Tag Archives: Simon Gallup

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-4:13 Dream.

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I thought I’d finished my silly idea of writing about every studio album by The Cure. Turns out, as usual, I was wrong. This is the last one. I’ll try not to ramble, I can’t promise though. I don’t make promises. Nobody should. They’re like certain rules aren’t they- just made to be broken.

Everything I love about The Cure is pretty much summed up in the opening track to the album. Before I carry on, I do hope you have this record and you’re not one of these people who claim to be a HUGE FAN OF THE CURE! Yet you only have their Greatest Hits. Come on now. That’s like saying you love strawberries but the closest you’ve had to a strawberry is a nasty strawberry sweet from a pick ‘n’ mix.

The album opens with Underneath The Stars. Obviously this is a song that you have to just lay underneath the stars and listen to. However as it’s bloody freezing out- just stay indoors with the lights off and listen to it. Create your own surroundings to listen to this, but make sure you take every single detail in. This song is so wonderfully haunting and so so painfully delicate. You quiver and tremble with every note, every symbal crash and every word that just trickles so flawlessly out of Robert Smith’s red lipstick stained mouth. You cling onto this as if your life depends on it. Fuck it, you cling onto every single word Robert Smith sings because it is your life. I listen to this album, this song in particular and all those years I’ve clinged onto The Cure are combined into this song. It just makes me realise that I can’t hold a band as dear to me as I do with The Cure. I suppose how I love The Cure is probably how a person loves another. I never claimed to be normal but hey- who is.

I’m not someone who spends their days thinking, “Oh why can’t someone love me. Why does no one want me.” I suppose there are people in the world that think that. I must say that The Cure are the only band that make me want to be in love. They make love feel like something that you cannot touch, something you cannot explain. There’s a song on this album that just defines what love is- what it’s like to want someone and to just be next to them. You don’t have to do anything, just sit with them and watch Countdown and drink a lot of tea. That’s ideal right? Damn right. The Cure are the band that are the reason behind a lot of things, for a lot of things. Their song, The Only One just, for me- defines love, lust- all that stuff. The Only One just defines every postive feeling about being with someone. It makes you want that. Even if you’re like me, and you never really think about it. It makes you think about it. It makes you dizzy and warm inside. Ity just fills you with such loving and gentle feelings. Is it The Cure at their best? No doubt.

4:13 Dream has been hailed as a masterpiece to being bland. Each to their own and all that, but seriousl; this is The Cure at their best. It was released nearly 4 years ago (a new album needs to happen) but it just sounds so instantly timeless. When I hit 40, this will be one of the albums by the band that I mention with fond memories and good words. I never thought I could love a record by The Cure as much as Seventeen Seconds and Faith, but I just love this record so much. Everything about it sums up why I have loved them since I was 8 years old. That’s a long time, obviously it isn’t as long as most- but I’ve grown up with this band. Their words got me through the horrendous teenage years and through the trying times of being an adult.

I’ve loved going through all their records and listening to them older but probably not wiser. I love how I still feel the same as I did when I was 8 years old. I had heard their music before then due to constantly being glued to MTV you know, when it still showed videos and YO! MTV Raps. I remember seeing the video to Close To Me and being in awe. Then when I turned 8 years old, my stepdad gave me a copy of Wild Mood Swings to listen to. It changed everything. When I listen to The Cure now, I go back to how felt the first time round. 4:13 Dream gives me the same feeling as all their records. That sense of wanting to feel something more than I do. That desire to just find something worthy of…well, I don’t know what. Maybe I’ll never get there, maybe I’ll find out. I have no idea. Robert Smith’s words have saved lives, fixed problems, eased the feeling of self-loathing, desperation and angst for so many; myself included. I’m not ashamed to say that The Cure saved a part of me that I didn’t think was worth saving, but something clicked. It’s all a blur now- but I know what songs played a part in it all.

4:13 Dream just shows that The Cure still have it. But let’s be real here, they never lost it.

The Cure-The Cure.

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This album shits on Bloodflowers. I could’ve written that better, but I decided not to. I’m rebelling against my own intelligence and way with words (do I even have a way with words?!)

This self titled album shows that The Cure still have “it.” Whatever IT may be, The Cure posses it. This record has the charm, the feel, the sound, everything that you associate The Cure with. I remember seeing the video to Taking Off and feeling EXACTLY like I did when I first heard The Cure when I was a baby. For a band to make you feel the same many years on, well, it really does prove that they are one of the greatest around. I’ll go on some more about this specfic track shortly.

The album was produced by one of the best producers around, Ross Robinson who has worked with bands such as Deftones, KoRn, Slipknot and Machine Head. Now, if you listen to this album you will notice that compared to previous releases it sounds heavier. I suppose that is a given considering they worked with a brilliant Metal producer. The general feel of this album is heavier than previous releases, and it works. It just shows how amazing the band are and that they can still be as relevant now as they 20 years ago. Not many can do that.

Okay so back to Taking Off. This song makes you want to lose yourself in the eyes of someone you adore. I know it’s an easy thing to do, but it’s a hard thing to wan to do. This song makes it easy for you to do so. Like a lot of songs by The Cure, it is romantic. However, unlike most tracks by them it is quite cheerful. For a heavy album, this is one of the most uplifting tracks on the record.

Although probably not worth listening to, many critics praised this release. We all know that a fan knows a band better than a critic do’t we. To be honest, I fail to see how anyone could possibly say anything bad about this record. Like I’ve sai before, you cannot expect a band to keep having the same sound over and over. The Cure have been going since 1976, they will never sound like how they did at the start ever again- which is a good thing. A band needs to change. A talented band will embrace that.

I adore (I Don’t Know What’s Going)On. Robert Smith sounds so lost and hopeless on this track. The total opposite of songs such as Taking Off. We’ve all been there. You like someone, they turn out to be a tit and you have no idea what the hell is going on with them or you. This songs makes you picure Robert stumbling along a street in a daze questioning what is going on. You’d probably follow him wouldn’t you? It’s okay, I probably would too.

The Cure-Bloodflowers.

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I guess Bloodflowers isn’t really as strong as previous albums by The Cure but it still has that dark and sombre feel to it that makes you realise exactly why you love The Cure. It’s not a patch on Seventeen Seconds- but I’m only saying this because that album is my baby. I love it like a parent loves their child. In my opinion it’s probably The Cure’s best album, but hey- doesn’t mean I am right.

Bloodflowers only has 9 tracks and it is regarded as the final part of The Cure’s trilogy. Robert Smith has said many times that Bloodflowers, Pornography and Disintegration define The Cure the best. Do you agree? Do any of their albums actually define The Cure? It’s personal opinion I suppose. For me, I’d say Faith and Seventeen Seconds.

For most, Wild Mood Swings didn’t sound like your typical album by The Cure. There aren’t as many keyboards on this record, which is why it is easy for one to assume that The Cure went back to their roots with this record. The drunken guitar sounds, the morose vibe, dark lyrics. When a lot of bands last as long as The Cure have, some may assume that it is difficult for the band to stay as creative as they used to be; and for the band to still be interested and most of all passionate about creating new music. With The Cure it is evident that they are, some may see Wild Mood Swings as a brief halt in their career but they picked themselves up with Bloodflowers. I personally love Wild Mood Swings, but I can see why someone wouldn’t enjoy it as much as previous records by the band.

If The Cure were a season, they would be Winter. Robert Smiths lyrics feel like a cold, dark day; the streets covered in snow. Everywhere is desolate. I know it sounds a bit morbid, but it’s quite comforting. This is evident on songs such as Watching Me Fall: “There’s a thin white cold new moon and the snow is coming down. And the neon bright Tokyo lights flicker through the crowd. I’ve been drifting around for hours and I’m lost and I’m tired.” It’s just such a beautiful song. Oh and it lasts around 11 minutes.

Aside from one track (There Is No If….) all the tracks on this record last well over 5 minutes. As someone who loves song that last over 5 minutes, this album is pretty much perfect. Most tracks have this wonderful euphoric feel to it. Some stay the same, some build up. It is a beautiful record and you can easily see why it is part of the Trilogy of records that best define The Cure. It may not be their best album, but they will never create a record like Faith again. I’m glad they won’t. It wouldn’t be right if they kept making the same record over and over. That’s why they have lasted so long, because they change but still keep the same dark feeling to their sound.

The Cure-Wild Mood Swings.

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Apart from A Forest, there is one song by The Cure that means everything to me. Everything could possbily be an understatement. Treasure is found on Wild Mood Swings, an album by The Cure that is stupidly overlooked. So what if it isn’t as good as previous releases (Fuck that, it’s actually amazing.) The tracks on this album are just as heartfelt as the others before; you cannot deny that. Treasure will always mean the world to me, for so many reasons. Reasons that I cannot put into words, reasons that I don’t like; it’s just such a special song to me. I love it far too much. It is such a frail and heartbreaking song. I reckon the best ones usually are.

Sadly, the band rarely (if ever) perform tracks from this album live- along with The Top. If I ever witnessed Treasure live, I think every single part of me would just metaphorically break and I’d need a cuddle. I wouldn’t be able to cope with anything again.

Wild Mood Swings is the first record without Boris Williams and Porl Thompson, Simon Gallup was taken ill(but later joined the group for recording)- so the record was mainly Perry Bamonte and Robert Smith. It was also the first record drummer, Jason Cooper appeared on. Oh, and Roger O’Donnell came back for this record too!

Although this record wasn’t as popular as previous, Robert Smith has said it is one of his favourites by The Cure. Is he being sarky or does he mean it? Who knows. I like to think he means it. Just because I want someone other than myself to love this album.

It isn’t a dark as the other records, it does have a strange sound to it. It doesn’t really have that Goth vibe to it that we’ve come to know and love The Cure for. But so what? You cannot expect a band to make the same record over and over. It’d be boring and the band just wouldn’t evolve. If you’re a creative person, you don’t ever want to repeat yourself do you? There would honestly be no point.

The lyrics are quite woeful, and there’s one track that isn’t your typical morose track-Gone! is quite a postive track. Baically telling the listener that no good is really going to come from staying in bed and doing nothing all day. Ahh..you say this Robert, but sometimes lying in bed and listening to music is the best thing in the world! But seriously, in all honesty it’s an uplifting track that anyone who feels a bit shit should listen to. In fact, just give this record some well deserved attention and TLC. It needs it. It’s a bloody fantastic record.

 

The Cure-Wish.

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Artwork is a big deal for me. The amount of times I have held a record in hands and just gawped at it for hours is mental. I’m surprised I’ve never been thrown out of a record shop for just holding records and staring at them. You know how you get those people who read magazines in shops and don’t move for ages? I’m exactly like that with records. Do NOT ever go with me when I want to go into a record shop- I won’t leave for at least an hour and I’ll have some kind of breakdown trying to choose what I want. I battle with my wants and needs when in a record shop. This leads me onto the artwork for Wish, The Cure’s ninth album. The artwork to this album is one of my favourites of all time and EASILY my favourite of The Cure’s.

Wish was the last album to feature Porl Thompson and Boris Williams. However it isn’t all too bad; Wish was the first record by The Cure to go to number 1 in the UK! HURRAY! (And the first record Perry Balmonte featured on.) Obviously I believe all their other records should’ve gone to number 1 but that’s just my delightful biased opinion coming through again. Yes, this is the album that posses one of the most famous songs by the band, Friday I’m Love. Yes it’s a good song; but the band have so many songs- this doesn’t even touch on how amazing the band are. If you’re one of those who only know The Cure for Friday I’m In Love then please go listen to Faith, go listen to Seventeen Seconds- just go back and listen to all their records. You will find there are better songs than Friday I’m In Love.

The album starts with the amazing, Open. “I really don’t know what i’m doing here. I really think I should’ve gone to bed tonight.” This line sums up exactly how I feel when I go out at night to shitty clubs that play shitty music. Seeing the same faces trying to go home with anything that (possibly) has a pulse. It means nothing to me, I cannot relate. The music I hear, the atmosphere- it doesn’t move me. It’s such a beautiful song, if I had to have an anthem- it’d be a strong candidate I think.

To Wish Impossible Things is probably my favourite track off the album. The title alone if beautiful, the song is just heartbreaking. I love songs that just rip you apart inside. I love being able to see the beauty in painful lyrics. There’s something about it, quite hard to put it into words. Don’t get me wrong I enjoy happy songs. But you can find joy in anything. To hear swuch sadness in a song just moves me in a btter way; it’s like inspiration in a way. It’s okay to feel like cack sometimes. Don’t be afraid. That said, I don’t walk around feeling sorry for myself and whinging about life. Far from it. Just because I wear black all the time doesn’t mean I’m miserable and hate everything. Most think I do, but they’re twats who don’t know me. Not all fans of The Cure are miserable fuckers.

Like most records by The Cure, Wish has a comforting but sad feel to it. Love, longing, despair- it’s all evident on this record; and most records by The Cure. It’s just another record by Robert Smith and his lads for you to lose yourself in. That’s what The Cure does. They enable you to discover parts of yourself and just totally lose yourself in the music. You need to do that, letting go isn’t a bad thing. Ever. Don’t ever think it is.

The album closes with End. Another painfully gut-wrenching song by the group. It has such a hopeless feel to it; “I think I’ve reached that point
where giving up and going on are both the same dead end to me.” Anyone who has ever felt so fucking low will understand this statement more than they wish to. It’s a horrific feeling, but everyone experiences it at some point in their life. For some, it lasts longer than it does for others. You just have to find that wee bit of courage and strength to pull yourself through. “Please stop loving me, I am none of these things.” It’s just so upsetting, but again- we’ve all felt that way. It’s such a sad end to the album, but it’s such a fantastic song. You cannot fault it.

Wish, is one of their strongest albums, in my opinion. Everything about it is just beautiful from the artwork to Robert’s voice. They say that good things come to those who wait, I think they waited long enough for that number 1 record.

The Cure-Disintegration.

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Although he was credited on the album, Lol Tolhurst didn’t play on this record. Robert Smith returned to taking halluciongenic drugs. Could they actually make a solid record with all this going on? In short, yes. Fucking hell, yes. Disintegration saw the band return to that wonderful dark and gloomy sound that caused you to fall in love with them years before. Well, it depends on your age really; but you know what I mean.

The album opens with Plainsong and posses a beautiful line at the end of the song, it causes your heart to ache. But you resentfully smile because you can think of someone who you can easily associate it with. That’s the pain of relating to a song so much isn’t it. There’s always someone you can associate it with. Thankfully I cannot associate anyone with this song. Other songs by The Cure, I probably could. But I do my best not to, I don’t want someone to ruin what this band mean to me. So yes, the line is: “Sometimes you make me feel like i’m living at the edge of the world.”  It’s such a gorgeous line. What’s so stunning about this lyric is that you can takew what you want from it. The person can make you feel like you’re on the edge of the world because they make you feel so shite you want to just jump off a cliff OR they make you feel nerous, on edge; but in a good way. Their presence makes your stomach flip and nothing can compare to it. Personally, I take the latter meaning. There’s no better feeling. The Cure can teach y0u everything you need to learn about love.

Pictures Of You will always be one of the ultimate songs by The Cure. It is so woeful and loving at the same time. You ache with Robert as he sings this treasure of a song. Is it about death or is it about the love of your life leave you? Both are about loss, so I guess the general meaning is loss. We’ve all looked at the photos of the one we are fond of, wishing they were there; but they are gone. Long gone, and it kills. You think you cannot possibly go on; but you can. You will and you do. It’s okay.

The video to Lullaby scared me for so long, but I used to be so engrossed by it; I just had to watch. The song is creepy but that’s why you love it. You love the way Robert Smith whispers each word. It freaks you out by no part of you wants to turn it off.  The lyrics are so poetic, if you just look at the lyrics; it just reads like a Romantic piece of poetry. The imagery is so beautiful, the pictures it conjures up in your mind is just enthralling.

There’s a track on this album that just tugs at my herartstrings and takes over, just everything really. It’s seven minutes of perfection. Homesick. I hate where I grew up. Going to University was the best thing I’ve ever done (for the sake of my own mental health!) Obivously it’s proved useless in the job area as I don’t have one. Homesick just defines how I feel about where I grew up. All my family are here, and yes it’s bloody difficult living in a different country, far from them- but when I come back I feel no connection to this place. There’s a line that just sums it all up: “Cling to me so just one more just one more go. Inspire in me the desire in me to never go home.”  I don’t want to leave England to go back home, I need to be inspired to not do so. Thank you Robert Smith. You just want something or someone to mean enough to keep you away from the place you don’t want to go.

Disintegration wasn’t well recieved by critics but hey- what do they know. As a fan, I can safely say it is a bloody good record. How could you not? Maybe I’m just a biased fan, but when you truly love a band. I mean truly, truly love them; everything they do is perfect and means the world to you because it is the band that saved your soul. It is the band that wrote the songs that saved you and comforts you to this very day. No other band will ever mean as much. They could change their style and make an obscure Opera record; but you would still love and adore them with everything you have. To me, that’s what being a fan is about. Feeling every song, every lyric, every note to the very core of you.

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-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.