the DISINTEGRATION poll

I voted for "Pictures of You", maybe it drags but it's a gorgeous drag.

Especially difficult, once again, but I guess... "Untitled"? Like Alfred says, it's the way it's so simple that makes it perfect, after all the enormity of the preceding record.

Second choice would be the opposite extreme, "Plainsong."

christ, impossible, almost every song on here is absolutely classic except maybe Last Dance. My gut says "Homesick" so I'll vote for that, although I love the way the weird time changes in Plainsong as soon as the vocals come in.

the only song on here that isn't classic is "Closedown" IMO

title track here too.

ffs the poll is broke for me...would probably vote "Homesick"

Wait until tomorrow, you can vote (again).

I'd take the title track second, probably. I always think of that and Same Deep Water As You as like the real center of the album, a one-two punch of sadness and misery. It's hard to count the number of times those songs have helped me deal with shit.

Pictures of You interrupts the flow on this so I don't like it as much - I agree that it sticks out, but it is still one of the most mindblowingly awesome singles ever and gets my vote. The rest of the album is so cohesive, as others have mentioned, that it is a painful process to isolate just one track, instead of a block of two or three.

xp How is sadness + misery a one-two punch?

a one-one punch

A knife with a twist

HOW DO I PICK JUST ONE?

Oh, okay. "Plainsong" it is.

Also. Hello, ILM. Been awhile.

"Last Dance" is so underrated. Great intro and the lyrics are just beautiful (I like his songs that mention Christmas for some reason). I always loved it and it gets my vote.

By a lot of people, this is seen as their pinnacle. I am not disputing it being a good album. A lot of the songs are indeed really great.

But I guess my problem about "Disintegration" is first and foremost that, to such an extent, it has 1989 written all over it: Big gated drums, lots of reverb, harsh digital synth sounds. To me it sounds a bit too much like a timepiece to really score compared to other Cure albums.

That being said, there are exceptions, at least in the case of the reverb. On "Lullaby" and "Lovesong", the reverb was toned down considerably, letting the actual songs come better to their right. And even though I wasn't that much of a fan at the time, I really stand by those two being great pop singles today.

So, in the end, ending up voting for "Lovesong", maybe because I prefer the snare drum sound used on the single version of "Lullaby" rather than the album version. :) Oh, and yes, other great tracks (although all of them with way too much reverb) include the two other singles, plus "Plainsong", "Prayers For Rain", "The Same Deep Water As You" and "Untitled".

Oh man this is so hard but I think that I have to vote Plainsong. It's just amazing.

BTW - this was the first CD I ever bought.

How is sadness + misery a one-two punch?

It's because whereas Same Deep Water As You is resigned to everything and sad, Disintegration wants to fight against it all. I love that these two songs are right next to each other.

shit wait

Homesick was my fave when I was 18

my tastes have changed massively since then

will have to listen and decide anew

I've narrowed down the poll to Homesick vs. Last Dance vs. Prayers for Rain.
I'm surprised the latter hasn't received any shout outs. The intro to that song is just so bad-ass - ie. when the bass kicks with that "WOOOSH" effect = utter bliss

the only song on here that isn't classic is "Closedown" IMO

WHAT??!??!

common sense says i should choose fascination street for the bassline alone but a former girlfriend told me that she though of me whenever she listened to lovesong. horrific ego always wins out. lovesong.

So I guess your former girlfriend will always love you.

Don't get it twisted, she said it when we were still together.
These days, she would stab me in a heartbeat.

Oh I get it, twisted.

My point being that it shouldn't still appeal to your ego after the words are proven false, or at least not as eternal as they purport to be.

But it is a silly lyric, anyway, isn't it? I mean, forever? For ever ever? For EVER ever?

http://sidesalad.net/archives/BronsonPinchotBeverlyHillsCopThatsNotSexySerge.jpg

lemon twist-ed?

first time i ever saw two men making out was at this concert. what a monster fucking album. i agree with the guy who said every song is classic except "last dance" (which is still not too shabby). i have to go with the title song because, like bee ok says, the 12" mix of "fascination street" isn't the one that made the cut

Last Dance is glorious - you are all crazy

I really don't dig 8, 9, 11, or 12, so great as the title track is it gets lost for me in that dirgefest.

^^^^ this is incomprehensible

yeah i know. ok the intro and backing to prayers for rain are ok but the vocal just drags. same deep water goes on too long. by the time homesick comes around i care about as much as bob seems to, doo doo doooo doo doo doo doooo dooooooooo dooo. untitled would be ok if i hadn't given up completely by that point. game over man!

Title track. Same three chords all over. Bass line never changes.

side 2 of this album is probably my favorite music piece ever so yeah I can't understand this comment (unless you really didn't like the Cure but then you wouldn't really care about side 1 either)

it's "Plainsong" or "Pictures of You" and i really can't decide

Don't get it twisted, she said it when we were still together.
These days, she would stab me in a heartbeat.

You shatter her, your grip on her, a hold on her so dull it kills, you stifle her, etc.

why does this poll not have options

it's a problem with images off and polls

PLAINSONG

this album sits right next to hounds of love for me in greatest records of all time

"But I guess my problem about "Disintegration" is first and foremost that, to such an extent, it has 1989 written all over it

― Geir Hongro"

silly.

anyway, went with "Plainsong" because it's my shit. this album is like DM's "Violator" in that it works so well as a whole, has such an overpowering mood, and i always listen to it all the way through in the wintertime. fucking love it.

stunning album but i will not choose a favorite. plainsong might be the best song, but side 2 wins.

i listened it to it once already today because of this thread and might play it again.

really regret lending my copy to a dude who proceeded to either keep it or completely lose it

this was 4 years ago

need a new copy like now

i traded my copy of bob mould's 'workbook' for this album

think i won that deal

Inevitably, I'm half regretting my vote. I knew it would happen, but damn...so much good here.

still prefer Pornography and The Top, mind, those albums had (nearly) all of Disintegration's dark grandeur AND were completely fucking awesome-bonkers as well

or to put it more precisely, those two albums were more mercurial, more psychotic and visceral beings, whereas Disintegration has a magnificent serenity to it...my personal outlook favours the former type, but I completely understand why so many people regard the latter, when done this well, to be some sort of definitive aural statement...it is a tremendous achievement whichever way you look at it, just not quite as astonishing to me as a couple of the earlier albums, which although less assured (albeit that Pornography has a towering and almost accidentally coherent narrative and works on every conceivable level I can think of) were more sonically inquisitive

porn >>> top > dis = kmx3 >> faith > wish >> head >> blood = cure = 17 >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> have a guess

haven't heard the new one enough to place it

still prefer Pornography and The Top, mind, those albums had (nearly) all of Disintegration's dark grandeur

Dark as fuck, sure, but I don't hear the grandeur except maybe on "One Hundred Years" and even then it's a totally different mood than anything on Disintegration.

This is one of the oldest CDs I own and it's pretty much unplayable. Has it been reissued as a special edition yet?

Bass VI pops up in some surprising places. I think it's on a few Beatles songs, when John or George are playing bass because Paul is doing something else. Neil Young's "Hey Hey My My (Into the Black)" is I think played with an octave pedal, but my guitar teacher is convinced the main riff sounds like a fuzzed out Bass VI.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OfdxB8Tv98A

I would have voted for Closedown, which sounds to me like the gentle, sweet release of death. Lullaby is just as great, though I prefer the extended version on Mixed Up--it's a groove to ride into infinity

Bass VI is different from a baritone or a six-string bass. I'm probably missing a few differences with this explanation, but basically:

Baritone = essentially a guitar with thicker strings in BEADF#B tuning.
Bass VI = Short-scale bass (30" neck) tuned one octave lower than guitar EADGBE
Six String Bass = standard- or longer-scale bass tuned BEADGC, with both an lower and a higher string

― peace, man, Friday, 8 January 2021 14:17 (six hours ago)

Makes perfect sense. I've played guitar for 30 years and I've never heard of these.

https://www.talkbass.com/attachments/lennon_fender_vi_bass-jpg.204607/

This album is probably the world's greatest extended mope.

The title track is up with “From the Edge of the Deep Green Sea” as the band’s finest hour. Incredible lyrics and production. It’s so beautiful and sounds incredibly urgent

Happy 35th anniversary, I sez I sez.