The Cure: The Cure

The Cure: The Cure

2004

Geffen Records

Format I Own it on: Compact Disc

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...