What's Spinning: Season 2, Vol. 18
The Cure Goes Dark
The 8th studio album from one of the greatest New Wave bands.
I didn't know much of the group until I started exploring New Wave as an adult. That came about after I listened to the Psychedelic Furs. Listening to them made me want to explore more of the genre.
This exploration caused me to watch John Hughes movies but also to listen to this band, The Cure.
This album was a return to the band's roots after releasing a few pop albums. This album was an introspective look after the band's new found success. Heavily influenced by Robert Smith's dabbling in hallucinogenic drugs, it was a brooding and dark album.
This album also contains my favorite song by the band, Pictures of You. This song was inspired by a fire that broke out in Smith's home and all he had left was a picture of his wife Mary in his wallet.
Another song, Lovesong, was a wedding present to his wife Mary Poole. It reached as high as number two on the US Billboard Top 100, the band's highest charting song.
Overall, this a fantastic album. Yes, it is dark but it also has some light as Smith wanted to have equal balance on the album. A masterpiece that was fitting of the New Wave era.
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The Cure - Disintegration
Fiction Records, 2016
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I’ve been a huge Cure fan since high school (I can’t remember if The Top or Head on the Door was my first record, but my fandom started around 84-85)! Disintegration is definitely within my top favorite albums of theirs. The only time I’ve seen them in concert was for this tour! Their newest album has a lot of the same feel as Disintegration and I love it!
I’ve loved The Cure since 1983’s Japanese Whispers and they’ve maintained their status as my all-time favorite band since then. I’ve been lucky enough to see them live half a dozen times (most recently on the Songs of a Lost World tour) and they never disappoint. Disintegration is certainly one of their best albums but “Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me” is probably my favorite and their 1980-82 set of dark goth releases, Seventeen Seconds, Faith, and Pornography, also belong in the pantheon for me.