"It's Friday, I'm a Poll" - The "Wish" Poll

A great album. I like every single track other than "Open" and "End", but still, "Friday...." is in a league of its own here, really.

You like every single track except the two best ones?

End, by a fair distance. Open and Deep Green Sea being the other two standouts.

You like every single track except the two best ones?

Trying to sound like My Bloody Valentine was never a good idea, even though they are both better than anything MBV ever did. Baggy exercises like "From The Edge Of The Deep Green Sea" and "Cut" were better, but they were still best when they were content with just sounding like The Cure - particularly the poppy ones like "Friday...", "High" and "Wendy Time", but "Apart" and "To Wish Impossible Things" are also beautiful "Disintegration"-like numbers.

I would personally say that the three longest tracks are the most Disintegration-esque things here! The long slow descent into the emotional inferno and all that. I'm possibly wrong, though.

No, you aren't.

sometimes this is my favorite cure album and even though I like sporadic things since, I really think it's the last good album they made and will never top it. The show from the tour behind this was pretty incredible too (with dinosaur jr opening).

'edge'.

so glad I got Cranes instead of Dinosaur Jr

Also I can never decide if "Wendy Time" or "A Letter To Elise" is the worst song here; usually it's "Elise" but every now and then I will go on a severe hatred tear for "Wendy".

And relating "Cut" to baggy is mind-bogglingly wrong.

The two songs not mentioned in the actual thread are probably the next two best (DTU, Trust)

Actually fuck a "Trust", I take that back

i got Cranes AND Dinosaur jr

That would have balanced out for me. (man I hate Dino J)

"Trust" tries too hard, especially since "Apart" does the "melancholy dreamy" thing much much better. I used to really hate "Trust" but time has made me get over the fact that it's a total "Homesick" ripoff.

I just put it on and had good memories of the hooks, but completely forgot that it doesn't actually do anything with them. Totally true to say that it's twinned with Apart. I think of them as 'those two'. Really.

i got Cranes AND Dinosaur jr

Rose Bowl show. The reactions of the crowd when Dino Jr played a certain cover song were amusing.

this was the san jose show but yeah, probably the day before yours. July 4th up here.

I think I'd rank the songs on the album like this:

End
High
Apart
From the Edge of the Deep Green Sea
Open
Doing the Unstuck
To Wish Impossible Things
Friday I'm in Love
Cut
Trust
Wendy Time
A Letter to Elise

The distance between "End" and "Open" is tiny to the point where any of those five songs could be my favorite on the album, depending on mood.

There's something about 7-8 minute songs with a REALLY jaunty, almost electro keyboard pulse, that can be orgasmic when done well. Deep Green Sea is a fantastic example of this. It's both the fastest AND longest song here! Quite an unorthodox thing to do, and I really appreciate it.

Here's the other such song I was thinking of.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CvBTpTfdX58

This is, by some distance, my favorite Cure album: the high point (and end point) of this lineup, with lots of fast, hooky ones. Even in the "Let's Go To Bed" days, Smith never sounded this feral and playful. Stuff like "To Wish Impossible Things" and "Trust" (which sounds to me like it could have worked on Electronic's first album) make for splendid rest stops in depressive land.

"High" is licky-as-trips and kitten-as-a-cat perfection, the aural equivalent of the Mixed Up cover art.

"This Twilight Garden" is also better than half the songs on the album.

I think even the band thinks that.

(it is the law, btw, that in any nearly-8-minute electro-pulse-driven rock song, there MUST be a heroic guitar solo in motion at the 6-minute mark otherwise the song is a failure)

The "High"/"This Twilight Garden"/"Play" single is probably my favorite complete package single of theirs. ("Half An Octopus" would be the main contender.)

omg I just checked and "39" (my favourite track on Bloodflowers) is between 7 and 8 minutes, has an ongoing electro pulse, and yes there is a guitar solo at the 6-minute mark!

sorry, this is all very boring, and I shall stfu

yeah play and twilight garden are absolutely essential songs.

"Open" for me.

"Friday I'm In Love" because a) it's a great song and b) it'll piss Fat Bob off as he's regretted it for years.

I think he actually performed it at the show last year...I think.

Yeah, like I'm gonna trust the memory of a pothead.

Get that cape out of your ears.

xp akm: I was at that San Jose show, too. Is it your birthday today?

Letter To Elise gets my vote.

I haven't listened to this in years -- the only songs that come easily to mind are "High," "Friday" and "Letter to Elise." Of those three, I pick "High."

god, End really is one of the most kickass rock songs born of the early 90's, it practically demands volume-knob abuse

I can't believe "Doing The Unstuck" never was a single. The Cure were at their commercial peak at the time and it would have been great on the radio after the succes of "Friday I'm in Love". "A Letter To Elise" then could've been a nice fourth single like "Pictures Of You" was for Disintegration (which it is a bit of a rip off of anyway). It always seemed like a strange record company decision to me. Anyway I'm voting for it, with FTEOTDGS getting a very honorable mention.

sometimes this is my favorite cure album and even though I like sporadic things since, I really think it's the last good album they made and will never top it.

yup. except for the "sometimes" part.

to wish impossible things indeed.. it's impossible for vote in this poll!!!

sarahel yes it was. and wasn't that a good show however many years ago it was? you have no idea how many people I've met over the years who turned out to have been there (including my wife)

and when I see you kitten as a cat
yeah as smitten as that
I can't get that small
the way you fur
the how you purr
it makes me want to paw you all

xp akm: yeah, it was a good show ... probably better than if it had been at Shoreline.

Aside from Friday I don't feel the upbeat songs on this. Unstuck in particular sounds really fake. And Open's tale of "ooooh what a horrible party oooooh i'm so drunk and miserable oooooh" has never got my sympathy. Deep Green Sea drags on a bit. Cut cuts a bit too loose. It's gotta be End - reverse echo rools!

"Cut" and "End" are both amazing, but after reading through this thread I went with "Elise" because it looks like no one else is going to vote for it.

Man.. 1992 was so good.

Yeah, it's either "Apart" or "End" for me. Oh god. I think I'll vote the former as "End" is getting plenty of love. Although... "please stop loving me / I am none of these things..." Damn.

everyone vote End for fuck's sake or Friday will win

this album rules; such a huge glorious guitat sound. went with End

"Friday" is much better than "End" though. Out of all the songs The Cure have ever released, only "Let's Go To Bed" is better.

Depessive Cure = pretty great at times, but uplifting pop Cure = even better.

bahhh

Don't worry, lj, "End" will win.

Geir, I don't think it has to be a contest between these two aspects of the Cure's "personality". And besides, they're not even the only aspects. You're setting up a whadyacallit, a false dichotomy?

They are trying other styles at times too (which is represented on "Wish" by "Open", "End", "Cut" and "From The Edge Of The Deep Green Sea"), but I feel like those two are their main "personalities" and also the ones they do best. On "The Cure", they tried to make an entire album more or less out of "rock" songs, and ended up making their worst album ever. Also, "Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me" would have been way better as a single album containing only the two songs on this two familiar styles and letting go of everything else.

"bloated and purposeless" = "Where The Birds Always Sing", "Us vs Them"

"The Promise" is basically a bunch of fantastic guitar screeches over one of Jason's good beats with some gigantic bass and Robert howls thrown in for good measure; it's definitely more taut and better constructed than something like "Watching Me Fall", which is basically good for losing yourself in its aimless ennui but not particularly impressive as a song.

What he said.

It's like a guidebook on how to build momentum, how to convey blistering anguish and sustain a musical mood while rocking the fuck out

(The Underdog remix of "Watching Me Fall" is great, though.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=olfPh9kb6vw

i.e. it is righteous, its narrative is rock-solid, and its musicianship is set to 'slay'

And Watching Me Fall is about 50x more thrilling than it has any right to be; it's like a series of waves haphazardly but thrillingly crashing over your ears, with each successive ebb more dramatic, each throng more frenzied. Gratuitous but damn I ain't complaining.

(btw before anyone complains about how static that remix is, that is precisely what I like about it; it's like a slowly tightening rubberband that never snaps)

That's a really sweet remix. Makes a formerly crazy, all over the place song into something taut and moody.

Geir, don't post picture JPG in original post as MODS are not able to vote because of some ilx glitch. i now post pictures in the second post.

great topic and excellent poll, thoughts a little later...

That bug was fixed, Bee!

OK. I need not care then (looks much better with pics in the original post, but will not do it if there is still a problem)

nope, problem has been fixed. thank for the update Dan.

Over the years this has grown to be one of my fave Cure covers. Love the blue thing

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

i personally think that "From the Edge of the Deep Green Sea" is the Cure's best song. plus every time they play it live they kill it. than you add the excellent "Open" and "End" to the mix and you have a great album, even if some songs are throwaway's. will always love this album and think it's underrated as it came after their masterpiece.

wow. hasn't been done. astonishing. blah blah blah.

anyway, it comes down to 'open', 'from the edge of the deep green sea' and'end'. 'open' was a real slowburner for me. i only truly got it recently. it's cathartic without the sense of release. an incredible song. i might vote for that, where it not for the fact that 'end' is probably even more amazing.

If the recorded version of Cut had sounded anything like that fantastic live version from the Five Imaginary Boys gig, rather than a clumsy proto-metal mess, it would win hands down.

Er, no it wouldn't.

There really is a terrific full-length album to be made out of their 90's records, isn't there?

Yes. It's called Wish.

Yes, it's called Wish.

ha (xpost)!!

Well to be fair I'd only include 'Want', 'Watching Me Fall', '39' and that Bloodflowers one DP really likes from the other two records. Really don't get the love for 'Out Of This World', especially as the next track kinda prevents you from remembering it

Bloodflowers was 2000.

:-/

It's ok, 2000 was in the 1990s if you think like a librarian.

Or any other asshole who claims that the millennium didn't begin until 2001.

My least-favorite song on here ("A Letter To Elise") is still about a bazillion times better than half the songs on Wild Mood Swings.

that's not saying much, is it

I mean it'd be pretty difficult to record anything as foul as "Round and Round" or "Strange Attraction"

I really hated "Round & Round & Round" until I saw them do it live; it made a lot more sense to me after that.

hmmm... the only one from that era that really grew on me over the years is "Return"

That is easily my most-loathed Cure song of all time.

♫♫ Stolichnaya! banco de gaia! bad timing on tv! ♫♫

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Man, was this band on fire live circa "Wish." Boots from that tour are great, and the three guitar (plus Boris) line-up was unbeatable. The times I've seen them since have been less than convincing, especially the most recent quartet jaunt. But songs like "Sea" and "Open" killed arenas dead.

I saw them in June '92, sixth row center, and, yes, the three guitar attack, especially on "From the Edge of the Deep Green Sea" was pretty extraordinary.

Nice to see the correct winner. Thanks lurkers :)

'this twilight garden' wipes the floor with a good half of this album i think.

Totally bizarre how, inspired by Join the Dots, I read most of these Cure threads this morning.

I like this pictogram t-shirt http://www.threadless.com/product/1589/Friday_I_m_In_Love

2X and 3X are sold out? Has Robert Smith been stocking up on these already?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oF-vWSvhqJc

I was about to ask if the reissue is due soon, but I guess "The Mix" is up first.

"Mixed Up", I mean

I doubt they will be doing that one. RSmith never liked it...

It has already been stated that everything up to and including "Wish" will be reissued. At some stage, that is.

so glad I got Cranes instead of Dinosaur Jr
― Lisa Simpson = a fictional bitch (HI DERE), Friday, July 24, 2009 2:11 PM (1 year ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

I got Cranes (Dallas TX) and immediately became a record-buying fan, but still would have preferred Dino Jr.

I suppose since the Cure left "Fiction", their catalogue has been somewhat 'mined' now they don't have to get RSmith's permission (Adverts with cover versions, etc)

i just taught myself this song pic.twitter.com/OIugRQxOGt

— Susanna Hoffs (@SusannaHoffs) September 25, 2022

I thought we polled this album but I did not find last time I searched for it, was going to do this when the reissue came out but it has been done.

Anyways from our Pitchfork is dumb thread, posting as it will be forever lost:

The Cure Wish retro review was trite and poorly written, I thought. And the rating about double what it should be.

― assert (matttkkkk), Sunday, May 29, 2022 2:15 PM (three months ago) bookmarkflaglink

Really? I thought it was fine and needed saying.

― Malevolent Arugula (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, May 29, 2022 3:03 PM (three months ago) bookmarkflaglink

I thought it was good (I don’t know the album).

― subject matter expert (morrisp), Sunday, May 29, 2022 3:06 PM (three months ago) bookmarkflaglink

I guess I just dislike the record a lot, but the potted-history felt like the writer had a quick flip thru the discography and a few articles rather than knowing the band and its oeuvre. And “Any one song from these records has enough character, vision, and atmosphere to spawn the careers of five entirely new bands”? Please. I finally bailed at “dark, artsy music”.

― assert (matttkkkk), Sunday, May 29, 2022 3:14 PM (three months ago) bookmarkflaglink

It was the brief history of the band as seen from the vantage point of the immediate post-Wish comedown. Bit confusing to follow and plenty of cliches to be found, however if all you know is Disintegration or "Just Like Heaven" it serves as a fine context-provider for the album.

(Agree the rating is too high.)

― Let's disco dance, Hammurabi! (Austin), Sunday, May 29, 2022 3:21 PM (three months ago) bookmarkflaglink

Wish >>>> Disintegration

but I'm an outlier, therefore the rating makes sense

― Malevolent Arugula (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, May 29, 2022 3:38 PM (three months ago) bookmarkflaglink

It’s refreshing to see one of these Sunday reviews that jumps right into taking about the album, instead of detailing each band member’s first experience touching an instrument etc.

― subject matter expert (morrisp), Sunday, May 29, 2022 3:45 PM (three months ago) bookmarkflaglink

Alfred as much as I respect your knowledge and taste, I'm one of "those" Cure fans

― assert (matttkkkk), Sunday, May 29, 2022 3:48 PM (three months ago) bookmarkflaglink

idk that score is about what i'd have expected considering its place in the cure's discography

i'd put it just a little lower but i don't tend to rate cure albums that highly

― ufo, Sunday, May 29, 2022 3:52 PM (three months ago) bookmarkflaglink

Same. They recorded no "masterpieces" or whatever but every album b/w 1979 and 1992 has great songs, some more than others

― Malevolent Arugula (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, May 29, 2022 4:04 PM (three months ago) bookmarkflaglink

Have long considered Disintegration overrated and even then, rating it below Wish makes me chuckle.

Will say this: as implied in the review, the b-sides from Wish are *easily* their best. Some of them are better than 80% of Disintegration.

Bit disappointed this review completely overlooked Mixed Up; surely that was an indicator that things were reaching terminal velocity?

― Let's disco dance, Hammurabi! (Austin), Sunday, May 29, 2022 4:37 PM (three months ago) bookmarkflaglink

the b-sides from Wish are *easily* their best.

I had to change my shorts in July 2016 when they played "This Twilight Garden" in the first 40 minutes.

― Malevolent Arugula (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, May 29, 2022 5:46 PM (three months ago) bookmarkflaglink

https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/the-cure-wish/ fwiw

― Yul Brynner film festival on Channel 48... (sic), Sunday, May 29, 2022 7:16 PM (three months ago) bookmarkflaglink

I’ll be basic and say “Disintegration” is their best album. That said I don’t think I’d rate it higher than 8.

― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Sunday, May 29, 2022 8:09 PM (three months ago) bookmarkflaglink

Pornography, The Head on the Door and Faith are all 10s. But this seems to be about killing your idols so carry on.

― Bee OK, Sunday, May 29, 2022 8:25 PM (three months ago) bookmarkflaglink

*Ott siren*

― Whiney G. Weingarten, Sunday, May 29, 2022 8:26 PM (three months ago) bookmarkflaglink

*yelling above siren* I loved Disintegration when it came out but now find it pretty dull, excepting "Plainsong", "Lovesong" and "Untitled". Remain pretty fanatical about everything up to HOTD.

― assert (matttkkkk), Sunday, May 29, 2022 8:57 PM (three months ago) bookmarkflaglink

i'm totally basic and still think disintegration is the best album ever

― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Sunday, May 29, 2022 10:43 PM (three months ago) bookmarkflaglink

some people think it is too long or some of the songs are bad; i argue that the length actually succeeds in making it feel deeper and denser, particularly in the way it's paced, starting off with impressionistically-formed pop songs which steadily warp into something way more gnarled and disturbed and by the time you hit the "prayers for rain"/"same deep water as you" stretch you feel like you've wandered so far into the record you'll never find your way out again. title track ironically refocuses things just as the mood of the record is at its most broken. "homesick" is an expression of desperation and denial, "untitled" one of reluctant, realistic acceptance. idk it's just so beautifully constructed, a big goth pool shrouded in mist and surrounded by exotic plants and i can't resist sinking into it. helps that every song is great i must admit

― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Sunday, May 29, 2022 10:59 PM (three months ago) bookmarkflaglink

this is a ridiculous place, where i feel like i need to write a post defending disintegration

― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Sunday, May 29, 2022 10:59 PM (three months ago) bookmarkflaglink

Have long considered Disintegration overrated and even then, rating it below Wish makes me chuckle.

Will say this: as implied in the review, the b-sides from Wish are *easily* their best. Some of them are better than 80% of Disintegration.

Bit disappointed this review completely overlooked Mixed Up; surely that was an indicator that things were reaching terminal velocity?

― Let's disco dance, Hammurabi! (Austin), Sunday, May 29, 2022 4:37 PM (three months ago) bookmarkflaglink

the b-sides from Wish are *easily* their best.

I had to change my shorts in July 2016 when they played "This Twilight Garden" in the first 40 minutes.

― Malevolent Arugula (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, May 29, 2022 5:46 PM (three months ago) bookmarkflaglink

https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/the-cure-wish/ fwiw

― Yul Brynner film festival on Channel 48... (sic), Sunday, May 29, 2022 7:16 PM (three months ago) bookmarkflaglink

I’ll be basic and say “Disintegration” is their best album. That said I don’t think I’d rate it higher than 8.

― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Sunday, May 29, 2022 8:09 PM (three months ago) bookmarkflaglink

Pornography, The Head on the Door and Faith are all 10s. But this seems to be about killing your idols so carry on.

― Bee OK, Sunday, May 29, 2022 8:25 PM (three months ago) bookmarkflaglink

*Ott siren*

― Whiney G. Weingarten, Sunday, May 29, 2022 8:26 PM (three months ago) bookmarkflaglink

*yelling above siren* I loved Disintegration when it came out but now find it pretty dull, excepting "Plainsong", "Lovesong" and "Untitled". Remain pretty fanatical about everything up to HOTD.

― assert (matttkkkk), Sunday, May 29, 2022 8:57 PM (three months ago) bookmarkflaglink

i'm totally basic and still think disintegration is the best album ever

― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Sunday, May 29, 2022 10:43 PM (three months ago) bookmarkflaglink

some people think it is too long or some of the songs are bad; i argue that the length actually succeeds in making it feel deeper and denser, particularly in the way it's paced, starting off with impressionistically-formed pop songs which steadily warp into something way more gnarled and disturbed and by the time you hit the "prayers for rain"/"same deep water as you" stretch you feel like you've wandered so far into the record you'll never find your way out again. title track ironically refocuses things just as the mood of the record is at its most broken. "homesick" is an expression of desperation and denial, "untitled" one of reluctant, realistic acceptance. idk it's just so beautifully constructed, a big goth pool shrouded in mist and surrounded by exotic plants and i can't resist sinking into it. helps that every song is great i must admit

― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Sunday, May 29, 2022 10:59 PM (three months ago) bookmarkflaglink

this is a ridiculous place, where i feel like i need to write a post defending disintegration

― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Sunday, May 29, 2022 10:59 PM (three months ago) bookmarkflaglink

disintegration is their best

sometimes "prayers for rain"/"the same deep water as you" can be too much at times but if you're in the mood then they really really work

"last dance" is inessential but not bad, that's the extent of my complaints

― ufo, Sunday, May 29, 2022 11:14 PM (three months ago) bookmarkflaglink

I surrender and agree

― assert (matttkkkk), Sunday, May 29, 2022 11:24 PM (three months ago) bookmarkflaglink

as for Wish, though …

― assert (matttkkkk), Monday, May 30, 2022 12:07 AM (three months ago) bookmarkflaglink

Wish and Disintegration are not far apart. Wish is refreshing, poppier, slightly excessive, in continuity with Disintegration and basking in its glory at the same time as it's in its shadow with lesser heights and consistency. I return to Wish more often for some reason, so I'm not shocked anyone prefers it to Disintegration, and I still think "From the Edge" is among their best songs. If the Cure wrote a masterpiece album, it's definitely Disintegration, though I value all their classic albums almost equally.

― Nabozo, Monday, May 30, 2022 2:42 AM (three months ago) bookmarkflaglink

That's about as evocative a defense as I've read, Brad. Good read.

idk Disintegration was the first Cure album I bought at time of release, found it a drag ("Lovesong" still leaves me cold), then worked my way backward to THOTD and Kiss Me and thought, whoa, okay, I get them now. And these days I accept how fully Disintegration provides an immersive experience. Generally, though, "Sinking" earlier and "To Wish Impossible Things" handle the hothouse despair more succinctly for those of us who get that succinctness isn't the point for Disintegration's admirers.

― Malevolent Arugula (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, May 30, 2022 2:46 AM (three months ago) bookmarkflaglink

this is a ridiculous place, where i feel like i need to write a post defending disintegration

― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Monday, 30 May 2022 06:59 (three hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

it is the deep purpose of this place (i mean not the pitchfork thread specifically or indeed disintegration specifically, but i guess the need to write posts abt things that matter)

― mark s, Monday, May 30, 2022 2:49 AM (three months ago) bookmarkflaglink

disintegration is great. it's maybe even their 5th-best album

― imago, Monday, May 30, 2022 2:51 AM (three months ago) bookmarkflaglink

can't much speak on wish since disintegration is the only cure album I can remember listening to the whole way through (have listened to it a thousand times though, masterpiece)

― corrs unplugged, Monday, May 30, 2022 3:19 AM (three months ago) bookmarkflaglink

I’ve never been able to get into them— should post about that in the appropriate thread, probably

― we need outrage! we need dicks!! (the table is the table), Monday, May 30, 2022 3:39 AM (three months ago) bookmarkflaglink

Pornography, The Head on the Door and Faith are all 10s
otm even though when THOTD came out I felt it was too mersh, but that was me & those were the times

― J Edgar Noothgrush (Joan Crawford Loves Chachi), Monday, May 30, 2022 3:43 AM (three months ago) bookmarkflaglink

i'm totally basic and still think disintegration is the best album ever

― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Monday, May 30, 2022 1:43 AM (four hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

Same. And you completely and perfectly nail its appeal--at least for me--in those few sentences above

― Paul Ponzi, Monday, May 30, 2022 3:47 AM (three months ago) bookmarkflaglink

for all the "cold chilly goth" atmosphere that it's supposed to have, disintegration has always sounded like a very hot, almost muggy, album to me. it's like one of those august evenings where it's pretty much dark, maybe a bit of orange left on the horizon, and you can feel the heat coming off the pavement. maybe it's been too hot to be outside otherwise. insert "the same deep water as you."

even though i still like it, wish is the one that hits me like a relentlessly windy dark grey morning in january. when "friday i'm in love" is on, maybe the sun peaks through the clouds for a moment.

― Let's disco dance, Hammurabi! (Austin), Monday, May 30, 2022 7:12 AM (three months ago) bookmarkflaglink

i like wish a lot, i feel like "doing the unstuck" is pretty underrated(?) (i have no sense of these things but when robert smith sings "happy!!!!" in a cure song i assume it's an underrated cure song), but it's much more disjointed than disintegration. it begins and ends awesomely, tho

― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Monday, May 30, 2022 7:16 AM (three months ago) bookmarkflaglink

Disintegration sounds like August xpost

― Malevolent Arugula (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, May 30, 2022 7:22 AM (three months ago) bookmarkflaglink

brad otm. "doing the unstuck" has always been one of the highlights for me. when join the dots came out, the previously unissued extended mix blew me away:

really does make you wonder what the hell has taken so long with the deluxe edition.

― Let's disco dance, Hammurabi! (Austin), Monday, May 30, 2022 7:39 AM (three months ago) bookmarkflaglink

anyway, just wanted to take this opportunity to point out that pfork said something about one of my favorite bands and they managed to not only not be embarrassing, but actually repped for them pretty well. gold clap for pfork on this one.

― Let's disco dance, Hammurabi! (Austin), Monday, May 30, 2022 7:46 AM (three months ago) bookmarkflaglink

*golf clap

― Let's disco dance, Hammurabi! (Austin), Monday, May 30, 2022 7:46 AM (three months ago) bookmarkflaglink

Sodomsky is a really good writer.

― subject matter expert (morrisp), Monday, May 30, 2022 7:55 AM (three months ago) bookmarkflaglink

I’m not a huge Cure fan but I’ve always really loved the guitar sound on wish

― brimstead, Monday, May 30, 2022 10:04 AM (three months ago) bookmarkflaglink

Wait, I wasn't saying Disintegration is a bad album! I'm not trying to kill my idols. I don't like giving partial ratings, it's probably an 8.6 for me and I'd still consider it one of the top 20 albums from the 80's.

I think all of these Cure albums are essential... maybe in this order:

Disintegration, Pornography, The Head on the Door, Faith, Seventeen Seconds, Wish, Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me.

― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Monday, May 30, 2022 10:25 AM (three months ago) bookmarkflaglink

I’ve always really loved the guitar sound on wish

― brimstead, Monday, May 30, 2022 10:04 AM (twenty-six minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

otm, its best feature, reminds me of the miles-deep guitar tone from contemporaneous church records but like as glimpsed through a fog

― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Monday, May 30, 2022 10:36 AM (three months ago) bookmarkflaglink

oh its other best feature is that it's the boris williams fireworks show

― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Monday, May 30, 2022 10:53 AM (three months ago) bookmarkflaglink

Would like to chime in once again and remind everyone who hasn't heard it that Lost Wishes has a lot more of the kinds of qualities that Brad mentions. It is so highly recommended.

Also Moka otm. Stating the plainly obvious, but: Cure in the 80s, classic for a reason.

― Let's disco dance, Hammurabi! (Austin), Monday, May 30, 2022 10:57 AM (three months ago) bookmarkflaglink

"Wendy Time" strikes me as an improved "Hot Hot Hot!!!"

― Malevolent Arugula (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, May 30, 2022 11:28 AM (three months ago) bookmarkflaglink

That song was once so collectively hated, it was only referred to as "W*ndy" on an old fan forum.

I think of it like a bizarro world take on "Let's Go to Bed." The original demo is much more brooding and Simon-centric. It's got a groove.

― Let's disco dance, Hammurabi! (Austin), Monday, May 30, 2022 1:43 PM (three months ago) bookmarkflaglink

The one track for whose sake I won't endure a single insult: "High." It's everything I want from jangly Cure singles. Plus, it's licky as trips and kitten as a cat.

― Malevolent Arugula (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, May 30, 2022 1:55 PM (three months ago) bookmarkflaglink

Adore the single version for that harpsichord(?) that sits deep in the mix whereas the album version is just too spare without it.

Loved the T&CII versions of Wendy and Cut and was aghast when I first heard the studio cuts.

― KPH, Monday, May 30, 2022 2:02 PM (three months ago) bookmarkflaglink

"Cut" on Show >>>>>>

― Let's disco dance, Hammurabi! (Austin), Monday, May 30, 2022 3:49 PM (three months ago) bookmarkflaglink

Re the guitar tone, on Disintegration and Wish most of the leads and melody lines are played on the Bass VI rather than a standard guitar, gives it that bell/piano quality. Same goes for The Church of course.
viz

― assert (matttkkkk), Monday, May 30, 2022 7:32 PM (three months ago) bookmarkflaglink

This guy has several Cure videos where he plays a Bass VI and the main hooks/riffs from each album.

I adore this specific sound

― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Monday, May 30, 2022 8:34 PM (three months ago) bookmarkflaglink

― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Monday, May 30, 2022 8:34 PM (three months ago) bookmarkflaglink

Oh wait only two albums Wish and Disintegration. Still pretty cool to hear isolated.

― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Monday, May 30, 2022 8:35 PM (three months ago) bookmarkflaglink

there's lots of great stuff on wish it just doesn't hang together that well, but really disintegration is the only one from that period that isn't a wild stylistic grab bag

― ufo, Monday, May 30, 2022 8:58 PM (three months ago) bookmarkflaglink

The problem for me is that they sound like they're pandering to their audience rather than following the muse.

― assert (matttkkkk), Monday, May 30, 2022 9:08 PM (three months ago) bookmarkflaglink

uhm, maybe not the case since you didn't like it?

(kidding, ikwym)

― Let's disco dance, Hammurabi! (Austin), Monday, May 30, 2022 9:24 PM (three months ago) bookmarkflaglink

Lol

― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Monday, May 30, 2022 10:16 PM (three months ago) bookmarkflaglink

Austin otm tho, following their best/richest "dark" record with their second-poppiest record ever is hardly pandering

― Yul Brynner film festival on Channel 48... (sic), Monday, May 30, 2022 11:28 PM (three months ago) bookmarkflaglink

The problem for me is that they sound like they're pandering to their audience rather than following the muse.
― assert (matttkkkk), Tuesday, May 31, 2022 6:08 AM (two hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

I've always found that there is something fabricated in the band's affects, but it's part of the appeal, the tragicomic goth figure etc.

― Nabozo, Monday, May 30, 2022 11:31 PM (three months ago) bookmarkflaglink

This discussion (and the article) had me revisiting Wish and it's better than I remember it being - I still think it's a bit of dip from their classic run (I basically love all the '80s albums except The Top) but there's lots of good stuff there, the songwriting maybe just feels a bit unfocussed at times? Agreed on the praise for the guitar sound, that's a large part of why I love 'Open' so much, one of their strongest opening tracks.

― Gavin, Leeds, Tuesday, May 31, 2022 2:30 AM (three months ago) bookmarkflaglink

don't think my dissonance from ILM consensus can be summarised any more succinctly than by our respective attitudes towards The Top

― imago, Tuesday, May 31, 2022 2:49 AM (three months ago) bookmarkflaglink

― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Monday, May 30, 2022 8:34 PM (three months ago) bookmarkflaglink

Oh wait only two albums Wish and Disintegration. Still pretty cool to hear isolated.

― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Monday, May 30, 2022 8:35 PM (three months ago) bookmarkflaglink

there's lots of great stuff on wish it just doesn't hang together that well, but really disintegration is the only one from that period that isn't a wild stylistic grab bag

― ufo, Monday, May 30, 2022 8:58 PM (three months ago) bookmarkflaglink

The problem for me is that they sound like they're pandering to their audience rather than following the muse.

― assert (matttkkkk), Monday, May 30, 2022 9:08 PM (three months ago) bookmarkflaglink

uhm, maybe not the case since you didn't like it?

(kidding, ikwym)

― Let's disco dance, Hammurabi! (Austin), Monday, May 30, 2022 9:24 PM (three months ago) bookmarkflaglink

Lol

― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Monday, May 30, 2022 10:16 PM (three months ago) bookmarkflaglink

Austin otm tho, following their best/richest "dark" record with their second-poppiest record ever is hardly pandering

― Yul Brynner film festival on Channel 48... (sic), Monday, May 30, 2022 11:28 PM (three months ago) bookmarkflaglink

The problem for me is that they sound like they're pandering to their audience rather than following the muse.
― assert (matttkkkk), Tuesday, May 31, 2022 6:08 AM (two hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

I've always found that there is something fabricated in the band's affects, but it's part of the appeal, the tragicomic goth figure etc.

― Nabozo, Monday, May 30, 2022 11:31 PM (three months ago) bookmarkflaglink

This discussion (and the article) had me revisiting Wish and it's better than I remember it being - I still think it's a bit of dip from their classic run (I basically love all the '80s albums except The Top) but there's lots of good stuff there, the songwriting maybe just feels a bit unfocussed at times? Agreed on the praise for the guitar sound, that's a large part of why I love 'Open' so much, one of their strongest opening tracks.

― Gavin, Leeds, Tuesday, May 31, 2022 2:30 AM (three months ago) bookmarkflaglink

don't think my dissonance from ILM consensus can be summarised any more succinctly than by our respective attitudes towards The Top

― imago, Tuesday, May 31, 2022 2:49 AM (three months ago) bookmarkflaglink

Ha, I thought it had some supporters on here but I could be wrong.

― Gavin, Leeds, Tuesday, May 31, 2022 3:01 AM (three months ago) bookmarkflaglink

pretty big fan here, also partial to Blue Sunshine

― assert (matttkkkk), Tuesday, May 31, 2022 4:52 AM (three months ago) bookmarkflaglink

I feel their peak was Seventeen Seconds and Faith, and though all the subsequent 80s records have some good songs, they're marred by self-consciously stretching for effects, whether in the "goth" or "pop" directions. The only 90s stuff I've heard was seven songs on Greatest Hits and on that evidence it seemed to me that Smith had completely lost whatever made him a distinctive songwriter.
As for the Pitchfork review, it felt like the writer was trying to put the best spin on "they were past their prime".

― Halfway there but for you, Tuesday, May 31, 2022 5:02 AM (three months ago) bookmarkflaglink

Nothing wrong with self-consciousness!

― Malevolent Arugula (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, May 31, 2022 5:21 AM (three months ago) bookmarkflaglink

I accept that Smith was willing himself to be in a sour mood recording the early '80s doom trilogy.

― Malevolent Arugula (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, May 31, 2022 5:22 AM (three months ago) bookmarkflaglink

wish was the last album of their prime! & one of the better ones of it

― ufo, Tuesday, May 31, 2022 5:23 AM (three months ago) bookmarkflaglink

xps to Halfway

Many present tend to be fans of bands' softer phases though, when they matured and started crafting songs rather than violently hacking them into being. I differ; I have time for Wish (especially FTEOTDGS and End), but the notion that it could represent any sort of pinnacle in the wake of that Seventeen Seconds through The Top run feels madly fanciful to me. Watching Me Fall (and 39) off Bloodflowers feel to me like a much more successful approach to the epic wall-of-sound style they adopted - be theatrical, go berserk with it

That said, you've basically just dismissed Pornography as schlock rather than one of the most singular and brilliant achievements in art-rock history, so

― imago, Tuesday, May 31, 2022 5:25 AM (three months ago) bookmarkflaglink

I love The Top to bits, but then I love albums in which self-indulgence, commercial indecision, and a heap of drugs produce material this colorful and wack.

― Malevolent Arugula (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, May 31, 2022 5:27 AM (three months ago) bookmarkflaglink

you've basically just dismissed Pornography as schlock
I think it's a sincere and credible effort, and I especially like "A Short Term Effect", but the strain of overkill is starting to show in the sound and the lyrics.

Nothing wrong with self-consciousness!
OK, but not if it comes across as forced, "willed".

― Halfway there but for you, Tuesday, May 31, 2022 5:51 AM (three months ago) bookmarkflaglink

Self-consciousness by nature is willed.

We're getting into a semantic argument when we should be doing the unstuck.

― Malevolent Arugula (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, May 31, 2022 5:51 AM (three months ago) bookmarkflaglink

Get Hovvdy!

― Bruce Stingbean (Karl Malone), Tuesday, May 31, 2022 8:03 AM (three months ago) bookmarkflaglink