The Twilight Sad : "It's the Long Goodbye"

If there is any justice in the world, the 6th album from this Scottish band will find them getting the recognition they deserve. They have toured with the Cure multiple times, but also had some hardships in their daily lives, which led to their bass player and drummer being replaced with Arab Strap's drummer and Mogwai's bass player. Vocalist James Graham's distinct voice is centerstage, with guitarist Andy MacFarlane providing the needed backdrop. Graham's voice is as emotive and fluid as ever as he swings up into his falsetto on "Designed to Lose."  

This record has a more rock n roll mix, with a rawer guitar tone and not as much space for the vocals to fill. It is much clsoer to their live sound. The vocal lines are as catchy as any of their work, which makes for an engaging listen. Their dynamics are always emotionally powerful; this album is no exception. No wonder Robert Smith loves they are always consistent. Robert Smith adds guitars to "Waiting for the Phone Call". There is more of an electronic pulse to this. It rocks out pretty hard for post-punk coming out of the chorus.  I had to listen to "Ceiling Underground' three times to wrap my head around it for some reason. The vocals kind of fade, and it works off a similar formula as what they normally do, so not sure why there was a disconnect before it clicked, but it did. Think I just needed something more solid in mind before I commited an opinion to review. It's actually darker after closer listening. 

Robert Smith plays synths on "Dead Flowers" which finds them heading into the Cure-like sounds. Since Smith plays on it, they can have all the similarities to the Cure they want, but James ' voice sets them apart as their own identity. He's singing something about 'water off a duck's back, ' and it works as he always puts his voice in the best places. There is a more 80s feel to the guitar tone of "Inhosptiable/ Hospital." It's a pretty catchy song depsite it's bleak nature. In fact, it's one of the album's best songs. Oddly upbeat considering the subject matter.

There are some cool guitar tones on "Chestwound to the Chest". The verses are more strummed, with James singing out with his urgent plea that marks their earlier work. It has a little more rock drive to it. Robert Smith plays a 6-string bass on " Back to Fourteen."  Here, some of the lyrics become more entwined in mystery rather than the more introspective outbursts. James has said many of the lyrics deal with mental health struggles, so I can only guess this song is included in that. The last song finds the vocals opening the song at the back of the mix, and things slowly come more into focus. It's more experimental, but still possesses the urgency they are so adept at conveying.  I will give this album a 10. In some ways, it is more experimental and raw, but it holds up well against their legacy. Drops  March 26th. 

pst84

Weekly Playlist Vol 6 -the Cure edition

Some one said one morning that I am like the Cure dark on the outside and a marsh-mellow in the inside. I told them then I would make this, so here it is. I was pondering in this thematic series doing David Bowie, because while the Cure is one of my all time favorite bands, David Bowie still edges them out of the top spot and even Robert Smith would admit he would never have done what he did without Bowie. But readers with fine tuned ears or who are just not stoned enough to pay attention the lyrics might notice many of the songs in the Play List series has a common theme...love. Or something in that realm of emotion. This made the choice easier since when David Bowie tackles that subject matter he does so typically in the larger than life theatrical manner he does everything in his world, the exception being the songs on the b-side of  the "Young Americans" album he has a more soulful take.

Robert Smith on the other hand is someone whose perspective fit better. He is bi-polar as hell either in a low swing and writing about wanting to just disappear or he is bouncing round and it's all pastel rain bows swirling around like a lava lamp. This morning I could only listen to the Cure and was trying to get to the lava lamp swirling place , but was in a low swing so these are the songs where the lyrics said..."Oh yeah I feel that way" For better or for worse , music is a major part of my mental health. The Cure helps stabilize me when I am anxious, where metal can make my skin crawl. So here are some songs where Robert Smith meets his marsh-mellow side half way. He muses that sure if my be crazy and insecure, but he is going to embrace his feelings. He is either longing for someone there is a distance between or he is skipping around planning a picnic and smelling flowers he is so head over heels. I can relate. Here I'll shut up and give you music now, not the all time best Cure songs he has a ever written , but a great soundtrack for when I'm fluttery.

"Underneath the Stars"






"Before Three"



 


 "Six Different Ways"






"Strange Attraction"







" There is No If "








"Speak My Language" 







 "Close to Me"






-"Untitled"







"the Perfect Girl"



 

Gothtober : The Top 50 Cure Songs 20-11

Now we are in the top 20. Hard choices are always made when it gets to this point , but it should not come as a surprise that more songs from "Disintegration" and  "Pornography" are going to start taking over, maybe not the ones you would expect, unless you have already figured out my tasstes in this regard.

20 -Disintegration

One of the best bass lines ever. The is Full of stormy intensity.


 


19- A Forest


There are the popular Cure radio songs and then the songs popular with the fans . This is one popular with fans . It has too much of a punk rock tension for radio and not the traditional hooky chorus. It's not an anthem.


 


18-A Strange Day


One of the Cure's darker songs. It has an ominous drone, that is balanced out by passionate melodies, so everything I could want from the Cure.

 


17- Prayers for Rain


I love the production of Robert Smith's voice on the entire "Disintegration" album, this song is an example how it makes his voice more of an instrument. The lyrics are also awesome


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16-Closedown


It might take half the song for the vocals to come in, but it's one of those rare occasion where the pay off is worth it.

 


15-Lullaby


While as a teenager I had a hard time separating the lyrics of this song from Peter Parker, I saw Robert Plant and Jimmy Page cover it live and it clicked.


 


14- Out of this World


You might be surprised that a song from "Bloodflowers" made it this deep into the top 20. It's also one of the more strummed ballad like moments, but has an honesty to it that resonates with me
lyrically


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13-Hanging Garden


One of their more driven and aggressive moments. The bass and drums work together like a machine, I am sure it influenced a few industrial bands that crossed over into more organic music.


 


12- the Dream


Sure this album is a little weird, but he does sing about being like a vampire bat here, so that is goth as hell.


 

11-Love Song


Ok, from this point on we are not just talking about the best Cure songs ever, but some of the best songs ever. I was surprised it didn't make the top ten, maybe some of the terrible covers of this song have soured my ears to it a bit, but I guess this serves as a honorable mention in the top ten as it was the first Cure song I ever took notice of. i just noticed the cave he is supposed to be in looks like it is from a Put Put gold course.


 

Gothtober : The Top 50 Cure Songs 30-21

We are beginning to close in on the top 20 soon, the bar is getting raised with some of Robert Smith and company's better works. These are not their most popular songs, but the best. The sheeple can't handle the best, so Robert knows how to keep the rent paid and writee pop songs , but that is not typically what you are going to find here.

 30-Last Dance


It will be no surprise that songs from 'Disintegration" will begin weighing in heavily on the list right about now. The guitar in this song is so incredible it's easy to hear how I can rank it above something like "Killing An Arab"



29- A Short Term Effect 

 Not the band's darkest or heaviest moments, it does still head in that direction. I love the production on the vocals of this one. The songs' hypnotic drone sums up much of what I look for in music.

 

28-Want

 Working on this has reminding me what a great album "Wild Mood Swings" is. While other albums might have more entries on this list it certainly holds it own here.

 

 27-A Letter to Elise 

 While this song embodies everything about the Cure's more mainstream radio friendly excursions, it's so well written and performed it's hard to argue against. Still it's far from being the anthem of basic bitches like "Friday I'm in Love"


 

 26-At Night 

 This track from their 1980 album 'Seventeen Seconds" is precursor to their darker heavier side that would come out of the shadows on "Pornography" a few years later, but still holds up on it's own.


 

 25-Pictures of You 

 This and maybe one other song are the representatives of mainstream radio air play Cure. So don't hold your breath for the basic bitch "Just Like Heaven" shit to show up. The guitar playing on this song is pretty dope and it carries the melancholy to the masses.


 

24-Push 

 This song might have some of the more accessible elements of their sound, but still transitions over live well enough for me to put it here and is one of Smith's strongest vocals

 

 23-Strange Attraction


Here is another happy Cure song, though if you listen closely it's easy to hear many elements from Siouxsie's sound on this. Another source of prood that "Wild Mood Swings" is wildly under rated.

 



22-End


Off of "Wish" this song is a good example of what I refer to on this blog and others when I talk about something being heavy in terms of emotional weight, sonic scope and darkness. This is not the darkest Cure so though the lyrics are rather bleak, there is a ton of emotion in this one though.

 

 21-The Walk 

 It was the "Mixed Up" remix of this song that won me over. It adds a darker tone, but I think it goes to show a good song is going to be a good song if at it's core the song is solid. I normally don't like the Cure's happier moments , but there is an exception to every rule when you are crying like a Japanese baby.

Gothtober : The Top 50 Cure Songs 50 -41

So for Gothober I am counting down the top 50 songs by the Cure. The reason for doing this is because I had 150 songs by the Cure on my iPod which was almost 3xs more than most bands so I needed to narrow it down to the best 50. So here are the 50 songs that are left on there making them them the top 50 songs, which I in turn have ranked for you.


50- 10 :15 Saturday Night 


From the 1979 "Three Imaginary Boys" album. The tension and restraint is what draws the line to separate post-punk from punk.





49-Give Me It 


Off "the Top" , this one has more anger and punk recklessness to it. The drums really help keep it from being a punk song.


48-In Your House 
This one from "Seventeen Seconds" has a beautifully gloomy guitar tone, but that is not where the expression ends as Robert Smith has dreamy and detached pondering to his vocal to contrast it.

 

47-Shiver and Shake
The guitar is perfect in it's chaos and the bass drives this song into the thunder of the drums. Hearing this live won me over.
 


46-Hungry Ghost 

You might be surprised that I have a Cure album from 2008 on the list. Well I think this song provides an argument for the fact that the band's newer material holds up against the classics, which is why they are one of the greatest bands ever.So it's too bad if your favorite band started sucking after a decade or so, Robert Smith proves there is no excuse.
 

45-Us or Them

"Blood Flowers" is part of the trilogy so I suppose that means, it should be filed alongside a"Pornography", this song makes a good argument to that point.
 


44-Sleep When I'm Dead

So the stuff from the "413 Dream" album is going to gravitate toward the bottom of the list, but for a band that has as many songs as the Cure does the fact that it made the top 50 is an accomplishment.
 


43-Numb

A drug song from 'Wild Mood Swings" which was an under rated album.
 


42-Object

If anyone doesn't believe the Cure used to be a punk band play this for them.
 



41- the End of the World

As far as singles go this is upbeat , but not as bright and cheery as some of his radio moments.

 

The Cure at Lake Wood 6/24/16

Last Night it was my wife's first time seeing the Cure and my 5th. They played a shed called Lakewood Ampitheater in Atlanta. Remind me to never go see an out side concert in Atlanta again during July or August. Since the Cure is one of my favorite bands,  when I say favorite bands I don't mean some one I'm really into at the moment, I mean I have been listening to them for 26 years, so we have a life time relationship, built on their music providing a sound track to my life. So it takes some one of their magnitude to drag me out to one of these things. I'm not a fan of big shows, used to enjoy them more, but my growing disdain for other humans is brought out when attending one almost to the point of being a distraction. We got to the venue shortly after doors were opened. Were sitting in reserved seats on the floor, where we waited for the Twilight Sad. I reviewed their album yesterday, if you want to known more about this Scottish band you can read about them
here...http://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2016/06/the-ghosts-of-2014-twilight-sads-nobody.html

I'll say this about them...the singers voice was strong, he was very energetic and into it, though my wife said he couldn't be any gayer, I think they began to win the crowd over by the time they left the stage, so good job guys, you are solid in my book. So we ran into the one friend I saw the whole night at the bathrooms. I saw Facebook posts, about people going to the show and afterwards, but saw no one else there I knew. Which is weird for me.  So the Cure went on by 8: 10 so it was light outside for the first hour of their set. The wandered on stage, Robert Smith came to the edge of the stage and stared. Aside from Smith the band was Gallop on bass, Jason Cooper on Drums , Roger O'Donnell from the Psychedlic Furs and Reeves Gabrels from David Bowie's band on lead guitar, who I did not recognize, He looked more like a bearded Bernie Sanders, so I assumed it was Porl Thompson.  I have seen Gabrels several times with Bowie, so it really surprised me when I found this out after the fact. They opened with "Plain Song" which seemed off energetically. Gallop was playing notes that sounded like they should have been played on guitar so I am not sure what was backing tracks or not.

Things started to improve with each song Reeves didn't really seem to be into on "Pictures of You" and only appeared to be doing a bare minimum. Granted many of his parts were textural, when he ripped into a solo I was surprised as I thought "Wow, I never knew Porl could shred like that". Of course it makes sense now. Cooper's drumming began to impress me once they got to "Closedown". He has been with them ever since  "Wild Mood Swings" so he has been on the kit every time I have seen the band, so aside from not being high and just mesmerized by Robert Smith, I suppose I was able to take the entire band in more objectivly. It did take use at least getting the song "High" for things to begin soaring to life. Here I noticed Smith was singing some of the songs in a lower key, as I couldn't sing along with them like I was singing along to the album. I've seen them play " A Night Like This Before'", but it's a great song, one of their more up beat songs that doesn't get under my skin.  "Push" moved their performance up another notch and is where connection wise with the crowd things took a turn. At this point Robert had also commented how it was fucking hot, so for the rest of the show in an almost Spinal Tap like manner fans were set up around the drum risers.

It was a older crowd than I expected going into this, they were still fairly engaged when not on their phones for "In-Between Days" .  "Last Dance" had a little more of a rock drive to it, which was fine by me is of the darker side that I prefer when it comes to the Cure. Of the post- 90's Cure songs "the End of the World" was pretty well recieved which was surpringing given the general age of the crowd, who obviously connected the most with songs that came later like "Just Like Heaven". Speaking of the hits "Love Song " was played a little more up tempo than the radio version. The moments I found the most engaging were when they seemed to jam out a little more. "Jupiter Crash"  from "Wild Mood Swings" created a little bit of a lull and  I would have sacraficed to have heard something off of "Pornography", "Want" from the same album proved to be a better choice.  I am unsure if I had ever heard them play "From the Edge of a Deep Green Sea" it's live when I realize how much I really like "Wish".  The musicianship from every member of the band was high lighted on this song.

"The Hungry Ghost" from the " 4 : 13" album is another one that I could have lived without, though the more modern era of the band I could stand to re-visit as there was some good stuff buried in there. The main set ended with "Prayers From Rain " and  "Disintegration" both of which proved to be very powerful songs.  The first encore brought the disco like shimmy of "Shake Dog Shake" which I heaven't heard them play before, but "the Top" is not my favorite album by them as I am not a fan of Andy Anderson's drumming, once again it gave Cooper a chance to put his own touch to the song. "Burn" is one of my favorite Cure songs, while it was good to hear them play it live it didn't have the punch I thought it should, but this was followed by "A Forest" , "Lullaby" and "Fascination Street".  All three sounded great with "Fascination Street" almost bringing out the old goth dances from me. If our row wasn't crammed full with jack assess and I had more room it would have happened, as the heat generally had me miserable, so I focused on the music.


"Wrong Number" is a silly b-side, I had never heard them play. Not their best song by any means. The encores kept coming. The mutant funk of "the Walk" went over well. "Doing the Unstuck" began the procession of their more upbeat pop songs. The big one being "Friday I'm In Love" which in mind is tedious as it's the one song people bring up when it comes to the Cure, so it's like their "Iron man " or "Tom Sawyer" a song that defines them in the minds of some though it is not a clear indication was what they really sounds like. I was ok with "the Perfect Girl" and stayed around for it, though I told my wife if they play  "Love Cats" or "Close to Me" then it's all over and they are not playing anything from "Pornography" so  I would be ready to go. We left midway into "Hot, Hot, Hot" which I took as the signal there was no more of the gothy Cure to come, which was a good call on my part as we heard "Close to Me " on the way to the car and they ended with "Boys Don't Cry". I have no problem with the Cures silly pop song's since the bulk of their work is more melancholy and sonic, I just don't put the bulk of their radio fodder on my iPod. While I was glad we avoided "Love Cat's I wish they would have played at least one song from "Pornography">