Well, what's there to say? I've always loved the dark, gothic sound of The Cure, even though I didn't start buying their CDs until '94 or so. My roommate used to complain that he hated their music, it was too depressing. Funny, listening to The Cure always cheers me up! I guess it's good to know there are people out there whose life sucks even more than mine, hard to believe but true. Here's a classic quote from the King of Apathy Robert Smith himself: "When I finished the last Cure album, I realized I had two choices. One was to kill myself, and the other was to make another Cure album. So I made another Cure album."

"Three Imaginary Boys"

1. "10.15 Saturday Night" (3:41)
2. "Accuracy" (2:18)
3. "Grinding Halt" (2:49)
4. "Another Day" (3:44)
5. "Object" (3:03)
6. "Subway Song" (2:01)
7. "Foxy Lady" (2:29)
8. "Meat Hook" (2:18)
9. "So What" (2:37)
10. "Fire in Cairo" (3:23)
11. "It's Not You" (2:49)
12. "Three Imaginary Boys" (3:17)
13. --unlisted instrumental track (1:04)

Import version of the Cure's debut album...well actually, since they're a UK band, this should be considered the "original" version, and Boys Don't Cry as the import. :) Different track listing, minus the two most popular songs ("Boys Don't Cry" and "Killing an Arab", which were released on singles) and adding a wacky cover of Jimi Hendrix's "Foxy Lady". The music here is surprisingly upbeat and stripped-down, sounding more like punk than new wave.

"Boys Don't Cry"

1. "Boys Don't Cry" (2:35)
2. "Plastic Passion" (2:14)
3. "10:15 Saturday Night" (3:38)
4. "Accuracy" (2:16)
5. "So What" (3:01)
6. "Jumping Someone Else's Train" (2:56)
7. "Subway Song" (1:59)
8. "Killing an Arab" (2:22)
9. "Fire in Cairo" (3:21)
10. "Another Day" (3:43)
11. "Grinding Halt" (2:49)
12. "Three Imaginary Boys" (3:14)

The band took a lot of heat for the song "Killing an Arab"...well gee, with a title like that, what did you expect?? The songs here are much rawer and less accessible than their later albums.

"Seventeen Seconds"

1. "A Reflection"--instrumental (2:09)
2. "Play for Today" (3:39)
3. "Secrets" (3:19)
4. "In Your House" (4:06)
5. "Three" (2:36)
6. "The Final Sound"--instrumental (0:52)
7. "A Forest" (5:55)
8. "M" (3:03)
9. "At Night" (5:54)
10. "Seventeen Seconds" (4:01)

"Faith"

1. "The Holy Hour" (4:25)
2. "Primary" (3:35)
3. "Other Voices" (4:26)
4. "All Cats Are Grey" (5:28)
5. "The Funeral Party" (4:14)
6. "Doubt" (3:11)
7. "The Drowning Man" (4:05)
8. "Faith" (6:43)

"Pornography"

1. "One Hundred Years" (6:42)
2. "A Short Term Effect" (4:25)
3. "The Hanging Garden" (4:32)
4. "Siamese Twins" (5:35)
5. "The Figurehead" (6:15)
6. "A Strange Day" (5:06)
7. "Cold" (4:26)
8. "Pornography" (6:28)

These three albums are ones I only heard once I started buying Cure's older CDs. They are all excellent but it's hard to distinguish between them or remember which song sounds like what. No, I'm not suggesting they are derivative at all, or that all the songs sound alike. More like I always zone out listening to these CDs, and can't remember what they sounded like afterwards. Perhaps that's why I like the band so much?

"Japanese Whispers: The Singles"

1. "Let's Go to Bed" (3:32)
2. "The Dream" (3:12)
3. "Just One Kiss" (4:09)
4. "The Upstairs Room" (3:28)
5. "The Walk" (3:27)
6. "Speak My Language" (2:39)
7. "La Ment" (4:20)
8. "The Lovecats" (3:40)

Although the title may suggest it, this is NOT a greatest hits album. "Let's Go to Bed" was their MTv breakthrough and the very first song I ever heard by the band.

"The Top"

1. "Shake Dog Shake" (4:56)
2. "Bird Mad Girl" (4:05)
3. "Wailing Wall" (5:17)
4. "Give Me It" (3:43)
5. "Dressing Up" (2:52)
6. "The Caterpillar" (3:41)
7. "Piggy in the Mirror" (3:41)
8. "The Empty World" (2:36)
9. "Bananafishbones" (3:12)
10. "The Top" (6:51)

A strange album, infecting the Cure's maudlin sound with nutty dance rhythms. Notice how many animal names are mentioned in the titles?? For some dumb reason this one's only available as an expensive import.

"The Head on the Door"

1. "In Between Days" (2:55)
2. "Kyoto Song" (4:00)
3. "The Blood" (3:42)
4. "Six Different Ways" (3:16)
5. "Push" (4:28)
6. "The Baby Screams" (3:43)
7. "Close to Me" (3:23)
8. "A Night Like This" (4:12)
9. "Screw" (2:35)
10. "Sinking" (4:50)

"In Between Days" has to be my favorite Cure song of all time, even though it's much lighter & happier sounding than their normal gloomy stuff. Ironically, the rest of the music on this CD isn't that great. One of their few truly weak albums.

"A Night Like This" has been butchered by Smashing Pumpkins, by the way...

"Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me"

1. "The Kiss" (6:17)
2. "Catch" (2:42)
3. "Torture" (4:13)
4. "If Only Tonight We Could Sleep" (4:50)
5. "Why Can't I Be You?" (3:11)
6. "How Beautiful You Are" (5:09)
7. "The Snakepit" (6:56)
8. "Just Like Heaven" (3:30)
9. "All I Want" (5:18)
10. "Hot Hot Hot!!!" (3:32)
11. "One More Time" (4:29)
12. "Like Cockatoos" (3:38)
13. "Icing Sugar" (3:48)
14. "The Perfect Girl" (2:33)
15. "A Thousand Hours" (3:21)
16. "Shiver and Shake" (3:26)
17. "Fight" (4:26)

Another pisser CD, doesn't include "Hey You" from the double-vinyl version! Unfortunately I didn't have the foresight to keep the crappy vinyl, which interestingly was the only Cure album I ever bought on LP. Oh well, at least I taped it before I sold it. An interesting anecdote here, once on acid the trip started going bad real fast, believing I had a virulent disease, and I got myself together by listening to this album...Get it? "The Cure"? Hehehehehe...

"Disintegration"

1. "Plainsong" (5:12)
2. "Pictures of You" (7:24)
3. "Closedown" (4:16)
4. "Love Song" (3:28)
5. "Last Dance" (4:42)
6. "Lullaby" (4:08)
7. "Fascination Street" (5:16)
8. "Prayers for Rain" (6:04)
9. "The Same Deep Water as You" (9:18)
10. "Disintegration" (8:18)
11. "Homesick" (7:06)
12. "Untitled" (6:30)

Absolutely the BEST of all Cure albums, though one of the last I bought on CD, because I always would see it used, and always for a dollar more than the store's usual used prices! In fact that's why it took me so long to start buying Cure CDs, they seem to have a VERY high turnover rate at the used stores. I bought this one because it started to not be there every time I went...

"Wish"

1. "Open" (6:51)
2. "High" (3:37)
3. "Apart" (6:38)
4. "From the Edge of the Deep Green Sea" (7:44)
5. "Wendy Time" (5:13)
6. "Doing the Unstuck" (4:24)
7. "Friday I'm in Love" (3:38)
8. "Trust" (5:33)
9. "A Letter to Elise" (5:14)
10. "Cut" (5:55)
11. "To Wish Impossible Things" (4:43)
12. "End" (6:46)

If I knew how incredible this CD was, I wouldn't have waited so long to buy the damn thing! The sound is a mix of themes from their last two (and two best) albums, creating some of the most depressing, maudlin music they've ever done. ("Burn", from the soundtrack for The Crow, presumably taken from these sessions, is another masterpiece.) It's too soon to determine whether it's really better than Disintegration, but either way it's gonna be close...

"Wild Mood Swings"

1. "Want" (5:06)
2. "Club America" (5:01)
3. "This is a Lie" (4:29)
4. "The 13th" (4:08)
5. "Strange Attraction" (4:19)
6. "Mint Car" (3:32)
7. "Jupiter Crash" (4:15)
8. "Round & Round & Round" (2:38)
9. "Gone!" (4:31)
10. "Numb" (4:49)
11. "Return" (3:28)
12. "Trap" (3:37)
13. "Treasure" (3:45)
14. "Bare" (7:56)

You know, only the Cure would mix their gloomy sound with a HORN SECTION...actually, the title is very indicative of the music on this album, since many of the songs sound happy & upbeat! I dunno, The Cure on Prozac just doesn't work for me...their song on the Depeche Mode tribute album is also rather weak.

"Bloodflowers"

1. "Out of this World" (6:43)
2. "Watching Me Fall" (11:13)
3. "Where the Birds Always Sing" (5:43)
4. "Maybe Someday" (5:06)
5. "The Last Day of Summer" (5:36)
6. "There is No If..." (3:43)
7. "The Loudest Sound" (5:09)
8. "39" (7:18)
9. "Bloodflowers" (7:28)

According to all sources, this is the Cure's final album. (I guess Robert Smith decided it's time to kill himself?) Thankfully, it's a good one: dark, gloomy, gothic & suicidal. A friend calls this "the final chapter in the trilogy of Pornography and Disintegration"...and that's about as precise a description as you can get.

Oh, and Robert, before you check yourself out of this cursed world, be sure to read the alt.suicide.holiday FAQ first for tried-and-true methods. Hate to see you wind up paralyzed or brain dead or something.

"Four Imaginary Discs" (custom 4CDR set, mp3 source)

There was this guy on AOL who used to sell CDRs of rare new wave songs under the name of "B-Sides Music", and I had my eye on that Cure set for a long time, but when I finally got around to ordering one from him, he up and vanished...(at least I didn't send him any money!) So, I had to resort to the next best thing: NAPSTER, baby!! This was quite a long and involved project, downloading all these songs and seeking out the ones with the best sound quality. A few, especially on the first disc, sound pretty bad, but I think it turned out pretty damn good for someone with a crappy dial-up connection. :) So here's what we got:

Disc one is a buttload of early demos & obscure live songs, including material from when the band was known as Easy Cure (tracks 1-5) and Cult Hero (tracks 6 & 7). Disc two comprises of the ultra-long instrumental "Carnage Visors" (side two of the Faith cassette) and all those b-sides that were included on the cassette version of the Staring at the Sea compilation but NOT included on any other format! (What is it with the Cure and cassettes, anyway? They seem to have an affinity for that format the same way some bands have for vinyl...in fact, some of the live tracks on disc one were originally released only on the cassette version of their early live album, Concert.) Also included are "Charlotte Sometimes" (only released on the aforemetioned compilation) and two tracks cut from the Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me CD.

Disc three contains the meat of the collection, b-sides from Kiss Me thru Wish, undoubtedly the peak of their creative output. Disc four follows up with less interesting tracks from Wild Mood Swings and Bloodflowers (although "Pink Dream" is pretty good.) The four instrumentals on disc 4 come from a super-rare promo tape called "Lost Wishes", only available through their fan club and obviously very hard to come by these days (and, once again, only released on cassette!!) These songs were the most difficult to find good versions of -- the best I could find were ripped at a ridiculously low volume, so I had to do some audio editing to normalize them with the rest! Cover songs here include "Purple Haze" (from a Jimi Hendrix tribute), "Hello I Love You" (originally by The Doors, and released on the Elektra's 30th anniversary tribute Rubiyat), "Young Americans" (originally by David Bowie, source unknown), and "Love Will Tear Us Apart" (a live sound check of the Joy Division song.) Disc four also includes soundtrack songs from Judge Dredd ("Dredd Song") and X-Files: The Movie ("More Than This", no it's not the Roxy Music song!) Each disc is packed at nearly 80 minutes apiece, so there wasn't enough room for the two songs I already have CD, "Burn" and "World in My Eyes"...but I do believe I wound up with a lot more than what that other guy offered!!

Previous Band Back to Index Next Band