idjit dragon

Agree completely - the first track is amongst their best material ever and I thought "here we go a classic in the making", the second could have been a Wish outtake (that's a good thing) then it all kinds of merges into an indistinguishable melange. I'm not going to give up on yet though, but I'm not optimistic

Cheers

Martin

ken_572002

I have to disagree with you on this one. In my opinion, Robert's voice is keep low on this song on purpose, to allow the guitar to meld in together with the harmonies. It is just a fantastic, wonderful song...that gets better on each listen.

Unfortunately, I have to agree with other posters, who say the rest of the album is basically filler. On Disintegration, this stuff wouldn't have even survive the cutting room floor.

atlantamoi

I liked a few songs near the end of the album, but thought this was mostly just another marginal release. I wish The Cure would have recorded "Friday I'm In Love" and "High" and then quit. Once the first few notes of "A Letter To Elise" were composed they should have looked at each other, said "This is utter crap" and left the studio for good.

Josh-da-man

^I mostly concur.

"High" was the last album that really felt like a proper Cure album.

"Wild Mood Swings" was just a fucking mess. A bunch of sappy pop shit that felt like the band was wallowing in self-parody.

"Bloodflowers" was forgettable, a very poor attempt to recapture the feel of "Disintegration." Not a memorable song on the thing.

"The Cure" (s/t) sounded like a good idea on paper, getting back to an edgier, more guitar-driven sound, but again, there just weren't any decent songs on it.

gmanca

Bloodflowers was amazing, I love that album; great atmosphere, songs that weren't all retreads of past work, and introduced electronica to the band. The Loudest Sound, Where the Birds Always Sing, and 39 were all awesome.

I totally agree Wild Mood Swings was terrible, but there were gems in "Want" and "Treasure." the latter which was great in how it was mixed and the strings.

I still say that it was the turn they made after Bloodflowers, where they started to focus on collaborations instead of changing on their own. Honestly, can you remember the name of the girl who sang on "Just Say Yes?"

Josh-da-man

The girl who sang on "Just Say Yes" was the singer for Republica, that two-hit wonder band from the mid-90s. Can't remember her name, though. Their two big songs were "Ready to Go" and that song that has a chorus that starts out "I know my ex-boyfriend lies, he does it all of the time."

Wait... was her name Saffron something?

Ringmaster

Well I am not a big fan of the album and one of the potential saving graces was "Underneath The Stars". "Plainsong" from Disintegration ,I'm guessing, was the inspiration for the song but I implore you to listen to both tracks back to back and you'll see why I find "Underneath The Stars" aggravating.

OutRun2

The album "The Cure" was so bad it made me almost completely stop listening the band ENTIRELY in disgust, even after being a fan for 20 years.

I'm quite discouraged about the new album after reading so many unflattering reviews. I haven't heard it yet so I will go into it with the lowest expectations possible. I don't know what the hell happened to Robert, but I'm rapidly losing confidence he will regain any of the magic he displayed on Bloodflowers.

I agree with this post 100%. In fact, I'd go as far to say Bloodflowers is my favorite album since Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me, and slightly edges out Disintegration.

WMS has also grown on me over the years and I cannot stress strongly enough how criminally underrated Want, Jupiter Crash, Gone, and Numb are. Simply SUPERB tracks!

orangecrush

WMS is in my top 4 albums of The Cure. The new album isn't that bad. It took me a few listens, but it has grown on me (usually a good sign).

joefrog91

I'm been a Cure fan since 1982. I have loved just about everything they have put out. I didn't care for WMS or The Cure at all. However, after seeing the WMS tour, I revisted the cd and began to enjoy listening to a few tracks. I have not listened to The Cure in a long time.

4:13 Dream is kinda like WMS to me. I saw the band on tour before the cd came out so I loved the songs they played live. I felt like the band had made a comeback. Hearing the cd versions were kinda disappointing. They didn't have the same impact the live versions had. I'll probably listen to the cd again sometime next year to give a little distance from the live shows. I'll be able to judge the cd better by then.

I'm starting to think the Cure should stop recording new songs and just be a live touring band. Their shows are great 3+ hours of incredible songs. They have a huge collection of songs to pull from.

Supermallet

Does anyone know when the next wave of Cure remasters are meant to come out? I've been waiting forever to get Disintegration and Wish remastered.

Tenacious D

I could definitely go for a deluxe remastered Disintegration. I've been wondering when that would come out too.

GoVegan

I've been wondering about that since I saw that Trilogy was hitting Blu-ray. I remember seeing an ad in the DVD packaging saying that the Disintigration remaster was coming out "soon." That was 2003.

They may have gotten too ambitious with those. I remember reading that Disintigration was going to be a 5.1 remix, which I'd love.

Ringmaster

Well 2009 is the 20th anniversary of Disintegration, so my theory is that the remaster (along with Wish and if I'm not mistaken, Mixed-Up) will be released at the end of Summer or in the Fall.

nothingfails

a shame 4:13 Dream did so awful, it seemed to come and go with very little fanfare and sales were awful (I do own a copy tho). I believe even Moz's latest outsold it.

OutRun2

Because it, along with "The Cure" really are lackluster albums. They are forgettable at best. Bob needs to seriously come up with something fresh and original again. He's lost his touch, sadly.

nothingfails

True, but you'd think there'd still be enough hardcore fans left that the album could actually sell more than 75,000 copies total.

I don't think the latter stuff is completely terrible as people say. 4:13 isn't an album that I raved about to everyone and still play on a weekly basis six months on, but there were enough tracks on there like Freakshow, Sleep When I'm Dead and Hungry Ghost that I did play a lot of times. But I do agree with you, this current stuff is a far cry from the 1980's material, or even Wish/Bloodflowers. Still, better than a lot of what's on the charts.