Category: Cure

The Cure have released 41 singles going back to Killing An Arab in 1978 right through to The Perfect Boy exactly 30 years later. But I would never have guessed that Lullaby was the one that performed the best in the UK singles chart when it crawled its way up to #5 in 1989.

I would have put a fair amount of money that The Lovecats was the holder of that title, but it only scratched its way to #7 in 1983, although I’m guessing that in terms of actual sales it in fact outsold Lullaby.

And even if you told me that the biggest success wasn’t The Lovecats, I’d have then placed whatever was left of my cash on Friday I’m In Love, but this only swooned its way to #6 in 1992.

So the best performing 45 turns out to be the one about the creepy and haunting tale of an eight-legged creature that frightened Robert Smith is in his nightmares as a youngster. Or, is in fact the song, as has been suggested in some places, really about drug addiction and dependency but written in such a way that it gets past the censors at the BBC for the all important airplay?

Either way, I think its one of the most inventive arrangements to feature on any record by The Cure, and once more I’ve dug out the 12″ single from the cupboard for you all to enjoy once more along with two rather decent b-sides:-

mp3 : The Cure – Lullaby (extended mix)
mp3 : The Cure – Babble
mp3 : The Cure – Out Of Mind

Enjoy

 

TEARS OF A CLOWN

The Cure : Mint Car

Ok I’m going to be blunt here. Mint Car features on The Cure album Wild Mood Swings. It is the best song on that album.  I think its fair to say that Wild Mood Swings was the not The Cure’s finest moment. In fact I’d go as far as to say it’s their worst album by some way (Disintegration being their best and I’d take anyone outside who wants to argue).

mp3 : The Cure – Mint Car

I’m also not going to sit here and tell you about The Cure, where they formed, and all that – you know that, surely. They have some great records, no scratch that, they have some wonderful records, again most of which you will own, know, or played the hell out of. There are a great singles band and just for the hell of it and just in case there is someone out there who has never heard The Cure, the best three Cure singles to start your collection with are Just Like Heaven, Pictures of You and Lovesong (the first and third songs being two of the greatest love songs ever written). Mint Car is about twenty sixth on that list. Just above A Forest.

mp3 : The Cure – Just Like Heaven (acoustic)
mp3 : The Cure – Pictures Of You
mp3 : The Cure – Lovesong (acoustic)

So I’m going to talk about crying instead (in a very round about kind of way – and yes I know this is a music blog), and the reason why is this. My one year old has been poorly this week she has been a small fiery mixture of tears, snot, gunge and regurgitated carrot. She’s  fine now though, thanks for asking. A few days ago I drove her to the beach where she likes to run around a bit, well I say run, more stagger, totter and then fall over, but you get my drift. Anyway, we were driving home and I had Guess The Year on Radio Devon on the stereo, (yes Radio Devon, I happen to like Guess the Year with Shep, shut up) and it was 1979 (I got it quite early on, the DJ caters to the low common denominator…”this was the year Margaret Thatcher came to power”, was one of the clues).

Then, all of a sudden, the DJ played a blinder, as I sat in traffic waiting to head homewards, he played Bright Eyes by Art Garfunkel and by the end of it I was a fiery mixture of tears, snot and gunge (no regurgitated carrot).

I have no shame in admitting this, it’s a sad song, about rabbits.  I like rabbits.But it did make me think.  It joins a short list of now four records that have made me cry (to be honest it does it most times and if you don’t find it sad, you have a waxy pea sized heart), I won’t bore you with the other three  A Natural by Whipping Boy,  Shine a Light by Spiritualized and Hurt by Johnny Cash ) but would be intrigued to know which songs make you blub, I don’t care about the reasons, unless you want to share (Group Hug, anyone?), just interested. Sniff.

(Oh and I would like to apologise for all the brackets in this piece, sorry).

S-WC

JC adds

My list extends to way beyind four, but then again lots of music can turn me into an emotional gibbering wreck – especially if I’m had too much to drink.

The most recent would have been on the occasion of the burial of my young brother a few years back.  It was the result of a car accident, it happened in the west of Ireland and the responsibility of getting the family over there from Scotland fell on my shoulders as did a few other tasks in Ireland.  I held everything together till the very last second until the first notes of the music to accompany the coffin disappearing to where the cremation would take place.  It was a piece  selected by the funeral director (the family really had no idea what would be appropriate as we had no idea what my young brother’s tastes were) and it was Time To Say Goodbye by Sarah Brightman & Andrea Bocelli.  And ever since, I’ve never been able to hear that song without losing it…

There’s been loads of times the use of a song in a film has had me crying – most notably at the end of Control (the song being Atmosphere by Joy Division).  And which Smiths fan hasn’t at some point lost it at least once when he or she his listening to I Know It’s Over……

I’ll stop there.

There’s been something like 40 singles released by The Cure over the years of which eleven have hit the UK Top 20 and could justifiably be called a big hit.  Two of the best known are The Love Cats (1983) and In Between Days (1985) but the one single released in the period between those two was this from March 1984:-

mp3 : The Cure – The Caterpillar

It’s not an obvious hit single. It’s very unconventional and sounds in places as if it is a highly improvised and almost free-form piece of music to a lyric which in places is incredibly romantic in its imagery and at other times sounds like a childish nursery rhyme.  From recollection, it got very little in the way of daytime radio exposure but such was the popularity of The Cure at the time that it soared to #14 in the singles chart.

The b-side of the single is also a strange but brilliantly gothic  bit of music:-

mp3 : The Cure – Happy The Man

The 12″ version contained identical versions of those songs but with a bonus track which was altogether more poppy:-

mp3 : The Cure – Throw Your Foot

Enjoy!!

it can’t be denied can it?

mp3 : The Cure – In Between Days

Quite possibly my favourite few minutes from The Cure.  And yes, it is because it so reminds me of Lowlife era New Order. A #15 hit in the UK back in the summer of 1985. Still sounds gorgeous after all this time.

It’s one I’ve had on 12″ vinyl since its initial release.  Here’s yer rather splendid b-sides :-

mp3 : The Cure – The Exploding Boy

mp3 : The Cure – A Few Hours After This

Three excellent tracks on one 12″ single.  What more can you ask for?

Enjoy