The Anniversary

Current Music: The Cure: The Cure When the last Cure album arrived, David and I enacted the usual ritual (which began with, as I recall, Depeche Mode's Ultra): we gathered in my living room, procured some beverages, and sat patiently and listened to every song, pausing in between tracks to discuss what we heard. The new Cure album arrived today, and I purchased it promptly, of course. But listening to it just an hour ago reminded me of how much I miss David and our rituals. I feel particularly lonely tonight because I do not know anyone here who shares my love or my passion for the Cure. Robert could burp and I'd by the disk.

Three bands comprise my holy trinity: The Cure, Depeche Mode, and The Smiths. Every album released is a sacred event, even though, since my graduation from high school in 1992, the albums from each (well, the Smith's broke-up--so Morrissey for the Smiths) have been progressively cheesy.

So I have listened intently to the new album from The Cure twice, and while writing this, it is on the third rotation. It is very different from the last two albums, and the theme is angry, unquestionably. Compared to the previous two albums (Wild Mood Swings and Bloodflowers), this one sounds muddy, meaning that on a number of tracks Smith's voice is filtered and distanced from the listener. The two opening tracks are very "fuzz," meant to be played loud. I think, en toto, the Cure's first self-titled album is more "rock" than they have ever been. "Us or Them" (track six) is playing now, and it clearly is a screed against US aggression after 9/11. Other songs, from "Lost" to (my favorite of the album) "Never" to the ten-minute closing track, "The Promise," are frustrated rants about the unrealistic, mass-mediated idols of romance. Smith screams on this album; he screams a good bit, and the guitar work is frantic.

At this point, I'm not sure what to make of the album. There are a number of fun, throwback pop songs here (e.g., "The End of the World," and "alt.end," with it's fakey hand-clap percussion), and I think I like the angry turn of a number of the tracks. But right now it feels uneven. I wish David were here to talk about it.