Cure, The in general

With more ex-members than you could shake a stick at, and a musical career spanning over 20 years, Robert Smith’s band of merry men were, are, and always will be, one of my favourite bands of all time. With their incredibly stylish backcombed locks, their huge trainers, and smeared lipstick, The Cure are one of the most musically distinctive and long-lasting bands of recent years. Read on for a brief history . . . . . (actually it's not that brief - be warned!) It was way back in 1976 when Robert Smith first set out on his quest for fame and fortune. Along with schoolfriends Laurence Tolhurst and Michael Dempsey, not forgetting guitarist Porl ...  Read the complete review

Its Goth The Lot Back in the mid-eighties there was the big three (and I'm not referring to their hair). U2 and The Cure still have a large following but Simple Minds have long since been consigned to the dustbin of history. U2 have prospered since those heady days while the Cure have had a somewhat chequered path. The 'Disintegration' album was a success and there have been some distinguished singles like 'Friday I'm in Love' but the era that Standing on a Beach comes from remains the Cure's most fertile period. Standing on a Beach gathers all the singles from 1979 to 1985 (so no 'Just Like Heaven'). I only ...  Read the complete review

There are two types of Cure fans- there are the happy-go-lucky casual listeners who dance to the tragic mockery and naggingly catchy, but sometimes insanely ludicrous(and lucrative) pop songs Smith tends to come up with after hitting the crack pipe such as 'Friday, I'm in Love', 'In Between Days' or 'the Lovecats'- then there are the people like me... The clad-in-black kids walking around doomy with Robert Smith's kisser smack-dab on a t-shirt moaning about how 'Wild Mood Swings' was a farce or how 'Blood Flowers' lacks the passion and existential philosophical ideas of past records. Well, if you're the latter, you ...  Read the complete review

I remember 1979 and three bright young things playing at the Top of the World in Stafford. This was The Cure in the days of Michael Dempsey on bass and Lol Tolhurst on drums - still their best line-up in my humble opinion. I was infatuated with their amazing sounds almost from the first and not long afterwards I acquired Three Imaginary Boys, their first long player. I say acquired because I'm still not sure how I got hold of it - I know I didn't buy it. I think I may have exchanged it for a pair of green cloth boots that I'd got for a song at Oxfam! (Those were interesting days, n'est-ce pas?) I know for a fact that my punky, neo-John Rotten ...  Read the complete review

The Cure have had more musical ups and downs than Zebedee in a rollercoaster. Their previous peak having been ‘Disintegration’, they reached an all-time low post ‘Wish’ – seemingly through a misplaced desire to keep up with current Pop trends. Well, I would like to take this opportunity to declare that The Cure are back! ‘Bloodflowers’ has been likened to ‘Disintegration’, but it is not quite the same. It seems to be a result of all previous work, which has thoroughly matured. It is an epic, with one song over 11 minutes long. The tunes really are the Cure, with a style similar to ...  Read the complete review