easycure

it seems interesting.. even if Bolan has never pleased me

Hey, what's up Dallas! I wasn't there yesterday, it must have been a great night. Sorry for not being on MSN either, I'm rarely on these days.. oh, but have the issues regarding the lineup been resolved?
Hugs

you know this group has never really been able to get to me? hi Alè!

make it happen, lux! that way you'll make me want to hear it.. :-) Malcolm X Park is the one I listened to the least from Unrest. bye!

I haven't listened to the '91 one, but this one really attracts me... even though Alessio gave it a 2 and that's not a good sign. I totally agree with Alessio about Pussy Galore (which I've also listened to very little)... I extend the discussion to Royal Trux, another beautiful intellectual bore that I've never been able to get into.

Mike, just right like that...everyone, precisely, forms their own opinion. :-)

Lucarandi, evidently I hadn’t clarified something well: I’ve been listening to The Cure in every possible way since 1996... and as common sense would have it, at first, for me, Pornography was the masterpiece that everyone wants it to be. But then (fortunately) one listens to other things (presumably), and (fortunately) forms their own opinion. I certainly don’t claim that this opinion is right or valid in an absolute sense, just that it has its motivations. "The discussion about being trendy is the most pathetic thing I’ve ever heard... but rock pisses on these discussions..." unfortunately, and quite obviously, no. Otherwise, all albums would be masterpieces, and instead, finding a masterpiece among 100 releases (perhaps 1000), as you’ve probably experienced, is already very difficult.

Sure. I reiterate that tastes are not debatable; it's clear that we think critically given the Debaserian context :-) and everyone interprets based on factors that are at least somewhat objective. The idea that the pop turn was wanted by their manager is perhaps the most misleading thing to say. The Cure are notoriously one of the most artistically "free" bands in the universe. They generally earn more than other bands (according to official data, they exceed 30% of royalties on records, which is a huge amount), and in terms of labels, productions, duration, and especially the course of their records, and even more, the formation, Robert Smith has always done exactly what he wanted, no more, no less. It's also well-known that Gallup himself admitted, before leaving, that a change after Pornography was essential for a band that, let's say, in that "field," had already said everything that needed to be said. For me, "Let's Go to Bed" is far from being my favorite Cure song, and it's certainly not a masterpiece... from the very beginning, I talked about the importance of that piece, as well as the other singles from that period (Lovecats, that one is indeed a small great masterpiece for me). All of this does not negate the fact that, in my opinion, it is indeed original, even less than a lot of other stuff, and in a substantially frivolous way, that's for sure. I don't consider "Pornography" to be trendy just because it came out in '82. I made exactly the opposite argument: "Pornography" is trendy because in '82, records of that kind were being released, and many had already come out by then. The fact that The Cure were elected as "testimonials" of that type of music is merely due to the fact that compared to many others, they survived after the first half of the '80s and achieved a success much more considerable than average. Hence, "Pornography" became the Dark album par excellence. But it is neither the first nor, by any means, the most effective or "historic." Even just the Bauhaus (whom I personally can't stand) were 100 times more effective and, indeed, expressive in that field.

Beautiful interview!

I'm not continuing on any crusade... I was just responding to Mike if you look further up. Your "it seems obvious to me" is purely a priori; just because there's a different opinion doesn't mean one can insist that "then you haven’t listened to the album" ...it's clear that it's convenient to believe so, but it's not true, at least not necessarily. "The nuances and the truth it hides" and what does "the truth it hides" mean? Is it a sacred text?? There are hundreds of other albums from that period with far more nuances... The Cure, on this, I think we all agree, have never been particular "standard-bearers" of the dark. But this only means that there were others who created particularly dark and alienating music better and more effectively, whereas The Cure have always been a bit pop, which also has its positive side: namely, that they have always been a more universal group and especially more free than many others who have become stagnant... only that precisely for this reason it seems to me that the most sincere (and creative) The Cure are on another side: in the same Seventeen Seconds for example... which is indeed melancholic but represents a post-adolescent (and generational) spleen that has a precise sense and content. Pornography is just a cheap rhetoric of depression sold to those who wanted to hear that kind of music at a time when such music was in vogue... but this, aside from listening, can be clearly inferred by connecting a few albums and groups to each other... and looking at the dates with a minimal critical grasp.