My freshman year roommate at university (who also introduced me to Joy Division and more) was the first person to get me really listening to the Cure. But I’m pretty sure my younger sister had the Standing on a Beach compilation first, which I had never bothered to listen to because, well, she was my little sister. Needless to say, I believe I later appropriated her Standing by the Sea LP for my collection. (Thanks, sis!)
Although very little of the British post-punk music of the late ‘70s and early ‘80s made much of an impact in the U.S. at the time, by the late ‘80s many of those bands were well-known, especially in college-radio circles. The Cure was one of the most prominent, especially with those fans who liked a little Goth mixed in with their post-punk. Singer Robert Smith—with his trademark shock of tangled hair and a smear of red lipstick and black, smudged eyeliner contrasting with his pale face—was an icon of sorts for Goth culture.
The Cure was a band that seems to have been exceptionally skilled at picking its singles. After listening to each of their albums at length and slowly whittling away to shape a collection of the band’s best work, I have arrived at something quite similar to the singles collection Standing on a Beach (later expanded on CD format as Staring at the Sea). True, that album and The Head on the Door were my first exposure to the band, so they certainly may have shaped my idea of the band so profoundly that those songs might naturally seem the most essential.
Certainly, The Head on the Door and the subsequent Kiss Me Kiss Me Miss Me are probably the albums best represented here beyond the singles, and truth be told, there aren’t many other Cure albums that I feel are really that worthwhile past the tracks I’ve chosen here. Some are notable, I suppose, as an exploration of a particular mood. But for many of us, I suspect, the Cure are perhaps best experienced on a good compilation.
So here one is.
Playlist 1
Playlist One highlights their first, more punk-sounding album, Three Imaginary Boys; the trio of more subdued—and progressively more dreary and dour—albums that followed; and the bright, poppy singles that seemed to have sprung forth from those dark depths. It’s hard to believe that such catchy, exuberant songs as “Let’s Go to Bed” and “The Love Cats” could come from the same band that had so recently brought us such gloomy affairs as Faith and Pornography.
Playlist 2
Playlist Two focuses on the subsequent, most commercially successful era of the band’s career, from the mid-‘80s through the early ‘90s. Lots of good stuff, here. I’ve played with the chronology a bit with the last couple tracks to end with a more apocalyptic bang.
Cover Art:
- Disintegration. Source, Discogs.com
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