The Cure's finest album

DJP is going to jack the poll so Wild Mood Swings wins by a mile. He will then hunt me down.

dude

we did this before and Disintegration won by a mile

it will win this by a mile, but the important thing is that Pornography is actually the best one. tempted to give The Top a vote this time for being hideously underrated, but the more important effort is to show that Pornography is the best one

imago OTM

Best Cure Album (Poll Closes May 25)

The correct answer is Disintegration

The Cure poll results, ILM artist poll #23

against all grains and because i love its sequencing, 17 secs

Probably voted 17" last time, The Top is ace, but the songs on it worked so much better live.

not that my opinion is worth anything but Disintegration is soft-rock next to the searing psychedelic nightmare of Pornography (and, to a less-intense degree, The Top)

but given Kaputt and all, maybe ILM wants soft-rock

as always, voting for the top

Other poll before my time here. Disintegration is no way the best anything.

you should start a poll about tipping

XP - Yea, I know people really see a lot in that record, but it's just so *long*.

Maybe this poll will be more enlightened

A poll about tapdancing would be good

u shd start a poll about 80s alt music

Cocteau Twins would win that

can it be one of those 'you have 200 points to play with' polls so I can lump the lot on Foetus - Hole

or The Seaside

jeez man they can have 100 each then

What album was detachable penis on?

Wild Mood Swings

Oh

that's no way to talk about Club America

XP - old Cardiacs session was on Gideon Coe tonight

MaresNest I didn't see you follow-up my reaction to the fine news from Glasgow

...do so!

Ah that is true! Kinda don't believe it, but the bits I've heard are amazing.

mid-period is really amazing but hard to decide between KMKMKM and Disintegration. they do pretty different things but are both so great.

just gimme the two singles comps and carnage visors

oh and the song at the end of Marie antoinette

There must be a few 90s post-rock records that sound just like Carnage Visors

I always go with KMKMKM because it has all their different sides done well. Plus all those amazing B-Sides!

I'll vote only because I want to knock Disintegration way down the list.

No Boys Don't Cry, no credibility.

Its a compilation

A very good one I'll grant you

Anything with last dance and lovesong on it deserves to be way down the list

Wot no Mixed Up?

Think I'm gonna vote for wish.

I always go with KMKMKM because it has all their different sides done well. Plus all those amazing B-Sides!

only on the orange vinyl, doesn't count

Sorry just preparing my poll on fly-tipping

None of you said Faith so all of you are wrong.

i was about to say faith

but now i'm just going to vote faith

Three Imaginary Boys.

Then Disintegration. The Top is the worst.

Got no issue with "Disintegration," but these days I'd vote "Seventeen Seconds." Or "Head on the Door," for Boris-era.

A very long time ago, it would've been Disintegration.

Over 20 years later, it is Robert Smith's favourite album: Seventeen Seconds.

It is the one that sounds the most 'timeless' to me. Disintegration dates itself for some reason with the use of keys and strings, mind you I still like the sound of them.

But Seventeen Seconds. It is the one that Bob said was The Cure's Pink Floyd moment, and I can see that. And I really like it.

Faith is a close second, but it is so dark, I have trouble listening to it; I really have to be in the mood for it.

i really want to vote for Wish but that is impossible as there is Pornography, Head on the Door and Disintegration.

go to party leather (ENBB)
Posted: March 7, 2013, 8:32:19 PM
Then Disintegration. The Top is the worst.

I can't even. Why. Sadface.

i still wish the production was better for 4:13 Dream there might have been something there but the mastering hurt my ears. could not listen to it outside a few times.

The Top is ace, but the songs on it worked so much better live.

this is so true, made me fall in love with those songs.

The Top's title track is fantastic.

Shake Dog Shake was indeed immense on Concert. I voted Seventeen Seconds, cos its the best album. I also love three imaginary boys, boys don't cry and curiosities is a veritable bag of treats. Yeah faith and pornography are great but just a little too bleak for me.

I liked "Mixed Up", me.

I tried to hash together a Spotify Playlist of The Top played live but it is missing a couple of tracks, I might go through some old recordings and make one anyway.

Yeah Give Me It on Concert is also fantastic

Is there a live version of piggy in the mirror out there?

tons

bootlegs from 84 are prob my faves, all the songs sounding pretty demented and gigs always seeming to end with pretty crazy versions of Forever. Also one of the few times, they managed a good live version of Charlotte Sometimes

Faith, closely followed by Seventeen Seconds, I kind of think of them as being one two-part album.

Love Charlotte Sometimes

Glasto '86 Charlotte Sometimes is gr8

The Head On The Door

It's still Pornogrpahy.

You lurking fucks are still going to vote Disintegration.

I'm aiming for quiet resignation instead of outrage this time.

I've listened to Pornography, Seventeen Seconds, Faith and Disintegration in recent weeks. Seventeen Seconds in creeping closer to Pornography but Disintegration is still miles behind the other three. It's probably behind Kiss Me x 3 too.

I should really give their last three a decent listen again. It's been a while.

we've done this so many times - I'd be more interested in a post-Wish poll tbh

Why don't you do one?

Not really fair on people like me who have never done one before :)

The Head On The Door

― The Jupiter 8 (Turrican), Friday, March 8, 2013

"Shake Dog Shake" is my favorite of their openers though.

Kiss Me x3 or 17 Secs. One because it's all over the place in a great way and the other because it's so of a piece.

^^^
Exactly. My two faves as well.

Secrets is beautiful

I'm sorry, JJJ. I've just never liked it! TBF though I haven't listened to it in years. Maybe I will today and report back if my feelings have changed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwA8V6hcqQo

Slow day at work so I made a live version of The Top cut together from two concerts in '84, Washington & London (although not from the recordings that were used for 'Concert')

It's one continuous MP3 file.

Here is the link, remove the parenthesis and close the gaps.

http://we.tl/u3osk (please don't hurt me mods, there is nothing commercially released in this link) DnDer

Now for the real Cure geeks among us can we do a live Top without 84 tour material? Not sure they ever played Birdmad Girl and Empty World after that tour

http://www.cure-concerts.de/main/1989.php

Birdmad Girl used in two soundchecks but no gigs

Did they play Wailing Wall post 84?

Hahaha doubt it

yeah this is exactly the kind of early 80's exotic experimentation that must make Robert cringe these days

*waits patiently with arms crossed for ENBB's reevaluation*

xp Read that as 'erotic experimentation' and just no.

scene opens on a pair of big goofy white hightops thrown carelessly by the side of the bed

Throw your cock away!
You're shagged out and your face is grey...

this is not the Warm Bodies fanfiction thread

Stiff as toys an.....nevermind

No go on...

suck harder! suck harder!

Glad to see that Disintegration is not the consensus favorite. I was impressed at the time, but I don't think it's worn as well as several of the others, including the first three and Head on the Door (my pick).

If I could vote Live at Orange, though, I might!

Pornography > Faith > Seventeen Seconds. Their songcraft got better but they never nailed a mood as perfectly (and, unlike Disintegration, concisely) as they did on those three.

Disintegration would be perfect if "Closedown" wasn't on it

I like Disintegration a great deal, but I'd be the first person to admit that I find the album a little bit overlong. I generally prefer the vinyl configuration of the album over the CD version. Having all of the longer, more atmospheric tracks towards the end of the album isn't the greatest idea in the world, in hindsight... especially sequencing 'Prayers For Rain' and 'The Same Deep Water As You' back-to-back. I'll always think that the title track justifies its length and feels shorter than its 8 or so minutes no matter what mood I'm in (and I guess I could say the same for the longer pieces on earlier albums, such as 'One Hundred Years' and 'Faith' etc.), but if I'm in the wrong kind of mood for this album then tracks like 'The Same Deep Water As You' and 'Homesick' can feel like they go on for an eternity.

When I was in high school, one of the first things I did with my taped copy of Disintegration was take a blank C-120 and fill both sides of it with "The Same Deep Water As You", so suffice to say I vigorously disagree with you

even now, when I play Disintegration I usually start with "Prayer For Rain"; the song from the front half I go to the most is "Lullaby"

xxxp
And last dance
And lovesong
And a couple of others

xxxpost:

Christ. Did you have insomnia? I'll bet it "Cured" it! hohohoho!

I can see what 'The Same Deep Water As You' is trying to do... it's another of their long atmospheric numbers a la 'Faith' or 'All Cats Are Grey'... I find those tracks from Faith engaging pretty much 100% of the time, whereas 'The Same Deep Water As You' can either take me with it or bore me rigid. More often than not, it's the latter. 'Lullaby' is one of those Cure songs that I've heard that many times that I've reached a point with it where I can listen to it, but it no longer has the same kind of power for me that it once had.

I honestly had no idea TSDWAY was over 9 minutes long until many years later when I finally picked up the album on CD; in fact I had no idea any of the songs on the back half were as long as they are

I didn't know either, but it explains a lot

"faith and pornography are great but just a little too bleak for me."

My feelings exactly

Just about bleak enough imo.

One of the reasons why I like 17 Seconds is because of its brevity, actually.

Faith is bleak. But like I said, I can handle it if I'm in the mood.

Pornography is way too bleak/dark. It takes me back to very dark times of my younger days. I appreciate it and like it, but almost never listen to it. The one track I have gotten back to from that record the most is "Cold" (recorded a cover of it, too, actually!). But "100 Years", for example, is very difficult to listen to.

100 years is the one I have the least problems with I love it (apart from the tiger thrashing in the water bit), the rest is claustrophobic

what's the best cure record from a vocal standpoint? i'd say the top is one of my faves cos robert is all over the place vocally. his acrobatics on "the caterpillar", "birdmad girl", "bananafishbones", "dressing up" etc are mad brilliant imo.

He was definitely on the most drugs, if I recall correctly.

I remember reading that he spent hours (if not a couple of days) getting the "right sound" of the spinning top.

I'm going by memory, but if by vocal standpoint you mean versatility, Kiss Me.

But then you have Japanese Whispers, which has really beautiful to nice vocals. Head on the Door seems to have very mature/"accomplished" vocals; e.g., Sinking has very strong vocals; as well as Push and Baby Screams. The vocals are similar to that of The Top. Unless I am remembering things completely wrong, as it's been ages since I've heard The Cure and any of their records (just a few tracks here and there). Someone correct me if I'm remembering things incorrectly.

A good candidate is the first album songs like object, its not you and 10:15 have fantastic vocals

17 Secs.

Robert Smith was making the Banshees' Hyaena at the same time, in a different studio in a different part of the country, so he was moving backwards and forwards between working on the two albums and getting very little sleep. Stir in the fact that Andy Anderson was chief magic-mushroom tea maker in the studio while they were working on The Top, and it isn't surprising that his memories of making the album are a little sketchy.

Ah, found the quote I was looking for...

"Around that time I started making the Banshees album, Hyaena, and The Cure's Top and I wasn't sleeping at all. The Cure were living in a pub, an incredibly stupid thing to do, and recording in Reading while the Banshees were at Eel Pie studios in Richmond. So I'd finish with the Banshees, get in a cab to Reading, and the barman would leave the bar open for us because we were living there. I'd usually meet up with Lol Tolhurst and Andy Anderson, then Andy would make a big pot of magic mushroom tea before I'd start work on the next song for the Top album. Then I'd stagger to bed at lunchtime, get a couple of hours' sleep, take a taxi back to Eel Pie and continue with the Banshees. I didn't exactly have a breakdown but I was like a clockwork toy that ran down."

Okay, so not exactly a long-distance travel between the two studios, but still...

Think I would have just gone mad. The dual album thing explains why he let things slip. As you say vocals mostly great and the live outings have proved most to be great songs (titles v good too). Its the music that lets it down on the album.

The Caterpillar excepted

I like The Top a hell of a lot, actually! I'd rather listen to it than everything they've put out after Wish... the only song I really dislike on it is 'Bananafishbones'.

^^^ same reaction. After years of owning it on a C-90 without owning the album, listening to it in its proper context last year underwhelmed me, only cuz I'd forgotten how awesome "Give Me It," "Bird Mad Girl," and "Shake Dog Shake" are.

I love "Bananafishbones"!

xpost
If they're awesome why did it underwhelm you?

The Top is pure imagination candy, sounds beamed in from another dimension. Staggering record, none like it.

Here is one for all the Top fans (best intro to a Cure concert):

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xuf5xj_the-cure-shake-dog-shake-live-in-orange-1986_music

Is there a better officially released Cure live album/video?

(Though I have to admit I'm hearing a bit too much sibilance on my German Maestro 8.35D's on this DailyMotion video.)

in order of pref at the moment:
pornography
faith
seventeen seconds
disintegration
wish
km,km,kim
thotd
3ib
top
phhhhhbbbbbbt

a couple gigs from the 84 tour

Tokyo 10/17/84. SDS, Give Me It, Wailing Wall, The Empty World, The Caterpillar & The Top on the setlist.

http://youtu.be/7eBj3Ks7XJg

Glasgow 84/8/25. Piggy in the Mirror + Happy the Man!!!!!!!

http://youtu.be/My_AbbJQNes

Bananafishbones is my favorite cure song probably

I really love the guitar sound in Seventeen Seconds. It's maybe the most sparse of all their albums, and it's consistency (and brevity) make it a great front to back listening experience. Plus it has my favorite Cure track, A Forest. Faith and Pornography are great also, but a little too filled with despair for me. I remember liking The Top, too, but haven't listened to it in years

^^^ same reaction. After years of owning it on a C-90 without owning the album, listening to it in its proper context last year underwhelmed me, only cuz I'd forgotten how awesome "Give Me It," "Bird Mad Girl," and "Shake Dog Shake" are.

― the little prince of inane false binary hype (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, March 9, 2013 1:48 AM (17 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Yeah, I think it's a much stronger record than its reputation would have you believe... not just the three you've mentioned (which are all completely awesome), but 'The Caterpillar', 'Dressing Up', 'The Empty World', 'Wailing Wall'... 'Piggy In The Mirror' stayed in their live set for quite some time too, didn't it?

Prince you must mean overwhelmed

Prince you must mean overwhelmed

― OutdoorFish, Saturday, March 9, 2013 7:44 PM (10 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I don't think you understood what he was saying. He said listening to 'Bananafishbones' in the context of the album after years of hearing it as a standalone track underwhelmed him, not that the album underwhelmed him.

Oh ok, got ya now

been listening to Three Imaginary Boys recently, love the emptiness in the arrangements, the slight jazziness of the guitar, the cake decorating tips. meat hook meat hook meat hook.

So what?

17 seconds is the one and only album by them, a forest the one and only song. they never matched that gloomy atmosphere again.

I disagree.

it will win this by a mile, but the important thing is that Pornography is actually the best one. tempted to give The Top a vote this time for being hideously underrated, but the more important effort is to show that Pornography is the best one

this post is such a truthbomb of gothy OTMness

I did a poll human league vs depeche mode. Got told DM were gonna walk it. They got trounced.

Best Cure Album (Poll Closes May 25)

Will people kindly stop informing me that there has already been a poll of this nature in the past. I was not here and i'm sure there are other interested people who weren't either. If this bores you, is too repetitive etc just ignore it. Thanks.

I think all anyone's trying to note that the search function is cool. (Which it is.)

^

someone tell Q magazine a poll may not be held more than once. Please do not point this out anymore.

ok, i'll bcc you

someone tell your butt that your face is a butt

Hey OutdoorFish this has been done before - you might find lots of interesting discussion on one of the previous threads, or revive those if you're looking for a conversation

Btw for the benefit of non-Cure fans, So What is a song title

"Head On The Door" is a great pop album, so I am going for that one, in spite of also being a huge "Faith" fan.

A human!

Turing Award to GeirBot

why are the fish outdoors?

Discussion was going just fine until a few morons decided to be dicks. Hint: if you don't like a thread butt out.

Do morons have the reasoning capacity to actively decide to be dicks?

Good question

I'm helping discussion ^ᴗ^

This is going to end well...

Can we talk about the cure?

Anyone else think Wild Mood Swings is their least good album?

No, I save that honour for Bloodflowers - which for the first time, to me, sounded like the Cure parodying itself. At least WMS had an awesome single in "The 13th."

Oh but don't get me wrong - it's still pretty stinky.

Bloodflowers is a good album and an amazing tour. that was the last of the trifecta and doesn't disappoint, IMO. Wild Mood Swings has some really good B-sides from that period.

their worst is that Ross Robinson produced album called The Cure. really no excuse for that album, though i did like a couple of things from it.

Can we talk about the cure?

What do you think the symptoms are?

Mint Car

Wild Mood Swings was my first Cure album, which may have put me off them for several years

Bloodflowers is a good album and an amazing tour. that was the last of the trifecta and doesn't disappoint, IMO.

I think the "trilogy" was invented strictly for marketing purposes. The true trilogy in the band's canon for me is 17 Seconds/Faith/Pornography.

I suspect the band hoped to reawaken interest by making people think they were getting something as good as Disintegration, but it sounds calculated/Disintegration-by-numbers to me - long instrumental opening bits with loads of 6-string-bass on their own do not Disintegration make. Robert sounds bored, the lyrics are pitiful, and most songs have crap-sounding acoustic guitar making them all sound the same. The title track is the only one I ever choose to play anymore.

I thought the last couple of albums were marginally better - "Underneath The Stars" from the last album is probably the best song they've done since the early 90s and captures the effortlessly dreamy spirit of Disintegration moreso than anything on Bloodflowers.

and i admittedly disagree. songs like "Out of This World," "Bloodflowers" and "39" are far superior to anything on those last two albums.

I am going to use this thread to share the recent epiphany that Eric looks so much like Rob Smith in this clippe

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7u9hP4r1S8

The true trilogy in the band's canon for me is 17 Seconds/Faith/Pornography.

I agree with a lot of things you said there, Kent. But the above is the most obvious because even RS said as much (post-Trilogy, even).

I however very much disagree with your assessment of Bloodflowers. That still remains one of my most favorite albums by the band.

I voted for Seventeen Seconds. Still their overall best, in my ears.

Pornography is the one.

I do appreciate some Bloodflowers, though. It's a very good background album. Just lacks the immediacy and hooks of its predecessors (in the trilogy).

I like Disintegration fine now, but didn't care of the production at the time. Now it's aged into its digital sheen a bit, and I can take it better.

Would you say that the production on Disintegration is ahead of its time?

No. I think it already sounded digital and dated when it came out. But now that's almost charming.

but it sounds calculated/Disintegration-by-numbers to me

OTM - I guess I was jaded enough in 2000 that I found that the whole "trilogy" talk and Disintegration nostalgia-fest coming from RS when Bloodflowers was released sounded incredibly forced. So obviously my impression of the album itself is pretty tainted by that. To me the whole thing sounds like insincere pastiche, even though some bits are obviously well executed and I get a Pavlov reaction from hearing old classic Cure tricks and the 6 string bass.

For me I find that's the main thing RS has lost over the years. For a guy who in the 80's was always praised for his idiosyncracies and for following his muse to wherever it took him, hardcore fans be damned - in the last 15 years he's seemed to always second guess what fans were expecting. As lousy as most of WMS was - it was probably the last time he sounded genuinely and carelessly inspired.

The last thing I heard from him was the track on the "Alice In Wonderland" album

my top 8 at the moment:

Head on the Door
Three Imaginary Boys
Pornography
The Top
Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me
Seventeen Seconds
Faith
Disintegration

I've never heard any of the albums past Wish so am interested how people rate them now. If I'm honest I've been largely put off by the cover art.

I'm wondering how many people would vote Japanese Whispers if it were included?

I've never heard any of the albums past Wish so am interested how people rate them now. If I'm honest I've been largely put off by the cover art.

WMS is actively terrible. Bloodflowers is enjoyable comfort food. The Cure has a couple of fantastic songs surrounded by a bunch of competent ones; most of the best material comes from the b-sides/extras on the Japanese import. 4:13 Dream is the best album they've done since Wish.

Bloodflowers has Watching Me Fall and 39 on it so it wins. The Cure has Labyrinth and The Promise so it comes 2nd. WMS has Want so it's 3rd. 4:13 Dream I possibly need to rescreen as I dismissed it pretty quickly

you could make a very good album from the four, though, of course

Pictures of You sounds particularly great.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

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

BORE-nography morelike

Justice at last, OutdoorFish validated

lol @ 7 protest votes

OutdoorFish now welcome to start a new Cure albums poll thread and say that the Q model is being followed.

i can't listen to the last two cure albums, they are screechy awful noises. bloodflowers was just boring but sometimes some of the songs pop in my head for some weird reason.

I liked Wish.

Head On The Door always gets robbed in these things.

lol who voted WMS, fess up

lol @ 7 protest votes

Quite amazed by those results

Tbh what I really want The Cure to do is release an album full of songs like "Lost" and "The Scream" so awful screechiness is basically what I want from them right now

This is still my favorite Cure song. I wish I was at this show:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0tqK5BtEm5A

Really not sure what I would want a great new Cure album to sound like tbh.

Something good yet different would be nice

I will say that "Freakshhow" works much better than it should, especially live

I'm not trying to sound controversial here, but, honestly, I don't really care for a new Cure album.

Then again, I believe that most bands are only good for a few albums, if that. There are very, very, very few bands with extensive discographies that release great record after great record. Put another way, there are few bands who've produced 'timeless' records. Especially since 'greatness' is just so susceptible to shift from period to period/generation to generation.

The Cure is a good example. But maybe it's because I'm no longer a big fan of them as I was before.

Even if they did something like 17 Seconds, which is my favourite album by them, it would seem they'd be doing it to please a crowd instead of authentically producing music, which is something I favour.

After Wish, I became disconnected with the band's music. I only like a few songs post-1992.

I agree with you. I was being hypothetical.

I would never put it in my top 10 but I always say I would like them to release an album full of songs like Trap, ie non fussy guitar power pop

a post-Wish 'Best Tracks' poll is i'd something i'd like to see. i became very quickly disenchanted with them after their just-before Wild Mood Swings
set at Glastonbury 1995 which was the most turgid thing ever. have never bothered with them much since. once Porl was done with them, so was i.
am i missing much i wonder?

once Porl was done with them, so was i.

you didn't come back when Porl came back?

I was at the '95 show. Not good.

a post-Wish 'Best Tracks' poll is i'd something i'd like to see.

this!

My favorite post-Wish songs:

Lost
Labyrinth
Want
Trap
Numb
The 13th
Going Nowhere
Spilt Milk
This Morning
The Scream
It's Over
Underneath the Stars
Out of this World
The Loudest Sound
The Last Day of Summer
The Promise
Adonis
Ocean
It Used To Be Me
All Kinds Of Stuff
The Real Snow White
The Hungry Ghost
Sleep When I'm Dead
Fake
Treasure
Bare
39
Watching Me Fall

not really narrowing it down

here's a POV, in descending order of greatness

1) Watching Me Fall
2) 39
3) The Promise
4) Want
5) Labyrinth

I always wanted them to release an album of songs like 'It's Not You' and 'Doubt'.

Post-1992 songs that are okay:

Treasure
Bare
A Pink Dream
Maybe Someday
Bloodflowers (this one really doesn't do it for me, though)

Bloodflowers the album was one I almost got into, but did not stand the test of time. The WMS Robert Smith still seemed somewhat genuine (as genuine as Robert Smith could be in a theatrical kind of way), but by Bloodflowers, he was just a parody of his stereotypical self. I remember seeing his photos. Kind of felt sad for the man.

Shit I forgot Home

Here's the top 20 post-Wish tracks as voted in the ballot last year:

1. Burn
2. The 13th
3. Want
4. Watching Me Fall
5. (I Don't Know What's Going) On
6. The End Of The World
7. Mint Car
8. Lost
9. Before Three
10. Out of This World
11. Underneath The Stars
12. Jupiter Crash
13. Wrong Number
14. Cut Here
15. Gone!
16. 39
17. Labyrinth
18. Maybe Someday
19. Us or Them
20. The Promise

After Wish, I became disconnected with the band's music. I only like a few songs post-1992.

Have they done anything truly worthwhile at all since Wish? Wild Mood Swings BROKE. MY. HEART. and I didn't listen to anything of theirs since then.

I was such a massive, massive fan and I was thrilled that they were releasing something new and I'd get to see them live after not getting to see them touring for Wish (I would have been at one of the shows where Show was filmed) and then I heard WMS.... I tried to learn to love it, and if I got high enough, Mint Car was all right, but overall it was just embarrassing and demoralizing.

I still went to see them live twice for that tour b/c I wasn't going to give up on them without a fight. The show in Nashville was amazing (at an amphitheater - opened with Plainsong, closed with Killing an Arab - beautiful thunderstorm during the show - they were full of energy, and even WMS tunes were pretty engaging), but the show at George Mason University in DC was beyond boring. Robert Smith laid down on his back and sang for a while, and it felt like he was going, meh, fuck it, rather than being transgressive or cheeky.

It would be interesting now to check out post WMS stuff, maybe. Though when I tried to listen to 4:13 Dream once, I had to stop after a couple tracks b/c it just seemed so hollow and false.

I think I voted for The Top. Or Pornography, but pretty sure it was The Top. My first of their albums, and still one of my favorite records by any artist.

There were some good shows on the WMS tour -- there's a good Paris bootleg floating around -- but yeah that wasn't a high point for the band. The three albums since plus all the scattered rarities and one-offs have been better! Though if you're not liking 4:13 then...

thanks everyone for your (heh) post-wish lists... I will make a playlist and see what's the what! I never even gave Wish a serious listen, really.

Ned, I just listened to The Perfect Boy and really liked it!

Well, the remix, but still.

But now I'm listening to The Same Deep Water As You. Baby steps.

There are some good songs scattered here and there but I agree that stuff post WMS has always sounded pretty forced and inauthentic. I have the feeling that RS is ow incapable of coming up a song quickly and spontaneously anymore

oh.. porl came back? hm. i guess no then as i had no idea.

Wish has got this shoegazey feel/moments of loud wall-of-sound guitars, e.g., "Open", "Cut". They translated well live, e.g., the live album Show. But I always dug Play for Today's live versions that had the crowd chant 'ohhhh oh ohhhh oh ohhhh oh ohhh'