Shake POLL Shake: The Cure's "The Top"

This album is super underrated. At various points in my life I've picked this as my secret favorite of their albums.

I'm at that point too. The only song that sounds dinky is "Dressing Up."

GIVE ME IT! GIVE ME IT! GIVE ME IT! GIVE MEEEE ITTTT!

As I said yesterday I'm not a huge fan of this album so I have to go with what is prob the obv boring choice of "The Catepillar". BTW it took me approx ten years to figure out that he was saying caterpillar girl even though the lyrics ARE IN THE FREAKIN' title. Yep.

Wait, what did you think he was saying?

Btw 'Shake Dog Shake" and "Bananafishbones" for me. My least favourite Cure album, which means I still kinda love it. And by least favourite I'm not counting anything post 'Wish' cos I never really listen to those anymore.

I love how anomalous this album is. It would make more sense if you had Pornography, then that run of pop singles on Japanese Whispers then straight into Head on the Door, but there's this weird, lurid, neurotic record inbetween. iirc Smith made it almost single-handed, frazzled on booze and acid, and it sounds like it. Definitely his oddest, least mannered album. Piggy in the Mirror is the heart of it for me.

On a tangent, while looking up my review of the reissue I found this fantastically idiotic review of Pornography:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2005/may/20/popandrock.shopping8?INTCMP=ILCNETTXT3487

It would have been interesting to hear how The Top would have turned out if the Smith/Tolhurst/Gallup/Thompson/Williams line-up of The Head On The Door had got together earlier.

iirc Smith made it almost single-handed, frazzled on booze and acid, and it sounds like it.

Yes, that's right. Also while not getting much sleep, if any at all, because he making a record with the Banshees at the same time. Andy Anderson was on magic mushroom tea-making duties for The Top, so I heard.

Then there's the Glove stuff as well...

Andy Anderson: mucho underrated. From the way he pounds those drums he could be Boris Williams.

btw "The Caterpillar" is no longer a favorite, I realized on Monday. Once I got past the arrangement and hook the song doesn't do much else. It IS brief, though – a point in its favor.

Bird Mad Girl

Also you goofed by not going with I should feel/like a POLLar bear

gonna be a lame '"caterpillar" easy' person

There's a level of menace and ferocity on this album that's appeared in other things they've done but is usually accompanied by depressive doom; on this album, the anger burns mostly bright. I think you can credit the way the drums sound for a lot of that, plus there's a sense of space in most of the arrangements that gives a little more breathing room than you normally get with heavy pissed-off Cure.

One reason why I think it makes a lot of sense that some people would immediately gravitate to "The Caterpillar" on this album is because it's an unambiguously cheery song in the midst of all of this fury and anger. Its brightness shoots in a completely different direction, neatly puncturing the rage building up over the album and resetting the listener for the weirder, more experimental songs that close the album. Also, it has bongos.

I am having a tough time deciding between "Shake Dog Shake", "Give Me It", "Piggy In The Mirror" and "Bananafishbones".

DJP otm, this is a hidden gem. I do always think the singles are the best things on Cure albums & "The Caterpillar" will get my vote here.

A+ gif Alfred

the title track for me.

itt aero outs himself as a huge "Strange Attraction" fan

The anger exhilarates me though, especially after the anomie of its three predecessors.

no Cure after 1989, my eternal motto

itt aero outs himself as a huge "Strange Attraction" fan

Hahah.

Some applicable burblings from the Cure reissues thread:

--

...sometimes I secretly think The Top is, if not the best album Robert ever did, in ways the most bizarrely adventurous -- almost completely schizophrenic sonically, a solo album in all but name, at once extremely dreamy and very aggressive. Any album with "Shake Dog Shake," "Wailing Wall," "Give Me It," "Dressing Up," and the title track on it -- *and* had "The Caterpillar" as a lead single! -- is at once wonderful and completely off balance. Sure, Kiss Me in ways parallels the same sprawling sense and then some, but in a way that's more band-centered as opposed to run amuck in the studio.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, May 4, 2005 5:49 PM (7 years ago)

totally OTM

― Marco Damiani (Marco D.), Friday, May 6, 2005 5:03 AM (7 years ago)

Thirded indeed. I often think this is actually my favorite Cure album.

― Baaderonixxxorzh (Fabfunk), Friday, May 6, 2005 5:19 AM (7 years ago)

There was a good long while where The Top was my favorite Cure album, mostly because it's completely awesome but partially because I was trying to avoid the Pornography/Disintegration stereotype. Eventually "Siamese Twins" won me over but MAN The Top is awesome.

― The Ghost of Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Friday, May 6, 2005 5:35 AM (7 years ago)

The Top is the first Cure album I ever owned and so still ranks as my favorite. I was always surprised to see that it was generally thought of as one of their lesser albums (by critics, or something)

― kyle (akmonday), Friday, May 6, 2005 5:48 AM (7 years ago)

It's also astoundingly out of place for 1984 if you think about stereotypes of what music was supposed to be like in a time and place.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, May 6, 2005 6:13 AM (7 years ago)

Hahahahaha... where Pornography ends with the hopeful "I must fight this sickness, find a cure", the last lyric of The Top is "please come back, please come back all of you!"

Yes, it does sound un-1984, closer perhaps to the moribund post-punk spirit. The B-sides are perhaps closer to 1984.

no Cure after 1989, my eternal motto

blanking Wish is just foolish IMO; I get why albums after that get blanked even though I generally disagree (the less said about WMS, the better) but Wish pwns

Yes, it does sound un-1984, closer perhaps to the moribund post-punk spirit. The B-sides are perhaps closer to 1984.

eh... "Happy the Man" and "Throw Your Foot" seem to me to be just as out of time and weird as the songs that made the album

"Throw Your Foot" is exactly what I had in mind: weird but not unusual.

I'd actually chose both those above anything on the album maybe.

I have a distinct memory of the first time I heard "Throw Your Foot"; I was at German camp hanging out with the goth kids at one of our Friday dances and one of the counselors threw it on; everyone I was with went MENTAL and I was like "omg what album is this on, I haven't heard it yet" and they were all "WAHT ZOMG GET STANDING ON A BEACH ON CASSETTE AS SOON AS YOU GET HOME", which I did and now here I am 24 years later backhandedly trying to convince people on the internet that "Lost" and "It's Over" still show that the band hasn't fallen nearly as far as everyone says they have

I'd switch "Dressing Up" for "Throw Your Foot"

yeah I wasn't the only one who kept the SOTB tape for years and for the same reason.

Thinking about where I think this album dips, I've never been a big booster of "Birdmad Girl". It's another song that suffered from me getting an Italian-published lyric book of all of their songs before actually hearing them, causing me to imagine a completely different style for the lyrics and, as a result, making the actual song sound awkward and labored to my ears upon the first time I heard it.

On the flipside, the actual "Piggy in the Mirror" is WAY WAY WAY better than I could have possibly imagined.

Also, I've come around somewhat now but the Robert howl on "Dressing Up" was several steps too far on the side of ridiculous caricature for me for many, many years.

blanking Wish is just foolish IMO; I get why albums after that get blanked even though I generally disagree (the less said about WMS, the better) but Wish pwns

I'm sure you're right tbh, I'd moved on for other stuff (rap! metal! Born Against!) by the early 90s and by the time I gave their newer efforts a listen again (Bloodflowers IIRC) I was like "ok, this band has spoiled." But for me this is also a band who's going to remain forever tethered to very certain occasions & moments in my adolescence, there's sort of no way they can get a fair shake shake shake from grown-up me

I was at German camp hanging out with the goth kids

Jesus Christ Dan so much makes sense now. Sascha and En Esch were the counselors, I assume.

"WAKE UP AND DO THE TOTENTANZ HERR PERRY."

"But it's 3 am."

"WAKE UP!!!"

Wait, what did you think he was saying?

― Ned Raggett, Thursday, June 7, 2012 9:39 AM (58 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I had no idea. Something something somtehing something girl. I just made up nonsense sounds in my head. Then one day I was driving and it came on on a mix I was listening to and it just clicked. I do this with lots of songs tbh. Could I look up the lyrics? Sure. Do I? Rarely.

In the best possible way, it's the sound of someone who doesn't know what he's doing. No concept, no unified sound, a single that doesn't represent the rest of the album at all. It's like he just turned on the taps and released whatever came out. Which I think is why he's so dismissive of it and why it falls between the cracks in surveys of the Cure's back catalogue. It's way better than it should be.

Jesus Christ Dan so much makes sense now. Sascha and En Esch were the counselors, I assume.

hahaha there was this counselor named Michael who looked like En Esch; unsurprisingly he was my favorite (also he was an awesome soccer player)

those dances were great; they tried to play as much German music as they could but they all hated most German contemporary pop (this would have been around '88) so we kept getting things like Trio's "Da Da Da" and Nena's "Das Land der Elefanten" (which btw PWNS "99 Luftballoons", everyone should get up on that track immediately) as well as random Scorpions tracks because hey, they were German

Nena's "Das Land der Elefanten" (which btw PWNS "99 Luftballoons", everyone should get up on that track immediately)

Hmm, he's not wrong; this isn't that far from Xmal Deutschland.

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

At least on the verses -- choruses, rather smoother!

the downside to my German camp experiences is that I still know almost all of the words to Herbert Groenemayer's "Alkohol" by heart ;_;

I get this image of your long-suffering wife sighing as you put on the lederhosen to dance to schlagers once again.

I love that Nena song. My fav Nena song though is Nur geträumt.

x-post - I can borrow my dad's lederhosen and lend them to DJP so we can make this happen.

Yes, he actually has a pair.

omg this thread

I demand BostonSchlagerFAP photos when this happens.

http://besttravelblogevar.files.wordpress.com/2007/09/lederhosen.jpg

You know, we don't have a Nena thread, and this needs to be corrected.

This is my favorite Cure album. I wish there were more like it. It also has the absolute perfect cover color pallette for the way it actually sounds.

What are some other records from the era that hit this vibe? In my head I always kind of twin it with Fegmania! and I was just now thinking Fried kind of fits too.

There's a weird Prince flavor too, lurid bedroom slicko psych...

Julian Cope came close.

"bird mad girl" is a pretty special one for me. it's the kind of song i mightn't necessarily give my full attention every time when it's playing, but guaranteed i'll be humming it hours later. i really like "dressing up" too. it's just really slow, droopy and suspended in a unique and wonderful way.

The song on this album that I feel gets overlooked a lot is "Wailing Wall"; it's just to the point in its creepiness in the best possible way, plus those awesome wailing noises...!

Agreed on all that!

omfg why didn't I vote "Piggy in the Mirror"

oh right, because "Bananafishbones" is... wait for it... BANANAS

The song on this album that I feel gets overlooked a lot is "Wailing Wall"; it's just to the point in its creepiness in the best possible way, plus those awesome wailing noises...!

― WHEY AHR MAH DREGUNS? (DJP), Thursday, June 7, 2012 3:34 PM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I consider 'Wailing Wall' to be one of my favourites and completely agree that it's an often overlooked moment in the Cure catalogue. 'Bananafishbones' is at the other end of the scale for me, personally. It's one of my least favourite Cure songs ever and comfortably the worst track on this record as far as I'm concerned. I enjoy the rest of the material a lot. I've always had a lot of time for The Top, and feel that Robert himself underrates this record as much as he overrates Wild Mood Swings. It's amazing how some Cure fans lump those two albums into the "worst of The Cure" pile, because one record is clearly miles stronger than the other. It's a record that comes with a bit of mystery attached to it, as well, since it's one of those albums that Robert seems to seldom discuss.

For me, this album is an often psychedelic mish-mash of where The Cure had been and where The Cure would go: it's more brightly coloured than Pornography (while still retaining portions of that record's anger), yet not quite as slick as The Head On The Door or Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me (although 'The Caterpillar', for one, would have went on either of those albums comfortably). Its confusion and mood swings is part of the appeal of this record for me, almost to the point where I feel it is THIS record that should have been titled Wild Mood Swings, instead of the record that was eventually called that.

This is by far my favorite cure album, and bananafishbones is my favorite cure song, so there you go

this might also be the only time in the history of our adolescence where i think i ended up with a cure album before DJP got his hands on it

happy to see all the love for this album. In my top 5 CURE albums.

I voted for piggy.

It's amazing how some Cure fans lump those two albums into the "worst of The Cure" pile,

from my experience the Cure fans on this message board have far more sense (except for the Disintegration love).

There's a lot of crazy itt.

one of my favorite cure albums, although probably their most hit and miss. top three are the caterpillar, birdmad girl and (surprised at the hating here,) dressing up. i'll vote dressing up because it is just so damn weird. bob sounds like he's going to have an orgasm just thinking about getting his extra big hightops on... and then there's the strange-ass synth bass bopping around in an otherwise dreamy song. and it's incredibly psychedelic. i dunno. if you don't like dressing up, i'd suggest listening again, ignoring the fact that it IS just a tad "dinky." it's a great song, and one of my favorite cure songs, and one i get a hankering for more often than any other.

i do love this album but don't think it touches the Top 5.

i think i'm voting for "Give Me It."

Got to be "The Caterpillar". As for the rest of the album, I admire their ambitions, but I don't see them quite fulfilled.

I love this album and the fact that it's crazy and weird. But most importantly, I just think the songs are GREAT. Having a real hard time picking a favorite. Possibly "Wailing Wall".

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

your dying
for the hope is gone
from here we go nowhere again
I'm trapped in my face
and I'm changing too much
I can't climb out
the way I fell in

I voted Caterpillar, predictably, but I am a huge fan of 'Shake Dog Shake'.

this was maybe the first cure album i owned due to finding it in a crap second hand vinyl shop. before that had just heard the Galore comp lent to me by a friend so The Top was pretty different but I ended up loving it and always been confused as to why its probably got the least love of any classic era album.

love Bird Mad Girl so voting for that. saw them 2 weeks back and they played Bananafishbones, Caterpillar and Dressing Up. was hyped.

Odd album, I can see what other people see in it (the Cure recording an angry, schizophrenic album while hopped up on booze and acid does seem tasty) but it's just not for me.

I do love some of the individual tracks though, especially "Shake Dog Shake". "Piggy in the Mirror" and "Give Me It" are great too.

love Bird Mad Girl so voting for that. saw them 2 weeks back and they played Bananafishbones, Caterpillar and Dressing Up. was hyped.

OMG would have died.

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

so is "the empty world" just a rippling fart for 2:36? It's not among the four or so tracks I kept from this.

Glad that the Caterpillar won, but also that there were more loony diehards not voting for it than silent squares voting for it.

Even as a saddo fan of "Dressing Up" I have to say that I feel no remorse for voting here for GIVE ME IT GIVE ME IT!!! For me that one is probably in my top 20 Cure songs of all time.

wish i listened to this one more time before voting.

have no regrets, however, for voting "Give Me It."

You did the right thing.

so is "the empty world" just a rippling fart for 2:36? It's not among the four or so tracks I kept from this.

it's the one with the fife and drum; it sounds more like a B-side than the actual b-sides.

The imagery in "The Empty World" is fantastic

Like, it seems to be about a little girl playing war games with her toys, but it also kind of seems to be about someone's psychosis causes the apocalypse.

OTM - it's a variant on "Games Without Frontiers"

I've always liked "The Empty World", I don't know why it gets no love. I think Robert's singing really matches the despair of the lyrics.

I'm glad I gave "Wailing Wall" its only vote. Another underrated gem IMO.

"The Empty World" was another song based on the book Charlotte Sometimes.

listening to this right now. they played so many The Top songs in this summer tour, seeing them live this year was one of the few AMAZING things that happened this year.

"This girl has got a smile
That can make me cry
This girl just burns with love
She's burning burning deep outside

Night time night time
Sets my house on fire
I'll turn into the melting man
I'll lose my life
To feel I feel desire"

this results are whacked but i think ILM was in burn out mode from all the Cure polls at the time, we had poll after poll.

after listening right now:

The Empty World >>> Bananafishbones

don't think i would change my vote from up-thread: "Give Me it" but i could see voting differently today. also now one of my favorite Cure albums, never thought i would say that.

I still really love this era and the Japanese Whispers stuff. wasn't it around this time that Chris Parry gave Smith a bit of a lecture/pep-talk about doing too many drugs? the story is in Ten Imaginary Years I think. also isn't one of the songs pitched at slightly the wrong speed and it was sorted out on the reissue?

I love the way the drums are treated on 'The Empty World' ... that cavernous bottom end mixed with the relatively tighter sounding snare.

also isn't one of the songs pitched at slightly the wrong speed and it was sorted out on the reissue?
― piscesx

shake shake shake shake shake shake shake shake
shake dog SHAKE

https://img.discogs.com/PCaGgBBXBJ-wAjUumdEXEnx0AhA=/fit-in/599x947/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-387285-1227978226.jpeg.jpg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Grk9uD-cbM

My best image.

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

it's classic

xpost

and because i was at this fucking amazing show

our version of rock:

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

sorry

"Our version of rock:"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qgFcfR12HNw

i can't believe how gread this band is and how good, in particularity this album is. last one for my drunk Friday night. my all-time favorite band and it really isn't even close:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YNBrJy4Y4dk

bonus, because this is actually a good live, at the time, version:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fa2Y1H9bIU8