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

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