The Cure's Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me Poll

i don't think we have done this before, as i couldn't find it in search. since this double album has 18 songs on it, the results should be interesting.

The 13 year-old me wants to vote Just Like Heaven of course, but there are so many choices!

Like Cockatoos, no hesitation

i got my grandmother to buy this record for me for christmas the year it came out

Either "Walking On Sunshine" -- er, "Why Can't I Be You?" or "How Beautiful You Are."

"Like Cocatoos" is the most brroooodtacular and also the best.

you are a smart smart lady

I got my parents to let me buy this album by telling them I heard a song from it at a church dance (which was true).

Has anyone read the short story that "How Beautiful You Are" is based on (according to the liner notes)? I hope it is better than that song, which isn't a bad song, but I don't know that I'd want to read a story of it.

I thought it was a Baudelaire prose poem.

The bass line is a corker, at any rate.

even though it felt soft at the time
i always used to wake up sore

The only songs on here that aren't perfect are "Icing Sugar" and "A Thousand Hours".

I am tempted to register many sockpuppets so I can vote for everything

probably 'just like heaven', though i also really like 'if only tonight we could sleep'

even so, the rest of the band was now laying down tracks at such a prolific rate that it quickly became obvious there was much more material than a single vinyl album could contain. "we never imagined we'd do a double album until we were about two thirds of the way through our time at Miraval," remembers Smith. "we had completed so many tracks, and were starting to have very animated discussions about which ones should be on the album. trying to squeeze stuff onto a single 45 minute record would have resulted in a release4e that was either too 'poppy or too 'atmospheric' - neither of which would have been quite right."

man i haven't listened to this in a long time, but it sure is good. "how beautiful you are" is the only song i ever cited in a philosophy exam essay, so i'm voting that.

"The Kiss" is their best opening track in a catalog full of killer opening tracks. Voting for it without hesitation.

Just Like Heaven; it's pop Cure at its absolute best. From the opening bassline I'm sold.

This is maybe the only double album I own where I never skip a single song. One of my top 5 albums of all time, without a doubt. Voted for Like Cockatoos, but, really could vote for any of them.

great poll and so far impossible to decide. Dan is crazy wrt "1000 Hours" and especially the fantastic "Icing Sugar"

The only one I skip is "Fight"

A Thousand Hours would've been my second choice

I'm tempted to go with "The Kiss" or "Shiver and Shake", but the 16-year old in me won't allow me to vote for anything other than "Just Like Heaven".

"The Kiss" is their best opening track in a catalog full of killer opening tracks. Voting for it without hesitation.

This is almost exactly what I was thinking when I clicked open the thread.

We should do a side 1/2/3/4 poll instead (even though it would be just as impossible)

I remember when John bought this album and played it for me; the last time I had as strong an avaricious reaction to music was when my brother first played his Controversy album for me in 1981.

I don't know what my mom thought about my obsession with this album; I used to play "The Kiss" over and over and over, then I started playing side 3 over and over and over, then I started playing side 2 over and over and over, then finally I taped it and gave the original back to John so he wouldn't pummel it and just listened to it over and over and over and over again.

I have to vote "Like Cockatoos" on this, except for that my real vote is going to "The Snakepit", by which I mean I'm voting "Hot Hot Hot!!!" which of course is a smokescreen for my vote for "The Kiss" the translates to "How Beautiful You Are..." because how could I possibly not vote for "Just Like Heaven" and "Catch" is a must-have but "Torture" is so alluring and grimy and nothing is as visceral as "All I Want" and I can't live without "One More Time" and FOR FUCK'S SAKE THIS WHOLE ALBUM IS FANTASTIC, EVEN THE TWO SONGS I DON'T LIKE ALL THAT MUCH ARE INDISPENSIBLE

My first Cure album and the soundtrack of that summer. This record changed my life.

I saw them on this tour, and the show we went to was broadcast on Radio 1. You could clearly hear my sister screaming "Robert!" between songs.

I am tempted to register many sockpuppets so I can vote for everything

― Lots of praying with no breakfast! (HI DERE), Wednesday, 18 February 2009 05:09

haha ^^^ this

voted for 'like cockatoos' though.

I have this album, need to give it a thorough audition. Now seems as good a time as any.

Voted for Hot Hot Hot (but it really *is* Just Like Heaven)

We should do a side 1/2/3/4 poll instead (even though it would be just as impossible)

OK, we can do a mock poll on this thread. Not sure if this will format properly:

A1 The Kiss 6:14
A2 Catch 2:44
A3 Torture 4:18
A4 If Only Tonight We Could Sleep 4:53

B1 Why Can't I Be You? 3:14
B2 How Beautiful You Are 5:14
B3 The Snakepit 6:59
B4 Hey You !!! 2:22

C1 Just Like Heaven 3:30
C2 All I Want 5:19
C3 Hot Hot Hot !!! 3:33
C4 One More Time 4:30
C5 Like Cockatoos 3:39

D1 Icing Sugar 3:49
D2 The Perfect Girl 2:34
D3 A Thousand Hours 3:23
D4 Shiver and Shake 3:28
D5 Fight 4:27

A The Kiss
B The Snakepit
C Just Like Heaven
D Shiver and Shake

Side B is the weakest, and the choice there was easy, but otherwise this is really tough!

A If Only Tonight We Could Sleep
B How Beautiful You Are
C Like Cockatoos
D A Thousand Hours

:D @ this album so far, especially Torture into If Only Tonight, awesome stuff

The drumming on this album is brilliant. They never really recovered after Boris left.

Oh shit, my copy doesn't have "Hey You!" on it :(

"You're just three sick holes that run like sores" is a lyric calculated to make one recoil. It stings.

A If Only Tonight We Could Sleep
B The Snakepit
C Like Cockatoos
D Shiver and Shake

A If only tonight we could Sleep
B How Beautiful are you
C Just Like Heaven
D Shiver and Shake

not ranking, but icing sugar is grebt.

A The Kiss
B The Snakepit
C what the hell this is impossible
D Fight

Haha, so you're a fan of the boiling, building agony-mounters! :D

(The Snakepit is awesome, but I'm not yet sure it's awesomer than, say, The Wailing Wall)

I've reached The Perfect Girl and this is a super album.

A1 The Kiss 6:14
B3 The Snakepit 6:59
C1 Just Like Heaven 3:30
D3 A Thousand Hours 3:23

On side A, I vacillate between "The Kiss" and "Catch".
On side B, it's "How Beautiful You Are..." and "The Snakepit".
On side C, it is literally all of them. fucking hell
On side D, it's "The Perfect Girl", "Shiver and Shake" and "Fight".

Like Dan this was my Cure gateway, but I gotta admit that the protracted introductions bore me now (Christgau: "Samey samey samey is the strategy--repeat repeat repeat repeat the same four-bar theme for sixteen, twenty-four, forty-eight, sixty-four bars"). I suppose I can defend them as proto-trance or something, but I won't bother, with the exception of "If Only Tonight We Could Sleep," whose Around the World in a Day version of Far Eastern music depends on samey samey samey.

I think the builds of "The Kiss" and "The Snakepit" are flat-out genius, rivalled in their catalog only by "Faith" and "All Cats Are Grey".

I still find absolutely charming their dilettantish approach to "world" music and different styles (fake French accordeons, fake sitars, sloppy funk work-outs etc).

I still think the video to "Why Can't I Be U?" is one of the funniest things ever filmed.

This album is the sound of a band having fun in the studio.

http://video.aol.com/video-detail/the-cure-why-cant-i-be-you/1016802999/?icid=VIDLRV01

lol also why did I go all Prince for a second

with the help of red wine and heaps of drugs.

(xxpost)

I think the builds of "The Kiss" and "The Snakepit" are flat-out genius, rivalled in their catalog only by "Faith" and "All Cats Are Grey".

ooooh boy we're gonna have words (when I've worked out just how many awesome Cure build you've snubbed)

*builds

I'm more fond of "Open" as a, well, opener.

Some of The Cure's great builds aren't at the start of the song, see for instance the build to the second chorus of "The Promise"

looking forward to watching LJ school Dan on the cure

So much wisdom will be revealed.

Even something like "The Caterpillar" (which just came on) has a genuinely brilliant, in fact near-perfect build-up, introducing so many musical and emotional themes with busy percussion, playful piano leads and some dramatic off-kilter strings. It's not quite as spectacular as, say, "The Kiss" or "Pornography" or "Homesick" or whatever, but it further adds to the fact that Smith really knew how to write a motherfukken song, and REALLY knew how to make a song's sound work with its title and lyrical themes.

that should read "MERELY with busy percussion..."

The sounds and themes of a caterpillar.

Yeah, but also themes of doubt, of excitement, of confusion, hesitancy, which all tie in with the song's allegorical romantic purpose. All of these themes are musically conveyed by that 30-second intro.

My brother does an amazing fucking impression of how Robert Smith acts in videos.

yeah dude for practical intents and purposes 30 seconds is not long enough for something to qualify as a build in a Cure song

and both "Faith" and "All Cats Are Grey" are better than "Homesick"

You can have "All Cats Are Grey" any day of the week, amazing song. Not so sure about "Faith" yet. *amends iTunes selection*

When that water-drop sound-effect comes in with the keyboards, it's like the saddest moment in music or something

...and even then, it isn't my favourite track on the album (that would be "The Drowning Man")

No, "All Cats Are Grey" owns that album IMO (altho the segues on the second half are among the greatest achievements in Western music)

whoa

It's definitely up there ALMOST alongside "The Drowning Man" for me, somewhere near "The Funeral Party" in a sort-of tie for second. The organ/piano call and response in the outro as well...oh man.

ENOUGH FAITH TALK, THIS THREAD IS ABOUT KMx3

I think the most underrated song on this album is "The Perfect Girl".

I REALLY liked "The Perfect Girl" on my Big Listen-Through just now

(fwiw, on listening just now, for the first time in a while, it's clear that ACAG is MILES ahead of TFP)

"A Letter to Elise" is an inferior version of "The Perfect Girl."

("The Funeral Party" is my dad's favorite Cure song!)

Also Alfred OTM.

I always felt that "A Letter to Elise" was an inferior version of "Catch"!

It's kind of a cross between the two, isn't it.

"But I used to try to catch Elise
She was the closest thing to perfect to me."

Like Cockatoos, no hesitation

― From Rax to Rich's (jjjusten)

Ditto.

FYI - this is my favorite snow-shoveling album of all time, I habitually pull it out every time we get a snowstorm worthy of sidewalk clearing.

I listened to this album during dental work once. The dentist said I could put a CD on and I was like, "Hey I have one on me!" and it really wasn't the best selection for a soundtrack to teeth drilling.

hahahaha

I think I voted too quickly (for "Why Can't I Be You?") forgetting that I have inordinate love for "Catch."

xxp hahahhaha

Perfect Girl is the weakest song on the album. As a Cure-obsessed teen, my fave would have been 'Snakepit'. 'The Kiss' is a con tender too but I might have overplayed it. Maybe I should stand up for If Only Tonight, which doesnt get enough love on this thread.

Also OTM to whoever wrt 'All Cats are Grey'. The build-up but also the last coda is probably this band's finest achievement.

You guys are all right about this being an amazing album. What's even more impressive (and would make this poll even more impossible) is that the B-sides released during this era were also way up there with what made it on the album. I mean if "Breathe" was on KM3 it would get my vote.
As it is, I'm torn between "If Only Tonight", "Like Cockatoos", "How Beautiful...", and "The Snakepit".

And yes "All Cats Are Grey" is godlike genius.

it really wasn't the best selection for a soundtrack to teeth drilling.

I shudder at the thought of hearing Pornography at the dentist's instead, though.

You'll never watch Marathon Man the same way.

"It is a simple choice between pain and relief...and it doesn't matter if we all die."

I always felt that "A Letter to Elise" was an inferior version of "Catch"!
I always felt Catch was an inferior version of 'A letter to Elise'.

Wow, did I love The Cure. But I loathed this album when it came out and I still do. It seemed to me to sound like the little scraps of multicolored construction paper left over from the grand spectacle of "The Head On The Door." I always thought "The Perfect Girl" was excellent, though. But I am unreliable, I think "The Top" is highly entertaining and it gets no love at all.

Adding another vote to "Just Like Heaven's" landslide. Even with such a great song as "Catch" in the competition, this is no doubt really.

Some of The Cure's great builds aren't at the start of the song, see for instance the build to the second chorus of "The Promise" searing guitar lead in Bloodflowers

Now we're talking!

This is one of my least favourite Cure albums btw. But like most double albums, it would have worked out great as a single one.

No no no

perfect as it is

sprawling, daring and FUN

sbdy OTM upthread about this being the band of having the most awesome time in a studio - one of these moments when touched by grace everything you dabble with turns to gold. Maybe not my favorite, but this is really the ultimate Cure album.

i agree with geir actually, as far as this being one of the cure's worst records. definitely long and sprawling, but in the most erratic way. i never did quite warm to this band when it was in lucky dip mode. i much prefer the unity of sound they managed to encapsulate across albums such as 'disintegration', where they channeled fewer and more specific moods and nailed them. robert smith in uber-zealous vocal mode is also a little irksome for me these days. and as far as the whole juxtaposition of dark and light shades from song to song goes, i think 'wish' did a much better job. and that album had awesome production that holds up really nicely. 'kiss me...' seems a little dated in its sound, and whereas cure records previous to this almost seem contemporary due to the manner in which their fundamental feel and sonic textures have been recreated by newer bands countless times since, this one finds itself as a bit of an odd man out - sounding a little too singular and isolated in its era for its own good.

AS IF JUST LIKE HEAVEN ISN'T GOING TO WIN! MOST PREDICTABLE ILX POLL EVER

I don't care what wins, I just hope every song gets at least one vote.

THIS IS A MOSTLY BORING RECORD HELLO

I don't remember how even half these songs go and I don't care, honestly.

Bimb!

Have you ever heard "Gerry and the Holograms" ?

Yes! Didn't you see I posted on that New Order thread already about it? Ah, time zones...

No I didn't! Even upped it to m'website.

(Increased Resistance = "Murder" too!)

Which thread, anyroad?

I remember listening to this for the first time on headphones in a record shop in Amsterdam when it came out. I wasn't so sure about the Cure's poppier direction at the time, The Head on the Door didn't do that much for me (and still doesn't)... within minutes I was sold, "The Kiss" was such an overwhelming experience on first listen. I also remember seeing mysterious little posters with just "Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me" scrawled all over them before it came out...

This album was a watershed event in my life.

The only imperfect moment is Fight.

i listened to the deluxe remastered version of this album for this poll and was blown away. sure it would have been an excellent single album but there is very little fat on this record.

doing that four song thing from above but taking out "Just Like Heaven" because it really isn't far, here is what i come up with:

A1 The Kiss 6:14
B2 How Beautiful You Are... 5:14
C3 Hot Hot Hot!!! 3:33
C2 All I Want 5:19

i'm going to play it again!

*fair

I voted for "Catch"

i just voted for four songs but now i see it is each letter so (finally read this whole thread):

A1 "The Kiss"
B2 "How Beautiful You Are..."
C2 "All I Want"
D2 "The Perfect Girl"

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

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

boy are people hearing things in 'like cockatoos' that i'm not. NINE people think it's the best song?!

well OBVIOUSLY the answer is 'if only tonight we could sleep' - fucking brilliance

the two 6+ minute ones are also stone superb

12. "One More Time" – 4:29 1

This solitary vote makes me sad.

This poll had the correct winner. A great song from a not so overall satisfactory album.

Head on The Door and this; a 2 year absoloute peak i'm saying. an astonishing run of songs in a crazy short time as good as any bands' ever.

tbh you could say that about the entirety of the band's output up to that point and arguably their output for the next 5 years

C what the hell this is impossible

great remix of this iirc

Somebody should do a poll of the Kiss Me b-sides, which were all completely great. The vinyl version of this I bought came with a bright orange third disc of all the b-sides, and I listened to that way more than the actual album! A Japanese Dream, Breathe, A Chain of Flowers, Snow in Summer, Sugar Girl.

AJD vs ACoF

"Snow in Summer" is one of my favorite Cure songs.

lol apparently I did do an "all b-sides" poll

WILL THE MADNESS NEVER STOP??? (The Cure B-Side poll)

Probably my favorite Cure era. I agree the B-Sides are all great. It was a very prolific and creative time for them.

heh, the all b-sides poll is too broad! just kiss me. I feel they kinda point the way towards disintegration.

Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me was an album that came out just as the CD became 'the format' that really worked with the extra time. This and Staring/Standing on a Beach were all over the place when I was a freshman in college.

It's kind of weird to see "Torture" or "All I Want" with no votes, but there is so many really good songs on this CD, it's not hard to see why it might not get a vote. It's a cool song.

except ironically Kiss Me didn't fit on a CD so they left Hey You!!! off

.. because that was the "title" track, sort of.

Somebody should do a poll of the Kiss Me b-sides, which were all completely great. The vinyl version of this I bought came with a bright orange third disc of all the b-sides, and I listened to that way more than the actual album! A Japanese Dream, Breathe, A Chain of Flowers, Snow in Summer, Sugar Girl.

― the girl from spirea x (f. hazel), Monday, 13 June 2011 19:51

I went through a period of listening to the orange vinyl b-sides disc more than the album.

except ironically Kiss Me didn't fit on a CD so they left Hey You!!! off

― reallysmoothmusic (Jamie_ATP), Tuesday, 14 June 2011 09:06

and left "Fight" on it for some reason...

just listened through and even fights not THAT bad - how'd they do that? can't believe i hadn't listened to this in so long, every song on the album deserved a vote.

i'd dare say it's sign o the times good, all eyez on me good, exile on main street etc etc good some artist/bands just go through a period where they couldn't play a crap note if they tried. every b-side they recorded around this period was awesome as well

yeah, from 1985 to 1989 they could do no wrong.

I started listening to "The Kiss" to make a point about The Cure on another thread and I think I'm basically just going to play this entire album through

Wisdom.

we did a "favorite KM^3 side" poll, didn't we (ps: the answer is 3)

oh man "One More Time" is just so great, how he slides from his howl into his falsetto

I got into The Cure via 'The Cure In Orange' and the 'Standing On The Beach' compilation, so when I was initially buying and getting into Cure albums, I investigated everything from the beginning up until 1985 first and then everything else afterwards... this would have been in around 2000, so 'Bloodflowers' would have just been released or being close to being released.

As a result, I've always kinda had a preference towards The Cure's work from Three Imaginary Boys up until and including The Head On The Door. I like Disintegration, but I've always felt its CD configuration to be a touch overlong and have always preferred to listen to it in its vinyl/cassette incarnation (which admittedly is quite a long album in itself). Wish, too, I've always felt could do with a bit of a trim.

With Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me, I know that excess is the point, but I've always felt that it would have been of great benefit to the best of the material here if it had been condensed into something a little more easier to digest, like The Top or The Head On The Door. Problem is, I've attempted to scale this down into a single many many times, drawing up loads of different tracklistings and I can never quite make up my mind. So it's an album that I end up dipping in and out of, rather than listen to as a whole. I'm not one of these people that dislikes double albums either: I can listen to all two hours of Smashing Pumpkins' Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness and enjoy the ride completely. I just don't think The Cure are much good at making long albums.

i think this is a good time to post this, though i don't agree with all of it:

http://www.popmatters.com/pm/post/125241-masters-of-the-form-the-cure-1987-kiss-me-kiss-me-kiss-me

and one of the comments:

kafka

the amazing thing about the cure’s popularity is that they never had a publicist or someone from a record company whos job it was to get them publicity. They didn’t want publicity. I think Robert Smith would do a couple interviews every album release and that was it.

I worked at elektra in the 80’s and 90’s and the feeling was - these guys are weird - the lead singer wears lipstick (that was really weird back then) So we just left them alone. They made the record label loads of money because no money had to be spent to promote them - they had their fan base and it was a cult phenomenon

1 year ago

i think the Cure just had too many ideas around this time that this album had to be a double. they could have made a even better record if they replaced a few songs with some of their amazing b-sides from this era. it could have been another classic. i think i like this album more than The Head on the Door but not positive about that statement.

Yeah, I can completely understand why this album ended up being a double. Not to knock the core trio of Smith/Gallup/Tolhurst that made the Seventeen Seconds, Faith and Pornography trio of records (not forgetting, of course, Matthieu Hartley on Seventeen Seconds also), but with The Head On The Door, I think that for the first time in the bands lifetime, The Cure had a line-up which could pretty much turn their hand successfully to all styles of Cure music. Not to mention that they gelled into a pretty damn impressive musical unit, and of course they looked the part too (I could never have imagined Phil Thornalley as a long-serving member of The Cure, really, whatever his production, writing and playing skills). With all of this in mind, I think it's natural that they would have wanted to see how far they could go with this line-up, and Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me ended up being the result.

I really would have loved to have seen what kind of album that line-up circa The Top (Smith/Thornalley/Thompson/Tolhurst/Anderson) would have made if they'd made another album. A lot of other Cure line-ups seem to have a 'defining' album to them... whether it's the Smith/Gallup/Tolhurst trio that made Pornography, the Smith/Gallup/Thompson/Tolhurst/Williams five-piece that made The Head On The Door, the Smith/Gallup/Thompson/O'Donnell/Williams line-up that made Disintegration (bit of a one-album wonder, that line-up), or even the Smith/Gallup/Bamonte/O'Donnell/Cooper line-up that made Bloodflowers... but that 1984 line-up just seems to be, like, lost in the mists of time...

So, following my recent relisten of Head on the Door, I tackled the mighty KMKMKM next. I enjoyed it a lot more overall, I think it hangs together as a coherent album better than Head... despite being so much longer, and the highlights are many and continue to reveal themselves anew despite the fact I must've heard the album hundreds of times now (The Snakepit and Torture in particular stuck with me on this listen). I still have my criticisms: the weakest moments for me are gathered near the end of the record - I could do without One More Time, The Perfect Girl and A Thousand Years - but Shiver & Shake and Fight help pick up the slack somewhat. Boris Williams is a monster drummer and his presence is sorely missed. Though I'd been forewarned about the relative weakness of the bonus disc on the reissue of Kiss Me, I found the early instrumental demos pretty fascinating listening (if not something I expect I'll return to very often).

It's funny, I love the 1980-1984 run so much that I struggle to identify a weak moment on any of those records yet I can quite clearly pick what doesn't work for me out of the 1985-1992 material despite thinking that period represents the band at the height of their powers. The good bits are frequent and astonishingly good however so I guess it all evens out.

(slight clarification)

"Boris Williams is a monster drummer and his presence is sorely missed."

These days, you know what I mean.

I am posting under trying circumstances (er, small children yanking on my arms/ability to form coherent thoughts).

I worked at elektra in the 80’s and 90’s and the feeling was - these guys are weird - the lead singer wears lipstick (that was really weird back then) So we just left them alone. They made the record label loads of money because no money had to be spent to promote them - they had their fan base and it was a cult phenomenon

I remember Robert Smith complaining in the 80s that the Cure were sent on long and far-reaching tours (Japan, Australia/NZ, Latin America etc) because the record company had worked out that music fans in those countries love any group that visits there and become devoted record-buyers - and only the Cure was prepared to do it.

Of course, you can never trust what he says in interviews.

It's always nice to read someone love 1980-1984, as to my ears the band were still purging the glum stuff that they would integrate more successfully starting in 1985.

huh interesting record company perspective. I interviewed Robert in 1984 and 1986, don't remember any reluctance or difficulty, guess I got lucky. Remember him as thoughtful, cooperative. '84 interview (for Star Hits) took place in a Boston area laundromat while he washed his clothes!

well he's mainly notorious for telling outright lies in interviews

I could do without One More Time, The Perfect Girl and A Thousand Years - but Shiver & Shake and Fight help pick up the slack somewhat.

I would turn that sentence on its head. Fight, in particular, is a terrible song.

as to my ears the band were still purging the glum stuff that they would integrate more successfully starting in 1985.

otm. I'm not entirely averse to the early stuff but it gets kind of repetitive and tiresome - they became much more interesting when they decided to broaden the palette (and be goofy/funny)

otoh they needed Seventeen Seconds and Faith to create "Sinking," for which I'd trade almost anything on those albums.

Whenever i listen to "Kiss Me..." the album-ending Fight leaves its resonating notes echoing in silence. I love the unresolved flavor of this coda and i usually sit quietly for a few minutes thinking, "damn, that's a great album.... i really want to play it again... but what if i do and i don't feel the same when the album ends the second time???" Fight is the perfect ending to a nearly perfect album that always leaves me wanting for more -- maybe it should have been a triple album (however, the available b-sides indicate they pretty much emptied the hamper on this one).

as to my ears the band were still purging the glum stuff that they would integrate more successfully starting in 1985.

otm. I'm not entirely averse to the early stuff but it gets kind of repetitive and tiresome - they became much more interesting when they decided to broaden the palette (and be goofy/funny)

― Οὖτις, Friday, June 5, 2015 12:20 PM (14 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

totally. the more paisley pop/bedroom orientalist the cure are, the more I like them

yeah we all like dirges about slaughterhouses (hey, who doesn't) but the fuzzy surrealist tinkertoy pop songs are more fun

that Lol interview linked in the head on the door thread (but dating from KMKMKM era) is awesome and endearing, he talks about their love of exotic synth presets

I love that kinda shit, love hearing what gear was used etc.

B-sides/extras from this era include:

A Japanese Dream
Breathe
A Chain of Flowers
To The Sky

...so I disagree with bodacious ignoramus pretty vehemently re: "emptying the hamper"

I really love "Catch", the sustained violin drone makes me think of "Sunday Morning".

I listened to this album during dental work once. The dentist said I could put a CD on and I was like, "Hey I have one on me!" and it really wasn't the best selection for a soundtrack to teeth drilling.

― i'm shy (Abbott), Wednesday, February 18, 2009 3:56 PM (6 years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

LOL I did this too, at age 16, but with Rembrandt Pussyhorse. Also it was on my walkman + headphones and not audible to the dentist. It was kind of perfect for tooth drilling.

4 tracks as b-sides is not enough; and likely left aside intentionally for single and 12-inch sales

that's why they're B-sides.

'A Chain of Flowers' is really one of their best songs ever.

I think "Breathe" is pretty astonishing.

maybe it should have been a triple album

there was a triple album version on orange vinyl with all the b-sides on a third disc, so

i thought that orange extra lp was mostly live -- no?

Nope.

http://www.discogs.com/Cure-Kiss-Me-Kiss-Me-Kiss-Me/release/1738471

But all of that material was made available on the box set.

You're thinking of a VHS, not an LP.

The Top has its critics, but this to me is The Cure's first ropey album - and even then it's only ropey because the nature of the double album has allowed the inclusion of a handful of less than great tracks. I'd put this down as my least favourite album of theirs that they put out in the '80s, actually, while still being above pretty much everything from Wild Mood Swings onwards.

Maybe one of the tracks from the Orange LP is strong enough to make the cut, but these orphans are mostly half-baked or remixes that bring nothing new to the original tracks. So, i still contend that they did indeed empty the hamper.

I remember when this record came out that i was so poor that i had to choose between the double LP + Orange or the cassette -- i chose the cassette because i didn't have easy access to a turntable and just couldn't tolerate any delay in listening to it. The summer of '87 had this one on heavy rotation.

does anyone else find this album uncharacteristically lazy on a lyrical level?

Compared to Wild Mood Swings or (as much as I enjoy it) Bloodflowers? No.

he walked out of her house
And looked around
At all the gardens that looked
Back at her house
(Like all the faces
That quiz when you smile... )

And he was standing
At the corner
Where the road turned dark
A part of shiny wet
Like blood the rain fell
Black down on the street

And kissed his feet she fell
Her head an inch away from heaven
And her face pressed tight
And all around the night sang out
Like cockatoos

"There are a thousand things" he said
"I'll never say those things to you again"
And turning on his heel
He left a trace of bubbles
Bleeding in his stead

And in her head
A picture of a boy who left her
Lonely in the rain
(And all around the night sang out
Like cockatoos)

favorite section of this record rn is "like cockatoos" -> "icing sugar"

otm

This is easily my least favourite album of theirs from their golden 1979-1992 period. There's highlights galore as is typically the case with prime-era Cure, but also a fair bit of filler - particularly on the back half of the album. This really didn't need to be a double album, tbh.

Would have voted for 'Just Like Heaven' as its one of their all-time best and the best song on the LP.

There's no filler on this album imo - the only thing that comes close is Hey You, and that's still pretty wonderful.

half of side 4 is filler IMO ("Icing Sugar", "A Thousand Hours") but I think the rest of the album is essential (and I like "Icing Sugar" even though I think it's a wholly unnecessary song)

Speaking of Hey You, KM3 one of the rare albums featuring both real brass and conspicuously fake brass.

...a hot August night provides the perfect opportunity to spin this masterpiece of potpourriness once again.

I like the back half of this album a hell of a lot more than when I first heard it (which was about ?seventeen? years ago). 'Like Cockatoos' is obviously the winner on record two of the album, but I've always had a soft spot for 'One More Time' and 'A Thousand Hours.' Just really dreamy songs.

'Catch' has one of my all time favorite RS lyrics: "Sometimes we would spend the night, just rolling about on the floor. I remember, even though it felt soft at the time, I always used to wake up sore."

Also, two of their best b-sides ever came out of the sessions for this album, in 'To the Sky' and the godlike 'A Chain of Flowers.'

Good stuff.

Although, 'To the Sky' was not really a proper b-side, per se.

Turd; argue Kiss Me -vs- Invisible Touch. Be old; go ahead.

'Like Cockatoos', 'Shiver and Shake', 'One More Time', 'The Snakepit', 'A Thousand Hours', 'Icing Sugar', 'Hey You!' and 'Fight' are the tracks that I would willingly cut if I was trying to trim this down to a single LP.

It's most bizarre that Invisible Touch has been brought up here, though - the two albums have very little in common bar being released in the same decade.

"like cockatoos" is one of the best cure songs ever

Totally. Otherwise I agree with Turrican's cuts.

Also keep "The Snakepit", "One More Time", and "Fight". I love "Shiver and Shake" but it's not essential.

you both are tripping re: "one more time" and "fight" but ok

xp

I kind of feel the same way about the end (4th side?) of Kiss Me as Xgau felt about Sandinista!. There's been so much range and so much awesome stuff, consider it a bunch of bonus tracks and b-sides to enjoy if you're inclined.

Hm, I guess I linked my Quietus piece from this year on another thread? Well, here it is for this one.

http://thequietus.com/articles/22262-the-cure-kiss-me-kiss-me-kiss-me-review-anniversary

I'm less fond of sprawling Cure (I don't like Disintegration much either), so y'all are warned.

Ha, speaking of XGau, I always loved this review:

"Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me [Elektra, 1987]
Samey samey samey is the strategy--repeat repeat repeat repeat the same four-bar theme for sixteen, twenty-four, forty-eight, sixty-four bars before Robert Smith starts to whine, wail, warble, work. Because Smith hasn't veered this far pop since he was a boy, most of the themes stick with you, and in a few cases--my pick is "Just Like Heaven," which gets off to a relatively quick start--his romantic vagaries have universal potential. But especially over a double album, the strategy gets pretty tedious unless Smith happens to be whining, wailing, warbling, or working to you. B"

I find this record way more interesting than Disintegration. It may be their last truly groundbreaking work.

I view the record as being an inflated version of The Head on the Door, in the same way as I view Disintegration as being an inflated version of Faith.

If it's an inflated version of anything, I'd link it to The Top. The Head on the Door is, overall, a far poppier album.

yep

The Head on the Door is definitely a poppier record overall, although many tracks from Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me could have fit snugly on it and vice versa.

I can see a link between the messy sprawl of Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me and The Top, but The Top has a distinct, slightly foggy feel to it that Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me doesn't.

Eh, I don't know about that: The Kiss, Torture, If Only Tonight We Could Sleep, How Beautiful You Are..., The Snakepit, All I Want, Like Cockatoos, Icing Sugar, Shiver and Shake... all of them seem to fit pretty well into the vibe I get from The Top, and that's half the album.

Invisible Touch was brought up to once again showcase your ineptitude; well done.

Invisible Touch could have been a good name for a Cure song or album.

The Top is murkier and in places more intense - it's easy to picture 'The Caterpillar' on Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me but there's nothing as all-out as 'Give Me It' on there - 'Shiver and Shake' doesn't really come close for me. There's nothing as murky as 'Shake Dog Shake' or anything as despairing as 'The Top' ... the "downer" tracks on Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me feel curiously false at times.

bodacious ignoramus is 49 years old. Yeah... I know, right!?

There isn't really anything as all out as "Give Me It" on any of The Cure's other albums so I don't really get that criticism. All of songs I listed have a similar disorienting murkiness to them that you can find in "Shake Dog Shake" and "Wailing Wall", with the most obvious ones being "The Kiss", "Like Cockatoos", and "The Snakepit".

It's not like the albums are exactly the same but you can't say that KMKMKM and THOTD are exactly the same, either; I think the similarities to The Top are stronger.

"all i want" is such a good song

quite certain you have have accumulated earwax of the same vintage

I guess another way of looking at it could be that Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me is the logical endpoint of the Cure sound that began on Japanese Whispers, like Pornography was the logical endpoint for the first era of The Cure.

Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me, Disintegration and Wish were all stadium size versions of stuff they'd done before.

the top def feels different bcuz rs made it on mushrooms and the other albums he did not make while on mushrooms

There isn't really anything as all out as "Give Me It" on any of The Cure's other albums so I don't really get that criticism.

It's not a criticism of Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me at all, just part of an observation of the differences between the two records.

All of songs I listed have a similar disorienting murkiness to them that you can find in "Shake Dog Shake" and "Wailing Wall", with the most obvious ones being "The Kiss", "Like Cockatoos", and "The Snakepit".

Hmm, I disagree - quite a lot of the murky quality of The Top comes from how frazzled Robert Smith himself seems to be, the way the record was made and the relative lack of clarity in the overall production/mix... Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me feels more focused, more "together" and has more clarity in the production and Smith sounds like he's in a more healthier headspace, even on the downbeat tracks - the end result consequently feels a lot lighter to me.

"all i want" is such a good song

― ToddBonzalez (BradNelson), Tuesday, August 8, 2017 5:53 PM (fourteen minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Yeah, I love that one - such a biting guitar sound.

Funnily enough, I once knew someone who actually said to me "all of The Cure's albums sound the same" ... had to laugh at that one.

The Top and Kiss Me have next to no sameness between them. I can't imagine anything from the Top being handled by Bob Clearmountain.

Bob Clearmountain wouldn't have touched later Cure material either

He did a mix of 'How Beautiful You Are', which I'm not really keen on... and I respect Clearmountain's mixing skills and obvious talent a great deal.

The Top mixed by Bob Clearmountain would be interesting - it'd probably end up quite a different record, even with the same source material.

BC also did the mixdowns for all of the single edits from Kiss Me.

"All I Want" absolutely got robbed. thou i could not vote for it as my favorite on this album, it's still top tier Cure. so glad something like this exist as an album track even though the Cure have some of the best B-Sides of all-time. this is an example of a double album done right. at a band letting their hair down and stretching it out and seeing what happens.

"Tonight i'm getting so old"

so i actually saw this tour.

July 14, 1987 at The Forum, Inglewood, California:

-) Eyemou (Intro film)
1. The Kiss
2. Torture
3. All I Want
4. A Japanese Dream
5. Catch
6. Just Like Heaven
7. Hot Hot Hot!!!
8. If Only Tonight We Could Sleep
9. Like Cockatoos
10. The Walk
11. In Between Days
12. How Beautiful You Are...
13. The Perfect Girl
14. The Snakepit
15. A Forest
16. Fight

Encore:

17. Close to Me
18. Let's Go to Bed

Encore 2:

19. One More Time
20. Shiver and Shake

Encore 3:

21. Three Imaginary Boys
22. Primary
23. Boys Don't Cry
24. Why Can't I Be You?

i also saw them the next night and one of the changes was:

Encore 2:

A Thousand Hours
Shiver and Shake
Hey You!

Only current album cuts until the 10th song. That’s confidence

Just Like Heaven is just so awesome, maybe my favorite song by anyone, if I had to pick

I saw them about a few weeks after in Worcester, MA.

rocked this album last night. still so classic. love the synth flute on those instrumental tracks.

this is the only cure album i own, bought in a video game store/USED CD section when I was a teenager. Despite this, and hearing other album, feel like it's one of their best

Out of everything they'd put out from 1979-1992, I'd probably rank it last.

i would probably rank Kiss me over Three Imaginary Boys but not over Boys Don't Cry. it's also better than Seventeen Seconds but would take "A Forest" over "Just Like Heaven" probably take "Faith" over it too.

This was easily my favourite Cure album when I was a teenager. It was the one album of theirs that seemed to have it all -- every mood (good or bad) that I was feeling, every drop of elation or sadness, anger and joy, bouncy pop songs, heavy ballads, everything.

But I think I prefer the relative cohesion of Pornography or Disintegration these days.

yeah there are other Cure albums id say are better but im fine w enjoying this on a rainy day it really hits the spot

My first exposure to The Cure was the singles collection, which I loved, so the eclecticism of Kiss Me fit right alongside that nicely. Unfortunately, this meant that I didn't really enjoy their more cohesive albums nearly as much. I find myself struggling to get through many of the albums that hardcore Cure fans consider to be their best.

This is the first Cure album that I couldn't just enjoy start to finish. There are a couple filler tracks imo, and "Catch" is just insipid.

loooove Catch.

reminds me of a girl i think i used to know

"Catch" is one of Robert's most enduring songs. one of the highlights from this impeccable album.

"Catch" is so great, perfect second song on this record. "The Perfect Girl" kinda sounds like "Sweet Home Alabama."

Love "Catch," don't love a lot of this album.

I love Catch too, but I still can't believe it was a single. I think I ended up with two different versions of the 12". Great song but odd choice for a single.

I think it's an odd choice for a second single, especially when "Just Like Heaven" is an option. But I think it would've made sense as the 4th single after "Hot Hot Hot!!!".

This is the first Cure album that I couldn't just enjoy start to finish. There are a couple filler tracks imo, and "Catch" is just insipid.

― rip van wanko, Sunday, October 8, 2017 5:37 PM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Yeah, I mostly agree... I can listen to everything from Three Imaginary Boys up until The Head on the Door without really wanting to skip anything, even the tracks I'm less keen on. Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me probably would have worked better condensed down to a single LP.

'Catch' is... alright, I suppose. One of the lesser/less essential '80s tracks, and a momentum killer on the record, too... I find myself often skipping it to get to the excellent 'Torture'

That 'Torture' got zero votes and 'Catch' got five is just stupid.

just listened to Catch and it really hit me. It's been a while.

I love "Catch" and "Torture". KMKMKM is my favorite Cure album. I love that it's long, I wish they'd found a way to include "A Japanese Dream" and "Breathe" too.

Torture, Hey You and Fight are the only bum notes on this album. The length, the sprawl, the scope are key to the album. HOTD sounds like a set of tinny demos in comparison

The Head on the Door is one of the absolute best records The Cure ever made, so I couldn't possibly agree.

To each their own. I’d rank it at the bottom of their pre-92 imperial phase

Did you mean Chain of Flowers and Breathe? I thought A Japanese Dream was pre-87

HOTD is the best Cure album though.

Eh.

"A Japanese Dream" was the B-Side to "Why Can't I Be You". (x-post)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=npIBmz_i8_A

Oh yeah, that is good. I was thinking of The Upstairs Room.

I can hear the cockatoo wings.

Nice capsule; hard disagree on Shiver and Shake but otherwise on board. I remember waiting and waiting for this to come out, it was too much to digest.

Just Like Heaven may be the best song ever written.

(NB: only a writer would write the line, “Daylight licked me into shape”)

The concept dates back to antiquity, people used to think bears were born as formless masses and the parents literally licked them into shape.

Shoulda been a single. THIS mix!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yWHXQU23V4o

The concept dates back to antiquity, people used to think bears were born as formless masses and the parents literally licked them into shape.

― avellano medio inglés (f. hazel)

Sure! I just meant the verb.

that's the verb you use for that idiom, to lick something into shape... I must be missing something

No, I am. I didn't know this idiom existed, much less to be used in a pop song. Thanks!

ah man "torture" is amazing

i actually like "Hot Hot Hot!!!" the song is just so funky and fun. they were just throwing things at the wall and made a double album out of it. didn't like it as a single and agree with piscesx that "How Beautiful You Are" should have been the single instead. "A Thousand Hours" need to be on the album as it fits in at the perfect time. "Torture" is stunning, so heavy. i would probably only rank "Shiver and Shake" and "Hey You" in the meh category. the later might just be a product of being left off of the original CD version and never really found it's way back. my two cents in 2020 and good piece Alfred.

today i would probably vote for "All I Want."

We happen to be sitting in our living room, watching a TV production of their 40th Anniversary concert (Hyde Park, London), with closed captioning on. I’ve really never paid attention to his lyrics before, but a lot of them kinda read like “dummy” lyrics... I dunno.

Every song on this is so good, except for "A Thousand Hours" which I hate

i actually like "Hot Hot Hot!!!" the song is just so funky and fun. they were just throwing things at the wall and made a double album out of it. didn't like it as a single and agree with piscesx that "How Beautiful You Are" should have been the single instead. "A Thousand Hours" need to be on the album as it fits in at the perfect time. "Torture" is stunning, so heavy. i would probably only rank "Shiver and Shake" and "Hey You" in the meh category. the later might just be a product of being left off of the original CD version and never really found it's way back. my two cents in 2020 and good piece Alfred.

― Bee OK, Wednesday, April 22, 2020

Thank you. I prefer the Mixed Up version of HHH!!! but the vocal is an intestinal cramp.

you’re an intestinal cramp

*groan*

I love this record and I really love the b-sides disc it came with. My favourite orange thing in the world.

https://www.popsike.com/pix/20120318/251020704065.jpg

omigod

Oh that is beautiful

I would cut Torture and Fight (both cheesy in similar ways) but the rest is perfect. Why Can’t I Be You also grates.
It took me a while to get into them but these days, besides the obvious ones, 1000 Hours (Dan you are crazy) and Icing Sugar are amongst my faves.

FOR HOW MUCH LOOOONGER CAN I CATERWAUL LIKE A SAD VULTURE INTO THIS WIIII-HIIIIII-HINND

https://ssl.adam.com/graphics/images/en/19578.jpg

I would ditch Snakepit, Shiver and Shake, Torture, and Fight. Only saving Hey You because the album title is in the lyrics and Hot Hot Hot because of the kervorkian remix.

saving Hey You because the album title is in the lyrics
the album title is literally the first line of the first track, "The Kiss"

Bonus, then I’m happy to ditch Hey You too! Are there other albums where the title appears in the lyrics to different songs?

All this debate underscores my point -- thanks to Alfred for singling it out -- that the band essentially provided a full array of choices and left you to decide what works best.

xp: Yes, Wish is another album that has two potential title tracks.

"The Snakepit" and "Torture" are among the best songs on the album, IMO.

At one point I'd turned this album into a very angry/disjointed playlist:

The Kiss
Torture
How Beautiful You Are...
The Snakepit
All I Want
Like Cockatoos
Shiver and Shake
Fight

^^^ 100% baller IMO

Also, I played "Fight" in high school English class after we discussed "Do not go gentle into that good night" and got a bunch of the honors metalheads into the album.

Yeah I dunno. I find Fight pretty cringey these days. And Torture is mostly ruined by that dated horn preset.

Snakepit, If Only Tonight and Cuckatoos are all-time though.

"Torture" has a cracker of a bass line.

Boris/Simon/Pearl are so good on this album

Listening to this straight through for the first time in ages and I severely underrate this album

every song on this is flawless even the bad ones

I listened to that bright orange 12" of b-sides more than the actual album. Also I really loved the cover art during this era of the Cure, aside from the music. My favorite of all their logos!

Amazed I still have my vinyl copy of this after regrettably purging so many good quality records and CDs during my teen years.

It's my favorite Cure album. I think "A Japanese Dream" and "Breathe" should've been on it instead of "Shiver and Shake" and "A Thousand Hours", but it was an embarrassment of riches really.

hi!

speaking of b-sides that should've replaced lesser album cuts, "a chain of flowers" is actually one of their best songs, full stop.