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Robert Smith, over the years, has read his own mind, suffering, risking suicide but always clarifying his condition. Clarifying after an outburst, that’s the power of writing.
Some define him as a philosopher, others as a poet of sadness... the fact is that it would be wrong not to consider the importance of this strange character, so real with his doubts and troubles and so transcendent in the way he narrates them, immersed in fantasy, like children or great geniuses have.
After teetering between post-punk, dark, new wave, the horizon of intelligent pop begins to appear, never banal, mixed with the usual dark shades. The music of the Cure becomes a bit more catchy but not consequently commercial and of little value. The so-called turning point occurs with this EP, which features music much less sad than previous albums, using keyboards and very captivating rhythms (sometimes almost dance), playful and humorous lyrics but always with that dreamy and mysterious aftertaste that makes us reflect.
“The walk”, “Let’s go to bed” are rhythmic, surreal tracks on the theme of love. In the case of “Just one kiss” (an evocative tale), “The upstairs room” and “La ment” (a play on words?), we return to the dark and rarefied atmospheres of previous albums.
The best track is at the end: “The Lovecats”, the Cure at a swing pace, Robert Smith meows among the verses of this classic, very amusing about “the love cats”. This “Japanese Whispers” is a way to understand the evolution, for others devolution, of Robert Smith's Band.
We are not yet at the levels of future masterpieces (“The top”, “The head on the door”, “Kiss me Kiss me Kiss me”) but it remains a good attempt that highlights changes in progress, a bit immature, especially in the music.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 Let's Go to Bed (03:34)
Let me take your hand
I'm shaking like milk
Turning
Turning blue
All over the windows and the floors
Fires outside in the sky
Look as perfect as cats
The two of us together again
But it's just the same
A stupid game
But I don't care if you don't
And I don't feel if you don't
And I don't want it if you don't
And I won't say it
If you don't say it first
You think you're tired now
But wait until three...
Laughing at the Christmas lights
You remember
From December
All of this then back again
Another girl
Another name
Stay alive but stay the same
It's just the same
A stupid game
But I don't care if you don't
And I don't feel if you don't
And I don't want it if you don't
And I won't play it
If you don't play it first
You can't even see now
So you ask me the way
You wonder if it's real
Because it couldn't be rain...
Through the right doorway
And into the white room
It used to be the dust that would lay here
When I came here alone
But I don't care if you don't
And I don't feel if you don't
And I don't want it if you don't
And I won't say it
If you don't say it first
Doo doo doo doo
Let's go to bed!
Doo doo doo doo
Let's go to bed!
04 The Upstairs Room (03:30)
I love it all
These games we play
I close my eyes
You run away
I'm sure I asked you to stay
But now you're gone
And so I feel the grey
Pulse in my head
I turn off the lights and crawl into bed
I try to think of sunshine
But my body goes wet
With the first crash of thunder...
I don't think I can know
Anyone but you dear
That's for sure!
When it gets to four
It's my turn to go
Oh the kiss!
So alcoholic and slow
Arranging me for Saturday
I thought you would know
That I always sleep alone...
I don't think I can know
Anyone but you
Dear
That's for sure!
The upstairs room is cool and bright
We can go up there in summer
And dance all night...
Your sister started talking at a minute after ten
So everyone jumped up
And then fell over again
In April you can join them
And stare at me
At the ghost from your past...
05 The Walk (03:30)
I called you after midnight
Then ran until I burst
I passed the howling woman
And stood outside your door
We walked around a lake
And woke up in the rain
And everyone turned over
Troubled in their dreams again
Visiting time is over
And so we walk away
And both play dead then cry out loud
Why we always cry this way?
I kissed you in the water
And made your dry lips sing
I saw you look
Like a Japanese baby
In an instant I remembered everything...
I called you after midnight
Then ran until my heart burst
I passed the howling woman
And stood outside your door
I kissed you in the water
And made your dry lips sing
I saw you look
Like a Japanese baby
In an instant I remembered everything...
06 Speak My Language (02:40)
It was only yesterday
Waving arms across the street
Your white face left me blue...
How can I say all the things
I have to say to you?
Oh! all the people here
All look the same...
The little time I spend with you
We drink each other dry
Mammnnarghaassstmmetc!
Speak my language!
It was only yesterday
My eyes touched yours across the street
We cut the words
And waved goodbye
And dropped off the edge of the world
Mammnnarghaassstmmetc!
Speak my language!
08 The Lovecats (03:40)
We move like caged tigers
We couldn't get closer than this
The way we walk
The way we talk
The way we stalk
The way we kiss
We slip through the streets
While everyone sleeps
Getting bigger and sleeker
And wider and brighter
We bite and scratch and scream all night
Let's go and throw
All the songs we know...
Into the sea
You and me
All these years and no one heard
I'll show you in spring
It's a treacherous thing
We missed you hissed the lovecats
We're so wonderfully wonderfully wonderfully
Wonderfully pretty!
Oh you know that I'd do anything for you...
We should have each other to tea huh?
We should have each other with cream
Then curl up by the fire
And sleep for awhile
It's the grooviest thing
It's the perfect dream
Into the sea
You and me
All these years and no one heard
I'll show you in spring
It's a treacherous thing
We missed you hissed the lovecats
We're so wonderfully wonderfully wonderfully
Wonderfully pretty!
You know that I'd do anything for you...
We should have each other to dinner
We should have each other with cream
Then curl up in the fire
Get up for awhile
It's the grooviest thing
It's the perfect dream
Hand in hand
Is the only way to land
And always the right way round
Not broken in pieces
Like hated little meeces...
How could we miss
Someone as dumb as this?
I love you... let's go...
Oh... solid gone...
How could we miss
Someone as dumb as this?
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Other reviews
By vikcrow
"I admit to shedding a few tears listening to it."
"A rising climax that explodes like fury, drenching the heart in tears, down to the bones, which helplessly shatter."
By Algeone
The break from the prolifically dark and nihilistic atmospheres of Pornography is immediately evident.
Japanese Whispers encapsulates the essence of this phase and becomes its unique testimony.
