewhat underwhelmed with Show. This is clearly the better of the two live releases and is of signifigance because it's some of the last shows that Porl Thompson and Boris Williams were with the band. Both would leave before the band could record another studio album. That, coupled with the excellent song selection, makes for a great live album. But, when it comes down to it, live albums can only keep your attention for so long..
~Austin
Robert loses his mind and decides to record it, Part Two
A lot fo negative criticism has been tossed at this album, but I really do feel it's unmerited. Using the b-sides, I gave this album a facelift and made a really solid album that works together well. But, because that's not how the band released it and the released version is the one we're talking about, I'll just have to deal with it. The Cure fan's all time favorite whipping boy is this album. Some of the negativity is justified (with songs like "Club America" and "Return," I have to admit I was pretty pissed off myself), but some of it just plain gives the album a whipping it doesn't rightly deserve. There is a good album floating somewhere in these tracks, it's just that you'd never know it listening to the album. Sure, there are some standouts like "Gone!," for instance, which is a brilliant song, 6/8 time signature, trumpet solo and all; the perfectly melancholy numbers "Treasure" and "Bare" are quite tasty and the opener "Want" which plays like a sequel to "Never Enough." But, overall, the album is just too up and down for most people to notice. If you're just wondering about The Cure, steer clear of this one.
~Austin
Standing On A Beach, Part Two, no b-sides this time
Like the synopsis says, this is basically like the excellent Standing On A Beach collection, but it picks up where that album left off: 1987. All of the band's singles issued between 1987 and 1997 were compiled on here and remastered. They even recorded a new song for the affair called "Wrong Number" which was co-written with David Bowie cohort Reeves Gabrels. It's a really weird song but it's great, and very unlike anything else the band had done around that time. It's a great collection if you just want the hits.
~Austin
Disintegration Part Two? Well, sorta..
This album is somewhat predictable. Robert Smith saw that Cure fans were pissed after Wild Mood Swings struck out and so he decided to give them exactly what they wanted: a classic sounding Cure album. Slow, looming tempos, lengthy songs, the trademark six string bass riffs, it's all here. And as formulaic as it sounds to be, it's actually quite good. But, don't think there's anything here that you haven't heard before; there's not. Just as he was trying to please his audience, Robert wasn't trying to expand it either. And that shows. But make no mistakes, this is a great album, and one of my personal favorites by the band.
~Austin
ABOUT THE TRACKLISTING...
Initial Japanese and Australian pressings of the album came with the track "Coming Up" right smack dab in the middle of the album. It's an ok track, but the Join The Dots box set has now rendered that pricey import of mine obselete, con sarnit.
Greatest Hits... yep, that sounds about right.
Just what the title says: all of the band's biggest and best known songs. Good if just want the pop stuff. But, I think the point has been made by this point that The Cure are more than just a singles band (but they do know how to craft a lovely pop song). It's a preview of what the forthcoming remaster campaign has to offer for the albums as well. Two new songs were included on the disc: "Just Say Yes" and the excellent "Cut Here."
~Austin
THE ACOUSTIC HITS...
Some pressings of the album were two disc editions that came with an extra disc of all the songs performed in an acoustic setting. Previous drummer Boris William helps out on perscussion on the new recordings. I think it's an excellent disc of alternate versions but I seem to be in the minority.
FINALLY!
Robert Smith finally wised up and realized he had a lot of material that was either out of print or scarcely available. Every b-side the band has released is remastered and served up here, along with some hard to find remixes and even a few previously unreleased tracks. I think it goes without saying that this four CD collection is for devoted fans. But, if you're feeling adventerous and you've only got two or three of the band's albums, I'd say go out on a limb and spring for it. It's fantastic. It's all b-sides so to many non-vinyl collectors, it will be mostly new to them. Many of the b-sides you'll find to be better than some of the album material which accompanied them (this is especially the case for the Wish and Wild Mood Swings material, respectively). Any way you look at it though, this should be acquired by all fans eventually.
~Austin
I guess Ross Robinson has never heard the old adage 'If it ain't broke, don't fix it.'
After Bloodflowers and the new tunes on the Greatest Hits disc, the band seemed like they would gracefully bow out of the dimming spotlight and Robert Smith would finally not have lied when he said that Bloodflowers would be the band's last studio album. Then, all of a sudden, 80's pop culture became hip and what better to namecheck than one of the best pop bands of the 80's? So, here came The Cure, a box set of mostly prime 80's material, an epic three hour concert film featuring perhaps their two best known albums and lo and behold, a new studio record. The hype surrounding this new album was monstrous. It would be their first album not on Fiction records, ever. In came the hot shot producer, Ross Robinson. Robinson is undoubtedly a big Cure fan as he scrambled to sign the band to his label, I Am. And Robert, for the first time in over a decade, agreed to give up complete producer's duties and handed the reigns over to Robinson. And that's where my main discrepancy is. Robinson seems to be a Robert Smith fan, first and foremost. And he also seemingly thinks the other band members don't really care about their positions in the band. I say this because the record is horribly mastered. Horribly. On most songs, Robert's mic is turned up so loud, you probably can't stand to have the volume up as loud as you'd like. Roger O'Donell's keyboards (an integral part of the band's sound!) are nowhere to be heard on most of the album, as is Robert's six string bass. The songs are spackled with unneccessary distortion and white noise, making it sound like the band is trying to put up the tough guy image of some of Robinson's other production projects. Basically, there are some fantastic songs here, but the production end is heavily lacking. The album was recorded in the spring of 2004 and released in the summer of the same year, which makes one wonder if the band just haphazardly threw together an album and quickly put it out to capitilize on their resurgence in popularity. Not completely bad, but easily their worst album since Mixed Up.
~Austin
ABOUT THE TRACKLISTING...
Either to please vinyl buyers, or to get me to buy the album twice, Geffen tacked an entire four extra songs to the vinyl version of the album. The United States got screwed on their CD version of the album as well, where the rest of the world got 12 tracks, the US only got 11. The vinyl version added the tracks "Truth Goodness And Beauty," "Fake," "This Morning," and "Going Nowhere" (which was the 12th track on non-US pressings of the CD). All the extras are fantastic, recalling a more familiar sound for the band and really making the album much better.
Get me out of this world of whiny British guys with weird hair!!
