Mike76

The Top is indeed a standalone album, although it may share some similarities in terms of sounds and atmospheres with "Hyaena" by Siouxsie (perhaps inevitably, since Smith recorded with the Banshees and then worked on his own album in the same studios during breaks). What you consider “monolithic” in dark albums I see as “homogeneity,” and I view it as a positive factor. The Cure, on the other hand, leave me less convinced when they create “zibaldone” albums like Kiss Me, where there’s a bit of everything (gems, but also unfortunately some rubbish). Calling an album like Pornography trendy just because it came out in ’82 is a bit like accusing Crass of being trendy for releasing a punk record in ’79. Those minor key solos, the use of a dance beat, and the filtered voice in “One Hundred Years,” the “gothic” use of keyboards in “Cold” (not to mention the interventions of that guitar pre-Disintegration towards the end), the “dark suite” of the title track is all creativity to me. Then again, expressiveness is a personal matter; for me and Luca, it’s an album that conveys “something” to you it doesn’t, that’s fine, but I would frame it more as a matter of sensitivity and taste rather than music criticism.

Alright, the pop twist (which, by the way, was wanted by their manager) was important; otherwise, they would have become that parody of dark that you think they had already turned into with Pornography. However, for me, "Let's Go to Bed" remains a rather trivial song like many others, among their worst singles, verse-chorus-verse + commercial sounds. Of course, for some, it might be fun, but original it is not. They had the courage to release it against their audience, but there are truly no musical merits.

CLAKO: "big comeback of the negrita that rock." Yeah, the balls...

Then you should explain to me what you find original in "Let's Go To Bed" compared to any track from Pornography.

With "musical creativity" I meant the creativity of form, inventing an unprecedented sound, subverting the rules, that’s what I mean. With the unfortunate term "expressive creativity," I was trying to see things from your perspective; for you, a lot of British wave "doesn't have significant expressive evolutions" and therefore is to be dismissed, even though musically it might be anything but predictable. Originality matters a lot to me as well, especially because if we only evaluate this abstract and subjective thing called "expressiveness," someone who finds D'Alessio expressive could consider him the greatest musician of all time, despite being musically zero.

Well, exactly, it has nothing to do with the Cure; I just wanted to counter the statement "he invented everything in the USA" (by the way, I could also bring up synth pop, which is certainly not American). As for the Cure, there's little to discuss: if musical creativity means nothing to you compared to (allow me the term) "expressive creativity" (which, by the way, for me and Lucarandi80 does exist), that's your idea and there's nothing I can do about it. Besides, I don’t even feel like repeating things we've discussed over a year ago. Of course, with this whole "expressiveness uber alles" thing, you might end up preferring Gigi D'Alessio to Neu!, so be careful :-)

If you like this Trilobite, get yourself the CD reissue of "The Graveyard & The Ballroom," the "true" debut of ACR.

Indeed, you could have said something about the futuristic science fiction plot of the album in a "Blade Runner" style. If I remember correctly, Gary Numan on the cover is a replicant who enjoys the spectacle of the machine men (the Machman) torturing and killing what remains of the human resistance (the Crazies) "down at the park." The musical style is curious and unusual even today, thirty years later; we could say it’s a crossover between rock and synth-pop in hindsight. However, I also agree in giving it just a passing grade because aside from the two outstanding singles, there aren't particularly memorable tracks (perhaps "Me I Disconnect From You"). Nevertheless, it’s not wrong to point out that Tubeway Army (along with the Human League and our own Chrisma) were the forerunners of the very early synth-pop.

Nice film with some nice standout ideas, but it didn't make me shout masterpiece.

@Easycure: then you should fill the gap with a bit of Throbbing Gristle and a bit of the early Cabaret Voltaire, it's just a matter of debating whether they fall into the Wave category (some critics place them there), anyway it’s all "indigenous" English stuff from the late '70s that had nothing to do with the USA.