Why is there no thread for The Cure's Disintegration?

I remember when I first heard this album, it was like nothing I'd ever heard before. Very dark, very pretty. My favorite Cure album, definitely in my top 5 all-time.

"Pictures of You" is the weak link and it's still great.

I remember telling a friend when it came out that the reason I kept listening to it was it was the only thing that fit my mood right then. A little while later he said he felt the same way about it.

I first heard it in like 2003 I think. It was when I was really starting to delve deep into dark '80s music and I was hoping that I'd find more music that has the je ne sais quoi that this album has.

Absolutely! Magnifique!

Anyway perhaps this isn't the right thread to mention it, but this quiet Black Sabbath comp that Matt H. made is freaking fantastic. I think it goes right along with Cure's Disintegration, actually.

Although I suppose I would concede that you might have to be in a certain mood for it.
-- Bimble, Sunday, October 28, 2007 2:28 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Link

You don't have to be in a certain mood. Disintegration is its own mood.

definitely in my top 5 all-time.
-- Curt1s Stephens, Sunday, October 28, 2007 3:04 PM (50 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

not intending to derail...but, Curt1s, what else?

I prefer "dark" The Cure with drum machines and analog synths. That is, 1980-82. "Disintegration", for me, is way overrated while the best of their later material is the more poppy stuff on albums such as "Head On The Door", Japanese Whispers" and even "Wild Mood Swings".

This has been a favorite of mine for quite a while. its one of those albums you can go back to again and again, it just has that endless quality to it.
"Just like Heaven" is their best song, but this is by far their best album.

what an albums! the opening chords of plainsong evoke some weird shit in me.

yeah the mid-'80s drum machined singles/Japanese Whispers era is also great. "Lament," "Just One Kiss," etc. are masterpieces.

and stephen: the only other ones I can think of at the moment are Strange Times by the Chameleons and Pink Moon by Nick Drake. The rest is kind of up in the air (Louder Than Bombs probably wouldn't count since it's a comp)

hey, there's nothing to say a compilation can't be a favorite!

Strange Times, great choice! i know it'd make the cut for my top 20-25, and i guess out of 1000+ albums owned (and who knows how many thousands more heard), that's saying something good.

Why is there no cure for the thread's disintegration?

A: I keep posting.

Heard of these guys.

my problem with this album is simple: "plainsong" is so perfect that the rest of it pales.

that's not to say i don't like it. i do. a lot. i just wish there was another moment on there that came close.

"Plainsong" is miles above almost anything recorded ever.

back to the album:

I saw the Cure on tour in 2004, Curiosa of course, and while the set was quite abbreviated (i.e. 2 instead of 3 hours), i remember in Dallas hearing at least five (maybe six) Disintegration songs, which was utterly fantastic for me at the time. still love this album, and really looking forward to the 2008 Cure shows.

Dallas TX setlist (from A Chain of Flowers), with Disintegration songs bolded:

Lost, Plainsong, Labyrinth, Fascination Street, Before Three, From the Edge of the Deep Green Sea, The End of the World, Anniversary, Lovesong, Inbetween Days, Just Like Heaven, Pictures of You, alt.end, A Strange Day, Disintegration, One Hundred Years, The Promise

Encore 1: M, Play For Today, A Forest

Encore 2: 10:15 Saturday Night, Boys Don't Cry.

i want to hear plainsong on the largest soundsystem ever

followed by running up that hill

hahaha cutty

Just had to slip in a Kate Bush mention, whoops! Hahaha. ;)

You know, I had a horrible experience where I played Disintegration (admittedly) on a crappy boombox when we were drywalling and repainting our living room, and a friend came by to lend a hand and part way through "Plainsong" she actually turned it off and said "now can we play something we can actually listen to?" I was gobsmacked and weirdly saddened by this episode.... so much so that this is the first time I've mentioned it to anyone and it must have happened, oh, three years ago or so!

(Needless to say, at the time, I said "no, you can't do that, you really fucking can't" and hit play again.)

So, um, anyway, I'm very glad to see I'm not weird and alone in my "Plainsong" love, after all.

god, I hope they play Plainsong first on this tour. I've never seen them live.

Some tremendous momments, indeed, but i wouldn't place it even in their top five.

So, um, anyway, I'm very glad to see I'm not weird and alone in my "Plainsong" love, after all.

Oh god no you're not alone. Plainsong, as mentioned upthread, is far and away the best part of this album, and comes to mind immediately when I think of pretty much perfect intros to albums.

I think there's a thread somewhere where people "stripped an album down to its essence", eliminating songs until the most important or most vital track remains that expresses the album's mood or theme or whatever. A dubious activity for the most part, but it made sense when people stripped everything off Disintegration except Plainsong.

"Plainsong" is great, as are "Pictures Of You" and "Lullaby" too. And "Untitled". And I am even finally starting to like "Lullaby" a bit. But I still feel like the entire album doesn't quite hold up. The "huge" sound doesn't fit with this kind of music.

i still put this on on rainy days when I've got nothing to do except smoke and drink red wine and listen to this, and i 'play it lou' as per the instructions.

lou, loud, whatever!

otm. that's when i want it.

this is the best coming down album ever.

I'm not sure I'd want to listen to Lullaby when coming down.

This was the first album I ever bought the day it came out, rushing from school to get a train to town before the shops shut.

I replaced that long-lost cassette with a nice vinyl copy (which I got for £4, along with Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me at the same price) just the other day, and it's great coming back to it. It sounds much better, and much grander than it did.

I partly agree with Geir, though. Something about those big drums doesn't sound quite right.

The sequencing of this albuum from "Prayers For Rain" onwards is one of the most perfect orderings of songs ever put together by a band.

This album alone really shaped my whole musical (and to a very large extent non-musical) world when it came out and I was 13. A friend had lent me a huge batch of tapes he got from Columbia House and after checking out the Midnight Oils, the Simple Minds and the Eurythmics, I finally put on that one tape. I knew straight from the opening synths of Plainsong that things would never really be the same for me. Utterly awesome.

When exactly did it come out? In my memory, I'm younger than the release date says. Must have been early in '89.

Spring '89. I remember getting a copy of it from a friend during track practice and playing it on a crappy crappy tape deck that was so bad I couldn't hear the chimes at the beginning of "Plainsong".

The live version of Fascination Street on what I now learn is called Entreat (I spent several pre-Internet years wondering what this was called) is absolutely fantastic, as I remember, although I haven't heard it in ... 16 years - Jesus.

Entreat is fucking amazing. That version of "Prayers For Rain"...!

otm

god, "entreat"! i'd forgotten about the very existence of that. another thing i must have on a C90 somewhere :/

The version of "Disintegration" on Entreat may be my single favorite Cure song (glad I don't actually have to pick). The tempo is picked up a bit and Robert sounds so desperate. It's lovely.

i also remember being really excited for "Mixed Up", (which came out within a year of Disintegration, I think) - but then being really disappointed by almost all the remixes, especially the ones from Disintegration... but this was mostly made up for by the awesomeness of "Harold and Joe" - the b-side from the "Mixed Up" 12".

I forgot about "Harold and Joe" – it's got that weird bass guitar burp/hiccup hook.

matt2 otm. the version of "disintegration" entreat is vicious! robert gasping for air and shit!

I quite like the electric version of Plainsong featured on the Festival 2005 dvd. Smith's scraped bass strings sound gigantic.

ooh. i've not heard that ...

Probably shocking for most Cure fans, but I love it.
The whole dvd is quite good, in my opinion - first time in years they seemed genuinely intrested in shaking a bit their formula.

interested, even.

I so need to get that Festival DVD.

Mixed Up pissed me off because I had three of the four Disintegration singles already, so I already had those remixes (and I hated the "Lullaby" remix). The dubby "Pictures of You" remix was (and is) completely brilliant, though.

From the same Turkey Shoot:

GLORIA ESTEFAN: Cuts Both Ways (Epic) I was perplexed to catch myself enjoying parts of this until I recognized the feels-so-good-when-it-stops syndrome--who wouldn't perk up at a sleek salsa montuno or tap-dancing synperc break when the alternative is Karen Carpenter with an unlocked pelvis? "Get On Your Feet" importunes too much--these rhythms aren't gonna get you. C

I always liked "Karen Carpenter with an unlocked pelvis" but wonder if he felt bad after her accident.

Gloria's, that is.

holy fuck 21 years ago

amazing for a 21st-anniversary reissue of an album

lol I old too

oh shit, this live version of "Homesick"

I actually don't know why "Lovesong" was the crossover hit

It was a question of timing. Their popularity had been growing in North America since The Head On The Door and they had their first Top 40 hit with "Just Like Heaven". It was obvious that they were going to be big with their next album and that they were going to have a hit as soon as they put out a "radio friendly" single. I was also disappointed at the time that it happened with "Lovesong", which I didn't like as much as most of their previous singles.

Can't wait to hear this!!! So anxious.

I actually don't know why "Lovesong" was the crossover hit

Because it's a hugely accessible, universally identifiable, catchy as fuck pop song?

"Inbetween Days" and "Just Like Heaven" were too!

It was a question of timing. Their popularity had been growing in North America since The Head On The Door and they had their first Top 40 hit with "Just Like Heaven". It was obvious that they were going to be big with their next album and that they were going to have a hit as soon as they put out a "radio friendly" single. I was also disappointed at the time that it happened with "Lovesong", which I didn't like as much as most of their previous singles

yup.

this is like asking why "beth" was kiss's breakout hit and not "rock and roll all nite" or "strutter"

RESPECT THE LOVE BALLAD

Da Croup OTM, I mean c'mon -- it's exactly what it is, a catchy pop song on a big breakout album!

And yeah, still great, this whole thing.

Really my only regret about this album is that not everyone went as batshit over "Lullaby" as they did over "Lovesong". I get WHY, but it still is kind of a bummer to the 16-year-old in my heart.

Combine Tim Pope's videos for both songs and there you go, Film Studies 101 -- Introduction to Freudianism

i think the video to lullaby was my intro to the cure, and holy shit did it scare me as a 9 or 10 year old.

I love "Lullaby" more than anything on the album – such a fantastic sound. The remix is even more of a great thing.

weirdly, mixed up was the first cure album i bought though!

"...beginning with....ESSSSSS"

If it wasn't for "Never Enough, I'd feel like they never actually recovered from doing the "Lullaby" video. Like, they went "okay, we have reached our platonic ideal so there's really no point in trying on any other video we do" or something; I can't think of any other explanation for the "Friday I'm In Love", "Wrong Number" or "Taking Off".

Although I'd forgotten about the video for "The 13th" lolol:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2N9piZjt_k8

Also I really really hate the single mix of "Lullaby"; I think it kind of ruins the song.

I hope the spider man has you for dinner tonight.

Maybe it's nostalgia talking, but I love "Never Enough."

That's not nostalgia, that is a fucking SLEDGEHAMMER of a song.

"Never Enough" remains fantastic, I remember at the time it was claimed this was them 'going baggy'

I love that stuttered guitar bit on the Mixed Up version.

Also the single had a killer B-side in "Harold and Joe" and a remix of "Let's Go to Bed" that should have been on the main album, really.

i think Never Enough was what convinced me to buy Mixed Up -- still love that song.

The video for "The 13th" really makes me regret that its the only time they worked with sophie mueller. I might have even gotten into later singles if she was there to help.

Really my only regret about this album is that not everyone went as batshit over "Lullaby" as they did over "Lovesong".

NEW ILM POLL: Most accessible, instantly relatatable Robert Smith lyric?

"However far away, I will always love you" - 85

...
..
.

"The spiderman is having me for dinner tonight" - 2

"I stoned the only girl I loved, and drowned her deep in sodomy" 15

okay if that was the actual lyric, I would be even more into that song

I can't imagine how fucked up my life would have been at fifteen had it been the actual lyric.

lots of otm-ness here. Absolutely loved Never Enough when it came out shame they immediately dropped the main riff when they played it live

and Ned otm indeed - the LOGTB remix was my favorite from that project. Such a strange and intriguing vibe from that version

Hearing that and Orbit's Shiver mix of "Inbetween Days" made me think Mixed Up was going to be much, much better than it actually was.

uggghhhh mixed up

still pissed off about that mix of "The Caterpillar" tbh

hahahaha YES YOU ARE CORRECT

tbh Inbetween Days and yes Caterpillar were the most horrendous things on that

haha totally loved mixed up when it was the only cure album i owned back in elementary school, not even sure where my copy went after I finally heard the originals.

The best ones were left off ("Lets Go To Bed" and "Primary"), but I don't dislike the "Caterpillar" remix.

The album versions of "Why Can't I Be You" and "Hot Hot Hot" are much more exciting than the Mixed Up versions.

Finally holding a copy in my hot little hands, thanks to the wonderful Mrs. via/chicago. Ironic that such a notoriously depressing album would be the bright spot of my otherwise craptastic afternoon.

Happy 25th.

I freakin love the Cure. This was the first Cure album I ever heard, I found the vinyl used at a thrift store, and ended up giving it to a goth girl I had a crush on for Xmas. It's a shame it's such a nice day outside, it almost doesn't feel appropriate to play the album in such weather.

This will be wildly unpopular, but this record doesn't even make my Top 5 for Cure albums.. It's all a bit "samey" to me, but in a far different way than Faith or Seventeen Seconds were. No doubt that Disintegration paints some vast and desolate landscapes, and they are far more sophisticated than those displayed on those earlier somber albums. I mean, the love and longing oozes from beautifully stretched-out themes -- a very new trick for a band a decade in. I guess i like his more tortured material, or, sometimes the more bubble-gum-ey fun stuff.

Don't get me wrong, it was a great new place to move the material and it sold tons of copies, but really pointed to the beginning of the end in my view. For my money, the never were as lethal as they were with Kiss Me.

this weekend on a whim (if slightly inspired by the v tedious discussion of how much jason cooper sucks) i decided to listen to every cure record in order, and hitting disintegration was prob the most dramatic shift in the sequence; it's not really an aesthetic shift i think (it pretty clearly follows up on a lot of the ground staked out on kiss me and besides the most dramatic aesthetic shift in the cure discography is prob still pornography->"let's go to bed"); it's more about scale, where kiss me was a ton of very tonally distinct songs squeezed down into an excitable mercurial space where they could sit together dissonantly and constantly surprise!!! you, every song here is enormous and is almost its own individual space, so that the album feels to me like a series of linked domes in which different weather patterns are preserved

i've been mostly drawn to the expanded entreat on the deluxe reissue bc i've lived with the original album for fifteen years and it differs enough (especially in the shimmering guitar interludes on "pictures of you") that it's like hearing it from a slightly adjusted angle (it's also, as documented upthread, a really excellent performance), which is allowing me to additionally recognize that, even as my tastes have developed a lot since first hearing this at fifteen years old, disintegration and "plainsong" in particular contain so much of what i still value about music, they're like the permanent center of something around which the surface has drifted and warped considerably, and it still enriches and informs that drifting and warping. anyway, <3 u disintegration, i thought faith was maybe my new favorite cure record, but nope

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5G5YguuNSJg

A fine celebration. :-)

Happy 30th! <eek smiley>

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nv18HTqbqmw

first 5 minutes of this are a tear-jerker.