Kevin's Watch

I'm curious, what do you think of their newer stuff? (Newer meaning post Wish (ie mid 90s and on)). I ask 'casue a lot of Cure fans I know seem to feel that anything after Wish is a waste of time (and some of them include Wish in that category as well). Personally, while I never would realistically achieve something as great as Disintegration again, I've enjoyed the newer stuff quite a bit. The one album I found a little weak was Bloodflowers - it sounded like it was trying to be a Disintergration follow-up too much to me. Not that it was bad, but.... I did really enjoy Wild Mood Swings and the self titled one though, and am totally stoked about the new album, especially after hearing the new single.

haven't heard any of the newer stuff to be honest Mortice, I was huge on 'Head on the Door', 'Pornography' and a couple of other albums, 'Disintergration' is awesome too ... Robert Smith is a talent no matter what stage of his career he's at, I take his stuff on a song-by-song basis, mostly I really enjoy it - btw, Cure live in Orange is wicked ...

It's been a long time since I've heard "In Orange" though I have good memories of it. It's too bad that concert and the "Show" concert (from the Wish tour) were only released on video tape. I"d certainly pick those up if they showed up on DVD. Maybe someday....

And speaking of live Cure....

Last night I saw their show in Chicago. They were performing with their 4-piece line up, Smith, Gallup on bass, Cooper on drums, and Thompson on guitar. No keyboards. This was the same lineup on the Fesitval DVD from '05 - which is real good in spots, but in others you really feel the lack of keyboards. So I was a little nervous about that. The Cure as a "guitar band"...... hm. Plus, they're touring in "support" of their album which isn't released yet. I always like to hear the stuff recorded before I hear it live, so again, I was a little hesitant.

I didn't need to be. They were absolutely fantastic! This was my third time seeing them, and far and away the best performance. Part of was our seats, which were on the floor, but close enough to the stage so that even my short-*ssed self could see what was going on. But the energy the band was putting out was incredible. They played for almost three hours, and performed lots of songs I was very surprised to hear live, let alone with this line-up. And the keyboards? Didn't miss 'em. (There may have been some bass-pedal type keys somewhere, but otherwise, no tapes or overdubs). Smith played a lot of the keyboard lines on a 6-string bass, and Thompson played the other on guitar. The only song that didn't quite feel right was "Disintegration" itself. But everything else rocked!

I'm not going to try to list the set in order ('cause I'd royally screw it up ) but here's what they played:

Two new tunes (didn't catch the names)
The Only One
The End Of The World
alt.end
Wrong Number (Lime green, lime green and tangerine!!! )
From The Edge Of The Deep Green Sea
Friday I'm In Love
Never Enough
Plainsong
Pictures Of You
Lovesong
Lullaby
Prayers For Rain
Disintegration
The Kiss
If Only Tonight We Could Sleep
Why Can't I Be You?
Just Like Heaven
Hot Hot Hot!!!
Inbetween Days
Push
Close To Me
A Night Like This
The Walk
The Lovecats
One Hundred Years
Primary
Boys Don't Cry
10:15 Saturday Night
Grinding Halt
Jumping Someone Else's Train
Killing An Arab


All in all, just an awesome show....

Mortice Root wrote:And speaking of live Cure....

Last night I saw their show in Chicago.
They were absolutely fantastic! .

I saw the Cure twice. The first time was in 89 or 90 Disintegration tour. Then a few years after that--probably for Wish. Robert Smith isn't exactly the life of the party, but he and his mates perform well live. Sure they just stand there, hardly moving or playing to the crowd; but damn, every song sounded as good or better live than the studio version.

I think the last CD I bought was Wild Mood Swings (Want, Mint Car and Strange attraction come to mind.) I actually enjoy Wish. You're right, many Cure fans disparage anything after Disintegration. Personally I think Wish was nearly as good as Kiss Me. Wild Mood Swings was ok.

I still remember listening to Disitegration when it first came out. My friend bought the cassette at Tower Records and we popped it in my stereo on the way home and just drove around for an hour or so listening to it without saying a word the whole time. It was really incredible--never heard anything like it before. Still one of my favorite albums.

There are those (my wife included) who argue that Pornography, Japanese Whispers and Disintegration are The Cure and Kiss Me is ok--everything else is Robert Smith's mortgage payment fund How many best of albums do they have?

I'm not up to snuff with the latest Cure stuff, but aren't Pornography, Disintegation and Bloodflowers part of a trilogy? Might be why they sound so much alike.

Anyway, I love the Cure. Think I'll dig up some of those old CDs and throw them into my truck's cd changer. It's been awhile. Who knows, maybe I'll even pick up something from the past decade.

Tulizar wrote

I saw the Cure twice. The first time was in 89 or 90 Disintegration tour. Then a few years after that--probably for Wish. Robert Smith isn't exactly the life of the party, but he and his mates perform well live. Sure they just stand there, hardly moving or playing to the crowd; but damn, every song sounded as good or better live than the studio version.

Totally agree. This was the third time I'd seen them (the others being Mood Swings tour and Bloodflowers tour). They're not exciting to watch, by any stretch of the imagination. But they can play.....

I think Wish is great. No problems there. Mood Swings is, uneven, I guess. Some great tunes - (in addition to the ones you mentioned, Jupiter Crash and Treasure come to mind) - but some pretty weak stuff too (Round and Round irritates the heck out of me, and The 13th? As the lead off single?? What were they thinking????)

I'm not up to snuff with the latest Cure stuff, but aren't Pornography, Disintegation and Bloodflowers part of a trilogy? Might be why they sound so much alike.

Yeah, the three albums are linked thematically. They all have to do with loss, obviously. To me, Pornography translates as "anger", Disintegration as "sorrow" and Bloodflowers as "melancholy" or "reminscince". The offical "Trilogy" concept came about after the Bloodflowers tour. The band did a series of European shows in 2000 (?maybe) where they played all three albums straight through. They released a DVD of the show as well. Bloodflowers sounds pretty much like the cd, Disintegration is excellent, but Pornography is outstanding. The band they were touring with in 2000 was much more accomplished musically than the band on the '83 original record. It's impressive.

The only problem with the Trilogy concept though is that Bloodflowers just isn't as good as the other two. Not that it's bad, just not anywhere near as strong. The whole album feels sort of detached - as though we are hearing someone remembering the loss as opposed to hearing someone actually feeling the loss. And maybe that's deliberate. But it doesn't connect as well for me.

Mortice Root wrote:The only problem with the Trilogy concept though is that Bloodflowers just isn't as good as the other two. Not that it's bad, just not anywhere near as strong. The whole album feels sort of detached - as though we are hearing someone remembering the loss as opposed to hearing someone actually feeling the loss. And maybe that's deliberate. But it doesn't connect as well for me.

Yeah, that is a problem. I've not listened to Bloodflowers, but it certainly has a lot to live up to if it is the third part of a trilogy that includes two of the bands best albums!

Not only are Pornography and Disintegraton well done instrumentally, they ooze with emotion. I love Smith's imperfect voice and odd (I'm not good with music terms!) guitar work. I'm not sure which emotes more. Both seem to work well with the other. The rising, cracking voice makes you feel the lyrics (or at least understand them better than simply reading them as poetry). The guitar carries the mood of Smith's up and down voice, often imitating it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qv1jQhL3u3Y

[The Cure: Mint Car]