@Zenarcist : yeah that shits stellar, its up there for me. this might be my favorite though

 

@taskforce : yo its all good and thats a great story man, thanks for sharing. theyre definitely very influential, you can hear it in so much; especially in alternative genres, i definitely saw the Siouxie influence too (later down the road when i found out Robert was in that band) but i also agree they elevated that type of post-punk she was doing. i use to have Seventeen Seconds on vinyl, idk what happened too it though....

seeing them in the 80s is so dope, when i saw them they put on a pretty good show so i definitely believe they killed it when you saw them. great memory to have as a fan

 

I've delved back as far as the 1930's This one from 1957 influenced so many that followed, especially when played live.

Anyway, back to the Cure ...

 

Last edited: Sep 29, 2024

It is really hard to have expectations with such a good band ... and get only an average track after all those years.
That's all i can say about The Cure OP

 

For me too! But I listened also this version a lot:

 

This cover is pure gem to me (and i love Clan of Xymox too) :

 

You could have saved some energy by not posting anything

 

I'll end up giving more energy to respond to this post just by letting you know that I gave the ultimate perfect amount of energy toward my initial feelings on this release. I listened to the entire track subjectively (as I grew up in the time period) the track did next to nothing for me other than hearing someone from my youth. From a producers standpoint, BORED city. So..............." " is suffice, to say the least.

 

And yes ladies and gents the album is a very good Cure album. For me it's probably Smith's best album in 30 years. Released on my birthday the 1st of November, like a targeted pun lol, it is nicely produced and has some quite dark themes. And this, which i'm kinda really fond of:

And latest 3hrs (!) live including all new album songs streamed! They are still fkin killing it alright. What a great band.

 

Last edited: Nov 7, 2024

Still not a fan but dammit, good for them!

 

@taskforce : ayo happy belated fam, hope you enjoyed it and have a good year ahead. it dropping on your b-day is wild though lol - i definitely agree with it being their best album in a while (since Wish imo) and one of the best comeback albums ive witnessed from a band personally, im glad; seems to be getting good reviews too

ive listened too it a couple times since its release and its very cohesive sonically; i do wish they took more risks artistically, its pretty safe which i was worried about prior: but i like how patient and mature the arrangements are. we all know Robert got sticky melodies and hooks in his bag as a songwriter. thats definitely a strength that i wouldve liked too see flexed a bit, theres no hooks on this at all or any of that really. it is what it is though

but yo the track list and sequencing is one of the best in their discography though imo. like even that song that was the first single that i wasnt really feeling like that originally, i like better in context of the album. fits well and I think all of the songs reinforce each other well and work better as a whole than individually, really speaks to that imo. well crafted

overall yeah i agree great comeback for them; very disintegration-y but this is probably my favorite from it; its beautiful and i like the concept

 

Thanks a mil man. I couldn't resist and ordered the vinyl as a gift to myself hehe. Still hasn't arrived but np. The new album is number 1 in the UK, first Cure chart topper in 32 years since "Wish". I also read it's number 1 in both cd and vinyl markets, although they 're not really strong parts of the industry anymore it's indicative that the Cure capture both the old fans and new. Evidently live work pays off eventually, letting the youngsters who might get interested know the Cure can still play tight as fuck and one thing's sure, Smith can still sing at 65 like he's 35 haha.
Like this is not enough, 2001's Greatest Hits album climbed to top 40 too. Talkin' about a big break for Smith and the boys and i agree it's one of the strongest comebacks ever.
My best

 

man, as much as I love the Cure. And I am a real fan and have all the phisical albums. not this streaming nonsense where you have access to all of it but know nothing of the band, this album sucks big time. That second song "And nothing is forever" sounds exactly like a song you'd hear in one of those xmas comedy movies that nobody watches in a sunday. absolutely hedious. even worse than the previous forgettable albums. And as much as I like them, he's beating that dead horse of lyrics for too much time now. with disintegration and pretty much since then he's been at it with that kinda teenage sensibility "oh remember when we last kissed" "this is the last time I say goodbye" kind of vibe. man... enough is enough. It was passable the first time around and you kinda let it slide because the songs were good, but the last albums man oh man... there's not patience to still listen to that teenage angst. this is the cat that once began a song with "It doesn't matter if we all die": now I want to hear the rest of that song. that gets me hooked and it captures my interest. But this constant bitching about lost love... come on... and even more so when you know this is a cat that's happilly married for fucking ages.
I'l say this though: in terms of mixing and production it's the most "live" album they have in terms of you feeling they're actually in a real room playing the intruments instead of that disintegration vibe that is mostly made up of imagined spaces. with this one you really feel the room. that's cool. but when the songwritting is like this... this is just a footnote.
and if you're thinking I'm being harsh, go back and listen to that second song. But do listen to that not with your heart and longing for a new Cure album but with truthfull intent. Otherwise you'll fall in that trap where you'll say back in the [insert the decade when you were younger] that's when music was good. every year there's good music coming out. might not be even close to the top 40 but there's a lot of good things going on now.
fuck me sideways.... I was hoping for a better collecion of songs. 16 years for this... sounds kinda meh... picked up where they left off

 

Last edited: Nov 8, 2024

my man! yes indeed. bringing back that edgier pornography vibe would be kick ass. especially since they do have some guitars in this album that kinda sound a bit too heavy for my taste. but if the rest of it encapsuling those guitars was more edgier in that pornography vibe maybe it would work. the way they did it it doesn't (IMHO)

 

Hi. You are an exception. Metacritic gets a 93% atm.
And what did you expect really. Most of these songs were recorded in 2019 but time is -sort of- irrelevant.

I don't know how this makes any sense in your head but in mine it doesn't. The song is just ok to me, but hideous, as objectively as possible it's not and it's far from that sir.

Hmm. Criticizing Smith for being himself? Not cool man hehe.

There really is no teenage nothing in this album. It is dark and quite mature. These are songs about loss and death for fucks sake. And some more like Drone:Nodrone, Warsong and the amazing Endsong which is sort of a self confession:
"And I'm outside in the dark
Staring at the blood red moon
Remembering the hopes and dreams I had
And all I had to do
And wondering what became of that boy
And the world he called his own
I'm outside in the dark
Wondering how I got so old"
Paying the attention needed, you will discover that these themes, could be approached this way only by an older Smith. But his signature disarming lyrical simplicity and hidden depth are still there.
If you really haven't gotten as old as to be intolerant, it is my belief you will give it another chance, set aside expectations and such. This is a different but sort of welcome -to me- Cure. I hear Smith's so satisfied with the album being a huge hit all over Europe that he is already preparing for the next one. I just hope it doesn't take another 16 years haha.
Cheers
PS: The somewhat harder guitars in places is indeed something new. It's Reeves Gabrels' first appearance with the Cure on record. After touring with the band for 12 years, Smith did him right and gave him a shot. I kinda like his parts, he's tasty, never overplays and fits well with the rest of the textures sonically.

 

Last edited: Nov 9, 2024

Seventeen Seconds and The Head On The Door for me, the latter being the first album of theirs I heard (long after release.)

Same over here. I think even if you grow up on something heavy, it's not quite the same if you weren't in that exact time period that it was everywhere. I rock Sixties music often, and I grew up with it around me, but I'm far outside the era, so I'll never have that same connection people had to it who remember hearing a song while... say, watching footage of the war in Vietnam, or civil rights marches.

I always thought it was crazy, Dave being so self-conscious about his music and yet has a more acclaimed overall discography than Metallica. But I think that sort of skewed self-perception is in every dedicated artist, to some degree.

Agreed. I could nit-pick overall, but there's enough here to be happy with, especially considering some bands' "comebacks."

I like how you're somehow the bad guy in this scenario.

 

Oh I missed it!
Well yes it seems to me kind of New order, and I would add "Living on video" by the canadian band Trans-X, just reverse bass line and you got it!
This was form may 1983, "The walk" from june, so...

 

I thought that song sounded familiar. They played it at this concert in may of 2023. I can't remember exactly where it's at on the youtube timeline though.

 

A lot is explained in Smith's interview posted a couple of weeks ago. The little i watched, Smith says the follow up album to the new one is already finished! And there is a third one in the works. Btw, that live streamed and posted in the official Cure channel is amazing and what a gesture from Smith. Everybody else would have released it on streaming services to capitalize on its production, which is absolutely fantastic. The sound engineering and recording, camera work and directing, all is top notch.
Fun fact about that live, I watched the whole thing, there's a funny error towards the end, in the second encore they play "Friday i'm in love" and at some point Smith forgets the words and there is a weird 4 bars moment for the band all looking at Smith hahah, he saves it by jumping to the bridge and they follow along. He owned that error graciously smiling, not bad.
Cheers mates