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

'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.