The Cure- Staring at the Sea

This mid-career Best Of album was released in 1986, ten years after the band formed.

I really dig the musical style of Killing an Arab and Jumping Someone Else's Train, however I find the philosophical lyrics quite depressive and heavy going. It's not that the lyrics aren't a worthy artistic statement or well executed, it's just that I find them hard work. This situation also applies to many of the other songs on this album, so to spare the whingeing I will focus on the stuff that I do like.

Boys Don't Cry has some great pop hooks, and these are lyrics that I actually really enjoy. (Although I must admit that I prefer Area 7's version)

The Love Cats and Close to Me are both upbeat bouncy tunes that I enjoy. Although they verge on being twee at times, they're still great fun.

So it turns out that the only Cure that I really enjoy are the superficial pop hits. D'oh! I guess I fail at serious "intellectual" music then...

Given my rant in the previous post about vinyl recording quality, I did chuckle when I read the liner nots on this album lecturing the listener how CDs are actually better, even if they don't like the different sound. It seems some people were quite touchy about the subject! And speaking of recording quality, it is surprisingly good. The "art rock" style means a thin sound for the bass guitar (and you can't fatten it up too much with EQ because it is quite messy), but everything is nicely crisp and characterful.

Favourite songs

The Love Cats, Close to Me

Worthwhile?

In a direct sense, I don't get much out of this CD - just  a couple of catchy little pop songs. Taking a wider view, however, The Cure have influenced many of my favourite bands, so I have to thank this CD for many other great albums (for example, Bloc Party's Silent Alarm)