The Cure: "Faith" C/D

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Following the current postpunk revival, I have listened to the dark early 80s trilogy by The Cure, which, besides The Wire, is IMO the only stuff from that era that really holds up.

All the albums are strong, but while "Pornography" and "17 Seconds" seem to be generally favoured, I still love "Faith" most of all. Not a weak tune, and "Other Voices", "The Funeral Party", "Drowning Man" and "All Cats Are Grey" are all among their best moments ever.

Hardly the happiest thing around, the album is one of my all time favourite "dark" albums. So much, I guess this post was more of an "In Praise Of" than a C/D. Oh well..

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Friday, 13 May 2005 22:53 (twenty-one years ago)

Complete and utter C. Porn loses my interest halfway through, 17 is a bit too slight. Faith gets it just right.

― Kent Burt (lingereffect), Saturday, 14 May 2005 01:15 (twenty-one years ago)

I think I took Faith for granted for the longest time...concentrating more on later albums like Head on the Door etc., but when ya think about it, there really isn't a weak track on Faith>. I'm not a big fan of Carnage Visors, but pretty much absolutely everything on Faith is flawless. Thus, CLASSIC!

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Saturday, 14 May 2005 01:24 (twenty-one years ago)

I've always liked Seventeen, but not cared much for the rest. I'm some sorta freak.

― Zed Szetlian (Finn MacCool), Saturday, 14 May 2005 02:12 (twenty-one years ago)

I'll mention for the second or third time that "All Cats Are Grey" is the only Cure song I like (maybe because it was on a mix tape someone made me long ago that I came to like almost completely).

― RS_LaRue (RSLaRue), Saturday, 14 May 2005 02:14 (twenty-one years ago)

(I would be tempted to list the track-listing for the mix tape, since it's pretty good, but I've had a kind of cold falling out with its creator, so I'd rather not give him any unnecessary praise, even anonymously.)

― RS_LaRue (RSLaRue), Saturday, 14 May 2005 02:16 (twenty-one years ago)

I have nothing to say about this album, which I hate so much.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Saturday, 14 May 2005 02:29 (twenty-one years ago)

Get the fuck outta here, Ned. You hate it? How is that possible? Or are you pulling legs?

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Saturday, 14 May 2005 02:45 (twenty-one years ago)

Ned must be pulling legs. Not just one of the greatest Cure albums, but a candidate for best album of the '80s. That's how much I love it, and how far back we go.

― David A. (Davant), Saturday, 14 May 2005 04:59 (twenty-one years ago)

I remember it as being boring as hell and second-rate Joy Division, but since it's been 20+ years since I heard it, I went out and bought the new expanded version. I reckon Geir's mostly right - much better than I recalled, and superior to "Seventeen Seconds" and "Pornography." It's dated a little, I think, and it's certainly not even among the "best holding up" things from the era, but songs like "The Funeral Party" are wonderful surprises. The extra CD is the best of them so far as well.

― Dee Xtrovert (dee dee), Saturday, 14 May 2005 06:34 (twenty-one years ago)

Get the fuck outta here, Ned. You hate it? How is that possible? Or are you pulling legs?

I hate and despise that album like Dan does, like you hate and despise Killing Joke and ...what's THIS for.... Oh yes.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Saturday, 14 May 2005 07:38 (twenty-one years ago)

ah yes, I see.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Saturday, 14 May 2005 07:39 (twenty-one years ago)

You are a wise and considered gentleman.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Saturday, 14 May 2005 07:42 (twenty-one years ago)

My favourite Cure album, easily.

― Hari A$hur$t (Toaster), Saturday, 14 May 2005 08:20 (twenty-one years ago)

I love this album to death but I sorta wish it was thicker sonically. More like Sleep No More maybe? The best moments on Seventeen Seconds gesture towards a sound which Faith then mostly studiously avoids in its spareness, although the songs are better.

Pornography goes too far in the other direction and is actively overbearing.

― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Saturday, 14 May 2005 08:48 (twenty-one years ago)

If Pornography wasn't actively overbearing, "The Hanging Garden", "Siamese Twins", "Cold" and "A Strange Day" wouldn't work nearly as well.

Having said that, "All Cats Are Grey" is one of the greatest songs ever recorded.

― The Ghost of Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Saturday, 14 May 2005 10:34 (twenty-one years ago)

I NEED to go and spend some money on these. Being a huge fan of the Cure and always liked Seventeen Seconds best, of these three, but haven't heard any of these for years and years...

― BeeOK (boo radley), Saturday, 14 May 2005 10:45 (twenty-one years ago)

Pornography was supposed to be overbearing, though.

I love this album to death but I sorta wish it was thicker sonically. More like Sleep No More maybe?
Fuck, that would rule! Especially on "All Cats Are Grey"! Even though on The Cure reissues thread I just harped on about how the remaster sounds much beefier now and I always thought the thinness was from Hedges' production aesthetic (as Siouxsie albums from the period were produced by him and sound weak to me, too) but it was just that pre-1992 CD mastering being an arse. But Sleep No More hasn't dated a jot since 1981 and Faith does sound like a product from that time, but even then 1981 seems like an entirely different world compared to today and so Faith seems like a Cold War-era time capsule in stark contrast with the exquisitely-produced (and often overbearingly fresh to the point of being clinical) sounds of today.

Anyway, utterly classic despite everything said.

― That's not cocaine! It's Ian Riese-Moraine! (Eastern Mantra), Saturday, 14 May 2005 13:46 (twenty-one years ago)

Just like you lot, I've friends that vigorously extol the virtues of Faith. Personally, doesn't hold my attention or interest nearly as much as Seventeen Seconds or Pornography. "Other Voices" is f-n' fantastic. "The Drowning Man" has some niiiiiiice layering going on there. But I always thought "Primary" was pretty substandard for a Cure single, and most of the other tracks seem pointlessly repetitive and lazy -- especially in light of what you know the band was capable of.

Pornography continues to be -- and more so with this reissue -- substantial, interesting and endlessly 'playable' to me, absolutely *peaking* when the drums resume over the guitar part on "A Strange Day." And Seventeen Seconds just *bursts at the seams* with goodness, as well, with this remastering job on it being nearly unbelievable.

Having said all that, I'm *quite* enjoying this Carnage Visors track at the moment. Wow.

― bkjj40a, Saturday, 14 May 2005 15:08 (twenty-one years ago)

I always consider Faith to be my favorite Cure album although many others are so great. I mean "All Cats Are Grey", "The Drowning Man", "Faith"... Wow.

― Seb (Seb), Saturday, 14 May 2005 21:08 (twenty-one years ago)

ten years pass...

I love those moments when I'm listening to music on shuffle play and I think "nice! 'The Drowning Man'!" and then it turns out to be 'Soul Love' by David Bowie.

― You’re being too simplistic and you’re insulting my poor heart (Turrican), Friday, 31 July 2015 00:08 (ten years ago)

how did "Faith" only get one vote? The very first time I saw your face I thought of a song and quickly changed the tune: The Cure - Faith poll

haha, it wasn't mine.

― Bee OK, Friday, 31 July 2015 00:24 (ten years ago)

If I remember, I was the only person to vote for it - was really surprised about that at the time, because I've always considered it to be one of The Cure's finest tracks of any era.

― You’re being too simplistic and you’re insulting my poor heart (Turrican), Friday, 31 July 2015 15:03 (ten years ago)

faith and seventeen seconds are my fave cure albums. faith is so beautifully understated and so much of one piece.

― it's the distortion, stupid! (alex in mainhattan), Friday, 31 July 2015 16:17 (ten years ago)

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