Again with the dumbass watermarks. Can't stand that shit.
SO, here's the first album in which Robert Smith started to lose it. This is where I decided that maybe the Cure would be better off releasing EPs for the rest of their careers rather than releasing albums. There are quite a few good tracks on this album, but I also noticed that a lot of the b-sides were better than some of the album tracks. In fact, my favorite song from these album sessions is the b-side It Used To Be Me - Best ever song.
Anyway, this album came out shortly before my wife and I got married. I was really excited, because I really liked Wish (but not as much as Disintegration and Kiss Me3 and HOtD) so I was anticipating a great new experience with this. The opening track kicks ass, Club America seemed okay, but a little weird lyrically, and then it started falling apart around The 13th. That song really really sucks. Can't stand it. It wanders in and out for most of the album, then, with the occasional obligatory "smash hit" pop song like Mint Car. But, then it closes weakly.
I knew then, that the era of Cure greatness had passed us by.
I've added the bonus track Ching Chang Chong (Which people had mistaken for a Bloodflowers demo) and it seems to help things a little. I had to mix the b-sides into the album, just to try and salvage it. As I said, the b-sides seemed better than the album tracks, so I hope that having them interspersed will help things. You be the judge.
All being said, it IS the Cure, so I can't help but collect it and listen to it, and even love it a bit. It just wasn't as good as I thought it should've been. But, who am I to judge.
Also, extra disc of mixes... See you all tomorrow.
You've pretty much echoed my feelings on this album. Some really great songs here and there, but overall, this was a huge disappointment, and I don't think any album since has lived up the the three earlier ones you mentioned, particularly "The Head on the Door," which will always be my favorite Cure album. I wanted like this one better when it came out. I really did. I tried. But I just could never get into it. Love the Cure, but this album is just .... to be nice, very weak.
ReplyDeleteWhile I think Bloodflowers is great, though a totally different type of beast, and neither of the last two are as good as this, I don't know where you guys are getting "weak" with this one. I think it's the most underrated album in the catalog. The songwriting, and especially the arrangements, are fierce all the way through. If anything, it sounds better now than it did when it came out.
ReplyDeleteI think part of the problem is this is when he went markedly "adult" for the most part, and a lot of fans weren't ready to also move in that direction. Not aiming that at the above posters, but I'm just saying (since some of the above seems to be a generally seen view about it). But I think the "smudged lipstick factor" went down several notches here, and that was hard for a lot of people to deal with.
I don't think it's a bad album at all. I just can't help comparing it to my favorites, particularly "The Head on the Door," and to me, it comes up wanting. I do like it okay, just not as much as the last few before that.
DeleteNope. This band pretty much disappeared right after WISH, so far as I'm concerned. I could never quite cotton to WMS, and every release thereafter is diminishing returns IMO. And goodness knows I tried - having grown-up collecting the 7-inch and 12-inch singles from the early 80's, this was *the* band for me. Whatever tangent Bob decided to go on, whatever wild direction, I was there by his side. But once I heard WMS, I knew that - for me - the party was over.
ReplyDeleteWMS was my introduction to the cure, back in 1996 or 97. I was 14, and loved mint car the first time i saw the clip on tv. i remember listening WMS on cassete for an entire week, just because i was really into it. Of course, later i discovered their early albums, but this is the only one i still remember all the lyrics.
ReplyDeleteAnd i love your WMS version, ty :)