The Cure - Standing on the Beach/Staring at the Sea

not OTM

so basically, you just dont like the cure much...

"icing sugar"?, "like cockatoos"?

not OTM

-- baaderonixx, Wednesday, March 5, 2008 5:33 PM (2 hours ago)

so basically, you just dont like the cure much...
-- bb, Wednesday, March 5, 2008 5:49 PM (2 hours ago

To convey a more balanced impression, I should have mentioned that I think Head on The Door is pretty great all the way through also, but beyond that, I'll stay with what I've said.

The idea that The Cure were a great singles band doesn't seem to me to be that outrageous . . . . I'm supposed to like Pornography all the way through?

To say I don't like them much discounts how much I do like--to take only the most apparent example--"A Forest." Shit, I even liked that "Trees" remix--and I always hate remixes.

And the b-sides were!

B1 I'm Cold
B2 Another Journey By Train
B3 Descent
B4 Splintered In Her Head
B5 Mr Pink Eyes
B6 Happy The Man
B7 Throw Your Foot
B8 The Exploding Boy
B9 A Few Hours After This
B10 A Man Inside My Mouth
B11 Stop Dead
B12 New Day

weren't these the b-sides to the "concert" cassette?

No.

the cure have the rare virtue of not only being a fantastic singles band, but also having 5 or 6 records that are fantastic all the way through.

Their first 8 albums are pretty fantastic all the way through, and Wish isn't too shabby either.

"Jumping Someone Elses Train"

x-post

I've always found it pretty hard to get all the way through <i>The Top</i>, but I'd otherwise agree with this sentiment.

The Top is their best album. It needs its own thread.

imo, Wish is secretly the 3rd or 4th best Cure album

Wish is alright but kinda contains the seeds of everything that would be wrong with the Cure from then on, IMO

Yeah - the b-sides only came on the cassette version and now, of course, all compiled in the "Join the Dots" box.

Very cool.

I thought "New Day" was about as super cool as it could get

I'm supposed to like Pornography all the way through?

oh man

The only Cure album I won't defend to ridiculous lengths is Wild Mood Swings.

i have always been so so baffled by love for The Top, which seems to have plenty of boosters on ILM despite being mostly a dreadful mess.

Pornography, on the other hand, deserves the praise it gets.

Oh man, this comp is so good. Was actually listening to it just the other day on a long drive to the Twin Cities. I voted for "A Forest."

Back in the day, I would have said 'A Forest' or 'Charlotte Sometimes' but the one I jones for the most from this comp is 'Play for Today'.

The only song on here I would never vote for as the best song on the album is "The Caterpillar".

Haha I'm tempted to vote for tha

... that one, but I think I'll just go for Charlotte Sometimes

Or maybe Other Voices, but it feels like cheating.

I'm pretty awed btw that they play that song on their current tour

I'd vote for "Caterpillar" but, you know, IBD!

I do have the cassette somewhere...

I had the VHS at one point, but I let a friend borrow it and never got it back. Curses!

(Oh well, I don't even have a VCR anymore)

What an album, my god.

A Forest for me. But it almost doesn't matter what wins, they're pretty much all perfect.

"Let's Go To Bed". Rather easily when "Friday I'm In Love" or "Just Like Heaven" aren't options.

'Friday I'm In Love' is one of the worst songs in the history of humanity.

OTM - well, slightly OTT, but FIIL is certainly the worst Cure single. Ugh.

and that was their last proper "hit"...

I'm supposed to like Pornography all the way through?

oh man

Are those deluxe reissues worth getting?

Sound-wise definitely. Bonus stuff-wise, probably not if you're asking this question.

Yeah it's the sound I was thinking about more than the bonus stuff.

"Friday I'm In Love" can't possibly be the worst Cure single ever when "Mint Car" and "Strange Attraction" are out there.

IMO the deluxe reissues are not really worth getting for the bonus tracks, apart from the Three Imaginary Boys one, and maybe the Seventeen Seconds. I think there were some plans to reissue the albums remastered without the bonus tracks - those may be worth buying, I don't think it's worth paying £18 for a remaster with a load of live/demo stuff that you're not going to listen to more than once.

IMO everything up through Pornography is worth getting for the bonus tracks; past that point it's really for completists (ie, ME) only.

Actually in terms of bonus discs, my fave by very far is 'The Top' one. I don't remember much of the Porn and Faith ones.

imo, Wish is secretly the 3rd or 4th best Cure album

This. My opinion hasn't changed since '92. But:

Wish The Top is alright but kinda contains the seeds of everything that would be wrong with the Cure from then on, IMO

wrong

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

"Charlotte Sometimes" with an honorary mention to "Play For Today".

A Forest

That too.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Not a bad top five, even the lots of gray part.

This is nerdy but I'm going to program my CD player to play the poll results in ascending order, ending with "A Forest", and see how that works out. I love almost all of these songs.

Votes for every single song.

I think "A Night Like This" might have gathered a few more votes if not for the invention of the saxophone.

A Forest is my least favourite of all these. I think I've been scarred by sitting through 25 minute live versions.

Yeah I'm a bit puzzled by these results. Only one vote for "Night Like this"?; OTOH, it's nice to see how evenly spread the votes are.

"Night Like this"
one vote
saxophone

'a night like this' is beautiful and magnificent. even the sax sounds alright in it.

and 'other voices' is right there at the bottom too? i prefer it to 'primary' as far as the represented tracks from faith go.

Didn't most people have the cassette of this at the time? Which wouldn't have had the non single tracks like PfT, OV and ANLT on it. Anyway the B sides on the cassette version are better. 'A Few Hours After This' number 1 forever in an alternative universe.

I certainly did. I think I played the video more though.

The next video on tried to repeat the informal approach with bits of "video diary" between, but they made the mistake of making them too long, and, well, dull.

I didn't bother 'cos I already had all the singles (and had probably taped most of the videos off the telly!)

I had the cassette forever precisely because of the B-sides.

Yeah - same as 'Concert'

Is this the first album tracks poll where every song got a vote?!?

Everything got a vote on the Portishead S/T poll, didn't it?

still the best comp

or single disc best of, whatever

It covers the best era of the band, too. 1978-1986 > 1987-1993 > 1994-present.

pretty much.

I'm supposed to like Pornography all the way through?

oh man

One for the 'posts out-of-context' thread