Day 0651 - Disintegration

The Cure "Disintegration" (1989) 

Robert Smith plumbed the depths again, facing the realisation that he was growing old because he was turning 30...  my near-40-year-old heart bleeds for him.

Smith felt pressured to follow up on the Cure's prior successes.  They had initially had a Gothic vibe to them, but once people came to expect that, he switched to a more accessible pop vein, but disliked the increased popularity so returned again to the goth fold.

This album certainly doesn't appear to court MTV or commercial radio, with the songs being lengthy morose grooves that take their time creating an atmosphere (though still with a keen sense of melody on display).  Whatever Smith's intentions, the album did reasonably well commercially.

Day 0612 - I'm Your Man

Leonard Cohen "I'm Your Man" (1988) - got it

Cohen moves away from live/organic instruments in favour of synths and drum machines.  A lot of people, even now, praise it as a giant leap forward, but personally it doesn't 'do it' for me.  Don't get me wrong, the songs on "I'm Your Man" are among Leonard's best, but having heard live versions of some of them using live band instrumentation, I just feel like the songs would have been better served that way.

That gripe aside, the album does have an interesting sound.  Leonard picked it as one where he was happiest with his vocals, which is odd as he seems to sing with much less melodic range here (though his voice does sound smooth).  The lyrics here are brilliant as usual, with the title track being a personal favourite of mine.

Day 0500 - Pornography

The Cure "Pornography" (1982)

 
It's almost like one of those cheesy billboards "Pornography!  Now that I've got your attention..."

The last of the 'early' Cure albums as the band was torn apart by in-fighting, drug use, and Smith working to cope with his depression.  From this point on, the band would move away from their gothy droney alt-rock sound for more of a gothy pop influence.

This album is all bass and drum grooves with synth and minimal guitars layered over the top, creating music-beds for Smith's desolate lyrics.

The final (title) track is an interesting sound collage.

Day 0461 - Seventeen Seconds

The Cure "Seventeen Seconds"

The Cure are another band that I was primarily familiar with through a few singles... that I wasn't overly keen on; but this is a pretty fantastic album. Aside from the odd wailing, dramatic vocal this is a pretty low-key affair with jangling but mostly unobtrusive guitar. There are odd spots of keyboards but they're used sparingly and in such a way that they add to the music without drawing attention to themselves. In fact everyone here seems to be just doing good work to serve the songs.

I can definitely hear the influence of this band on artists like early REM, a lot of 00s indie rockers, and even the early demos of the Smashing Pumpkins bear a startling resemblance to this collection of songs.