The Cure
Let's Go To Bed

THE REVIEW

The EP "Let's go to Bed" by The Cure represents an ideal turning point between the first and the subsequent phases of the now thirty-year career of the indomitable Robert Smith.

Starting with a lively and diverse work like "Boys don't Cry/Three Imaginary Boys," The Cure then gifted us the monumental trilogy constituted by the delicate intimacy of "Seventeen Seconds," continued with the introspective depths of "Faith," and concluded on the brink of the abyss unveiled by the icy "Pornography," truly the swan song of the trio in question.

The 12-inch we are discussing was released at the end of 1982, a few months after "Pornography" and right after the departure of bassist Simon Gallup. The second half of that year could not have been positive for Robert Smith, compressed between the growing success of his band, parallel commitments with the Banshees, a lifestyle not exactly restrained (reflect, followers of the dark-scolding*), and the disagreements that culminated in Gallup's departure from the band.
It would be intriguing, though completely arbitrary, to attribute the musical and content shift to this dark period of the front-man's stress, but it remains an uncontested fact that from this record onward, The Cure would go through various phases, embrace various musical genres—with varying success—but they would never again be the Cure we have loved so far.

But let's get to the vinyl itself: only two tracks; on side A, the title track, while the B-side is occupied by "Just One Kiss." "Let's go to bed" left us as bemused as "New Gold Dream": the synth, which would become a recurrent element in The Cure, introduces a "cheery" theme that would be revisited throughout the track. An equally "cheery" (gossip rock) text, not stupid but adding nothing and taking nothing away from the group's personality. Ultimately, a track that certainly cannot be defined as "bad," but its inconsistency reflects the banality of the times that were approaching.
The B-side "Just one Kiss," on the other hand, seems lifted straight from the "Faith" sessions. A long instrumental introduction supports a song that, although not a masterpiece, remains memorable and perhaps suffers from production and arrangements that do not measure up to previous works. In any case, most new wave groups of those years would have given anything to write a song of this caliber.

This is regarding the tracks. But the choice of Robert Smith and company to push "Let's go to Bed" as a single and relegate the twilight "Just one Kiss" to the b-side remains emblematic of the epochal transition the band was undergoing, a transition confirmed by subsequent singles, "The Walk" and "Lovecats."

(*) the ironic note arises from the observation that a portion of the Dark-Kids, perhaps to distinguish themselves from the mass of punk boors and hippies that wandered around at the time, refrained from using & abusing their bodies, aspiring to a cultural and spiritual (almost ascetic) life that well suited some (superficial) style elements of the genre. Let no one feel offended, please!