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

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Bloodflowers was 2000.

Four-TEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEN! (HI DERE), Thursday, 30 July 2009 14:30 (fourteen years ago) link

:-/

One idiot even called me "redcoat" because I'm (country matters), Thursday, 30 July 2009 14:31 (fourteen years ago) link

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

ledge, Thursday, 30 July 2009 14:32 (fourteen years ago) link

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

ledge, Thursday, 30 July 2009 14:32 (fourteen years ago) link

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.

Four-TEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEN! (HI DERE), Thursday, 30 July 2009 14:34 (fourteen years ago) link

that's not saying much, is it

Gigolo Grasiento (baaderonixx), Thursday, 30 July 2009 15:00 (fourteen years ago) link

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

Gigolo Grasiento (baaderonixx), Thursday, 30 July 2009 15:01 (fourteen years ago) link

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

Four-TEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEN! (HI DERE), Thursday, 30 July 2009 15:12 (fourteen years ago) link

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

Gigolo Grasiento (baaderonixx), Thursday, 30 July 2009 15:15 (fourteen years ago) link

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

Four-TEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEN! (HI DERE), Thursday, 30 July 2009 15:23 (fourteen years ago) link

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

Gigolo Grasiento (baaderonixx), Thursday, 30 July 2009 15:26 (fourteen years ago) link

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

System, Thursday, 30 July 2009 23:01 (fourteen years ago) link

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.

Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 30 July 2009 23:38 (fourteen years ago) link

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.

Heric E. (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 30 July 2009 23:41 (fourteen years ago) link

Nice to see the correct winner. Thanks lurkers :)

Geir Hongro, Friday, 31 July 2009 00:59 (fourteen years ago) link

seven months pass...

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

piscesx, Monday, 1 March 2010 02:13 (fourteen years ago) link

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

Inculcate a spirit of serfdom in children (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 1 March 2010 02:31 (fourteen years ago) link

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

Elvis Telecom, Monday, 1 March 2010 02:56 (fourteen years ago) link

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

brotherlovesdub, Monday, 1 March 2010 03:44 (fourteen years ago) link

nine months pass...

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

da croupier, Saturday, 18 December 2010 00:22 (thirteen years ago) link

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

You're Twistin' My Melody Man! (Geir Hongro), Saturday, 18 December 2010 01:17 (thirteen years ago) link

"Mixed Up", I mean

You're Twistin' My Melody Man! (Geir Hongro), Saturday, 18 December 2010 01:18 (thirteen years ago) link

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

Mark G, Sunday, 19 December 2010 15:05 (thirteen years ago) link

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

You're Twistin' My Melody Man! (Geir Hongro), Monday, 20 December 2010 17:11 (thirteen years ago) link

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.

the distance between me and a sackful is gonna be like 0 inches (rip van wanko), Monday, 20 December 2010 17:44 (thirteen years ago) link

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)

Mark G, Tuesday, 21 December 2010 10:00 (thirteen years ago) link

eleven years pass...

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

— Susanna Hoffs (@SusannaHoffs) September 25, 2022

Vance Vance Devolution (sic), Sunday, 25 September 2022 17:57 (one year ago) link

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

Bee OK, Wednesday, 28 September 2022 23:29 (one year ago) link


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