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When one of my friends asked me to rate The Cure's new album, "Songs of a Lost World," in comparison to the rest of their catalogue, it seemed like a simple enough question and I almost flippantly answered it on the spot. After a moment of thinking about it however I realized that doing the topic justice would require not only sorting through over forty years of music history, but even defining "what is a Cure album" in the first place; and in that instant, the project I'm sharing here was born.
I'm going to rank and briefly discuss every album by The Cure, from worst to first. This will include two compilation releases that contain significant amounts of otherwise unreleased material, but won't include live albums or greatest hits releases. To help new listeners explore this amazing group, I'll also share my three to five favorite tracks off each record, depending on the quality of the release; and because I'm a completest nerd, I'll throw in a singles B-Side track where appropriate.
When all is said and done, we'll talk about a staggering fifteen albums, and seventy-one tracks. My plan is to stretch this out so that folks can listen to the chosen songs as they read along; and because I'm never *not* up for a tour through my favorite band's discography, I'll be listening along with you. This passion project is a sort of writing therapy for me and it's going to take some time to post; if that appeals to you, welcome aboard. If not you might wanna mute me for the next 9 hours.
Intro
The Cure is an eclectic English rock band that has been releasing albums since 1979. Over the years the band's lineup has changed multiple times, with only lead singer Robert Smith remaining a constant fixture; although bassist Simon Gallup is also considered a core member, having featured on all but one of the band's albums. The Cure has a devoted, cult-like following, and despite several periods of mainstream success, mostly seems to make music to please themselves and that following.
Describing The Cure's sound is difficult because the band are genre chameleons and no two albums feature exactly the same style of songs; in fact many of their records experiment with different genres of music on the same release. The three main threads that run through their work are generally considered gothic pop, psychedelic rock, and jangle pop; although they frequently combine these genres on the same track. They're also often lumped in with "alternative music” despite predating that term.
Finally, it should be noted that The Cure are one of the most influential bands in modern music history. Despite being neither a gothic rock, nor shoegaze act, several of their records are considered early progenitors of those styles, and The Cure have embraced a large number of bands who claim them as influences, in their own work; creating a creativity loop that sees the band put uniquely "Cure" spins on musical styles and sounds from bands they themselves helped influence in the first place.
Tier Three
When writing this article, I realized that the fifteen records I intend to talk about divide neatly into three separate tiers. While I genuinely don't think there are any "bad" Cure albums and every release has at least some standout tracks, some of the band's records simply have more bangers than others. Personally, I feel the five albums in this tier are the most uneven records in The Cure's catalogue, and as such I'll share three songs (and a B-Side where applicable) from each.
15) The Cure (2004)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cure_(The_Cure_album)
One of the things that allowed The Cure to endure for so long as the biggest band you rarely hear on the radio is frontman Robert Smith's attempts to constantly venture into new genres of music randomly for a record or two. Often this works, but on this album the decision to pair up with Nu-Metal producer Ross Robinson forged an album neither Nu-Metal, nor Cure fans liked at all. It's thick, heavy, loud, and forgettable - but the pop tracks are fine.
With a title like The End of the World you expect this to be one of the Cure's gloomy goth-pop soundscape songs, but this is actually a crafty little pop song about ending a flawed relationship on amicable terms, that fits in perfectly with early 2000's alt rock standards in a way that nevertheless feels like Smith is trying a little too hard to prove the industry hasn't passed him by. Catchy, bouncy, and fun, the mixed acoustic and electric guitar work is a nice touch.
While most of this record is a wild departure from The Cure's more familiar musical styles, I think Taking Off is probably the best and most traditional-sounding track on the album; with the caveat that it clearly borrows from the lighter side of The Cure's song catalogue. Smith's earnest vocals mix really well with the euphoric jangle guitar work and the slightly manic drumming drives the song forward at a blissfully brisk pace. Easily my favorite track on this album.
If you ask casual fans they'll say The Cure is famous for writing sad songs. I think that's a misread; often Smith's happy tracks are quite dark, but his saddest songs have optimistic lyrics. Going Nowhere perversely subverts the norm because the music is evocatively sad, and the lyrics are on the surface about refusing to leave a partner; underneath it all however is a theme of co-dependence. Regardless, it's beautiful. Unfortunately this track is NOT on the US release.
When you get heavy into The Cure, you learn that the band habitually writes more songs than they can fit on an album. These extra songs often don't fit thematically with the rest of the record so they end up as B-Sides on their singles; but some of those songs would be the best tracks on the album they're excluded from. This is particularly true of Your God Is Fear; which combines Disintegration era soundscapes with Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me style guitar work. I love it.
14) The Top (1984)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Top_(album)
Depending on my mood, you could probably convince me this album is worse than our 15th ranked record, but where The Cure bores you by trying too hard, The Top tries too hard to be a psychedelic record in ways that are at least interesting, if unpolished. Known as The Mushrooms Album, the band was doing a lot of drugs when they produced The Top, and it kinda shows. They would however revisit this genre later in their career with much better results.
On a record that (poorly) incorporates a lot of Eastern sounds and instruments, Shake Dog Shake stands out for its heavier mid-70's style guitar work, drums, and the introduction of a thick, layered cascade of sound style that became the norm when The Cure returned to psychedelic rock on later albums. The song itself is mostly about Smith's burnout playing in two bands simultaneously (Siouxsie and the Banshees) and the self loathing a rock lifestyle was inspiring in him.
If you're looking for the perfect example of how The Cure can layer pop hooks into commercially unacceptable music, Bird Mad Girl is it. The song is held together by a clean, even catchy bass line and twinkly piano, but Smith's incomprehensible lyrics and background layers of exotic instruments ensure you'll never hear it on daytime radio. Smith often includes literary allusions in his work and Bird Mad Girl was inspired by the Dylan Thomas poem "Love In The Asylum."
Generally, if fans who found The Cure after they become more popular in mainstream music circles know any songs off The Top, the song they know will be The Caterpillar. Built around African-inspired drums, Mariachi-themed acoustic guitar and a de-tuned piano, the song is a delightful mash of sounds with some of Smith's most soaring vocals. Ostensibly about trying to keep a girl who is evolving out of his life, the track speaks to the double-edged sword that is change.
My B-Side selection for The Top is a song most fans of The Cure who don't own their B-Sides collection have probably never heard in Throw Your Foot. Listening to the track you can understand why Smith and the gang chose not to include it on the album proper because it doesn't fit in stylistically with the tracks on The Top at all; this is pure post-punk with jangle guitar rather than Eastern-inspired psychedelia, but it would be the best track on the album if included.
13) Faith (1981)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faith_(The_Cure_album)
If what you like about The Cure is the way they inspired the Goth and Shoegaze music scenes, ranking Faith this low will seem like sacrilege, and I'm more fond of this album than the previous two. Despite this, what I like about The Cure is the way they seamlessly craft pop hooks into moody, dramatic music and Faith is devoid of the playfulness the band showcases in later work. Also the production buries one of The Cure's best assets in Smith's vocals.
One of the key selling points for Faith as an album is that by dropping back down to a three piece, the band has more room to showcase Simon Gallup's incredible bass work, and nowhere is this more apparent than on the track "Other Voices." Dark and moody, the song has a clear but understated air of sexual tension, and Smith has suggested the lyrics are about losing yourself in forbidden fruit and "deafening lust." Definitely a song for an unnamed movie about vampires.
Although The Cure have rejected (with good reason in my opinion) the label of "Goth band," the track All Cats Are Grey would go on to inspire a whole bunch of other bands that happily wore that mantle. Furthermore, the ethereal production of this song would also heavily influence a number of British Shoegaze bands roughly a decade after its release. Inspired in part by the Gormenghast novels, All Cats Are Grey is also about the death of then-drummer Lol Tolhurst's mother
Like a lot of early albums by the Cure, Faith only had one radio single but that single was one of their most unforgettable tracks - Primary. Featuring both Smith and Gallup playing bass, with no guitars whatsoever, Primary's driving string work is reminiscent of some of Peter Hook's best bass lines while playing with Joy Division, without being derivative. This unique sound combines with Smith's "recorded in another room" vocals to create my favorite song on the album.
Given that the B-Side for Faith was the forgettable "Descent," I'm going to cheat here and pick "Charlotte Sometimes" because it was released as a non-album, stand alone single mere months after Faith came out. Based on a children's book of the same title by Penelope Farmer, the song deals with themes of alienation, disorientation, and being "out of one's own time." This track features layered vocals and Smith's soon to be signature line guitar style for the first time.
12) Japanese Whispers (1983)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_Whispers
Strictly speaking Japanese Whispers isn't an album but rather an 8 track singles compilation recorded after Smith almost dissolved the band in the wake of their previous album and the spiraling depression and addiction problems recording that brought to the fore. Working with only Tolhurst and some session musicians, The Cure's frontman set out to see if he could write commercially friendly pop music and wildly succeeded about half the time.
While the bouncy Lets Go to Bed was the most commercially successful single compiled on Japanese Whispers, I think time has demonstrated that The Walk is the better danceable pop song and indeed is one of Smith's best compositions regardless of genre. Some have accused the synth-heavy track of being derivative of New Order's Blue Monday and I can kinda hear it, but it was written before Blue Monday was released and once Smith's vocals kick in the songs separate quickly.
The Upstairs Room is my favorite track on Japanese Whispers and a hidden gem in The Cure's larger song catalogue. Mixing Smith's (then) newfound fascination with electronic beats and his pre-existing mastery of bendy line guitar, this bouncy driving song wouldn't be out of place in dance clubs of any era. There's also a hint of mischievous sexual energy in this track, written while Smith was living (and partying) with Siouxsie and the Banshees bassist Steven Severin.
I think it says a lot about the band and Robert Smith's songwriting in particular that The Cure's frontman can literally get drunk and toss off what he considers a joke song in The Love Cats, and the end result is quite possibly the best jazz-pop fusion track I've ever heard. This is a wonderfully weird, playful, singalong track that's immensely fun to break out at parties and perhaps that's why Smith himself isn't fond of it. Yet musically, this is still top-notch work.
11) Pornography (1982)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pornography_(album)
As with Faith, ranking Pornography this low will be controversial with many fans who regard it as The Cure's best album, and I do think its best songs are brilliant. Unfortunately, there's just not enough of them for me. This is also the only Cure album I'd describe as straight up Gothic Rock (with Industrial flourishes) and I'm not a big fan of that style of music. Dark, loud, and nihilist in nature; making this album almost tore The Cure apart.
On an album almost devoid of the bright guitars and disguised pop hooks I love in Smith's compositions, A Strange Day is the closest The Cure comes to sounding like the version of the band I like most. Although the guitar is sparse, it remains in the foreground, while the vocal track is mostly presented clean with minimal effects. Thematically the song is sinister and about the end of the world, but it retains a melodic wistfulness that makes it stand out on this record.
Although thematically The Hanging Garden blends in perfectly with an album I like but don't love, I think what really makes this track stand out is its excellent pacing and rhythm. The pounding drums, and simple but throbbing baseline combine to hint at music styles The Cure would explore more deeply on later albums Wish and Bloodflowers, while Smith's echoing pained vocals presage his work on Disintegration. Easily The Cure's most Siouxsie and the Banshees-esque song.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, my favorite song on Pornography is the one that almost sounds like it could have featured on Disintegration; namely The Figurehead. Haunting, stilted, and atmospheric, this track explores themes of guilt, fear, self-loathing, and mental collapse with an unguarded earnestness that defines The Cure's best "dark" songs. The strange chord changes and Smith's off-kilter vocal delivery heighten the sense of isolation and anguish this track communicates.
Tier Two
At this point I believe there's a leap in quality and craftsmanship in terms of the albums we're ranking. Which isn't to say that I think the prior albums are bad, so much as that they're carried by the best songs on each record and contain plenty of skip-able material. Even as a big Cure fan, it wasn't hard for me to pick three songs per album to share; for this next tier that's much more difficult, so we're going to add a fourth song (and a B-side where applicable) from each release.
10) Seventeen Seconds (1980)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seventeen_Seconds
The band's second studio album, Seventeen Seconds occupies a strange place in my heart because it's almost a 50/50 mix of stripped down but sometimes forgettable music and ridiculously inventive bangers. Musically this record finds The Cure straddling bridges between multiple musical styles with post-punk tones, new wave influences, and the beginnings of what would (for a time) become The Cure's signature "gothic pop" sound in short order.
In Your House is a deep cut in the Cure's catalogue, but it's still very popular with longtime fans. Hypnotic and ethereal, this track builds a foggy sonic gloomscape around simple, repetitive chords and features every instrument contributing equally to a song that's greater than the sum of its parts. Although it's a stripped down example of the style, this technique would eventually come to define The Cure's sound on classic albums like Disintegration and Bloodflowers.
I'm often baffled when folks describe The Cure as a "post-punk" band because they really only have one and a half albums worth of material that fits that description. Play For Today however is definitely a post-punk song. Combining angular guitar, Gallup's driving bass, and tortured percussion, this track buzzes with petulant angst. Although the lyrics are aggressively open to interpretation, Smith says they're about "the fraudulent aspects of an insincere relationship."
One of the more interesting tracks on the album to me is the rarely praised song Secrets. While I think there's a tendency to sort of lump this tune in with The Cure's "post-punk" phase, I think it's more accurate to describe it as "minimalist pop." Carried almost entirely by Gallup's bass work, guitar shimmers, and steady but constrained drumming, Smith's vocals on this track almost become a background instrument; in fact the echo is louder than the main vocal line.
Frankly The Cure's "A Forest" is such unique and amazing track that its existence probably accounts for most of the hagiography of what is otherwise a very uneven album. Over time it has become one of the Cure's most enduring and important songs; the cold tones, reverb, flanging, Smith's echoing yet warm vocals, and the deep textural soundscape of this track would go on to influence dozens of important bands and even whole genres of music for decades after its release.
9) Boys Don't Cry (1980)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boys_Don%27t_Cry_(The_Cure_album)
The truth is that Boys Don't Cry isn't a real album so much as a compilation of The Cure's early pre-album debut singles and most of the best tracks off the band's 1st album, Three Imaginary Boys from 1979. So why am I featuring it here? For starters, the Cure's debut album was only released in the UK; Boys Don't Cry was the US release. Additionally the record label picked which tracks would go on it over Robert Smith's furious objections.
(ct)
In time's light then, who was right - the label or the artist? Well given that Three Imaginary Boys would rank 14th or 15th on this list, I’ll have to give that one to Smith. Both albums are earnest, if unpolished forays into the (then) newly developing post-punk genre, but Boys Don't Cry is greatly bolstered by the inclusion of 3 additional singles; the title track, Jumping Someone Else's Train and a song The Cure doesn't play anymore because it was appropriated by nazis who don't read Camus.
While most tracks on this album can be described as punk or post-punk, there were hints of the band The Cure would become; with the most prominent being the song Three Imaginary Boys. If some of Smith's later work could be described as gothic rock, and then gothic pop, this track may best be thought of as gothic punk. Combining bright jangly guitars, thick bass, thumping percussion, and Smith's haunting echoes into a spooky but upbeat whole, this song is a complete mood.
When old heads describe The Cure as a post-punk band I suspect 10:15 Saturday Night is the song they're thinking of most prominently. With its minimalist production, a slight echo on Smith's vocals and the song's percussion mostly amounting to drummer Lol Tolhurst tapping his sticks together, this track actually sounds a bit like a workshop demo by The Police; but in a good way. 10:15 Saturday Night also features a rare Smith guitar solo that's simple but catchy as hell.
Another great example of a song that borrows from multiple genres and points toward later versions of The Cure's sound is the extremely catchy "Fire In Cairo." A little bit punk, a little bit pop, and dripping with post-punk production, this track's bright guitar, bathroom stall vocals, and smooth base are so tightly arranged it's legitimately hard to believe Smith wrote this before his twentieth birthday; even if the spelling bee chorus is a bit clumsy and repetitive.
In the history of bad decisions by music labels, leaving Boys Don't Cry off the first version of The Cure's debut album has to rank up with the worst. In just over 2 and a half minutes Smith would showcase the ability to craft a simple, but perfect pop masterpiece that reveals everything that sets the band's work apart from the goth, alternative, and post-punk acts they inspired. By the way, the title is sardonic; this song is about macho stoicism costing Smith the girl.
Given that Boys Don't Cry is just Three Imaginary Boys with the banger non-album singles added back in, there aren't many options for showcasing the band's B-Sides here. The track that does qualify, I'm Cold, isn't actually good because it's wildly overproduced and sounds like the band just turned all the effects knobs to maximum. It is however quite an interesting preview track of techniques The Cure would eventually refine and use to produce some truly amazing music.
8) 4:13 Dream (2008)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4:13_Dream
I think this is without question the most unfairly rated album in The Cure's catalogue, with many fans claiming it's the worst record the band ever released. To me, this is bonkers; while I concede there's a few clunkers, my standard for a great album is six banger tracks and by my count 4:13 Dream has seven, including its opener which easily ranks in my top 10 Cure songs of all time. This is more of a guitar than a keyboard record, but it delivers.
One of the things I really like about this album is the way Robert Smith experiments with rolling, non-traditional vocal deliveries. A great example is This Here and Now With You; a track about putting bad times behind you, and embracing the moment with the love of your life. There's still a bit of jangle guitar, and layered synth work here for Cure traditionalists, but Smith's vocals carry the band to a rollicking place they've never been before and it makes the track.
Speaking of non-traditional vocal delivery, Sirensong is a dreamy little treasure that borrows from The Cure's past without sounding quite like anything else they've released. I'm absolutely in love with the slide guitar work and the background shatter-stop effect on Smith's voice, while the strumming acoustic guitar and bouncing keyboards are at least reminiscent of certain The Head on the Door era Cure tracks. The ending is a bit abrupt but otherwise it's a winner.
Hearing Smith take a stand against capitalist culture and consumerism was always guaranteed to pique my interest, but I also think The Hungry Ghost is one of the more fleshed out, better produced track on 4:13 Dream. There's hints of Wish-era guitar, and the driving pace of Smith's vocals make for a classic Cure single that somehow wasn't a single. The song also continues the long and mutual love affair between The Cure and Ride, borrowing from the latter's Vapour Trail
Siouxsie vibes, it's the truth! 
Nothing wrong with *that*, though. Everybody down to Bauhaus influenced each other somehow and - frankly - I *like* it! 
@GNUmatic I mean remember, Smith was their lead guitarist for like a whole year before the workload of being in two bands almost broke him; he credits Siouxsie with teaching him HOW to be a proper frontman.
LOL
But - yes. Much of it wouln't ever have happened without her and many who came later gave her credit. Rightly so.
Midnight Oil »Diesel & Dust« vibes, although slowed down *a lot*. Marvellous.
Played on the radio *a lot*, so that's what folks *know*, but of course - as with many bands - it's just part of the story.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
The tension! And they've made it to last over the entire song. Amazing.
@AnarchoNinaWrites Christ on a bike...
This is making me feel like I'm in my mid to late teens again (born '70). I can *feel* the drums to Three Imaginary Boys in my head.
alt:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9GkVhgIeGJQ
(Yeah. On *this* one? Corp. hell site fencing is getting outright *ridiculous*! Fuck 'em!)
Boys having too much fun, wondering what all the knobs would do and frobbing 'em.
I guess I see the flaw. It all takes some getting used to and we're not at all conditioned to do that, especially if it's not fast food.
@vegetablegremlin@AnarchoNinaWrites i remember when i picked up boys dont cry from the record store and was initially disappointed that i couldnt just mope out to it but then hypnotized by the intricacies of the compositions
@vegetablegremlin It's shockingly good for a bunch of 18 year old kids jamming in Mom's garage. Like really tight.
@vegetablegremlin@AnarchoNinaWrites tangentially: blister in the sun has an almost scientific jankiness to it that suggests violent femmes had some incredible grasp of music theory to know precisely how much to skew it
@AnarchoNinaWrites This is the only song in the entire catalog that I will skip almost every time it comes up in rotation. It is catchy, but the “spelling bee chorus”… I just can’t.
My guess? They never even heared *that* one. They heared »Play for today« and *knew* what The Cure was all about ever since. Never underestimate what the radio hypes and - nope - they never played *that* one AFAIK.
@AnarchoNinaWrites My roommate in college (around 1989) had the import LP. The songs were glyphs and did not have any written words for their name. To my 17 year old brain, this was the coolest thing ever! I had just seen them at Dodger's stadium in Los Angeles, with Love and Rockets, and the Pixies as openers.
I especially like that track with some rawness to it, as is evident in this live performance
Tricky territory ahead! Lotsa fruits! Buckle up!
@AnarchoNinaWrites Definitely one of my top 3 favourites, from the Cure, but I understand your ambivalence.