How wonderful were The Cure?

I've always liked Self-Titled. I feel like it doesn't try to be ambitious and succeeds at feeling spontaneous and strangely warm. And there's plenty of good melodies. Which is the opposite of Bloodflowers for me, which feels forced, like they were trying so hard to make a sequel to Disintegration, and is sorely lacking melody.

If I was to rank their albums, it would probably be like this:

1. Disintegration
2. Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me
3. The Head On The Door
4. Faith
5. Wish
6. The Top
7. Pornography
8. Wild Mood Swings
9. The Cure
10. 4:13 Dream
11. Seventeen Seconds
12. Three Imaginary Boys
13. Bloodflowers

I actually think Seventeen Seconds and Three Imagery Boys are better "for their time" than self-titled and 4:13 Dream, but they are pretty clearly a product of a band still finding their sound and just compared against each other without the historical context, the self-titled and 4:13 Dream sound better. Plus, Three Imaginary Boys gets marked down for "Object" and that hideous Jimi Hendrix cover. Also, not a fan of that song where Robert Smith is basically reading advertisements.
Yes and I also like how "modern" they sounded on the 2004 album, as a teenager back then, this helped a lot in bringing them to my attention, I loved The End of the World at the time.

This is the tracklist I use for this album:

01. Lost
02. Alt.End
03. Before Three
04. Truth Goodness & Beauty
05. The End of the World
06. Anniversary
07. Us or Them
08. Fake
09. I Don't Know What's Going On
10. This Morning
11. Going Nowhere

I'll try and do my ranking over the weekend, but when it comes to the debut album, I only ever use the Boys Don't Cry album, it does a great job of getting rid of the bad songs from the debut and adding the hits.
 
Yes and I also like how "modern" they sounded on the 2004 album, as a teenager back then, this helped a lot in bringing them to my attention, I loved The End of the World at the time.

This is the tracklist I use for this album:

01. Lost
02. Alt.End
03. Before Three
04. Truth Goodness & Beauty
05. The End of the World
06. Anniversary
07. Us or Them
08. Fake
09. I Don't Know What's Going On
10. This Morning
11. Going Nowhere

I'll try and do my ranking over the weekend, but when it comes to the debut album, I only ever use the Boys Don't Cry album, it does a great job of getting rid of the bad songs from the debut and adding the hits.

Hmmm. It never even occured to me to use the Boys Don't Cry album. Flop fan haha.
 
I'm hoping for the "dark" album in October.
And the "pop" album for next summer's festivals, so sometime Mar-June 2023?
Then there's the solo album but that's the one I think might end up shelved.
 
Let’s have a crack at this whilst my brekkie is cooking…

1. Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me
2. Disintegration
3. Wish
4. The Head On The Door
5. Pornography
6. Seventeen Seconds
7. Faith
8. 4:13 Dream
9. The Cure
10. Bloodflowers
11. Wild Mood Swings
12 .The Top
13. Three Imaginary Boys

those last three or four hardly ever get played anymore and really could be in any order.

tbh if I want my fix of early cure I tend to play the standing on a beach compilation as it’s so good
 
Okay okay okay, let’s give this a bash:

Pornography
Disintegration
Wish
Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me
The Head On the Door
Faith
Join the Dots
The Cure
Bloodflowers
Seventeen Seconds
Wild Mood Swings
4:13 Dream
The Top
Boys Don’t Cry
 
Okay okay okay, let’s give this a bash:

Pornography
Disintegration
Wish
Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me
The Head On the Door
Faith
Join the Dots
The Cure
Bloodflowers
Seventeen Seconds
Wild Mood Swings
4:13 Dream
The Top
Boys Don’t Cry

Join the Dots is an essential grab bag of all those Cure non album items. Some great songs within it.

I will add that (as mentioned earlier) the seasons and weather really do influence my Cure album choices - and if we’d been having this discussing in the melancholic autumn and winter months then Pornography and 17 seconds would be higher. But right now it’s a sunny Saturday morning and all this chat has led me to having ‘Wish’ accompany my breakfast.

The fact that they have such a varied back catalogue that can appeal to different emotions is one of the reasons I love them so much.
 
Robert gave yet another update on the new album yesterday.
Apparently it will be out in time for the tour in October.
It will be the “relentless” dark album.
The second more pop album (which he said was finished a few months ago) is still being worked on as he didn’t like some of the songs and is still writing and recording new songs for it. Will likely come out next year.

https://www.nme.com/news/music/the-...orld-interview-update-relentless-tour-3229589

Edit: oh and he also mentions the Wish remaster which sounds like it’s ready to go.
 
Last edited:
Robert gave yet another update on the new album yesterday.
Apparently it will be out in time for the tour in October.
It will be the “relentless” dark album.
The second more pop album (which he said was finished a few months ago) is still being worked on as he didn’t like some of the songs and is still writing and recording new songs for it. Will likely come out next year.

https://www.nme.com/news/music/the-...orld-interview-update-relentless-tour-3229589

Edit: oh and he also mentions the Wish remaster which sounds like it’s ready to go.
He’s just a constant tease…
 
Robert gave yet another update on the new album yesterday.
Apparently it will be out in time for the tour in October.
It will be the “relentless” dark album.
The second more pop album (which he said was finished a few months ago) is still being worked on as he didn’t like some of the songs and is still writing and recording new songs for it. Will likely come out next year.

https://www.nme.com/news/music/the-...orld-interview-update-relentless-tour-3229589

Edit: oh and he also mentions the Wish remaster which sounds like it’s ready to go.

Songs Of A Lost World is an interesting title!
 
I missed Thursday's Dublin gig this time around due to work commitments. Two of my friends went - very good reports.
Setlist

Alone
Pictures Of You
A Night Like This
Lovesong
And Nothing Is Forever
The Last Day Of Summer
Want
A Fragile Thing
Burn
At Night
A Strange Day
The Hanging Garden
Push
Play For Today
Shake Dog Shake
From The Edge Of The Deep Green Sea
Endsong

I Can Never Say Goodbye
Cold
Charlotte Sometimes
A Forest

Lullaby
The Walk
Friday I'm In Love
Close To Me
In Between Days
Just Like Heaven
Boys Don't Cry
 
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