We’ve now officially reached The Cure’s later period, and to start that period, we have an album who’s name combined with it’s incredibly scattershot nature is just asking for people to make jokes about it. Yeah this album is quite literally what you get on the tin here which to me isn’t bad mind you. I like albums where each moment differs from the last stylistically as previously mentioned, but do I think this one yields some of the band’s best material ... read more

After releasing such a juggernaut of an album as Disintegration, The Cure didn’t really have anything left to really prove at this point. They perfected everything that they built up from the very beginning into a truly flawless final form, so to have an album that pretty much keeps up that momentum whilst adding just enough new tweaks to their sound to make it stand out is pretty commendable. Wish is a fantastic follow up that shows the band at not only arguably at their most commercial ... read more

This one really doesn’t need any introduction. Disintegration is widely considered to be the band’s magnum opus by so many and I think there’s definitely a darn good case to be made of that. This album combines every aspect of the band’s sound and streamlines everything into what is essentially a true final form for the band up until this point. Plenty of gothic and morose melancholia, some insanely tight instrumentation, more poetic lyrics that dive straight into all ... read more

Ah yes, the band’s double album. Kiss Me x3 is a kaleidoscopic journey through many sounds explored on their past work plus some captivating new avenues that would pave the way for the excellence that would follow whilst also delivering themes of love and longing. I don’t know what it is about me, but long albums that explore many different avenues sound wise just tend to appeal to me, and this album is absolutely no exception to that rule as I think it’s one of their best. ... read more

Album number 6 from The Cure much like The Top feels like a notable departure from their earlier sound, except this time instead of a strange kaleidoscopic psychedelic trip that comes off as admirable yet very all over the place, we get a more lean and lively almost pop driven album at least for The Cure’s standards. Their gloomier tendencies do make some showings here like on A Night Like This and Sinking, but most of the rest of this album comes off as very fun all things considered and ... read more

The Top is a very strange beast indeed that in part does pave the way for what the band would go on to do afterwards whilst also being an honest attempt at moving them away from the gloomy and atmospheric post punk of their last couple of albums. In practice though, we get something that can come off as a bit of a mess in some areas, but a pretty engaging one at that all things considered. It’s their experimental album, at least for their standards up til this point and I think a lot of ... read more

And to close out the band’s Gothic Trilogy, we have Pornography which really feels like the final form of what Seventeen Seconds and Faith were building up on. The absolutely commanding post punk stylings are absolutely nailed here and the macabre soundscapes have been pushed to the limits here as they can genuinely sound quite freaky at points. The atmospheres here can at times straight up sound like the soundtrack to hell itself in the best possible way mind you. Moments like One ... read more

Faith serves as part 2 to what is often considered by many to be The Cure’s “gothic trilogy” and as the second part of that trilogy, it continues the cold and morose soundscapes from that album and pairs the sound down a little bit to make for a more low key listen then the previous one. It’s definitely the most purely focused album in their discography so far and the whole thing flows absolutely well, and I think everything on here absolutely delivers on the more somber ... read more

Album 2 from The Cure boast a major shift in sound from the debut, not completely in terms of genre as it’s still very much post punk, but in terms of pure sound, instead of being more upbeat and lively with some slight dark undercurrents, this thing goes all out with the cold and icy soundscapes and gloomy atmospheres. Those atmospheres really make this a captivating listen and to me I feel they make every moment on here engaging. It’s a really great album overall and a pretty ... read more

The Cure’s debut album is one that boasts very little of the incredibly dark and gothic aesthetic that would go on to define their discography and instead solely delivers on a solid collection of post punk shortly before even Joy Division would go on to define the genre. This album has much more of a scrappy upstart spirit compared to everything else they’d do and for what it’s worth, I think it makes for an album with a lot of charm and a great deal of potential. There are ... read more

Yeah I honestly still don’t really know what to make of this one. If Innuendo served as their true swan song then Made in Heaven is basically an overly extended epilogue chapter coming out a few years after Freddie Mercury’s passing. It’s mostly made up of demos and odds and ends from all across the band’s later catalog as well as a few solo cuts of Freddie’s only given the full band treatment and the results are honestly not half bad all things considered. The ... read more

Queen’s final album released in Freddie Mercury’s lifetime and honestly even despite it not being the official final release, it really feels like their true swan song. No discussion of this album can really be had without discussing Freddie Mercury’s state at the time as he was essentially stating death straight in the face during the making of this album and his physical health and even appearance was noticeably deteriorating at that point. But against all odds, he and the ... read more

Yeah it’s another good one. It’s highs I find to be genuinely fantastic and honestly more consistent the A Kind of Magic for me, but there’s also some tracks that I’m not as in to on here. In total it makes for a solid album. I quite like how it tries to blend The Works and Kind of Magic together in a way. It’s also worth noting that at the time of them making this album, Freddie was well into his diagnosis of AIDS which as we all know eventually led to his tragic ... read more

This album is another fairly strange one in their catalogue as it basically serves as a pseudo soundtrack of sorts for the movie Highlander but also not really as only the second half of the album makes up songs that were originally made for the movie. But yeah, this album is definitely a lot more synth oriented then The Works is as while on that album they were more used to accentuate a couple of tracks, they’re way more to the forefront here as we get traces of 80s synth pop mixed with ... read more

So after that weird detour they took with Hot Space, we now have The Works which honestly has a very similar vibe going for it to The Game (even down to both albums sharing similar titles to each other). It’s another album that carries a very fun and carefree spirit like The Game and Jazz and quite frankly, I think it makes for one of their most consistent albums that keeps up their usual eclecticism whilst also adding new twists when needed like more synth work on a few tracks that would ... read more

Boy is this one certainly contentious. Easily the most infamous album in their discography thanks to its complete pivot to an electronic dance style with traces of their usual quirks sprinkled in there. It’s a very weird album for these guys for sure, but honestly it’s not bad though. Certainly not as bad as some people like to say it is. Boy is this thing inconsistent though. The dance tracks at the beginning of this album to me kinda come off as awkward in execution thanks to some ... read more

This album basically carries over the fun spirit shown on Jazz whilst also continuing even further down the more commercial direction they’ve been going at since News of the World and I’d say the results are still very solid for the most part but doesn’t have an many big highlights as past albums. The highlights that are there are absolutely fantastic though and deserve their iconic status, especially Another One Bites the Dust being the band’s best attempt at a full on ... read more

There isn’t any Jazz on this album. 0/10
Ok jokes aside, this album is just fun. It’s definitely a step down from their last 5 albums to me as I can’t say every moment on here completely gels with me personally, but I feel this whole album just has a very fun and lovely spirit to it that helps elevate even the album’s weaker moments for me. It’s definitely a logical continuation of the more arena rock eclecticism of News of the World as this album goes even further ... read more

Man these guys really were consistent back in the early to mid 70s huh? This is another absolutely fantastic one imo that keeps all of their appeal despite this being a pivot away from the sound built up since the beginning thanks to the changing musical landscape at the time. It’s arguably their most commercial album up until this point in places, but it’s also their most fully eclectic too with tracks that cover all kinds of different styles even more than previous albums even. I ... read more

This album tends to get overlooked just for it going for a very similar approach to ANATO which I suppose I can kinda understand with people saying it doesn’t do it quite as well, but like, this is still really good. I still love this album a lot and I’d even argue it deserves to be considered right on par with their previous effort. Heck, I’d even say this album might be more cohesive as an album to some extent. This whole album to me has such a feel good vibe to it. It shows ... read more