Hopelessly Devoted (Cure, The in general)

Member Name: themoomin

Product:	Cure, The in general
Date:	30/11/00 (91 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Just like Heaven

Disadvantages: Hole in the Ozone?

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 Thompson, ‘The Easy Cure’ was brought kicking and screaming into the world. Despite an almost instant recording contract (with German label Ariola-Hansa), and several catchy little numbers being written (such as 10.15 Saturday Night), nothing was released under this name. In ’78 it was time to drop the ‘Easy’ and begin afresh. A new demo containing 4 songs was sent to the major record labels, including Polydor, where one Chris Parry spotted the potential and signed the band to the new Fiction label, where they have stayed happily ever since.

The first album release came in ’78 to great acclaim, titled ‘Killing an Arab. Re-released on Fiction in’79, it was followed by the controversial ‘Three Imaginary Boys’. Re-named ‘Boys Don’t Cry’ after the success of that single in the US, this album contains a mixture of weird lyrics,

(I went into the butchers
I said wanted wanted wanted some...
Meat
Pass me some of that steak over there
It looks so...
Sweet) Meathook

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sparse but pr
omising musical ideas, several wonderful tracks (the spooky Subway Song and staccato Fire in Cairo) and of course the unmistakable voice of Robert Smith, who often sounds like he’s just slit his wrists, or taken a happy pill, or both!

A UK Tour soon followed, and The Cure found themselves playing alongside the likes of Ian Curtis’ Joy Division and The Jam. Robert also found himself as a Banshee after their guitarist left mid-tour – The Cure were the support act but Robert ended up playing for both bands! At the end of ’79 Dempsey became an ex-cure, and the three imaginary boys became a foursome with the introduction of Simon Gallup on Bass and Matthieu Hartley on keys.

The band’s first UK hit single came from the 1980 album ‘Seventeen Seconds’. This release of ‘A Forest’ led to the foursome’s TOTP debut. Again the band went on tour, this time a mammoth event taking in Europe, Australasia and the USA. The strain took its toll on keyboard player Hartley, and in November 1980 he too became an ex-cure.

The next album to be released was Faith (1981), followed by Pornography (1982). These were dark albums, tortuous and despairing, as the music and the lyrics prove. The sounds are bleak, the words mournful and desolate – the atmosphere created on both these albums is one of fear and dark despair.
Surprisingly perhaps, Pornography made the UK top 10, but relationships between the boys were showing signs of cracking, culminating in the departure of Gallup at the end of 1982.

Bob bounced back with the ridiculously poplike, tongue in cheek ‘Let’s go to Bed’ (let me take your hand I’m shaking like milk – what an opening line!). A hit in America, and closely followed in ‘83 by ‘The Walk’ and ‘The Lovecats’ these were songs that effectively re-defined The Cure’s style. In fact The Lovecats has the honour of be
ing the first UK Top 10 hit for The Cure surfacing at a very respectable No 7, described by Smith as ‘ . . . as close as we could get to a perfect pop song . . .’.
These three singles and their B-sides were released as the album Japanese Whispers in December 1983. From desolate dirges to ‘cartoon jazz’ in less than a year The Cure were now seriously on their way to pop stardom.

Next came 84’s ‘The Top’ an album on which the all-seeing Smith played everything except drums! Containing several strange lyrics

(Oh I could be
A polar bear...
It's impossible

I try to talk
The sky goes red
I forget
So fill my head
With some of this
Some of that
Some of every word she said) Birdmad Girl

and spawning the top 20 hit ‘The Caterpillar’ and another World Tour (featuring a live line-up with Andy Anderson (drums) and Phil Thornally (bass)) the band appeared to be stable, and secure. But, all good things must come to an end, and by the end of that tour both Anderson and Thornally had left, to be replaced by Boris Williams on drums and the return of Simon Gallup on Bass. With the number of fans increasing almost by the day, a live album recorded in ’84 was produced (Concert) and The Cure enthusiastically set about recording their next album – 1985’s ‘The Head on the Door’. Eccentric, wild, drawing on Eastern influences and full of rhythmic detail, this reached No 7 in the charts. It contained the singles ‘Inbetween Days’ and ‘Close to Me’. The video for the latter is often aired on MTV, and somewhat inexplicably features the band trapped in a wardrobe hanging off the edge of Beachy Head. Bizarre.

In May 1986 The Cure sprang to worldwide attention with the compilation album ‘Standing on a Beach’ – all the singles and B-sides so far, complimented by the coinciding video R
16;Staring at the Sea’. Another massive world tour, Glastonbury, and the release of the live video ‘The Cure in Orange’ (dir. Tim Pope) in early ’87, brought The Cure at last into the consciousness of the nation’s youth. People who’d never heard of them were instantly hooked, and fans become devoted followers.

‘Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me’ in 1987 was an immense double album, featuring Robert’s lipsticked kissing gear in close-up on the cover. At 71.19 minutes, it is a combination of many earlier styles, consolidated into an exciting and energetic mix. Hits include the fabulously erratic 'Why Can't I Be You?', the beautiful ‘Catch', my favourite Cure song ever 'Just Like Heaven' and 'Hot Hot Hot!!!’, all accompanied by more videos engineered by Pope. The hugely successful ‘Kissing’ tour followed, which included Roger O’Donnell on keys.

An official biography came out in ’88 – a celebration of the first 10 years. Somewhat unimaginatively entitled ’10 Imaginary Years’, its 128 pages are full of colour pictures, press cuttings, articles and little- known facts. It covers everything from The Cure’s inception to ‘Kiss Me’, and is a must for any fan. ‘Truth and lies from the mouths that count’ is what it says in the blurb. Written by Lydie Barbarian, Steve Sutherland and Robert Smith, published by Fiction/Zomba Books (1988) ISBN 0-946391-87-4

Tolhurst was the next band member to leave, and without him The Cure produced one of their must-have albums, ‘Disintegration’ in ’89. A true classic, which is full of brooding, melancholy tunes and powerful lyrics. Entering the UK charts at No 3, the four singles from it are still a major part of The Cure’s live sets today. ‘Pictures of You’ is stunningly beautiful, as once again Smith puts perfectly into word
s all the emotions of love lost.

1989 also saw The Cure undertake the momentous ‘Prayer’ tour, which was played to sell-out crowds across Europe and the US. Shortly after this tour, in 1990, O’Donnell joined the ever-growing ranks of ex-cures, and was replaced on Keys by roadie Perry Bamonte. This year saw them headlining many European Festivals, and producing a collection of remixes on the album Mixed Up. Several hits, including Fascination Street, Lullaby and Never Enough, are given the mixing-desk onceover, and the result is super. Names such as William Orbit and Paul Oakenfold (who was responsible for the brilliant remix of ‘Close to Me’) helped this along, and it is definitely one for the collection. Another live album ‘Entreat’ followed in ‘91 – all the profits from which went to charities.

In 1991 The Cure was the award of Best British Group at the Brits. They filmed a secret gig in London, and put out a video called PlayOut, containing bits from the secret show and odd clips from TV performances.

’92, and the release of ‘Wish’ - in my mind The Cure’s most perfect album. It entered the UK charts in the top spot, and at No 2 in the US. Yet another World Tour – sold-out everywhere they went. I caught them in Dundee’s Caird Hall on April 23rd that year. Just incredible. Singles from 'Wish' include the fabulous ‘Friday I’m in Love’ and the poignant and lyrical ‘Letter to Elise’. The tour culminated in 1993 with the release of two live albums, ‘Show’ and ‘Paris’, after which a certain Porl Thompson departed the band yet again.

On 13 April ’93 The Cure headlined a gig in London’s Finsbury Park, in support of radio station XFM. Other bands in the line-up included Carter USM, Belly, and Kingmaker. I was there, it was brilliant. Also in ’93 The Cure recorded
a version of Purple Haze for a Hendix trubute album, and contributed a song ‘Burn’ to the soundtrack of The Crow.

’94 was a quiet year for the band, as legal action initiated by Laurence Tolhurst took up a fair bit of time, ending up with victory for Smith and Fiction. Suddenly The Cure found themselves drummer-less as Boris Williams left the band, to be replaced by Jason Cooper. The return of Roger O’Donnell (are you following this?) meant that The Cure were once again a 5-piece.

In 1995 The Cure played Festivals around Europe, in between recording sessions at Jane Seymour’s country manor for the 1996 release ‘Wild Mood Swings’. A veritable plethora of emotion (as you would expect from the title), performed with passion and above all conviction. Of the four singles, the perfect pop of ‘Mint Car’ stands out as a Cure classic, and while the album overall might not be one of their best, it still has its saving graces.

Next came the release of ‘Galore’ in 1997 – all the singles from the second decade of The Cure in one breathtakingly good package. This ensured that the band stayed in the public consciousness, and they became even more prominent in 1998 when our Smithy, in a classic episode of South Park, saved the world (Godzilla style!) from . . . Barbra Streisand! Then it was back into the studio to begin work on their 13th studio album ‘Bloodflowers’. Eagerly anticipated, and finally released in February 2000, this album has been hailed by Mr Smith himself as ‘the most perfect Cure album ever.’ Described in NME as ‘the dark, dense core of Smith’s psyche’, this is perhaps the true follow-up to ‘Disintegration’. Gone is the pop, re-born is the melancholy. ‘Bloodflowers’ in itself may not pull in hundreds of new fans, but it is a must for any die-hard followers out there.

So there you have it.
The Cure (all twenty-five years, 20 albums, and 17 million cans of hairspray) in a nutshell. I’m proud to say I own all of the albums in some form or other, and most receive regular airings in the Moominhouse. Sometimes I will put on ‘Disintegration’, and mope myself out of whatever deep blue funk I’m in at the time, at other times it’s ‘Mixed Up’ and I dance around like an eedgit to The Walk and Inbetween Days. Or I will stick one of the videos on, and laugh at the boys as they sit in that crazy wardrobe, or do a passable imitation of 5Star (yes really!) , or drink copious amounts of Sol and giggle helplessly at nothing. (that's them imitating 5Star and drinking Sol - I'm more likely imitating a couch potato and drinking whisky . . *lol*)

Their music covers many styles and sounds, and judging by the number of fans touches people in many different ways. It is surely testament to the songwriting skills of Smith & co that 25 years after Three Imaginary Boys, the Cure still continue to perform to capacity crowds all over the world.

I’ll leave you with a word from Robert himself:

‘Thinking, sometimes knowing, that some of our songs have affected people as they affected me, is the most fulfilling part of the cure. It makes the world turn a tiny bit slower.’

If you made it this far in my opinion – well done!
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for more info check out the official website
www.thecure.com

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