How wonderful were The Cure?

[Raichu]

I was listening to Disintegration the other day and I agree the album is mostly melancholy, but there’s a 3 track run in the pits of the album where it feels especially dark, Prayers for Rain, Same Deep Water As You and Disintegration is an absolute moment of dark bliss. I just love how the album builds up to that moment.
Also agree Pornography is their darkest album, it’s relentless, I love it.

Also yes, I really hope Robert wraps up the album asap before he decides to shelve it for whatever reason, didn’t he shelve 4:14 Scream because the band members left so it wasn’t the same line up anymore?

Yeah, either that or the opening three tracks are the album's strongest stretch. Sometimes I think the title track is their best song.

And yeah, Pornography is so relentless it almost gets uncomfortable (which is often how a great album should make you feel). Siamese Twins and the title track are terrifying.

 

[RHOPJ]

They've always been above the highest standard for me. I love that Robert contributed to some of my most essential Banshees records too. What a genius.

 

[Raichu]

Wish gets better every time I do a listen-through. The guitars on that album are something else and the only potential skip is Wendy Time. It's kind of annoying but I do let it play.

 

[Raichu]

Wild Mood Swings, on the other hand, was a bit of a rough re-listening experience. I still think it's very unique and sonically compelling (lots of color and verve), but the songwriting is not that good by The Cure standards. Lots of cliches and clunky phrasing, not many interesting images. The 13th and Mint Car still slap immensely and I really love Return as well. I know Cureheads probably think Want is the best track because it sounds like traditional The Cure, but to me it's like a weaker version of Open from Wish.

 

[BootedGay71]

Wild Mood Swings, on the other hand, was a bit of a rough re-listening experience. I still think it's very unique and sonically compelling (lots of color and verve), but the songwriting is not that good by The Cure standards. Lots of cliches and clunky phrasing, not many interesting images. The 13th and Mint Car still slap immensely and I really love Return as well. I know Cureheads probably think Want is the best track because it sounds like traditional The Cure, but to me it's like a weaker version of Open from Wish.

Wild Mood Swings and Bloodflowers are both two of my post 80's The Cure albums. The latter being one of my favourites from them. When Bloodflowers came out I played over and over. Just could not get enough. A brilliant album.

 

[AshtrayHeart]

Wild Mood Swings, on the other hand, was a bit of a rough re-listening experience. I still think it's very unique and sonically compelling (lots of color and verve), but the songwriting is not that good by The Cure standards. Lots of cliches and clunky phrasing, not many interesting images. The 13th and Mint Car still slap immensely and I really love Return as well. I know Cureheads probably think Want is the best track because it sounds like traditional The Cure, but to me it's like a weaker version of Open from Wish.

I’ve always struggled with Wild Mood Swings, some of the b-sides from that era are better than what ended up on the album like A Pink Dream and Adonais and It Used To Be Me, there’s fans that think A Pink Dream should’ve been the lead single, and I agree.
I’ve warmed to the album recently though, Strange Attraction is my favourite song from that album, but that’s a very unpopular opinion.

Also I agree about Wendy Time on Wish, especially when Twilight Garden was right there, but I’ve learned Robert veered away from having too many melancholic songs on both Wish and Wild Mood Swings, which is why I think he followed the Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me formula.

 

[ModeRed]

It’s one of my favourite things about the band and their varied output that we can have random AF albums like the Top, doom fests (Pornography, Faith, Disintegration), mixed albums like Wish and Kiss Me as well as pop classics like Head on the Door and at no point does it ever feel like a sound at odds with the band. That said, Wild Mood Swings is one of my least listened albums of theirs - I feel it’s a bit ‘tired’ as if they didn’t really have the ideas for it. Much preferred 4:13 Dream.