[Friday On The Turntable] Ranking The Cure - From 'Three Imaginary Boys' to '
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- Опубликовано: 12 сен 2024
- In this special edition of Friday On The Turntable, I am ranking The Cure's entire album discography - from 1979's 'Three Imaginary Boys' to 2008's '4:13 Dream' - that's 14 albums, ranked #14 (good) thru #1 (the best). It proved a difficult task, but something that fellow music and vinyl junkies will hopefully appreciate. Feel free to leave your comments, opinions and your own ranked lists below. Please keep it positive.
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Their dark triology Seventeen Seconds, Faith and Pornography is amazing
Very true.
I love how disintegration is just so good that no matter in which order the rest are ranked in, Disintegration always comes in at number one, or at least in top three
Seventeen Seconds is my all time favorite Cure album. It's the album that got me into them.
Awesome review - here is my take on the best of Cure Albums, plus my favorite two tracks on each of them:
Love all of the following 13 albums:
1. Faith (1981)
a. The Drowning Man
b. Primary
2. The Top (1984)
a. Piggy in the Mirror
b. Dressing Up
3. Seventeen Seconds (1980)
a. A Forest
b. In Your House
4. KMKMKM (1987)
a. Why Can´t I Be You
b. Fight
5. Standing on the Beach (& B-Sides) (1986)
a. Charlotte Sometimes
b. The Exploding Boy
6. Head on the Door (1985)
a. A Night Like This
b. The Baby Screams
7. Pornography (1982)
a. A Short Term Effect
b. A Strange Day
8. Concert & Curiosity (1984)
a. Shake Dog Shake
b. All Mine
9. Disintegration (1989)
a. Pictures of You
b. Untitled
10. Wish (1992)
a. To Wish Impossible Things
b. End
11. Three Imaginary Boys & Boys don´t Cry (1979)
a. Fire in Cairo
b. Jumping Someone Else´s Train
12. Japanese Whispers (1983)
a. The Upstairs Room
b. Lament
13. Wild Mood Swings (1996)
a. Jupiter Crash
b. Club America
Never really got into these 3 albums
14. Bloodflowers (2000)
a. There is no if
15. 4:13 Dream (2008)
a. Sirensong
16. The Cure (2004)
a. Going Nowhere
Worst Cure list ever, dude
Great take on an unbelievable body of work.
My list goes:
1. Disintegration
2. Faith
3. Pornography
4. Head On The Door
5. Wish
6. The Top
7. Seventeen Seconds
8. Kiss Me
9. Japanese Whispers
10. Wild Mood Swings
11. The Cure
12. Bloodflowers
13. Three Imaginary Boys
14. 4:13 Dream
Wish so low? Wow!
Great video! I personally love Bloodflowers so it kinda surprised me to see it on the bottom of the list, lol. Anyway, here's my ranking:
14. Wild Mood Swings
13. The Cure
12. Three Imaginary Boys
11. 4:13 Dream
10. The Top
9. Japanese Whispers
8. Seventeen Seconds
7. The Head On The Door
6. Faith
5. Bloodflowers
4. Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me
3. Wish
2. Pornography
1. Disintegration
The B-sides from Wish (on the 3rd disc in the Join The Dots box) are some of my absolute favorite cure songs. I just can't wrap my head around how the hell they didn't make the cut for the album.
Right on! Hoping they reissue Wish here someday soon - those Lost Wishes tracks need to resurface
Yeah man, Lost Wishes in HQ would be amazing!
Why didnt they have This Twilight Garden in the Wish album? Most of the b sides on that album is just fantastic, also love b sides like Charlotte Sometimes from Faith and The Exploding Boy from The Head on the door
Stefan Marstrander Charlotte Sometimes was a single.
Sadly, I think I remember reading that the fact that all those B sides were already included in Join the Dots is some sort of justification for not going through with the Wish re-issue....or lagging on releasing it, anyway. I wonder what the delay is.
Hi Bret,
Thank you for your terrific album reviews, I thoroughly enjoy watching them. As promised when I did my list of The Church's albums, here is my list of The Cure's. The Cure is my all time favourite band, followed by The Church and U2. Their songs are so close to my heart and it is such a tough task to rank them but here goes, in order of lowest to highest ranked:
14. Japanese Whispers (Lament, The Lovecats, The Walk)
13. Three Imaginary Boys (Three Imaginary Boys, 10:15 Saturday Night, Another Day)
12. 4:13 Dream (Underneath the Stars, This. Here and Now. With You., Sirensong)
11. The Cure (Truth, Goodness and Beauty, Going Nowhere, Lost)
10. The Top (The Empty World, The Wailing Wall, The Caterpillar)
9. The Head on the Door (Push, Sinking, A Night Like This)
8. Seventeen Seconds (A Forest, At Night, In Your House)
7. Faith (The Funeral Party, The Drowning Man, All Cats Are Grey)
6. Wild Mood Swings (Want, Treasure, Bare)
5. Bloodflowers (Out of This World, The Loudest Sound, Bloodflowers)
4. Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me (One More Time, A Thousand Hours, The Kiss)
3. Pornography (Cold, Pornography, One Hundred Years)
2. Wish (Open, Trust, To Wish Impossible Things)
1. Disintegration (Pictures of You, Plainsong, Closedown)
So many great songs to go through to come up with the list. Even their lowest ranked tracks would be the best for most other bands. Disintegration clinches the number 1 spot for me. It is a flawless masterpiece of an album, from start to finish. I really believe it has to be one of the greatest albums ever made. Closely followed by the brilliant Wish album of 1992. I know I've ranked The Head on the Door a little lower than most, despite the fact it contains one of my all time favourite Cure tracks in Push. The reason being is that I think it contains several relatively weaker tracks on it, such as Screw, The Baby Screams and The Blood. I also realise that this is a common criticism of Wild Mood Swings, but I think the strength of its numerous great tracks outweight the few weaker ones on it. I still remember the excitement and anticipation for this album when it was released in 1996 and it didn't disappoint :)
In terms of my top ten Cure tracks of all, I would go for:
1. Pictures of You
2. A Forest
3. Push
4. The Drowning Man
5. The Loudest Sound
6. Out of This World
7. One More Time
8. Want
9. Open
10. Plainsong
Interested in your thoughts on these as always. Now onto compiling my list of U2's albums :)
Cheers,
Nigel
Captain Mainwaring Nigel, it's great to see WMS receiving such a high ranking. As the years have gone by, I've come to appreciate that album a lot more. I reckon that I made some comments in this video about it being a couple of songs too long, and I still feel that way, but as you said - it was an exciting album to anticipate back in 96. Good times. Seriously hoping that we see a Wish reissue / boxset soon. Would love it if they tacked on those tracks from the Lost Wishes cassette. Wish also had such glorious b-sides. I revisited Join The Dots a couple of weeks ago - what a collection. Love that flex-single version of 'Lament.' Well, thanks again for all of your comments - really enjoyed it. - Bret
Bret Helm's Life On This Planet Blog Thanks Bret, yes I agree so much with your comments on Wish and the b sides to it. Some of the songs like Halo, This Twilight Garden, Play, Foolish Arrangement and last but not least, The Big Hand, are outstanding, beautiful songs in their own right. Here's hoping for a Wish reissue/boxset very soon!
I strongly recommend you revisit the Bloodflowers album, as others have on this post. It's not a perfect album from start to finish, but almost is! The weakest tracks on it for mine are Watching Me Fall (it's too long and not up to other longer, epic tracks of theirs, like Open, Same Deep Water As You, The Kiss etc....I even prefer The Promise from The Cure album to it). But the rest are absolutely superb, topped by the brilliant Out of This World, The Loudest Sound and the closer, Bloodflowers. It was tough to decide which one I should rank higher - Bloodflowers or WMS...
Join the Dots is such a great collection, a must have for all fans. I saw them play the greatest concert I've ever been to at the Sydney Opera House in May/June 2011 (the "Reflections" tour, when old band members like Lol Tolhurst joined them on stage to perform). Just incredible and after they played Three Imaginary Boys, Seventeen Seconds and Faith in their entirety, they launched into some of their amazing early b sides like Splintered in Her Head (incredible drumming on this one), Descent, Another Journey By Train etc. I am so hoping they release this concert on DVD or blu-ray sometime soon.
Oh and definitely agree with you on the flexi pop version of Lament...awesome version!
Cheers,
Nigel
Shannon! Did we go to the same school, because my English teacher played it when we read The Stranger too!!! :) Happy to hear that you love The Cure - listened to Wish in the car, driving around late the other night... 'From The Edge Of The Deep Green Sea' came on - wow, just breathtaking. Thank you so much for watching - always appreciate hearing from you. - Bret
Bloodflowers can easily be in top 5.. its a great album
Hi Bret! Loving your reviews, keep up the good work. My list is not massively different from yours, the main difference being Bloodflowers which I love and have it at No.4. The album I probably listen to most is Wish but it doesn't beat the sheer perfection of Disintegration in my ranking, when I'm in the mood for that album nothing else will suffice :)
1 - Disintegration
2 - Wish
3 - Pornography
4 - Bloodflowers
5 - Faith
6 - Head on the Door
7 - Kiss Me x3
8 - Seventeen Seconds
9 - Three Imaginary Boys
10 - The Top
11 - Japanese Whispers
12 - Wild Mood Swings
13 - The Cure
14 - 4:13 Dream
Thanks Rob! Definitely had a hard time putting Disintegration & Wish head to head, but when it comes down to it, the overall mood of Disintegration puts at the top of the pack. I'm really hoping that Wish gets the deluxe reissue treatment this year. I'm hoping that one of these days Bloodflowers sinks in a bit more with me - lots of people love it. Thanks for watching - I appreciate you taking them time to write out your own list here. Cheers! - Bret
Oooh, your ranking comes pretty close to what mine would've been! Wish is my all time favorite, and it's not just because of the music, but because of the time and place in my life when I first listened to and got into it - though EVERY album absolutely transmports me to some time and place. :) Everything after Wild Mood Swings I just can't with. WMS had some very cute pop songs on it, but after that...I don't know what happened. It just feels like Robert Smith trying to catch lightning in a bottle, and it just didn't do it for me, and I TRIED with all of them! I wanted to like them so badly and just couldn't. Thankfully, they've had so many years of amazing creativity and experimentation for us to dive into and enjoy already, there's no need to feel too bad about anything we don't care for too much.
I really appreciate all the commentary you put into your list on the songs and albums. I think it's about time I go back and listen again!....I really wish that WISH remaster would surface. I think I may have read somewhere that, as was the trend in that day, they recorded the album so LOUDly, that they can't really do too much refining on the master recording. It would just be garbage in/garbage out at this point (not calling Wish garbage by any means - just that the master recording may not be too hot to begin with, and there might not be much they can do about it now). I still have my original CD pressing and man does it sound tinny and crunchy now. I don't know if that has to do with the age of the CD or the loudness levels, but it would be nice to hear the tracks refreshed to some extent. "To Wish Impossible Things" is one of my favorite Cure songs ever. The aching, longing, crushing sincerity of it nearly brings a tear to my eye whenever I really sit and listen to it. I miss this about the Cure.
I actually got chocked up with your last 2 picks. The emotions and feels. Great job. The way you explain the albums really heartfelt. Thanks.
Thank you! If you’re a Love And Rockets fan, I just posted an album ranking last week.
Great video! I love your little stories and reminiscing of albums, can tell they mean a lot to you :)
Thanks Joaquim! I really appreciate the kind words! :)
Sensational video mate. Beautifully done.
I listened to Japanese Whispers twice this morning. Audra has actually recorded a cover of 'Let's Go To Bed' - which was to be submitted for a compilation several years ago, but managed to say unreleased. I love that track 'Lament' very much. I think 'Kiss Me' suffers from being a little bit too long as well, but the range of emotion in that record is pretty large. Thank you so much for all of your discourse, Rob, Always a pleasure - enjoy your weekend! - Bret
I just found you this evening by happy accident and I've been very entertained so far! My tastes have been pretty spot on with yours so I had to laugh out loud when you said Wild Mood Swings could have done without Strange Attraction..... it's my favorite song on that album! I feel the same as you about Bloodflowers, though.... I play it to see if I've missed something, but I can't get into it. I'm looking forward to hours of entertainment watching all your videos. Cheers!
Love your rankings!! What a difficult job!! I try to rank my favorite Cure songs all the time...... impossible!!!!! I hear you with Bloodflowers, I never really connected either ..but I enjoy most of it none the less!! They don't have a bad album!
albums top 3 songs
1. Disintegration - songs Plainsong, Pictures of You and Untilted
2. Faith - All Cats Are Grey, The Funeral Party, Primary
3. The Head on the door - Push, In Between Days, Sinking
4. Pornograthy - Cold, A Short Term Effect, The Figurehead
5. Kiss me 3x - Just Like Heaven, One More Time, Like Cockatoos
6. Wish - To Wish impossible things, Doing the unstruck, High
7. Seventeen Seconds - A Forrest, At Night, Seventeen Seconds
8. Japanese Whispers - Lament, Just one Kiss. The Walk
9. Boys Dont Cry US / Three Imagninary Boys UK. I prefer the US version. - Grinding Halt, Boys dont cry, Fire in Cairo
10. The Top - The Caterpillar, Shake dog shake, The Top
11. Bloodflowers - Maybe Someday, The Loudest Sound, 39
12. 4:13 Dream - Underneath the stars, the sirensong, Its over
13. Wild Mood Swings - Bare, Want, Treasure
14. The Cure , Taking Off , Anniversary, Before Three
Thanks for sharing your list, Stefan
thanks, nice list and channel. =)
Thanks Chad! Cool to see that we agree on the Top 5. Man, what a band! Have a great weekend. - Bret
I was at there 40th anniversary concert and the first song they played was plainsong and you are spot on it did bring tears to my eyes.
Wow another ranking of another amazing, talented band!
Always thought of Japanese Whispers as a studio album, but to be fair it's actually a compilation of very good singles and b-sides. Don't think it should be on a list of ranking studio albums.
Travis, thanks man. I cannot recommend the 4CD Box Set - Join The Dots - enough. You already have some of them on the Standing On The Beach cassette (the best way to own that album). But definitely get that - the liner notes, and all of the non-album tracks are absolutely essential to your Cure collection. As for vinyl, definitely keep your eye out for Boys Don't Cry - it was the first US Cure release, collecting the early singles, mixed with tracks from Three Imaginary Boys. 1/2
loved the cure when i was at boarding school in the mid 80s
Thank you for making this video. I watched this when I was younger and then went and bought the Staring at the sea album and then began my love affair with the band. Thank you for helping me start my journey in music.
Very happy to read this, Nathan! Thrilled to see I was your gateway to The Cure. Thanks for coming back and leaving a comment. - Bret
@@BretHelmsLifeOnThisPlanetBlog It's no problem at all, thank you for making the RUclips channel, I wish you'd upload content on here again, but hey we all got lives and responsibilities to take care of. Thank you again man your videos on The Cure, Depeche Mode & Love and Rockets really opened up my musical world.
Bret, I know this is a few years late but just massively into the cure so enjoying this vid: again
13.4:13 Dream
12.The Cure
11.Wild Mood Swings
10.The Top
9.Three Imaginary Boys
8.Bloodflowers
7.Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me
6.Wish
5.The Head On The Door
4.Faith
3.Seventeen Seconds
2.Pornography
1.Disintegration
I've seen a lot of people rank Wish lower than I thought...
Good ranking i would make small changes
I see a KUKQ sticker in the background. I had the same sticker on my bright red Walkman in school.
Ah yes, KUKQ - what a station. AM 1060. :)
Favorite Cure album is Faith. Favorite Cure song is If Only Tonight We Could Sleep.
1. Pornography
2. Faith
3. The Top (American fans who like their later more commercial albums tend to overlook this fascinating, experimental album. Really hear the Banshees influence here!).
4. Seventeen Seconds
5. The Head On The Door
6. Disintegration (Saw this fantastic tour three times in different states).
7. Three Imaginary Boys (Don't overlook this interesting debut that reminds a bit of The Buzzcocks).
8. Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me
9.. Wish (In my humble opinion, last really good album).
10. Wild Mood Swings (Contains some great tracks and too harshly criticized by some fans).
11. The Cure
12. Blood Flowers (Some of the actual music on this is excellent, but Robert made a mistake to compare BF to the classics Pornography and Disintegration. Feel it's nowhere as good as some fans believe, but respect everybody's opinions).
13. 4:13 Dream (To be fair only listened to it a couple of times).
Also love the compilations Boys Don't Cry, Japanese Whispers, SOTB, and of course many of the overlooked, excellent b-sides from the eighties.
+g2277 Excellent. Thanks for sharing your list.
The Top IS the hidden gem of their entire discography thus far. Seen The Cure in 87, 89 (Dodger Stadium with The Pixies and Love & Rockets), 92, 96, 07 (Japan), 13 (Japan). Best gig of those by far was on September 8, 1989.
Bloodflowers was the last album i connected with they lost me after that.
The Cure was my first favourite band. Here's my list:
1. Disintegration
2. Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me
3. The Head on the Door
4. Pornography
5. Faith
6. Wish
7. Seventeen Seconds
8. Three Imaginary Boys
9. Bloodflowers
10. The Top
11. Wild Mood Swings
12. The Cure
13. 4:13 Dream
Honorable mention: Staring at the Sea instead of Japanese Whispers
I agree, WMS would've benefitted greatly from a trim, although I love "Gone!" and would've trimmed others.
I realized 15 years ago that trying to say these are my favorite "insert band name" albums in order makes no sense. What I figured out is there is no reason to. On any given day I might want to hear one more than the other and just love the music... However, I do enjoy hearing what other people think of albums I adore regardless. Cheers :-)
Thanks for watching! Yeah, Robinson's production is quite harsh on the ears - not sure I dig how upfront and aggressive the vocals sound. Cheers! - Bret
Great summary and ranking!
Thanks!
Be sure to check out some of my other rankings, where I've covered: Depeche Mode, The Cult, Love and Rockets, Dead Can Dance, Bauhaus, Cocteau Twins and more! :)
Good choices! My ranking:
1) Wish and Disintegration, joint
3) Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me
4) Wild Mood Swings
5) 4:13 Dream
6) The Head on the Door
7) Pornography
8) The Top
9) Three Imaginary Boys
10) Seventeen Seconds
11) The Cure
12) Faith
13) Bloodflowers
It's not that I don't like the lower ones, I just find others to be better... Anyway, I subscribed for this great ranking!
Thanks for watching and posting your list! Interesting to see 4:13 DREAM ranked above most of the early 80s albums. What are your favorite tracks on that one?
@@BretHelmsLifeOnThisPlanetBlog The Reasons Why, Underneath the Stars, The Hungry Ghost, The Only One... Those are the best I think, but I personally like the whole thing! It actually surprises me that people rank it so low, but I sort of see why. I actually put Sirensong in one of my videos!
Hi Bret,
Would you not include the 'Boys Don't Cry'' album for this list? It was the first album released by The Cure in the States. It had some great tracks like 'Jumping Someone Else's Train' and 'Plastic Passion' that were not on 'Three Imaginary Boys'.
I think that 'Foxy Lady', 'Meathook', 'It's Not You' and 'The Untitled Track' were not on 'Boys Don't Cry'
I just thought I would mention this to stir up the Cure discussion a little bit.
Much love and have a great weekend~
Rob
I love your review :)
I love the cure
Love to see all the love for Faith
Oh, how tastes can differ.. Bloodflowers are top 3 for me with Pornography being second and then Disintegration on top. Love the others as well of couse. Thanks for the review!!
I”m the same as you there. Bloodflowers is amazing
Hey Jonny, thanks for tuning in. Rad that you have Disintegration on picture disc - such an amazing record. Cheers. - Bret
Thanks Lovell. Ranking The Cure was difficult, but fun at the same time. I enjoyed your list that you posted here - great choices, man. Thanks for watching. - Bret
Here is my own ranking: Absolutely no.1 is Pronography and then 2. Head on the door 3. Boys don´t cry/3 imaginary boys 4. The top 5. Japanese whispers 6. Faith 7. Seventeen seo´conds 8. Disintegration 9. Kiss me 10. Wish. But love The cure with all of my heart. And there is so much outstanding, fascinating, splendid, fantastic..... songs that is the very very hard to say which one is the best song and album. The Cure and Joy Division are the best forever in this world.
Very interesting... I am new to The Cure, and this helps me to pick the order of albums to listen to. Thank you!
Excellent! Happy to help. :) Thanks for watching! - Bret
1992 did not had the classic lineup, Lol was by out then...... great video
For WMS, I really loved "Round and Round and Round." Perry's six string bass playing almost makes it sound like a Wish era track
Thanks for including Japanese Whispers.
James, thanks man. I had a feeling that you'd have Bloodflowers higher - after all, you got that beast on the vinyl! So rad that you got to see that Reflections Tour - I think Warren was there as well. Happy to inspire a good Cure spinning. Cheers man! - Bret
1. Faith
2. Disintegration
3. The Head On The Door
4. Pornography
5. Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me
6. Seventeen Seconds
7. Wish
8. The Top
9. Bloodflowers
10. Wild Mood Swings
11. 4:13 Dream
12: Three Imaginary Boys
13. The Cure
I always ranked kiss me, kiss me, kiss me higher than disintegration just because I like ecletic mix of genres, agressive guitars and that album neatly showcases the band's many sides. And it has Just Like Heaven and a thousand hours. Disintegration, pornography, and bloodflowers are ok if you are in that particular mood which was great when I was a pissed off teenager that thought: "it doesnt matter if we all die"
Bret awesome video!! I agree 100% on your top 5. This band got me through those crazy High school years. I saw them live years ago and they put on a amazing show.
This was fun to watch, though I can't believe that you picked Bloodflowers as your least favourite. I think that it just came out at a bad time for what it is, though I can't tell if it's ahead of it's time or behind it haha. I listened for the first time when I was 15, after I've heard every Cure album before it, and it just clicked on me, and it remains at least on my top 5 favourite albums by The Cure. Still, nice list!
+Nickmett Thanks for watching and commenting!
Great ranking here. I have to agree, the newer albums are great and enjoyable but some of those older albums are just legendary.
The closing song on Bloodflowers which is the title track is absolutely Incredible. Probably a Top 10 Cure song for me.
Wild Mood Swings has Want, Jupiter Crash and Mint Car. Three Great songs right there alone. I like quite a bit more on the album too though.
Trap is also a great WMS song
excelent man! I'm a huge cure fan too. I would probably put "Bloodflowers" as my second favorite cure album, just next to "Disintegration". I also think 4:13 dream is very underrated. I hope they realease their planned follow up "4:14 scream" very soon but it doesn't seem likely.
Tamanaco Martínez Right on, thanks for leaving your picks here. Saw your comment on my U2 video, and yes, I'll be featuring their brand new one in the coming weeks. I really hope that The Cure drops a ton of new stuff on us this coming year - a new album and some reissues (Wish and DVDs for starters) - long overdue!
Just discovered your channel,
My new fav👍🏼
Thanks Jimmy!
My Favorite Cure Records ranked:
1.The Head on The Door
2.Disintergration
3.Pornography
4.Wish
5.Kiss Me Kiss Kiss Me
6.Three Imaginary Boys
7.Seventeen Seconds
8.Faith
9.The Top
10.Join The Dots:B-sides and Rarities(Don't know why you didn't include this on your list,I know because it is an odds and sods compilation but this is pretty good cause for a time The Cure had great B-sides)
11.4:13 Dream
12.Wild Mood Swings
13.Bloodflowers
14.Self-titled 2004(an absolute musical abortion of a record
That is my list and great video Sir!!!
Andrew Mills Thanks Andrew! Join The Dots is so great, but wanted to just stick with the studio albums for this one. I reckon that it's my favorite box set. Thanks for watching, and for posting your own list. - Bret
Hey Bret..killer video! Agreed with the majority of that list, i think i'd probably bump Bloodflowers up to 4th or 5th. Luckily i managed to see The Cure play their first 3 albums in their entirety at the Sydney Opera House, with each incarnation of the group playing on their respective album. Will definately spin some Cure after watching this!
13: 2004
12: Three Imaginary Boys
11: Bloodflowers
10: Faith
9: 4:13 Dream
8: Seventeen Seconds
7: Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me
6: Wild Mood Swings
5: The Top
4: Head On The Door
3: Pornography
2: Wish
1: Disintegration
I always loved WMS because it was my introduction to the band. Any ranking list without WMS as their worst deserves my time and appreciation.
Warren, totally fun to debate these rankings. Jesse was over right before I filmed it - and he laid out all of the records on the floor in his ranking. LOL - ours were so drastically different from one another. Not sure about the back cover of Faith, that was on loan and I've never had the privilege of owning that beast on V. I hear you about those Disintegration bonus tracks - phenomenal. I have a friend that went to the Mexico show, and apparently there wan earthquake too! Thanks Warren!
All I can give right now is my top 6.
01. Seventeen Seconds
02. Faith
03. Three Imaginary Boys
04. The Top
05. The Head On The Door
06. Kiss Me x3
I love their other albums I just adore early Cure. Were I including Japanese Whispers it would show before The Top. I felt I needed to quit listening to Pornography due to anxiety/depression issues but it would have been #03. If that troubles anyone else it troubles me too. :(
Although I knew of songs like "Let's Go To Bed" & "Lovecats" I rarely thought of The Cure as more than 'one of those' Golden Age of MTV bands until later. My entry point came with "Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me" which I bought as a joke. I was like 'these guys put out a double album? I've got to hear this!' The joke was on me, because I played that set everyday for a year straight, and it remains my personal favorite to this very day. Imagine my surprise when I bought all their other stuff and found out most of it didn't sound anything like this. Luckily enough, I did find I liked the earlier stuff more when I dropped my expectations. Enter my Goth period.
Rob, that is a great point. I had a hard time not including BDC, but since it had so much overlap with TIB, I decided not to go with it. But I have to say that TIB was so hard to find when I was a kid, so BDC was the one that I really got to know - I feel that it's a way better release than TIB. I always thought Boys Don't Cry was a US only comp, but then John in the UK showed his copy in a recent video. For those reasons, I decided not to include. Thank you for mentioning that. :)
Great Video Bret! A worthy tribute to a fantastic band, I was quite surprised how similar your ranking is to mine. On my list some of the placing would vary slightly, but overall same general positions. I would persist with Bloodflowers, I recently picked up a copy of Trilogy on DVD, and hearing the Bloodflowers tracks live, I am starting to connect more to the studio tracks. Simon
The loudest sound is soo great (on bloodflowers) listen to it ;)
My favorite albums are phonagraphy and disenergration thank you for doing these reviews keep on doing it
Hey Justine! Thanks for watching. Both of the albums that you mentioned are absolutely amazing. Glad you are enjoying my videos. :) - Bret
Got yourselfe an sub man continue the great work :D
Thanks for the kind words!
On the money Bret we see Eye to Eye on top 2. My Ranking #14. The Cure 13. 4:13 Dream 12. Japanese Whispers 11. Wild Mood Swings 10. Seventeen Seconds 9. BloodFlowers 8.Three Imaginary Boys 7.Pornography 6. Faith 5.The Top 4. Head On The Door 3. Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Mee 2. Wish #1 DISINTERGRATION. Kiler explaination each album in detail and the stand out tracks. You know you stuff. Killer Video Its about time someone broke down the Cure's Catalog.
Thanks Brett, really enjoyed this one. Such a difficult choice.
My favorites are 1. Disintegration (mainly coz i went to see them at Wembley during the Prayer Tour),
2. Wish
3. Kiss Me, Kiss me, kiss me.
4. Join the Dots (not an ablum but so great)
5. Head on the door
6. 17 Seconds,
7. Pornography,
8. Faith
9. Bloodflowers.
10. 4:13 Dream,
11. The Top
12. 3 Imaginary Boys
13. Wild Mood SWings
14. The Cure
Nick Bow Thanks for watching, Nick. Excellent choices!
Love your top!
Thank you!!
Hi Simon. Yeah, I have Trilogy on DVD as well. I watched the Bloodflowers set once, but have never revisited it. I will definitely continue to explore that album - LOL, I've been doing that for 13 years now! :) Perhaps one day it will just all come together and I'll say 'Wow, this is brilliant!' We'll see.... thanks for watching, man. - Bret
I remember the 1st time I heard the Cure was 1980 . a Forest on Top of the Pops , i couldnt know my son who is now 20 would be telling me about the Cure 30+ yrs later! I just said to my wife Julia , Just Like Heaven is one of your favourite songs of all time LOL me too!! Katie Melua does a great cover version , I also like the Cure's acoustic version have you heard this?? BTW I totally agree with Jesse , 17 Seconds should be Nmbr 1 , with Faith and Pornography in the top 3! great video Bret
heh I am a lifelong Cure fan myself and the Bloodflowers album is one of my favorites. To me it is a return to their earlier moody selves.
Totally agree about Bloodflowers. I love Watching Me Fall, The Last Day of Summer, and the title track, but overall, it just feels like it's missing something. It's almost like they're bored, or maybe they needed David M. Allen to bring more variety to the mixing (or Porl Thompson's guitar.) Even WMS has Mint Car. The rest of the albums are very near and dear to my heart
loved it... thanks
Nice video. Was cool to see how different your rank list was to mine.
Hey Bret, how's itgoing? Just starting to watch this episode of FOTT, you're probably not going to believe this but I not only don't have one Cure record in my collection but I can't stand them! I'm actually really interested to hear this post as it may help me get into them a bit. They just seemd to pass me by, I also think that when they were making it big over here in the UK I was listening to other bands. What would you recommend as a good starting point for a complete novice? Cheers James
Rob, I had moved the camera back for the RSD episode of Turbo Planet, and just kept it in that position - some of the vinyl is now visible that way. :) Wow, you have seen some amazing bands in their infancy - 1980 - wow! Would've loved to have seen The Cure back then. I knew that your favorite was The Head On The Door, hope you won't be too disappointed with my placement. Such a difficult task to rank these, I'm sure I'll look back in a year and have a whole different order! :) - Bret
Yeah, I agree with you. I didn't like Robinson's production on the selftitled either. I would tend to agree with you on most of the rankings (though I would rank Bloodflowers over Wild Mood Swings, and their recent output)
1. Pornography
2. Disintegration
3. Wish
4. Head on the Door
5. Seventeen Seconds
6. The Top
7. Faith
8. Kiss Me
9. Bloodflowers
10. 3 Imaginary Boys
11. 4:13 Dream
12. Wild Mood Swings
13. The Cure
gone on wild mood swings rocks...look for the critter mix of that;)
!.- Disintegration tape 1989, 2.- Disintegration vinyl 1989, 3.- Disintegration deluxe 3 cd´s 2010.
Armando chavez Ha!
I'm only a moderate Cure fan but I really enjoyed seeing you rank the albums. Nice work and a pleasure to listen to, as always.
I have a question. How do you keep these ranking videos around 20 minutes or under? Every time I try to do one it ends up being a half hour or more. LOL Then I end up just deleting it because I figure people will think it's too long.
Very hard to disagree with a list like that since it's a very personal thing. BUT. The only thing that i think was crazy was to put Japanese Whispers ahead of Wild Mood Swings haha.
Let me explain.
JW had the most simplistic line up, the songs were great I love that album and i agree with you on Lament as the best track. But WMS had so much more quality in terms of the line up, sound quality, song quality...
The opening track Want is amazing, i loved Club America to jump up and down in my room. Mint Car and Return were very catchy songs along with R&R&R. Bare, the closing track has unbelievable emotion, I love it. Numb is also very atmospheric and old school.
Can't imagine the budget for this as well with the experimental songs Gone and The 13th...
I wouldn't rank this album anywhere near the Boris Williams era albums but ahead of Japanese Whispers for sure :)
Thanks for sharing your thoughts! Will be doing an updated ranking once The Cure drops a new album! :)
Ohhh, looking forward to it :)
Roger O'Donnell's not on Wish, so not really the classic lineup, which is one of the reasons Wish doesn't click for me, (same with 4:13 Dream) the wall of Keyboard sound isn't there and it sounds kinda hollow. My top 5, 1. Disintegration (Perfection, 75 minutes goes by like 5. Sequencing is fantastic, it's absolutely perfect.) 2. Pornography (you're right, you gotta be in the right frame of mind, but if you are, wow) 3. Kiss Me... (Just Like Heaven remains the perfect song.) 4. Faith (the atmospherics are brilliant) 5. Bloodflowers (I know you had it pretty low but I think the stronger songs are just epic. Last day of Summer is stirring, and the Loudest sound is just crushing.) Kudos my friend, you're a true Cure fan like myself.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Sean. Cheers!
Doing the unstuck was my favorite song from wish
+Mark Burgess Great track indeed
I have been a cure fan since I was 13 I’m 52 now
The first three lowest ones (12-15) we are really on the same page... so I´m interesting what´s coming... I´m live ( :-))
Thanks for watching!
Hi Bret
Interesting as always and your enthusiasm for the subject matter is very catching. Pretty much agree with your wise and knowledgeable view but a couple of differences;
1. Pornography; not an ounce of waste on here and it's a relentless and brilliant ride from start to finish.
2. Disintegration; I think it's slightly overlong and, unlike my No1 doe have a soft middle. Agree that the opening 4 songs are majestic and wonderful, as are the last two.
3. Faith; not quite at the level of Pornography but every song a total classic and the bands first classic release. Artwork, writing and playing all a step up from earlier material.
4. Head On The Door
5. The Top
6. Wish
7. Kiss Me x3
8. Bloodflowers -,got a bootleg performance of this with Pornography and Disintegration played live. It's the weaker material by far but still pretty damn fine.
9. 17 seconds
10. 3 Imaginary Boys
11. Wild Mood Swings
... the others I'm less familiar with although will listen to WMS again to see if my feelings about it have improved at all.
Being slightly older than your good self, I go further back with the Cure and that probably shapes my favourable view of the mid 80s material.
Join The Dots is splendid collection and definitely worth owning.
The Orange film I used to have on VHS and it barfly needs a Blu-Ray makeover and to be released with enhanced sound.
Great to see these reviews and fun to hear someone else's take on rankings. Entertaining comments section too and keep these coming.
Cool post
paul elliott Paul, you are so right about In Orange - sorely in need of a digital video release - would love to see Show & Play Out also get the DVD / BluRay treatment. As I probably mentioned in this video, I've always felt that WMS was two songs too long - I think 'Strange Attraction' and 'Gone' should've spilled over to b-side status. Join The Dots - one of the best box sets of all time.
2/2 Lots of great live releases as well, like Concert... and then Entreat, which was reissued a few years back - it's from Wembley and is the entire Disintegration album live - totally recommended. Anyways, thanks again for watching. Have a great weekend. - Bret
I never saw those shelves behind you until now. Was I not paying attention or did you move your taping spot?
That is all I hope is that you put 'The Head At The Door' in the number one spot. I never liked Bloodflowers either so we are heading in the right direction.
The first time I saw The Cure live was in a club in Boston in 1980. I saw them with a local band you may know called Mission Of Burma. I saw them a few times after but I think the last time was around 1987,.
One of Two:
Rob
I've watched this many times, man. Really great band. I've read that Robert Smith's favorite is Wild Mood Swings. That album grows on you.
I wonder, is there any change in your positioning now? Because this video was from three years ago. :-)
Thanks Noel! I plan on doing a new version once they release a new album. :)
Bret Helm's Life On This Planet Blog "New album" got me excited so Googled it. They debuted two new tracks in Now Orleans. "It Can Never Be The Same" harks back to "Wish" and "Disintegration". 😀
Three Imaginary Boys is such a cult classic now, Seventeen Sounds too, Boys Don't Cry is probably my favorite, all though it is technically a compilation album
My surprise was to see WISH on your number 2 position, before THE TOP and. KISS ME 3
Wow! All the way back to the Going To The Theatre era. :) Very cool. Happy that you are enjoying my videos. Three Imaginary Boys is the sound of The Cure in its infancy - they took a drastic turn for the next album - so when you listen to them, it almost sounds like 2 different bands! Thanks again for watching and commenting. :) - Bret
Hi Bret..I use to be an obsessive collector of The Cure..so as for the ranking,,it's a difficult one,some of the albums I'm more familiar with than others.Id rank 17 Seconds higher and my favourite being Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me,and I couldn't get one of the RSD reissues
13 The Cure
12 Bloodflowers
11 Wild Mood Swings
10 4:13 Dream
9 Seventeen Seconds
8 Three Imaginary Boys
7 The Top
6 Wish
5 The Head on The Door
4 Kiss Me Kiss Me Miss Me
3 Faith
2 Pornography
1 Disintegration
As you can see, very close. The top three are simply perfect.
the title track from The Top is my favorite Cure song by a ways