Track Listing: 1. Anything 2. Alone Again Or 3. The Portrait 4. Restless 5. In Dulce Decorum 6. Gigolo 7. The Girl Goes Down 8. Tightrope Walk 9. Psychomania
The vinyl copy I have now has the cover as shown above, but in my teen years I had the cassette of this release, and the cover was in color...
This tape was in heavy, heavy rotation growing up...I rescued it from a dollar tape bin at a Camelot music somewhere in the 90's and listened to it religiously...I remember the cassette itself looked weird...It was a black tape with a big, papery, silver label...You can see the cassette in this super red photo I snatched from ebay...
It's probably worth a mention there was an album inbetween "Strawberries" and "Anything" called "Phantasmagoria" where the band lost Captain Sensible and stepped away from punk in favor of gothier pastures..They managed to hold on to their trademark humor, so the transition ended up not being as jarring as expected...That cover is goth as fuck, though...
"Anything" continues in the goth style, but adds a bit more hard rock to the mix...This is kind of a difficult one for me to talk about, because I have a huge nostalgic connection to it, but there's no way I could ever recommend it to anybody with a clear conscience... There's no denying that it's probably the band's worst album (to be fair I've never heard "Not of This Earth" or "So, Who's Paranoid?") ...
It all starts out well enough...Although. it is a little jarring when you first hear the title track and you think for a couple seconds that you might have accidentally put on a Simple Minds record...Wordless, soulful whoo-hoooahhh-ahhh-ahhhhs...But it straightens itself out and thunders along quite nicely, as long as you're not too hung up on the cavernous 80's production...Then there's a beautiful cover of Love's psychedelic spaghetti-western masterpiece "Alone Again Or" which smokes everything else on the album...But just when you've settled in for another classic album, the dramatic, meandering piano instrumental "The Portrait" comes on and kills all momentum...It always reminds me of the type of over-wrought backing they'd play during a dramatic scene in a soap opera...
"♪da da din dinnnnnnnn.....♪"
"Dammit, Victoria! You know I only killed your Father in self-defense..."
"♪da da din dinnnnnnnn.....♪"
"Dammit, Victoria, I know I sold our baby to the Gypsies, but how long must I keep paying for that one mistake?"
"♪da da din dinnnnnnnn.....♪"
"Dammit, Victoria, you know I wouldn't have eaten that Pepperidge Farm cookie if I had known it was the last one..."
"♪da da din dinnnnnnnn.....♪"
You get the point...And then "Restless" comes on and pounds around a bit but nothing much happens...It's pretty bad to have this much filler in a record that only has nine songs on it...I've always loved "In Dulce Decorum," though...Just a beautiful, chiming popper with a lovely melody, and even though Captain Sensible was no longer a member, I swear I can hear his melodic spirit in this song...I think the band was in desperate of his winning pop hooks at this point...
"Gigolo" is just a bundle of borrowed material...The chorus is seriously word-for-word "Gigolo Aunt" by Syd Barrett and the break swipes the melody and some of the lyrics from Robyn Hitchcock's "My Wife and My Dead Wife"...What the hell?! Oh well, at least it's catchy as hell...Still it's astounding that Barrett and Hitchcock didn't get songwriting credits for this...
Oddly enough, I think one of the best moments on the album is the bombastic synth-orchestra on "Tightrope Walk," which manages some tense drama... Dave Vanian sounds remarkably at home here, despite it being miles away from their original punk & roll style...The album ends with "Psychomania" which has somehow become a favorite among fans, but it's doesn't knock me out or anything...Decent enough energy but the chorus seems kinda phoned-in...That didn't stop me from walking around all day singing it, though...
So yea, I cannot recommend this album to anyone except for myself and maybe undiscerning goths with a sweet tooth for pop..Beautiful cover though...
You've got to check out "Alone Again Or." though...It's absolutely amazing...Have a good listen!...
Track Listing: 1. Ignite 2. Generals 3. Stranger on the Town 4. Dozen Girls 5. The Dog 6. Gun Fury (Of Riot Forces) 7. Pleasure and the Pain 8. Life Goes On 9.Bad Time for Bonzo 10. Under the Floor Again 11. Don't Bother Me
Originally, this album smelled like strawberries or something...My version just smells like nicotine and mothballs, but it is on lovely, clear-red vinyl...
Like I said last post, I only have the odd-numbered Damned albums, but there was a double-album that preceded "Starberries" called "The Black Album," but I don't have it...
"Strawberries" is the band's fifth album and to me, marks the end of the classic period...The last time we'd have Dave Vanian, Captain Sensible and Rat Scabies all playing on the same album...But they went out with a pretty big bang...There's some absolutely killer pop songs on here...
The disclaimer on the album sleeve that "This is a synth-free-album" and the whoah-oh-oh punk of the first track, "Ignite" gives the initial impression that this is going to be a stripped-down affair, but it turns out the production is very diverse, slick and lush...Lots of piano, organ, horns and harpsichord...The highlights include most of side one...I've never really fallen in love with the gothic-drama, "The Dog," but the rest of this side smokes...Best of all has to be the horn-driven "Stranger on the Town." Horn charts on 80's albums are always a dicey proposition, but these don't detract from the song at all, instead giving it a catchy R&B feel, and Dave's vocal melody in the verses immediately grabs you by the lapels...Just an ace-ass single...
...and "Dozen Girls" and "Generals" are just as good...The chorus on "Generals" is fuckin' epic...Like I said, the only song that's never grabbed me is "The Dog,"but even that song is alright, I guess...I can see someone who has a higher tolerance for goth-rock absolutely loving it...
Side two of the album is a bit more of a grower than side one...Not as many immediate pop hooks, but at least there's lots of variety...A lot of this stuff has a more psychedelic feel, See "Gun Fury," "Pleasure and the Pain," and the sitar laden "Under the Floor Again," for good examples of this approach... Oh, yea, hearing "Life Goes On" for the first time was also fairly surprising, since the track's watery riff sounds exactly like Nirvana's "Come As You Are." I remember back in the 90's there was some big brouhaha where Killing Joke accused Nirvana of stealing the riff from their track "Eighties," but that took some balls on Killing Joke's part since they obviously snagged the riff from the Damned...Later someone pointed that out to Killing Joke and they stated they had never heard the Damned track...Yea, right!
If anyone wants to do some side-by-side comparisons, go for it...
Here's"Life Goes On" by the Damned...
Here's"Eighties" by Killing Joke...
Here's "Come as You Are" by Nirvana...
Whee! What fun! Spending the entire day listening to a bunch of songs with essentially the same riff played at different speeds!"Bad Time for Bonzo" is also pretty interesting, since it has the group tackling American politics...You couldn't really be a punk band in the 80's and not get your shots in at Reagan... The chimp movies he did just made it too hard to resist!
Y'know, I've never seen these Bonzo movies, but just the title "Bedtime for Bonzo" sounds like a can't -miss premise...I mean, it's about a chimpanzee...and apparently he has to go to... (sit on the edge of your seat in suspense)...bed!!!
Wait! The sequel looks even better! It doesn't have Ronald Reagan in it, but it does have the chimp going to college!!! I hope you like ramen and bong rips, Bonzo! Whoa, look at him in his mortar-board in the bottom right-hand corner...Apparently he actually graduates! He did better than me then! Anyway, 80's punk had a long, proud tradition of Bonzo references...Also see "Bonzo Goes to Bitburg" by the Ramones and "Bedtime for Democracy" by the Dead Kennedys for further listening in this category...But I think even the Ol' Gipper would tap his toes during "Bad Time for Bonzo"...The layered "Bad time for meeeeee....Bad time for youuuu" vocals are catchy as all hell...
To sum shit up, "Strawberries" is a fun, diverse album with a sublime pop side and an exotic, eclectic second side...Punk fans needn't worry...There's plenty of excitement and speed. Power-pop fans will have a field day...Here's "Dozen Girls" by the Damned...Enjoy...
Track Listing: 1. Love Song 2. Machine Gun Etiquette 3. I Just Can't Be Happy Today 4. Melody Lee 5. Anti-Pope 6. These Hands 7. Plan 9 Channel 7 8. Noise, Noise, Noise 9. Looking at You 10. Liar 11. Smash It Up (Part 1) 12. Smash It Up (Part 2) Bonus Tracks: 13. Ballroom Blitz 14. Suicide 15. Rabid (Over You) 16. White Rabbit
(Note: There's an album in-between "Damned Damned Damned" and "Machine Gun Etiquette) called "Music for Pleasure" but I haven't been able to track down a physical copy of it, so I'll hold off on covering it...Since I have a strict "only cover albums I have physical copies of" policy...
Hey, I just realized I only own every other Damned album...I have
the first, third, fifth, and seventh albums (and a few compilations and
a live album)....But for the record, I like "Music for Pleasure." Sure,
it's probably the weakest of their first three albums, but it
definitely doesn't deserve the bad reputation it gets...)
I first picked this album up when I was in my early teens...I believe I bought it for my birthday, and it was one of the first punk albums I ever picked up...The CD copy I have has that yellow cover pictured above (which I could never quite figure out...Is that a spoon? Over a napkin maybe? It's probably something super obvious but I can't see it for some reason...Keep in mind, I'm fairly retarded...), which I believe was only the cover for these 90's CD versions...The original 70's vinyl cover looked something like this...
I've always considered "Machine Gun Etiquette" to not only be the Damned's best album, but one of the best punk albums, period. It's diverse, featuring everything from proto-hardcore (the barreling title track, although come to think of it, the opening bass riff on "Love Song" could also work as the beginning of an Agnostic Front song), to goth-pop ("I Just Can't Be Happy Today") to nightmarish waltzes ("These Hands"). And almost all of it works because they never lose sight of their energetic punk roots (not to mention their seemingly endless supply of sharp hooks). All this is especially surprising since the band lost their head songwriter, guitarist Brian James. It was no big deal apparently...They just handed Captain Sensible the guitar, split up the songwriting and ended up better for it...
The highlights on this are just ridiculous...I mentioned before that album opener "Love Song" starts out like it's going to be an angry hardcore rant, but it ends up being lovely, arm-swinging pop while despite its considerable speed..."Plan 9 Channel 7" is a masterwork of gothic-punk, equally emphasizing atmosphere and towering hooks...Dave Vanian sounds like he just crawled out of a tomb to watch TV all night...Dark choirs pile atop flaming guitar solos...I'm telling you...Your life's not complete until you listen to this song...
...and oddly enough it's not even the best song on the album (although it comes close)...
I'm saving that honor for "Smash it Up," which is a made up of a two parts...Part one is a pleasant, light instrumental and part two is one of the catchiest new-wave pop songs I've ever laid my ears on! Everything great about the Damned is present...Breathless pacing, relentless hooks, tongue-in-cheek humor...So perfect, and when it suddenly goes into half-time at the end and Dave starts to comically croon, "And everybody's smashing things down..." a lump sometimes forms in my throat...Like I'm so sad the album's ending and I won't get to hang out with my friends anymore...
Check out the video below if you don't believe me...
I've also always been partial to "I Just Can't Be Happy Today" where their darker pop style finally falls into place...Due to Dave's appearance, they always looked like they might sound like spooky vampire music, but on this song you get to hear it...But it's not corny dark like most of those goth bozos out there...This is fun darkness...Darkness you can tap your toe to...And it's also close to my heart because it featured in one of the most entertaining Old Grey Whistle Test performances I've seen, where everything seems to go so wrong it's right...
Here's "Smash it Up" from that same episode...Man, you've got to watch this clip too...Rat goes ballistic and smashes his drums, Captain Sensible struggles with a keyboard and the bass part they keep playing over the announcer at the end is hilarious...
So great...Now that shit is live punk rock...I mean it! Check out a local punk show at a VFW hall sometime...You'll see lots of falling props, stretches where the guitarists are playing on the wrong place on the neck, failed keyboard solos, someone finally snapping and breaking their shit...And I'll always love how they weren't an entire band of vampires, or an entire band of uber-punk dudes, or an entire band of schlubs...No, there was one vampire, one uber-punk dude, and one schlub...
Anyway, back to the album...The version I have throws in four bonus tracks...The gem of which is "Rabid (Over You)" which features insanely fast hi-hat hits...sis-a-sis-a-sis-a-sis-a-sis....Unbelievable... So yea...A must-have album if you're into punk/new-wave...The only weak tracks are "These Hands" and "Liar," the latter of which appears to have been written on autopilot (I lot of bands have tried but I can't think of a single one that's written a truly good song called "Liar." Help me, out...I've got to be missing one..) But those don't bother me too much because there's ten (14 on the CD) other tracks which are among the best songs I've ever heard by anybody...
Track Listing: 1. Neat Neat Neat 2.Fan Club 3. I Fall 4. Born to Kill 5. Stab Your Back 6. Feel the Pain 7. New Rose 8. Fish 9. See Her Tonite 10. 1 of the 2 11. So Messed Up 12. I Feel Alright
Y'know I was sitting here thinking about I got into the Damned...I
was a kid growing up in an extremely small town in Northern Michigan in
the early 90's...Continents and decades removed from the album's '77 UK punk heyday,
and the 90's punk resurgence hadn't happened yet...and oh...the
internet didn't exist...So how did I learn about this stuff growing
up? Suddenly I remembered this book I stole from the school library
in High School...I'd love to find it again, but what I remember about it
was so broad that I can't find anything online...Anyway, it was an
orange book, I remember that much...
Huh?
You thought there was going to be more to that anecdote? No...I just
remember stealing an orange book once...The pages were blank...Why did
that make me think of the Damned? We'll never know...Here's "Neat Neat
Neat" by the Damned...
...Nahh...I'm just kidding...The orange book was some sort of pop music encyclopedia that
I'm guessing was British in origin, since it seemed to mostly cover UK
artists and albums...It seemed like such a wonderful, enchanting world
full of colorful names like Prefab Sprout and Blancmange, who all
appeared to have hits, although I'd never heard any of them...Anyway, I
pored over every entry, memorizing the bands and their albums and swore
one day I'd hear them all (I used this in conjunction with some
reference book that I loved that contained nothing but catalog numbers
for albums and singles)...The entries that thrilled me the most were the
ones on punk rock, and the Damned sounded particularly
interesting...Reportedly taking many stylistic detours until finally disappearing down a rabbit-hole of their own design...My God! How could I not follow them...The
alternative music boom of 1992 and the punk rock revival in 1994 helped
me get my hands on some of those mythical albums I'd read about...And the acquisition of "Damned Damned Damned" was particularly rewarding...
Damn Damn Damn, I like this record...It just tears shit up. From the tense bass-line that Captain Sensible uses to kick off "Neat Neat Neat" to the rousing cover of the Stooges "1970" that closes the album, this thing rarely lets up...The only breathers you get are the surfy-spy guitar breaks on "Fan Club" and the dark, garage-goth rocker "Feel the Pain" (which has always been the album's weak point if you ask me, despite Dave Vanian's creepy vocal). The rest of it is breakneck punk that's always kind of reminded me of a cross between the straight punk of the Ramones and the speedy Rock n' Roll style of the New York Dolls, fronted by a freakin' vampire...
..and not one of those sparkly vampires that the girls like so much, either...I know you might be looking at that picture of Dave and imagining him sounding like he should be in the Sisters of Mercy or something, but the odd thing is, he doesn't sound like a vampire (except for on "Feel the Pain" maybe)...He just sounds like a regular guy who's doing his best to kick your ass with his unhinged punk rock...And he's got some mighty fine back-up too, particularly Rat Scabies booma-booma tom-heavy drum style and Nick Lowe's trebly, airtight production (which is 70's punk personified)...
More than worthy of its place in the pantheon of great punk albums released in '77, for "New Rose" alone...Man, I don't know how a song could be even a whit more exciting...It's just one of those once in a lifetime recordings, where everything is just so right...The "so-simple-I-can't-believe-it-didn't-exist-before" vocal melody, the driving instrumentation, the production that successfully captures lightning in a bottle...Not a thing is out of place, yet many things are out of place...I'm convinced we're in the presence of a perfect single here...
Does the rest of the album touch"New Rose"'s perfection? Nah, not really..."Neat Neat Neat" comes very close, though...But it doesn't matter, since so much of it at least captures the feel of that classic single...There's really no time to sit around comparing apples to apples when "See Her Tonite" and "Stab Your Back" are so busy knocking you flat on your ass...It's all come and gone before you know it, and only the buzzing in your ears remains...
I'm telling you, if you have a spare half-hour, this is a great way to kill it...Here's "New Rose" by the Damned...Enjoy...
Track Listing: 1. Underneath the Stars 2. The Only One 3. The Reasons Why 4.Freakshow 5. Sirensong 6. The Real Snow White 7. The Hungry Ghost 8. Switch 9. The Perfect Boy 10. This. Here and Now. With You 11. Sleep When I'm Dead 12. The Scream 13. It's Over
I hope everybody had a great Easter...Easter's always a holiday I tend to forget about for some reason...Probably because I don't get the day off of work like the other Holidays...I do remember it being a biggish deal when I was a kid, though...
Getting 20 pounds of candy all at once was pretty cool and usually there would be some comic books or a bootleg Masters of the Universe figure in my basket, and that was always exciting...
And I know everybody else in the world hates them, but goddammmit, I love black jellybeans...
So waxy and licorice-ey...So yea, Easter is okay by me...I just tend to forget about it...Anyway, let's get down to business (cracks knuckles)...Man, I have a lot of Cure albums...How long have I been doing these Cure posts now? Easily over a month..But today is the last one (until the band puts out another album, at least)...I'm trying to remember where I was and what I was doing at the time this came out...I believe I was working at Bass & Associates in Tucson, AZ...
For some reason, I don't have many specific memories associated with "4:13 Dream." I can't really remember driving around and listening to it, or blasting it at parties...It's just always been there... First off, it's pretty amazing that the Cure has been around this long, consistently (although at a much slower rate the last decade or so) putting out albums that are usually within spitting distance of being as good as their big classics...I'm having a hard time thinking of many other artists from the post-punk era that has been able to maintain this level of quality and rate of output as the Cure, which leads me to believe a lot of listeners are taking them for granted at this point...Just imagine if you picked up the debut album by some band by a bunch of shaggy-haired kids and it sounded like this...Critics would be claiming that songs like "The Real Snow White" and "This. Here and Now. With You" out-Cure the Cure and they'd be playing Coachella with Edgar Magnet and the Absolute Zeroes, Pissypants, and the Corey Haim Trio...
So I don't want you acting too-cool-for-school, young man...I whupped yer ass then and I can whup it now...I'll admit that some of it falls into "re-write classic material" territory (most egregiously the Pictures-of-You-tastic album opener "Underneath the Stars")but I feel that argument against the album has been a bit overstated...For example, what the hell is "Freakshow"? What other album would that have fit on?
In fact, "4:13 Dream" is probably my favorite album of theirs since "Wish." "Wild Mood Swings" sounded like shit, "Bloodflowers" felt a bit too weighty to fully enjoy, and the self-titled album was too busy re-introducing the band to a new generation...This just feels like the band showed up, plugged in, and let the Cure-ness flow...
Originally, this album was intended to be much more immersive than it is...A 30-something track double-album, that the band eventually stripped down to a single-album focused on the poppier material, which was probably a good call...The only tracks I ever skip are "The Reasons Why" and "Switch." For the curious, the remainder of the album is set to be released later this year as "4:14 Scream." I'm sure I'll be at the local record store on release day, as usual, forking over my paycheck for the deluxe edition...
(exclusive sneak peek at the upcoming "4:14 Scream" album cover that I completely made up in MS Paint...) I had a ridiculously good time listening to/talking about the Cure for the last month or so...As my musical tastes have changed and expanded throughout the years, the band have remained a constant in my cassette deck/turntable/CD player/MP3 player...Long may they mope, she said... Here's "The Real Snow White" by the Cure (I promise you, the song is much better than the title)..Enjoy...
Track Listing: 1. Lost 2. Labyrinth 3. Before Three 4. The End of the World 5. Anniversary 6. Us or Them 7. alt.end 8. (I Don't Know What's Going) On 9. Taking Off 10. Never 11. The Promise
Damn, did someone toss an extra day into this week? It feels like it's been going on forever...Oh well, all that matters is that we're standing here now, beers in hand, and it's Friday Night...Wait, I think today's Good Friday...But a word as weak as "good" doesn't seem to convey the ass-blasting awesomeness of Friday...So let's call it "FREAKIN' AWESOME BEER-GUZZLIN' FRIDAY!!!! (with a minimum of 4 exclamation points...)" Wait, what is Good Friday anyway? Let me google it...
Huh? This is someone's idea of a good Friday? Why's it called that? I don't really know a lot about these particular religious holidays like Ash Wednesday or Lent or Fat Tuesday (if that's even a religious holiday...I'm a little hazy on that one)...I think they're more Catholic Holidays, since all my Catholic friends are the only ones that seem to celebrate them...It wasn't anything I ever heard of growing up...The only one I really knew about was Fat Tuesday cos it had something to do with Mardi Gras and you could give beads to girls and they'd show their boobs or something...Now, that day should be called Good Friday...
Waitaminute...This blog isn't called The Sunday Morning Bible Study...No, it's the Friday Night Record Party, so let's hook up the speakers and listen to the 2004 self-titled album by the Cure...
I remember I was working at America Online when this came out...
...So the internet was in full swing at the time and I remember a lot of folks using their 1,000,000,025 free hours to discuss the upcoming Cure album that was being produced by...gasp...
Nu-Metal guru Ross Robinson! Who routinely produces shit like...
"Raype Culture" by Skull-Face and the Red-Caps...
"Utah" by wrestling superstars KlownSpyke...
"Spit or Swallow" by MC Reality Show...
and "The Sorrow of Sisyphus" by Xerus...(actually, this one's a pretty good album...Sort of medieval squirrel-prog)
So yea, a shudder of dread passed through the Cure fan community...Would Robert Smith add a seventh string to his guitar? Would he rap? Would he weary scary clown make-up? The answers turned out to be, no, no, yes...
Turns out the only song that really warranted those fears was maybe "Us or Them." The album definitely rocks harder than any other Cure album (outside of "Three Imaginary Boys") but we're pretty far off from Korn, I'd say...
I was somewhat surprised at the lukewarm greeting this album got from Cure fans...Makes zero sense to me..It reminds me of a hard-rocking Cure greatest hits album, although I think I might be more partial to hard rock and power-pop than most Cure fans...Now that I think about it, most hard-core Cure fans I know aren't into it and most casual Cure fans I know love it...This might be due to the band misplacing their knack for delicious atmosphere, and the way the album doesn't really hang together as a whole in the way their best albums due...It's more of a "singles" album where the individual tracks are better than the whole...And casual fans love singles, and boy are there some good singles here...
When I first heard "End of the World," "Before Three," and "(I Don't Know What's Going) On," I was kind of taken aback at how intact Robert's ear for pop melodies actually was...I realized I had been settling for less...I had considered "Mint Car" or "Strange Attraction" serviceable pop singles?!?! I don't know...He sounds so much more vivid and tuned-in here...And it struck me upon hearing "Lost" that I hadn't really heard Robert raise his voice above a disaffected mumble since maybe somewhere around "Wish"? He might have screamed like this on "End," maybe... I don't know exactly...But I felt it...
Oh yea, I should probably also point out that if Robert Smith's voice was ever a bit of a sticking point for you before, he's probably going to really drive you nuts here...His drama has developed into full-blown greasepaint theatricality, and his moments of unbridled joy have manifested into a wide array of unpredictable whoops and Klaus Nomi-style falsettos...
It's like he's extra Robert Smith-ier on this album...And I like it...It's exciting, dammit! This was released at time when a whole new generation of guitar-based, Cure-influenced bands began popping up everywhere, highlighting how much of the fizzy excitement the Cure had lost along the way...It was fun to hear them cast off the measured tastefulness and crank up the guitars for a change...Were they inspired and re-energized after hearing their offspring, or was it merely a cash-in to capitalize on these band's success? I dunno...That sounds like a question for a critic, to me...And I'm not a critic...I'm just a guy that likes to blast rock n' roll records on the weekend, and this blasts nicely, so I'll take it...
Here's "The End of the World" by the Cure...Happy Friday everyone...
I'm in the mood for another Cure marathon...I know it's only Wednesday but let's stay up all night, drinking beer and listening to Cure albums anyway...
The Cure: Wild Mood Swings
1996
Elektra Records
Format I Own it on: Compact Disc
Track Listing: 1. Want 2. Club America 3. This Is a Lie 4. The 13th 5. Strange Attraction 6. Mint Car 7. Jupiter Crash 8. Round & Round & Round 9. Gone! 10. Numb 11. Return 12. Trap 13. Treasure 14. Bare
Most Cure fans agree this is the worst album the Cure ever released (inching out "The Top," which suddenly didn't look so bad in comparison)...And I tend to agree...I still like the album alright, but there's no denying its inferior to the strong run of recordings that came before it...
The biggest problem, for me, is the shitty mixing job...It sounds so odd...Like its trying to be overly slick, but comes up bizarrely hollow-sounding...Who in the hell mixed this thing? Well, a quick glance at the album credits reveals it was mixed by EVERY MAN, WOMAN AND CHILD ON PLANET EARTH!!! Holy cow, there's a lot of names on here...Some I recognize, some I don't...I don't know if this was done as an experiment, since the album is ridiculously diverse, maybe they were trying to play around with this aspect...I can't really say...
I tend to favor the more pop side of the Cure, and this album definitely leans in that direction. so it should be right up my alley...And you can kind of imagine under different circumstances something like "Mint Car" could totally work as a magic single...Everything seems to be in place song-writing wise, but the sonics do it a bit of a disservice...
The album starts out on the right foot with "Want," which picks right up where "Wish" left off (except with a bit more of an electronic feel due to prominent keyboards)...The type of grand melancholic rock that seems to summon a starry sky in broad daylight...So far, so good....But then suddenly the sleazy lounge funk of "Club America" comes on and things fall apart quick...The song reminds me of Zooropa-era U2, which was a risky proposition for U2, but a complete and utter mistake in the hands of the Cure...Yuck! Can't win 'em all I guess.... And it happens so early in the album, that it takes a loooong time to recover from it..."This Is a Lie" is a psychedelic acoustic ballad that falls far short of the bands previous ventures into that genre (most notably the kaleidoscopic confections on "The Top")...And things seem to sink even further with the mariachi experiment "The 13th" which is a song I greatly enjoy, but unfortunately it's in the wrong place at the wrong time...
I almost think if they cut the run of tracks from "Club America' through the "13th" and had "Want" go directly into "Strange Attraction," the album would stand up next to the other albums..Definitely keep "The 13th," but toss it later into the track listing once your ears get acclimated to the stylistic whiplash (since it's one of the songs most responsible for this feel)...and give the whole thing a healthy remixing....
I don't want to deter people from checking this album out though...There's a lot of worthwhile stuff here..I'd actually recommend this album more to people who aren't Cure fans, since the album ends up being a lot of fun once you check your expectations a bit...For example, you hear the Jazzy horns start up on "Gone!" and you think it's going to be a mistake, but the chorus hits the mark so squarely that all is forgiven and "Strange Attraction" is such a great, understated little pop ditty you can't help but smile while it's playing...
Either way, the used bins are usually overflowing with copies of this album...It's an interesting listen, if not up to the bands usual high standards, but I think most long-lived bands need stuff like this in their catalog...The weird albums you turn to when you've burned through their real classics...
I know my old cassette of this got a hell of a workout back in the day, despite any petty reservations I may have about it now...
Anyway, here's "Want" by the Cure...Dig it...
The Cure: Galore
1997
Elektra Records
Format I Own it on: Compact Disc
Track Listing: 1. Why Can't I Be You? 2. Catch 3. Just Like Heaven 4. Hot Hot Hot!!! 5. Lullaby 6. Fascination Street 7. Lovesong 8. Pictures of You 9. Never Enough 10. Close to Me (Closest Mix) 11.High 12. Friday I'm in Love 13. A Letter to Elise 14. The 13th 15. Mint Car 16. Strange Attraction 17. Gone! 18. Wrong Number
I've never been able to quite figure out why this second collection of Cure singles doesn't rule the world like the first singles collection ("Standing on a Beach/Staring at the Sea") did...On paper it sounds great...The run of albums from "Kiss Me,Kiss Me, Kiss Me" to "Wish" were some of the band's strongest...But somehow this is less than the sum of its parts...
Maybe it's the all the radio edits...or the inferior acid house remix of "Close to Me," or the handful of bum tracks (note that every single song on "Standing on a Beach/Staring at the Sea" was vital...). Or maybe it's the fact that there's not as many albums represented as the first singles collection (six albums on "Standing" as opposed to the four represented on "Galore.")
(this cover, however, makes me hungry for Goldfish crackers....)
All of these singles work way better within the context of their original albums and for that reason I'm going to recommend "Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me," "Disintegration," "Wish," and "Wild Mood Sings" over this comp...Sure, you'll miss out on "Never Enough" (which isn't so hot) and "Wrong Number" (which is alright, but too 1997 electronica for my tastes...) but I enjoy any of the aforementioned albums more than "Galore"...
Anyway, here's "Never Enough" by the Cure...Enjoy....
Alright, there's still a few beers left...I think I got another quick one in me...
The Cure: Bloodflowers
2000
Fiction Records
Format I Own it on: Compact Disc
Track Listing: 1. Out of This World 2. Watching Me Fall 3. Where the Birds Always Sing 4. Maybe Someday 5. The Last Day of Summer 6. There Is No If... 7. The Loudest Sound 8. 39 9. Bloodflowers
If "Wild Mood Swings" showed the band slightly off-course, they sure righted themselves pretty quickly with "Bloodflowers" (if you consider the 4 years between "WMS" and "Bloodflowers" quick...).
The interviews and the press that followed the album made it clear that Robert intended this album to be the third in a trilogy, along with "Pornography" and "Disintegration," but I don't hear much in common with those albums...This album has always reminded me of some of the more downcast material on "Wish," if anything...
I don't think they've ever started an album with a song like "Out of This World" before...While undoubtedly an epic, it's a lot more...well...acoustic than you'd expect...When you hear something is a "spiritual sequel" to an earlier masterpiece, you expect to hear someone trying harder than this, but it's ultra refreshing that it's so easygoing...And boy, do I love that "Strawberry Fields Forever"-esque Mellotron...A brilliant choice of album opener that immediately puts this album leagues ahead of its immediate predecessor...Here, check out "Out of This World" if you don't believe me...
Oops...wrong video...Here's the real song if you're interested in hearing it...Although that ALF one was pretty frickin' dope if you ask me...
This album isn't so much about highlights (or lowlights) though...Not much jumps out at you on first (or third or fifth) listen outside of the catchy radio single "Maybe Someday." It's more about maintaining a comfortably dour mood...It's possibly even more single-minded in its approach than "Disintegration," since that album manged to squeeze in quite a few catchy singles...
Of course it'll never be a classic on the same level as "Disintegration" or "Pornography," largely due to the fact that
they don't take the same bold risks, production-wise, they did on those
albums...Again, it falls more in line with "Wish"'s safer, easy on the
ears, radio-ready sound, but that doesn't matter...I think longtime fans
were happy as hell (and probably greatly) relieved to get this, non Cure fans
probably asked, "Why are all the songs so long and samey" and the talking frog said, "Toad-ally awesome"...So all is right in the world...Turn world, turn...
Alright, I've had enough Cure albums for the night and that case of beer is lookin' pretty empty...It's time to pack it in, but before we crash out, here's "Maybe Someday" by the Cure...Have a good one, have a safe one, and thanks for shopping...
