The Cure: Disintegration

The Cure: Disintegration

1989

Elektra Records

Format I Own it on: Compact Disc

Track Listing: 1. Plainsong  2. Pictures of You  3. Closedown  4. Lovesong  5. Last Dance  6. Lullaby  7. Fascination Street  8. Prayers for Rain  9. The Same Deep Water as You  10. Disintegration  11. Homesick  12. Untitled






I didn't really get a chance to edit this so it probably rambles and there might be some mis-spelled wurds, but it doesn't matter because dammit, we all made it to Friday intact!

 Time to pull a few beers from the fridge...

 ...hook up the speakers and invite over a few  friends...And what good-time,  party-starting album are we going to throw on tonight to get the festivities started?

"Disintegration" by the Cure! Yea, I can see the party's raging now!

                                                            "TWEEEEEE!!!!!"

Alright...Maybe it's not the best record for livening up a party, but who cares...We're going to talk about it anyway...

In contrast to the blinding array of candy colors on display on "Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me," the band released possibly the most sparkling gray album ever recorded, "Disintegration."  Although it's often lumped in with "Pornography" or "Faith," I don't hear much of a connection with the inky, crippling despair of those earlier albums..."Disintegration" seems to be colored more by the gentler, everyday bleakness of a cold morning, or an indeterminable rainy day...In fact, I don't think you've truly experienced a dreary, rainy day if you haven't spent it listening to "Disintegration."

Not to mention, Robert Smith wasn't able to summon swirling beauty back in 1983 like he does in 1989..."Plainsong" is still startling in the way it constructs a vast, hazy palace right before your ears after about 25 seconds of relative silence...If it was easy to get momentarily lost in certain tracks from "Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me," you could spend an eternity roaming the halls in this place..Like it says in the liner notes, "Play them shits loud!"



Then comes the familiar chimes of the majestic "Pictures of You," which is about Robert losing his wallet?!?! This is what I mean about the underwhelming defeats of everyday life that just kind of add up to paint your life grey...

"Lovesong" was the album's big pop moment...A song Robert originally wrote as a wedding gift to his wife, it's a lot gloomier sounding than its origins would imply...

 "Here you go, honey...To celebrate the joyous occasion of our marriage, here's a dour, moping celebration of our love..."  (cavernous guitar and doom-laden drums....)

 Actually, I'm not sure where the dark cloud in he song comes from...The lyrics are very nice, actually...Probably all those minor chords...Either way, that faint hint of despair is exactly why the song will live on forever (Note: it's only out of the context of the album that the song sounds moody...It sounds like it radiates with pure positivity when heard next to the other tracks on the album...Although "Pictures of You" has always scanned as "joyous" to me too, despite the fact that most people tell me the song makes them want to cry...As usual, I'm probably missing something...)



I remember always catching the video for "Lullaby" on MTV back in the day...I loved the song, but I hated the fact there was an icky tarantula in the video...Yuck! Why didn't someone step on it?! But I guess it fits alright, cos he talks about a spider-man in the song...Oh yea....Whenever Robert sings about Spider-Man having him for dinner tonight, I know he means this guy...

But I can't help but think of this guy...

You might not wanna have dinner with that guy, Robert!

 He eats a lot of processed cheese! So much of it that he gets a backpack with his own face on it! That stuff's bad for your cholesterol!

Anyway, I want to take a poll...Is there anyone out there who's ever listened to "Lullaby" and not had the image of the Amazing Spider-Man flash in their head for even a split second?

To vote, just take a Sharpie and write a big, black permanent "X" in the 'Yes' or 'No' box on your computer screen...I will enter your house unexpectedly in the middle of the night to count your vote and I'll deliver the final results in a court of law where I will be judged before a jury of my peers and Almighty God himslelf...



To this day, Simon Gallup's amazing, aggressive opening bass-riff on "Fascination Street" never fails to hit me like it did the first time I'd heard it...I swear to you, the bass guitar he's playing it on must be at least 100 feet tall and have the power to summon sheets of metal rain...And Robert's shadowy guitar line compliments it beautifully...I've always considered this song to be the spiritual successor to "A Forest"...It has the same dreamy, urgent feeling,  although "Fascination Street" has more of a "your running from something but you're not actually going anywhere" vibe...Why is this song only 5 minutes long? Why not 30?  Why not a 100?

I've always considered "The Same Deep Water as You" and the title track to be the thick of the album... The point where "disintegration" becomes "DISINTEGRATION."  Vast, sprawling chasms of infinite guitars and keyboards that are somehow simultaneously icy yet warm and inviting...Like making peace with the fact that you're drowning in freezing water...Everything peaks in the title track, where Robert finally cuts loose after an oddly restrained vocal performance throughout the rest of the album:

"I leave you with photographs
Pictures of trickery
Stains on the carpet and
Stains on the memory
Songs about happiness murmured in dreams
When we both of us knew
How the end always is..."

Those lines are the National Anthem to Cure fans...We can reel that shit off in our sleep...I always go back and forth over whether I like the song  "Disintegration" or "Untitled" better...A lot of times I think "Disintegration" should of ended the album, but then when "Untitled" comes on the pendulum swings the other way...It's so sad and lovely, bopping along with its sing-songy vocal line...When it fades into the accordion at the ending and it sinks in that the album is over, I usually find myself sitting in silence for a half a minute afterwards thinking about how awesome it all is...

Most Cure fans will point to "Disintegration" as their favorite Cure album, and I would never argue with those people...It really is quite an achievement...And it is the most satisfying Cure album when I'm in a certain mood...But on the other hand there are Cure albums that work for me no matter what mood I'm in...Still, it's  unrelentingly beautiful and it sounds better and better with each passing year...Who knows, maybe next year it'll finally be my favorite Cure album...

Until then, here's "Plainsong" by the Cure...Happy Friday everyone...