•
Rating:
THE REVIEW
"Wild Mood Swings" is the most despised album by all Cure fans and the least regarded by critics.
Undoubtedly, it is a work that suffers in comparison with the rest of their discography, but for this reason, it is not a record to be completely discarded. It is the Cure's lightest and poppiest album since "Japanese Whispers".
Compared with the many brit-pop "masterpieces" of the time, this album should be immediately reassessed, but it would be too easy since there are hundreds of bands that would gain something when compared to Oasis, Blur, Sleeper, Supergrass, Suede et al.
The biggest flaw of this album is not the songwriting, which almost always remains at more than decent levels, but the overly polished and glossy production that removes the impact from tracks that could have more of an effect and risks making the more romantic tracks a bit sappy.
"Want", for instance, is the opening track which, as often happens in Cure albums, also turns out to be one of the most successful, but it suffers from the overly "orchestral" production. The same goes for the otherwise excellent "This Is A Lie", a symphonic and romantic ballad weighed down by an overly massive use of strings that make it a bit too pompous.
Despite this fundamental flaw, it is still impossible to say that ballads like "Jupiter Crash", "Treasure", and "Bare" are not successful tracks.
"The 13th", when it was released as a single, was not liked by the general public who wanted more "Friday I’m In Love" nor by those who had been waiting for another "Pornography" for fourteen years. It is not a masterpiece but a fun and courageous track (who would have imagined that the Cure would sound like a tex-mex band?) that can be categorized alongside the pop experiments that the Sussex group has left us over the years ("The Caterpillar", "Lullaby", "Close To Me").
More conventional but equally successful is the pop of "Mint Car", while other tracks like "Return" and "Trap" are fillers neither good nor bad. On the other hand, the only track to slam is "Gone!", one of the worst songs in their discography, with a truly embarrassing organ arrangement and an unlistenable trumpet solo; if you listen to the CD, program it to skip track number nine.
One last mention for "Club America", the rockiest track of the bunch, so much so that it seems more like a leftover from "Wish" than part of this album. It is not an irresistible track, but it shows Robert Smith unusually dealing with very low voice tones and gives a bit of energy to a work that has its main flaw in its lackluster production. Ultimately, an amendable but not unlistenable album. A close pass, score 2.5.
Loading comments slowly
Summary by Bot
Wild Mood Swings is The Cure's most divisive and critically least regarded album. Despite overly polished production that detracts from song impact, it features decent songwriting and some successful tracks. The album blends pop with experimentation, such as the tex-mex styled single "The 13th." While some tracks like "Gone!" fall flat, others like "Jupiter Crash" and "Mint Car" hold their own. Overall, it is a flawed but not unlistenable effort, earning a modest score.
The Cure
The Cure are an English rock band formed in Crawley and led by singer-songwriter Robert Smith. Since the late 1970s they have moved between post-punk, gothic atmospheres and pop-oriented experiments, producing widely admired albums such as Disintegration and Pornography.89 Reviews
Other reviews
By hypnosphere boy
"The 13th, the lead single of the new album is a clear little pop gem: Tijuana Brass trumpets, skewed piano, and Robert Smith’s usual lovable/detestable falsetto."
"The new Cure album ... literally gives chills, excites with an intensity rarely achieved, also because it is without a doubt the most atypical Cure song in the entire repertoire."
