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.
― nate woolls, Wednesday, 18 February 2009 11:26 (fifteen years ago) link
great poll and so far impossible to decide. Dan is crazy wrt "1000 Hours" and especially the fantastic "Icing Sugar"
― baaderonixx, Wednesday, 18 February 2009 11:36 (fifteen years ago) link
The only one I skip is "Fight"
― baaderonixx, Wednesday, 18 February 2009 11:37 (fifteen years ago) link
A Thousand Hours would've been my second choice
― nate woolls, Wednesday, 18 February 2009 11:46 (fifteen years ago) link
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".
― NoTimeBeforeTime, Wednesday, 18 February 2009 14:35 (fifteen years ago) link
"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.
― jon /via/ chi 2.0, Wednesday, 18 February 2009 15:01 (fifteen years ago) link
We should do a side 1/2/3/4 poll instead (even though it would be just as impossible)
― Lots of praying with no breakfast! (HI DERE), Wednesday, 18 February 2009 15:07 (fifteen years ago) link
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
― Lots of praying with no breakfast! (HI DERE), Wednesday, 18 February 2009 15:24 (fifteen years ago) link
My first Cure album and the soundtrack of that summer. This record changed my life.
― Marco Damiani, Wednesday, 18 February 2009 15:32 (fifteen years ago) link
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.
― nate woolls, Wednesday, 18 February 2009 15:35 (fifteen years ago) link
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
― Lots of praying with no breakfast! (HI DERE), Wednesday, 18 February 2009 05:09
haha ^^^ this
voted for 'like cockatoos' though.
― Background Zombie (CharlieNo4), Wednesday, 18 February 2009 16:05 (fifteen years ago) link
I have this album, need to give it a thorough audition. Now seems as good a time as any.
― Mequophidiophobia: fear of the beer snake (country matters), Wednesday, 18 February 2009 16:13 (fifteen years ago) link
Voted for Hot Hot Hot (but it really *is* Just Like Heaven)
― Joe, Wednesday, 18 February 2009 16:30 (fifteen years ago) link
OK, we can do a mock poll on this thread. Not sure if this will format properly:
A1 The Kiss 6:14A2 Catch 2:44A3 Torture 4:18A4 If Only Tonight We Could Sleep 4:53
B1 Why Can't I Be You? 3:14B2 How Beautiful You Are 5:14B3 The Snakepit 6:59B4 Hey You !!! 2:22
C1 Just Like Heaven 3:30C2 All I Want 5:19C3 Hot Hot Hot !!! 3:33C4 One More Time 4:30C5 Like Cockatoos 3:39
D1 Icing Sugar 3:49D2 The Perfect Girl 2:34D3 A Thousand Hours 3:23D4 Shiver and Shake 3:28D5 Fight 4:27
― NoTimeBeforeTime, Wednesday, 18 February 2009 16:40 (fifteen years ago) link
A The KissB The SnakepitC Just Like HeavenD Shiver and Shake
Side B is the weakest, and the choice there was easy, but otherwise this is really tough!
― NoTimeBeforeTime, Wednesday, 18 February 2009 16:42 (fifteen years ago) link
A If Only Tonight We Could SleepB How Beautiful You AreC Like CockatoosD A Thousand Hours
― nate woolls, Wednesday, 18 February 2009 16:42 (fifteen years ago) link
:D @ this album so far, especially Torture into If Only Tonight, awesome stuff
― Mequophidiophobia: fear of the beer snake (country matters), Wednesday, 18 February 2009 16:43 (fifteen years ago) link
The drumming on this album is brilliant. They never really recovered after Boris left.
― nate woolls, Wednesday, 18 February 2009 16:44 (fifteen years ago) link
Oh shit, my copy doesn't have "Hey You!" on it :(
― Mequophidiophobia: fear of the beer snake (country matters), Wednesday, 18 February 2009 16:45 (fifteen years ago) link
"You're just three sick holes that run like sores" is a lyric calculated to make one recoil. It stings.
― i'm shy (Abbott), Wednesday, 18 February 2009 16:50 (fifteen years ago) link
A If Only Tonight We Could SleepB The SnakepitC Like CockatoosD Shiver and Shake
― From Rax to Rich's (jjjusten), Wednesday, 18 February 2009 16:54 (fifteen years ago) link
A If only tonight we could SleepB How Beautiful are youC Just Like HeavenD Shiver and Shake
― Josh L, Wednesday, 18 February 2009 17:03 (fifteen years ago) link
not ranking, but icing sugar is grebt.
― remy bean, Wednesday, 18 February 2009 17:17 (fifteen years ago) link
A The KissB The SnakepitC what the hell this is impossible D Fight
― Lots of praying with no breakfast! (HI DERE), Wednesday, 18 February 2009 17:22 (fifteen years ago) link
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)
― Mequophidiophobia: fear of the beer snake (country matters), Wednesday, 18 February 2009 17:28 (fifteen years ago) link
I've reached The Perfect Girl and this is a super album.
A1 The Kiss 6:14B3 The Snakepit 6:59C1 Just Like Heaven 3:30D3 A Thousand Hours 3:23
― jon /via/ chi 2.0, Wednesday, 18 February 2009 17:34 (fifteen years ago) link
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 hellOn side D, it's "The Perfect Girl", "Shiver and Shake" and "Fight".
― Lots of praying with no breakfast! (HI DERE), Wednesday, 18 February 2009 17:36 (fifteen years ago) link
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.
― The Screaming Lobster of Challops (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 18 February 2009 17:43 (fifteen years ago) link
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".
― Lots of praying with no breakfast! (HI DERE), Wednesday, 18 February 2009 17:44 (fifteen years ago) link
I still find absolutely charming their dilettantish approach to "world" music and different styles (fake French accordeons, fake sitars, sloppy funk work-outs etc).
― Marco Damiani, Wednesday, 18 February 2009 17:47 (fifteen years ago) link
I still think the video to "Why Can't I Be U?" is one of the funniest things ever filmed.
― Lots of praying with no breakfast! (HI DERE), Wednesday, 18 February 2009 17:48 (fifteen years ago) link
This album is the sound of a band having fun in the studio.
― Marco Damiani, Wednesday, 18 February 2009 17:49 (fifteen years ago) link
http://video.aol.com/video-detail/the-cure-why-cant-i-be-you/1016802999/?icid=VIDLRV01
― Lots of praying with no breakfast! (HI DERE), Wednesday, 18 February 2009 17:50 (fifteen years ago) link
lol also why did I go all Prince for a second
with the help of red wine and heaps of drugs.
(xxpost)
― The Screaming Lobster of Challops (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 18 February 2009 17:50 (fifteen years ago) link
ooooh boy we're gonna have words (when I've worked out just how many awesome Cure build you've snubbed)
― Mequophidiophobia: fear of the beer snake (country matters), Wednesday, 18 February 2009 17:59 (fifteen years ago) link
*builds
I'm more fond of "Open" as a, well, opener.
― The Screaming Lobster of Challops (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 18 February 2009 17:59 (fifteen years ago) link
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"
― Mequophidiophobia: fear of the beer snake (country matters), Wednesday, 18 February 2009 18:04 (fifteen years ago) link
looking forward to watching LJ school Dan on the cure
― From Rax to Rich's (jjjusten), Wednesday, 18 February 2009 18:21 (fifteen years ago) link
So much wisdom will be revealed.
― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 18 February 2009 18:22 (fifteen years ago) link
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.
― Mequophidiophobia: fear of the beer snake (country matters), Wednesday, 18 February 2009 18:26 (fifteen years ago) link
that should read "MERELY with busy percussion..."
― Mequophidiophobia: fear of the beer snake (country matters), Wednesday, 18 February 2009 18:27 (fifteen years ago) link
The sounds and themes of a caterpillar.
― i'm shy (Abbott), Wednesday, 18 February 2009 18:28 (fifteen years ago) link
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.
― Mequophidiophobia: fear of the beer snake (country matters), Wednesday, 18 February 2009 18:33 (fifteen years ago) link
My brother does an amazing fucking impression of how Robert Smith acts in videos.
― i'm shy (Abbott), Wednesday, 18 February 2009 18:36 (fifteen years ago) link
yeah dude for practical intents and purposes 30 seconds is not long enough for something to qualify as a build in a Cure song
― Lots of praying with no breakfast! (HI DERE), Wednesday, 18 February 2009 18:41 (fifteen years ago) link
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*
― Mequophidiophobia: fear of the beer snake (country matters), Wednesday, 18 February 2009 18:43 (fifteen years ago) link
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, 22 April 2020 04:09 (four years ago) link
today i would probably vote for "All I Want."
― Bee OK, Wednesday, 22 April 2020 04:10 (four years ago) link
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.
― I eat fast foods (morrisp), Wednesday, 22 April 2020 04:24 (four years ago) link
Every song on this is so good, except for "A Thousand Hours" which I hate
― DJP, Wednesday, 22 April 2020 12:52 (four years ago) link
― Bee OK, Wednesday, April 22, 2020
Thank you. I prefer the Mixed Up version of HHH!!! but the vocal is an intestinal cramp.
― TikTok to the (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 22 April 2020 13:01 (four years ago) link
you’re an intestinal cramp
― DJP, Wednesday, 22 April 2020 13:03 (four years ago) link
*groan*
― TikTok to the (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 22 April 2020 13:04 (four years ago) link
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
― Non, je ned raggette rien (onimo), Wednesday, 22 April 2020 13:04 (four years ago) link
omigod
― TikTok to the (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 22 April 2020 13:07 (four years ago) link
Oh that is beautiful
― DJP, Wednesday, 22 April 2020 13:20 (four years ago) link
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.
― licorice oratorio (baaderonixx), Wednesday, 22 April 2020 14:17 (four years ago) link
FOR HOW MUCH LOOOONGER CAN I CATERWAUL LIKE A SAD VULTURE INTO THIS WIIII-HIIIIII-HINND
― DJP, Wednesday, 22 April 2020 14:25 (four years ago) link
https://ssl.adam.com/graphics/images/en/19578.jpg
― TikTok to the (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 22 April 2020 14:35 (four years ago) link
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.
― brotherlovesdub, Wednesday, 22 April 2020 14:42 (four years ago) link
saving Hey You because the album title is in the lyricsthe album title is literally the first line of the first track, "The Kiss"
― an incoherent crustacean (MatthewK), Wednesday, 22 April 2020 14:50 (four years ago) link
Bonus, then I’m happy to ditch Hey You too! Are there other albums where the title appears in the lyrics to different songs?
― brotherlovesdub, Wednesday, 22 April 2020 15:03 (four years ago) link
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.
― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 22 April 2020 15:08 (four years ago) link
xp: Yes, Wish is another album that has two potential title tracks.
― Totally different head. Totally. (Austin), Wednesday, 22 April 2020 15:11 (four years ago) link
"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 KissTortureHow Beautiful You Are...The SnakepitAll I WantLike CockatoosShiver and ShakeFight
^^^ 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.
― DJP, Wednesday, 22 April 2020 16:23 (four years ago) link
Yeah I dunno. I find Fight pretty cringey these days. And Torture is mostly ruined by that dated horn preset.
― licorice oratorio (baaderonixx), Wednesday, 22 April 2020 16:29 (four years ago) link
Snakepit, If Only Tonight and Cuckatoos are all-time though.
― licorice oratorio (baaderonixx), Wednesday, 22 April 2020 16:30 (four years ago) link
"Torture" has a cracker of a bass line.
― TikTok to the (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 22 April 2020 16:32 (four years ago) link
Boris/Simon/Pearl are so good on this album
― DJP, Wednesday, 22 April 2020 16:34 (four years ago) link
Listening to this straight through for the first time in ages and I severely underrate this album
― DJP, Wednesday, 22 April 2020 17:25 (four years ago) link
every song on this is flawless even the bad ones
― orifex, Wednesday, 22 April 2020 18:15 (four years ago) link
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!
― avellano medio inglés (f. hazel), Wednesday, 22 April 2020 18:30 (four years ago) link
Amazed I still have my vinyl copy of this after regrettably purging so many good quality records and CDs during my teen years.
― Mario Meatwagon (Moodles), Wednesday, 22 April 2020 18:33 (four years ago) link
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.
― LeRooLeRoo, Wednesday, 22 April 2020 23:48 (four years ago) link
hi!
― TikTok to the (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 23 April 2020 03:28 (four years ago) link
speaking of b-sides that should've replaced lesser album cuts, "a chain of flowers" is actually one of their best songs, full stop.
― Totally different head. Totally. (Austin), Sunday, 10 May 2020 20:45 (three years ago) link