The Cure: Classic or Dud?

like in among the dreary atmospherics and gothic clanging Smith always had a very keenly developed sense for pop melodies, but he never sounded like he was drawing from, say, the Beatles.

Gonna suggest Steve Harley and cackle irreverently to myself

c'mon Dan surely you have some thoughts on this

Nick Drake. Robert Smith got the band's name from the lyrics of "Time Has Told Me" ('a troubled cure / for a troubled mind')

Well, my main thought is that the incredibly poppy strain always existed in their music, giving you songs like "Boys Don't Cry", "Jumping Someone Else's Train", "Object", "It's Not You", "Meathook", "Play For Today", "In Your House", "Secrets", "Primary", "Doubt", etc etc etc well before "Let's Go To Bed" appeared. As to where it came from, I don't specifically know, but they did cover Jimi Hendrix, The Doors and David Bowie.

xp: um, given how much Robert lies in interviews and how the band USED to be called Easycure, I don't know that I believe that

Syd Barrett as well. At least in terms of hair, eyeliner & poppy quirkiness.

I know the band was called the Easy Cure, but even that is meant in the sense of "the cure for a troubled mind"

When Malice's vocalist Martin Creasy quit the band, they took the new name Easy Cure in January 1977 from a song written by Tolhurst.

never mind lol

Barrett! of course. can't believe that didn't occur to me.

songs about cats, fairytales, fractured psyches.

duh

all of that stuff came from the gormenghast novels though

except for the parts that came from Wind in the Willows and Shakespeare, right

"he never sounded like he was drawing from, say, the Beatles"

Mr Alphabet Says is a good Beatles tribute, surely better than the Dukes of Stratosphear: I'm pretty sure the White Album in particular was a great inspiration for him.

He also cited often Captain Beefheart as an influence and some of the theatrical flair (and the crazy uncle attitude) of Alex Harvey is certainly there.
I'm pretty sure is also a big fan of soul and folk music: if I remember correctly he even eulogized Sandy Bull somewhere.

I just clicked on this thread and Ex-Lion Tamer by Wire came on my ipod, which almost certainly has something to do with Just Like Heaven.

While I know Smith has always downplayed the role punk, er, played, the band (at least in its formative years) always sounded to me like they'd been listening to a lot of, yes, Wire and the Buzzcocks, but arranged their songs in some sort of hushed environs, like a crowded flat with people sleeping or a place with grouchy neighbors, so that everything was sort of muted.

I'll add also the Only Ones to the Buzzcocks and Wire.
Another Girl Another Planet is like the blueprint for many Cure songs.

i just started w/ Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me and wau. where do I go next from here? Cure virgin.

Go to one of the singles comps (Standing On A Beach/Staring At The Sea, Galore or Greatest Hits) and investigate albums in order of how appealing you find the singles.

Which Kiss Me songs did you like best? It's a scattershot album.

xpost

I like "How Beautiful You Are" a lot

That's kind of anomalousish. But Wish (two albums later) or Head On The Door (one album before) might be fruitful directions to go. Especially Wish.

Such a gorgeous sight!

https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/p480x480/578669_887124448341_1012289_37887426_1962067617_n.jpg

supoib

https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash2/150755_428412400504073_132564740088842_1611277_483085761_n.jpg

Hahahaha

A+

Would read again.

loooooool

So Reeves Gabrels is the newest member of The Cure? YUCK YUCK YUCK.

http://www.slicingupeyeballs.com/2012/05/26/cure-pinkpop-video-setlist-reeves-gabrels/

Not the first time he's collaborated with Smith, though: he cowrote "Wrong Number," got Smith in on his solo song "Yesterday's Gone" and they collaborated on the Cogasm song for the Orgazmo soundtrack with Jason Cooper. Weird to think of him as a full Cure member but I don't think we're getting Tin Machine redux here.

Although now I see the link says all that. Anyway! Let's just say I find it hard to think he'll be allowed to dominate in studio.

The question is whether they can keep an avant-art guitarist from screwing up the Cure. Reeves seems a real loose rein sort of player, which perhaps explains why no one works with him.

how come Porl has given them up? i know he flogged off all his gear etc but not why.

Painting is his true passion or somesuch.

one imagines that the molasses-like pace of activity, and restricted creativity, may have worn on Porl/Pearl. also if he's transitioning, as the name change suggests, that would certainly have played into it, if not been the main factor. (or it's equally likely that Robert simply didn't call him before the Vivid shows, as extra guitar would have been surplus, and hasn't since.)

Isn't Porl married to Robert's sister?

But yeah, Reeves Gabrels. Past collaborations or not, I truly didn't see that one coming. The Cure has always operated in a bizarre way, with the band often having periods where the line-up fluctuates dramatically in between slightly more stable configurations. Since they worked with Ross Robinson on the self-titled album, though, the line-up has fluctuated wildly... and they've only put out one studio album since then! The self-titled album will be EIGHT YEARS OLD next month, and there's been about 4 or 5 line-up changes since!

Not much, but a little extra background:

http://www.nashvillescene.com/nashvillecream/archives/2012/05/30/reeves-gabrels-joins-the-cure

First Kevin Shields and I look strangely alike, now Robert's gone for the shorts:

https://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-snc7/394661_10151010587133818_275925431_n.jpg

Is he wearing ski boots?

New Rocks

About the above question about influences from years ago, if anyone is still interested in discussing this after probably reading enough interviews to find out...

I've heard him say his biggest influence was Jimi Hendrix, Bowie is a major hero, he said Siouxsie And The Banshees were a major influence that gave him direction, Nick Drake, Captain Beefheart, Slade, Status Quo. He seemed to be even influenced by the dreampop bands that were influenced by The Cure.

Although they covered The Doors, he said he wasnt fond of them.

new interview with RS in WORD mag is brilliant.

Clean radio recording of last night's Reading set available for download:

http://summercure2012.blogspot.fr/2012/08/reading-festival-24082012.html

Gabrels actually sounds pretty tame! Or rather, he's playing within the scope of the songs rather than going all 'whee a vibrator!' over them.

The opening hour of that set was live on BBC3 last night (available on iplayer), I turned over to it by accident and was whisked back to my teens (huge, huge fan from about 15 to 18 years old), they sounded *great*. Like you say Ned, no real madness from Reeves but he was pretty sweet, got a lovely tone on Just Like Heaven etc. The live footage also showed what looked like a crib sheet for keys/chords for different songs etc next to his fx board :)

Excellent set, way better than the "Bestival 2011" live album, FWIW.

Yeah, definitely agree there.

Oh man that Bestival album sounds like a nutsack

It's a competent souvenir of a particular lineup, but that's about it.

Great Reading set. Sounding streamlined in a way and they seem to be having fun again. Thanks, Ned!

The Bestival set was *too* streamlined, it was like half the music went missing, couldn't hear the keyboards at all, etc. They sound more complete here. Point being if they wanted to release a live album from a festival show, the Reading set would have been so much better.