Cure - The Cure - 2004

Truth Is (sic), I have no nostalgic memories or moments to share with you about this album.  Yes, I remember when it came out, and I remember how much I realized that Fat Bob had jumped the shark.  It was hailed as being the best work they'd done since Disintegration or something.  Yeah, right.  All I do remember is putting the disc in the car player and I started driving away and I was like "Oh, my god...  what crap."  I winced, I frowned, I shook my head, I quickly skipped to the next track.  Okay, Labyrinth is a good song, but....  I mean, he's got a song called Why Can't I Be Me, when 17 years earlier he was singing Why Can't I Be You?  There are conflicting messages throughout the album, as if he's trying to appeal to every teenage neurosis out there.  He's obviously grown up, but he wants to sing like he hasn't, and it shows.  And the cover art.  I'm sorry but what crap.

I had seen this coming, though.  When Wild Mood Swings came out, I had a little twitch.  Hmmm  what was that, Robert?  Then Bloodflowers shows up, and I am thinking, okay, there is definitely something wrong here.  Things had started to fall apart then.  I felt a little better after seeing them in St Louis that summer and they put on a kick-ass 3 hour show.  But, then this appeared, and I knew the show was over.

Yet, here I stand with an album and a half of materiel, chased down, gathered and arranged into one big set.  All the demos, b-sides and guest vocals.  I am definitely an obsessive/compulsive.  Or maybe I'm relentlessly hoping that one day........

I found a picture of a guy with this painting of Robert on the back of his leather coat.  What an AWESOME painting.  I had to Photoshop it a bit to get it to look more like a painting and less like an article of clothing, but I feel it worked out well.  Two discs, one cover.  Make it work...

I don't know, some people love Robert regardless of what he does, and maybe they will like this.  All I know, is that I feel sad for him when I listen to it.  And unfortunately, 4:13 wasn't much better.

For all the completists....  There you go.

Cure - The Cure - 2004 - Disc One

Cure - The Cure - 2004 - Disc Two