The Cure

[Irregular Regular]

There used to be a thread dedicated to The Cure, I am pretty sure there was, but I can't find it (perhaps archived?).
Either way, I think there should always be a live Cure thread on this site.

Cue the 'fat Bob' predictable responses.
Well, guess what? I don't give a f***.

 

[Detritus]

I came across this the other day. Pornography-era live performance on a soundstage. So good.

http://dangerousminds.net/comments/...ce_from_the_legendary _1982_pornography_tour

 

[hand in glove]

Great thread. I don't remember a Cure thread, but I used to just stick to the main page. I once wrote a screen play for a James Dean movie. it's locked away, far, far, away, in a file somewhere. But, anyway, I imagined this song as closing credits. Don't recall why now; probably because I wanted an excuse to use it! It's one of my favorites.

 

[everydayslikesunday]

The Cure have always fustrated me, I could listen to a 'best of' all day long but I have always struggled with the albums. Any suggestions on which album I should give another chance to?

 

[Irregular Regular]

Great thread. I don't remember a Cure thread, but I used to just stick to the main page. I once wrote a screen play for a James Dean movie. it's locked away, far, far, away, in a file somewhere. But, anyway, I imagined this song as closing credits. Don't recall why now; probably because I wanted an excuse to use it! It's one of my favorites.

Good song, love that whole album.
Here is one my favourite Cure songs, surprise surprise...

 

[Irregular Regular]

The Cure have always fustrated me, I could listen to a 'best of' all day long but I have always struggled with the albums. Any suggestions on which album I should give another chance to?

Well, depends on what you are into, or even your mood on the day.

Three Imaginary Boys, Seventeen Seconds, Pornography, The Head On The Door and Disintegration are sublime.
All 5 quite different, yep you should be safe starting anywhere there.
Then again, Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me has some great songs in it too, even if the album as a whole is not quite up to the standard of the others I listed. It includes Just Like Heaven though, one of my top 3 favourite Cure songs.

 

[Irregular Regular]

I came across this the other day. Pornography-era live performance on a soundstage. So good.

http://dangerousminds.net/comments/...ce_from_the_legendary _1982_pornography_tour

This is great, thank you.
Never seen it before, just watched most of it.
Pleased to find another one of my favourites right at the end...



It's not a case of doing what's right
It's just the way I feel that matters...

 

[everydayslikesunday]

Thanks Irregular

I think I'll start with Disintegration as it has the best sounding title.

 

[Irregular Regular]

Thanks Irregular

I think I'll start with Disintegration as it has the best sounding title.

Well, make sure you are nice and cheery before you start.
You won't be by the time you've finished.

For example...



Sample lyrics...

I never said I would stay to the end
I knew I would leave you with babies and everything
Screaming like this in the hole of sincerity
Screaming me over and over and over
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...

 

[Skylarker]

Disintegration is flawless. For me it's the best album of the 80s, or damn close.

 

[Viva Mozza]

I recommend The Head On The Door, Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Disintegration, Wish and Bloodflowers.

I've just bought my tickets for their November 2016 Show in Cologne, my first one since 2008!

 

[Irregular Regular]

Disintegration is flawless. For me it's the best album of the 80s, or damn close.

I agree, it's right up there.
I can't listen to it back to back these days though, too many memories, a beautifully sad album.

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks Irregular

I think I'll start with Disintegration as it has the best sounding title.

you might want to start with either the debut which is different here and better imo or head on the door. im very much the same with the cure as what youve described and i just found disintegration frustrating as there are some very good pop songs on there , an aspect of the cures sound they do well but each is surrounded by a lot of fluff imo that it just takes forever to actually get to the part i care about. faith is my fav probably as i like the space but id recommend head on the door to start as its very good start to finish and doesnt wander off so to speak like many many of there other albums do. also yes there was a cure thread

 

[Irregular Regular]

Side by side in age and sadness...

 

[everydayslikesunday]

I now have Disintegration and Head on the Door uploaded to my Nano and I shall give them both a good listen, hopefully I can finally appreciate The Cure. Thanks for the advice everyone.

 

[Anonymous]

I now have Disintegration and Head on the Door uploaded to my Nano and I shall give them both a good listen, hopefully I can finally appreciate The Cure. Thanks for the advice everyone.

cool and good luck. theyre a weird one for those going in after the eighties as you almost inevitably hear a song somewhere that you just love but when you go to listen to an album you can find yourself going um what and where did this go. for me satisfying that initial demand for the music and reputation that first hooked me about the group was essential before i was willing to give the other work more time and thought which lead to an appreciation for the other aspects hiding in the groups music. you might like more ambient pop ,music in this fashion though as disitigration is the bands best seller and also kinda seemed like a cultural culmination of fondness for the group

 

[No1uno]

---

I can't really distinguish the best between them. Each one has a place but 17 seconds is the hook that brought me in, kiss me dug into me, and disintegration destroyed my insides and sonically put me back together.


Edit
And who could not agree these are the most "dark poetry" lyrics ever

Kiss me kiss me kiss me
Your tongue is like poison
So swollen it fills up my mouth

Love me love me love me
You nail me to the floor
And push my guts all inside out

Get it out get it out get it out
Get your f***ing voice
Out of my head

 

[Gregor Samsa]

The Cure is a great band. Been a fan since before I discovered Moz (16 years as opposed to 13 years listening to Moz), even though I don't listen to them as much anymore.

What is frustrating about them is how their most profound stuff gets sidelined by their most famous hits and upbeat stuff. Even by the band itself, and so-called fans. That's kind of sad.
When speaking of Kiss Me, mention One More time, and not Just Like Heaven for the millionth time.
When speaking of Disintegration, mention The Same Deep Water As You, and not Love Song or Fascination Street
When speaking of the flawed and uneven The Head on the Door album, think of the sublime and wistful Faith album instead.
When speaking of Wish, bring up the heart wrenching To Wish Impossible Things and Apart, and forget about Friday I'm In Love or High.

People are missing out on fantastic music.

 

[Skylarker]

When speaking of Wish, bring up the heart wrenching To Wish Impossible Things and Apart, and forget about Friday I'm In Love or High.
People are missing out on fantastic music.

Wish is really great and getting all the b-sides back then too I always wished they'd have rethought the album.

I'd have done:

Open
High
Wendy Time
Trust
Doing The Unstuck
Halo
From The Edge Of The Deep Green Sea
Play
A Letter To Elise
This Twilight Garden
Cut
The Big Hand
End

 

[the raytownian]

The Cure have always fustrated me, I could listen to a 'best of' all day long but I have always struggled with the albums.

Ditto. It's a shame, because I've burned myself out on singles/b-sides and best-of collections a long, long time ago. I have to be in a very particular kind of mood for most of their albums.

Personal favorites: Three Imaginary Boys and Faith. Completely different albums for different moods, though.
I really ought to sit down and go through the band's whole discography in the next year. It's been years since I've listened to much of their music, including compilations, which is a shame, because they were the greatest band in the world to me in 9th-10th grade... incidentally, just before I found The Smiths.

PS, some extra neurosis: I wouldn't call the majority of Cure's discography "upbeat". Not in an emotional sense. Not even the hit singles. I don't care what Fat Bob himself has to say about that. I don't listen to "Friday I'm in Love" and get happy... The whole reason they appeal/ed to me so much as a moody adolescent/adult baby is because their music was so overwhelmingly affecting, not just mind-numbingly "upbeat".

It's pop music, obviously, but the whole package was more complex than that. The best songs (in general) send chills down my spine and make me feel like I could weep. It's a very bittersweet feeling that "upbeat" is grossly inadequate and one-dimensional to describe. The best pop music encapsulates the human experience in all of its shades of light and darkness, such that it stuns you and makes you understand what it means to be human. I don't consider even the most popular Cure songs "happy" so much as "cathartic".

FWIW, I don't mean to suggest anything about Gregor Samsa's intended meaning of the word "upbeat", I just saw the word--that f***ING word--and felt the urge to vent. It's so hard to explain my frustrations when people close to me don't understand why I get "emotional" and "sad" listening to "happy" and "upbeat" music all the time.