Tag Archives: Lol Tolhurst

The Cure : “You carry your love in a trinket, hanging round your throat.”

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I was very young when I first heard The Cure. I was terrified but I couldn’t tear my eyes away. I still do that now. If something scares me, I am more likely to keep at it. I don’t know why, I guess I just want to know what happens. That video by Shakespears Sister- Stay. It used to scare me shitless when Marcella Detroit appeared looking all creepy and menacing. But I couldn’t tear my eyes from the tv. I was only 5 years old, but I was drawn in to how dark and eerie it all was. This very feeling came over me when I used to watch the video to Lullaby by The Cure.

I love The Cure, that’s as simple as I can put it. But my love for Robert and the boys goes way deeper than this. If someone asked me what my favourite song by The Cure was, I couldn’t answer straight away. They’d have to sit me down for an hour or so with 3 cups of tea so I could gather my thoughts. Make a list, and try to come up with a firm favourite. Right now, I’d easily say  The Perfect Girl is the one I’d choose. Ask me tomorrow and I may say M is my favourite. One thing that has never (and will never) change is my favourite record by The Cure. Always and forever I will declare Seventeen Seconds as being my ultimate favourite record by The Cure.

Giving yourself over to a band is a better feeling than giving yourself completely to a person. I’m probably only saying this because I’ve never given myself to a person before. A band is easier to do so, but I could be wrong. Straight up, The Cure saved my life. Robert’s lyrics summed up every horrific feeling I ever had go through my head during secondary school. Certain songs summed up how shite I’d feel when I’d hurt someone by being careless and an all round wanker. I’ve improved with age. The Cure taught me how to be careful and gentle. That there is no harm in being sensitive and cautious- but I feel it trying to be changed by some people, sometimes.

I always remember being sat on the floor in the living room going through some old CDs. One of them was a record by The Cure. It had a song on it that changed everything for me. It changed how I viewed music, it changed how I listened to it. It drew me in so intensely, I just couldn’t stop playing it. So, I was looking at these old CDs and I remember my Stepdad telling me, “Listen to A Forest.” I was really young, only 10 years old. So I went up to my room and played it. I had it on repeat for hours and hours. The song is just under 6 minutes long. I didn’t want to do anything but listen to it. The echoes of Robert crying out, “The girl was never there.” It’s always stayed with me. I stand-by the bass in this song to be the best I’ve ever ever heard. I listen to A Forest everyday still, and it still leaves me in awe. I can’t move a muscle when I listen to it. The world stops when I listen to it, it just has all my attention. All of Seventeen Seconds has this grip over me. Like a lover that you cannot shake off, that’s how I regard Seventeen Seconds. It is vital to my life, and nothing in this world can rip its meaning away from me.

I’ve always wanted to write down what The Cure meant to me. I would’ve done this years or months ago- but I guess the words weren’t there. I’m not even sure they are there right now to be honest. Trying to explain my love for them is like me trying to tell you how much I love Morrissey or Metric or No Doubt or Garbage or The Jesus And Mary Chain. Each band has played such an important role in my life. Each band has drawn me closer to certain people. Each band has driven me away from one thing and into another. Each band has played a huge part in saving my life when I was a teenager. For instance, take Return Of Saturn by No Doubt and Version 2.0 by Garbage. Both records got me through secondary school. If I didn’t play these records every day when I was there, I probably would’ve been another statistic. Music gets you through. Every part of you wishes that you could thank the band that saved your life. Yet all you can do it play the music loudly and sing equally loud, if not louder. The songs were written for you. Cling onto them as hard as you can.

Sometimes you find a band, sometimes a band finds you. My relationship with The Cure is a combination of the two. At the time, I was too young to be a lost soul. That hit me later in life. As I listen to them now with older ears, I fully get what they mean to me. I’ve got 6 months left of being 25 and I’ve done nothing of worth with my life. I listen to The Cure, and I think..maybe I have. Maybe I’ve done a couple of things right. There’s always that fucking uncertainty niggling in the back of your head, and it sometimes likes to push its way to the front so you don’t forget its there. You learn to control yourself as you get older. The Cure make all these feelings of self-doubt and uncertainty okay. If it wasn’t for Robert Smith’s words I just don’t know what I would’ve done. You get some people who think being miserable is vital to them. That they have to be sad. Let me tell you now, it really isn’t. There is nothing good about being sad. There is however, something good about knowing you are not the only one.

But you cannot be sad forever.

There was a time where I associated The Cure with a really dark part of my life. I hated myself more than a person should, and all I could do was listen to music that summed up all this despair. I guess it threw me into a darker place quicker than I anticipated. Now? Now I listen to The Cure and I just hear how influential they truly are. The bass in their songs is a signature sound that you can hear in so many bands that are around right now. The bass is so hypnotising and causes you to jolt your body in a way that you didn’t think it could. I get this now from listening to Warpaint. It’s still there, it will always be there. The Cure will always be influencing bands. They just have this legacy that goes beyond saving lives.

I’ve been a fan of The Cure for most of my life. They’ve been there through pretty much everything-good and bad. I guess it is why I get super pissed off when someone says, “I love The Cure. My favourite song is Friday I’m In Love.” Then they say the only record they own is their greatest hits. Man. NO! You need to hear EVERY album they have ever done. You need to hear every single record they have ever done in order to see how influential and important they are. Where do you start? From the start, of course. I recommend playing A Forest through headphones in the dark, alone. It becomes like a ritualistic sort of thing.

The Cure always leave you in a euphoric state when you listen to them. I’ve been listening to them properly since I was 10 years old, I doubt I will ever snap out of this trance they have put me in.

Fun fact: When I wake up in the morning I look like Robert Smith. It’s probably a sign that I need a haircut.

The Cure-Kiss Me,Kiss Me, Kiss Me.

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I guess writing about every album by The Cure is getting easier. I mean, it’s not exactly a chore to listen to every album by your favourite band is it. If anything, this making me truly appreciate the band even more than I already do. Every listen just makes me realise how important this band are to me. Maybe I’ll always be some silly lost cause, but The Cure make that burden easier to carry. There is nothing better than discovering different layers to the songs you love, the meanings behind the songs you love and what a band went through with each record.

Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me is probably the album that launched The Cure into the mainstream. Personally, it should’ve been the first album that did this. However, people are cack at times and they take a while to realise what they have don’t they. The albums opens with the euphoric and fucking gut wrenching The Kiss. If I could see The Cure perform any song live, it would be this one. Oh and of course A Forest. I love how wonderfully dramatic The Kiss is. A fantastic opener to the album. I think if this was the first record someone ever bought, it would just change their life in ways they couldn’t ever imagine. Like, nothing before is better and nothing after would have any worth. It just has that feel to it that cannot be found anywhere else.

One thing that annoyed me about this record is that Hey You was taken off the original release. It was placed on the 2006 edition, but it honestly should’ve been there the first time around. It would’ve just sounded so perfect.

I love how this album just makes you want to grab the person you are fond off and kiss them. However, if I was to do that to the person I like, I think she would probably call me a freak and tell me to fuck off! Oh well. It’s just such a bouncy, happy record. Quite like The Head On The Door, of course you have the dark moments but the music is just so wonderful and uplifting. It gives you that feeling that makes every part of you come alive. That’s what music should do.

One of the saddest things about this record is that it is pretty much the last one without the wonderful Lol Tolhurst. Is that loss evident in the releases after? Well, that’ll be something I’ll have in mind as I write about the albums after.

Everyone loves the tracks such as Catch, Just Like Heaven and Hot!Hot!Hot! but honestly, every single song is worthy of loving as much as those three. Every track is just beautifully astounding. There’s this wonderful atmosphere it posses that is found if you look beyond some of the dark lyrics, but to be honest it is possibly their most upbeat album (lyrically and musically.) When Robert sings “Hey!” Hey! Hey!” on Hot!Hot!Hot! it just fils you up with so much excitement. It’s just a stunning and exciting record from start to finish. You just have to play it over and over again; one listen isn’t enough. It stays with you forever. You build emotions and memories around it.

One song that always stands out for me has to be The Perfect Girl. I may act like a dickhead at times but I’m a stupidly romantic bugger at heart; and this song just sums it all up. I just adore the lines, “You’re such a strange girl. I want to be with you.”  It’s just a beautiful song. My favourite off the album, and one of my favourites by the band. It just makes you think of someone who amazes you, and wanting to be near them. It’s a delicate and happy song. I just love it to pieces.

Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me is yet again, another album by The Cure that just owns your heart.

The Cure-The Head On The Door.

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This album has the very first track by The Cure I remember hearing,Close To Me. The albm was released a year before I was born but I remember the first time I saw the video to Close To Me. I was in awe, and yes I did believe for many years that The Cure would be in my wardrobe every single time I opened it. Some believe in Narnia, I chose The Cure.

The Head On The Door saw the return of Simon Gallup, and personally this is why I feel this album is bloody brilliant. I have a few t-shirts of The Cure, and one of them is the artwork of this record. It’s just awesome. I love how trippy the artwork is, much like the album.

The Head On The Door has an extremely dreamy feel to it, 6 albums in and the band are just as strong as ever on this record. With previous album the tone was dark; musically and lyrically. With this record, the lyric matter may have been dark but musically it just sent you off in a dream world. You felt spaced out and quite happy. This record is the one you can fall in love with someone to. This is the album that fulls your bones full of love and joy. There’s just something about the record that brings you so much joy. I can listen to certain songs by The Cure and just smile like a mental bugger, and they are mainly found on this record. If I was to fall in love, I’d probably associate this album with that person. However, that would only be if they were a fan of The Cure and a decent person.

Just listening to songs such as Six Different Ways, it’s hard to see why anyone couldn’t love The Cure. There’s so much going on in one song. There’s so much love and pain in the songs; but the joyful music disguises it so well. It masks the pain in sucha clever way. I could easily turn this into how people do it with their feelings, but I’d bore you even more and I’d just rant like a nutter so I shall spare you.

Push is a beauty of a song. It’s about Robert Smith wearing a dress on a train. I’d love to see Robert Smith on a train, or a bus even. There’s hints of rejection in the song, that is just so painfully yet beautifully written. “A smile to hide the fear away.” You don’t have to be  man wearing a dress on a train to fully feel that line at all. Anyone can.

You can associate any feeling possible to each album by The Cure. I associate happiness with this record, how could you not? Okay so the lyrics may be dark, they always are I suppose but the music just lifts up your spirits and makes you feel less shite about life. It’s just a brilliant record that you could easily argue as being the best album by The Cure. The Cure defined my childhood, teenage years and adulthood; and it all started with Close To Me.

 

The Cure-The Top.

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The Top is an album by The Cure that I’m not entirely fussed on. However, I don’t like being a cock about music so I’ll be a decent person and be nice. I can be nice. Nice is a terrible word, and a terrible thing to be. The word has no meaning. I’ve basically done myself no favours with this opening paragraph. Basically, I’m not a fan of their fifth album but I’ll do my best to be positive about it because I don’t like negative vibes. There. That’s better.

The Top could pretty much be seen as a Robert Smith solo album. He plays pretty much every instrument on this record aside from the drums. It is also the first album without his chum, Simon Gallup. He left the band after a wee fight. No, it wasn’t over eyeliner. Don’t be daft.

Personally, I’ve found the previous four albums easy to listen to; even if they were utterly dark. But this one, I don’t know. It doesn’t move me like the others did. Maybe it’s because for so long all my attention was aimed at Seventeen Seconds and Faith, I didn’t really allow myself to enjoy the rest of the albums properly. But, when you have such an emotional connection witha record it is hard to part yourself from it and love another just as much. I was going to make some kind of comparison to relationships, then decided not to. I think my description is easy to understand, I don’t need to expand on it I don’t think.

One of my favourite things about this record is the haunting guitar and twisted lyrics of Shake Dog Shake. “As stale and selfish as a sick dog, spurning sex like an animal of god. I’ll tear your red hair by the roots,and hold you blazing.” It is such a fucked up verse, and I love it dearly. I love the way it just warps your mind and takes over your thoughts. It’s such a bloody powerful song. So dark, so twisted.

Although this record is not my favourite, I can fully appreciate that is still is a solid record. I cannot say that it is bad, because it isn’t. I’m just not a fan of the sound on it. I prefer the drunken, dark side to The Cure that is found on the second and third record. One song that has this same feel on The Top is Wailing Wall. I love how creepy it sounds and how perverse Robert Smith’s voice is. I don’t mean it in a “come here little boy, I have some Haribo in my van” kind of way. I mean it in a deviant, creepy sense. It’s such a menacing song. Robert doesn’t sing songs, he tells stories. That is evident on this track. Probably my favourite on the album.

It is bloody hard to write ill of The Cure, and I feel bad for not loving this record as much as I love others. I can’t like everything, no one can. That’d be silly. Others may regard it as their best work, and I can honestly see the genius within it; but my heart belongs to their other records.

The Cure-Pornography.

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Album number 4 by The Cure. It opens with the amazing line, “It doesn’t matter if we all die.”  My wonderfully morbid side adores this line. It is a brilliant opening line. One Hundred Years is a fantastic opening song. It’s 6 minutes of utter brilliance. Find me a better opening line to a song, then we’ll talk. Actually, we won’t talk. Mainly because you’ll find a better opening line and I’ll be left feeling like a dickhead again. Just accept it’s a wonderful opening line, yeah? Good.

I could quite happily write thousands of words about One Hundred Years, but if you’ve heard the album you will know that no words can actually describe just how perfect this song. Robert’s voice sounds so dramatic and intense.  Honestly one of the best tracks by The Cure ever.

Pornography sparked The Cure “look.” You know; the big hair, black clothes and smeared make-up. Let’s be honest though, only Robert Smith could pull off having his lipstick like that. Anyone else just looks like they’ve had a rough night and forgot their bus pass.

I still hold Seventeen Seconds higher than all albums by The Cure, but there is something about their fourth record that is so dark; you feel so numb after hearing it. I’m in a good mood right now, but I know as soon as I finish playing the album I’ll feel like someone has killed my dog. I don’t have a dog, but you know what I mean. It has a way of just ridding you of positive feelings and causing a wave of darkenss to take over. Personally, I love it. I love that a record can make you feel like that. I love that this record can make you feel so dark and morbid. I think it’s utterly fascinating.

The Figurehead oozes desperation and despair. Two things that many do not always appreciate in music due to it sounding so fucking self-indulgent. Not with The Cure. Not at all. It’s  a painful song to listen to, espcially if you’ve ever had your heart ripped out and your self-worth  shat on. We’ve all been there, but Robert portrays it in a way that doesn’ t make you feel alone. See, when you get hurt- you become wrapped up in it. You convince yourself that you’re the only one to have ever felt like that. You’re not. You’re really not, and records like this just prove exactly that. Pain is pain. We all feel it. You cannot escape it, it will happen. Just get on with your life, and let fate drag you along for the ride. “I will never be clean again.” It’s so painful and heartbreaking to hear. The way he sings this just makes you ache everywhere; from the inside out.

Pornography was the first album by The Cure where they used a keyboard and if you look closely enough at the album front cover, it is the first album by the band to not have used their logo that was present on previous records.

This album is not for the faint hearted or for those who cannot handle feeling sad. However, it is up there with one of the best records ever created and also one of the best albums by The Cure.

The Cure-Faith.

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Third album. See, I’m doing good. I’m onto the third album and I have yet to get bored. Although, I suppose you are….whoever you are.

Dark, sombre, chilling,genius- these are just some words that one could use to describe The Cure’s third album. It is painfully dark and wonderfully haunting. They say you should never judge a book by its cover. With an album, you can probably get away with it. Especially with this record. The cover to Faith is grey, foggy and eerie. Listen to the album, and it gives off exactly the same atmosphere. The Cure are one of the few bands that always have brilliant artwork with their albums. As someone who loves buying CDs/records and going through the artwork as I listen to the album, The Cure, I find are a brilliant band to do this to. There aren’t many around, this is why I treasure (oh look, a bad pun) The Cure so much.

I adore The Drowning Man. Hands down, favourite track off the album. The title alone is morbid. “I would have left the world all bleeding, could I only help you love.”  Not only is the such a sad line, it is beautiful too. For some reason I can find beauty and the good in sadness- I have no idea why, I don’t want to know why. If I knew why, I probably wouldn’t be able to function. I like the idea of darkness and a bit of chaos; there’s something quite comforting about it. I don’t know, I’m going off topic again.

Faith is regarded as the centre point of the “Dark Trilogy”- starting with Seventeen Seconds and ending with Pornography. Well, the darker the better I say!

As someone who has a weird curiosty with the subject of death, I’m obviously going to be drawn to the track The Funeral Party. I can only imagine the hardcorefans of The Cure wanting this playing at their funeral, good on them. Bloody good song. It doesn’t sound like your stereotypical song by The Cure, it is more slowed down than most and it is possibly their saddest track. I’d honestly say it is on a par with Treasure; it is that sad. The lyrics are wonderful, even the title is genius. “Two pale figures,ache in silence.” What a gorgeous way to start a song. This is sheer poetry, fuck it; Robert Smith is a poet. Of all the albums by The Cure, Faith shows how much of a lyrical genius Robert Smith is. He’s a bloody poet. A true Romantic. Although it is a sad song, you can find strength and comfort in it. Death comes to us all; whether you’re the one dying or the one left without a person- we all experience it. This song can give you the strength to overcome the pain of dealing with the loss of someone.

One thing I always take from listening to The Cure, especially with this record is their ability to get inside your head and vocalise how you feel. The dark feelings you cannot tell your best friend are sung by Robert Smith and you do not feel so horrible about having such dark feelings. What makes us human and in touch with how we feel is not being afraid to feel. This is what I believe, and I believe it because of The Cure and Robert Smith’s words. Where would I be without them, without this record? I don’t know. I’m not willing to know.

 

The Cure-Three Imaginary Boys.

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I loved listening to Seventeen Seconds and writing about it; so I have now decided to do the same for every album by The Cure. If you’d like to place your bets on how long it takes before I change my mind, then go for it. I’m doing it for many reasons- one being I’d like to see if I can actually do it without being distracted and changing my mind. However, hardly anyone reads the nonsense I write so no one will notice if I stick at this or not. Now, with that out of the way, let’s discuss one of the most phenomenal debut albums of all time.

Three Imaginary Boys is THE essential album by The Cure isn’t it? It has to be. I know every single album is bloody amazing, but this one is stunning from start to finish. When you listen to it, you find it hard to believe that this is their first record. It picks up where Punk left off; it’s a slowed down version of Punk. A lot of Punk tracks were short, aggressive and fast. The Cure are about as aggressive as a goldfish. That’s why I love them so much, they made it okay for you to be delicate and vulnerable. I’m a stupidly shy person, and talking to people sometimes baffles me. The Cure made me (and still do) feel okay with how I am. As did/do Morrissey, which given the history between Robert Smith and Morrissey is a bit odd, but I love them both the same. The Cure’s music is a cure. It is a cure to loneliness, fragility, poor self-worth and longing. You get people who say, “Oh I know how you feel.” They don’t. Robert Smith does, and it is evident on every single bloody song.

Three Imaginary Boys is a masterpiece, deny that and you are a silly billy really. Another Day is so poetic and woeful. I love it so much. “The sun rises slowly on another day.” Robert just sounds so fed up singing this line, as someone who carries a tiny bif of frustration towards daily life; I just love this line so much. The bass in this song is so chilling, it lingers in your ears for a while after you’ve stopped listening. You can just picture a young Robert Smith looking out of the window writing this, singing this to himself. I love how the guitar throughout (especially at the end) has a drunken effect.

Object gives off a more Punk feel than any of the other tracks. By Punk, I mean it feels like a song by the Buzzcocks; so not really Punk. Post-Punk if you will. Unlike albums released after, The Cure didn’t get a say in the tracklisting of their debut album. Ever since, Robert Smith has been given creative control over what tracks goes on each album before it is released. The company also decided on the artwork too. To have your first EVER album released and you find out the songs you hated that you recorded are put on it  must be beyond frustrating. Robert has stated many times that he hates the songs Foxy Lady (Hendrix cover) and Object, and didn’t want them on the album.

Meathook has a slight reggae feel to it, the guitar is just brilliant on this one. But let’s be honest here, although the band didn’t get a say on what was put on this album; every track is wonderful making it one of the most important debut albums of all time. Not only is it such an important record, it is highly influential too. This album started a sound that many tried to copy, but only The Cure could well and truly carry. It is THEIR sound, many just tried to be like all too often. No other band has made such a wonderful debut. No other band has created a sound like this. There is no other band quite like The Cure.

The Cure-Seventeen Seconds.

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When I miss home, I just play The Cure. I’ve been playing them a lot recently; mainly Wild Mood Swings and Seventeen Seconds.

A lot of second albums are labelled as difficult to make. I listen to Seventeen Seconds and it just sounds so bloody effortlessly brilliant. I remember getting into The Cure and my stepdad telling me to start with the song A Forest. I played it, and ever since nothing has come close. The bassline, the guitar, the drums- so haunting. Robert’s voice, so perfect. It was one of the first songs I remember hearing and just connecting with. There’s something about A Forest that just screams out GENIUS. I’m not sure I could trust someone who couldn’t see how amazing this song is. It’s my favourite. Always has been, always will be. Nothing will come close to how I feel about this song.

I listen to Seventeen Seconds now, and how I felt when I first heard it is exactly the same how I feel now. I am still in awe of the production and the musicianship. It pisses me off so much when people automatically think of Boys Don’t Cry or Just Like Heaven when they think of The Cure. They need to be hit over the head with a copy of Seventeen Seconds and made to listen to it over and over again. Until they see that it is the most glorious album ever. Robert’s voice is one that will always amaze me and stir up feelings that I didn’t expect a singer to do.

Seventeen Seconds has a sound, a feel to it that has evidently influenced so many bands. That sound is still floating around today in brilliant bands such as Foals and Warpaint. The dreamy vibe that makes every single part of you sway. The picturesque lyrics that make you see the Universe and life in a totally different way. This is a record to lose yourself in. Maybe lose yourself and fall for someone. I have no idea, it depends on the kind of person you are. Or maybe it makes you wish you could fall freely for someone- without something or someone getting in the way. Let’s face it, there’s always something in the way.

At Night is one of the more harsher tracks on the album, the intro (if I could type a sound I would, but if I attempt it will look mighty strange) just reels you in. Then Robert’s voice kicks in with this fucking wonderful guitar. It’s just so bloody perfect. I know that perfection doesn’t exist, but it comes so bloody close on this record. This record was the soundtrack to so many peoples lives, it still is. It is utterly timeless.

The instrumental tracks on the album are brilliant too. See, with anyone else it’d be like an album filler. That isn’t the case with The Cure. The instrumental tracks are just as vital as the others. The album flows so beautiful. You listen to this all the way through. You explore the different layers of each track with every single listen.I listen to this album pretty much every single day, and I still notice something new with every listen. It just fascinates me in so many ways. The album starts with an instrumental (A Reflection)and it does create a somewhat sombre atmosphere, but I guess that’s why I love The Cure. They make you feel okay with feeling sad sometimes. You cannot escape sadness, sometimes you just have to allow yourself to feel it. Don’t be scared.

What I love the most about this record is how Robert’s voice always sounds like an echo. If you listen to the album through headphones, you feel it go from one ear to another in such a dramatic and haunting manner. It’s out of this world. The Cure created a sound on this album that was way ahead of its time, and in the process created one of the most influential records of all time. There is so much longing on the album (M, A Forest) and you can fully see why teenagers across the world found so much peace in this band and this record. Everyone knows that being a teenager is one of the cruelest things anyone has to go through, but with bands like The Cure; it makes it easier. I spent my teenage years listening to The Smiths and The Cure, and it gave me an insight to life that nothing else could. Their music taught me things no book could ever teach me.