The Guitar

Album reviews: Disintegration, by The Cure

The Cure possess a unique kind of brilliance. There is no other band in the history of music that managed to bridge the gap between the punk and the pop with such sentimentality and sadness causing a global chain reaction of melancholy, gloom and euphoric lament in millions of fans. With their dominant, melodic bass lines and the high-pitched vocals of Robert Smith that echo a lyrical obsession with fictional gloom, The Cure mingle the psychedelic, punk, dark Gothic, and pop sounds into an amagalm of what becomes their sound manner.

There is arguably no other album in the history of music that served as a breaking point to a band, offering the peak of their popularity with crawling, glooming,  seductive sounds, hypnotic, mesmerizing vocals and utterly straightforward lyrics. Despite the record label’s qualms that the album would be a ‘commercial suicide’, ‘Disintegration’, released in 1989, is The Cure’s return to the familiar paths of introspective gloominess; and their absolute masterpiece.

Having reached a state of maturity, in their eighth album The Cure experiment with a dark and yet alluring atmosphere that wraps its spellbinding thread around desire, unreciprocated romance, break ups and tainted love. Gloomier than The Cure’s pop release ‘Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me’ of 1987, yet more pop than The Cure’s early eighties releases ‘Faith’ and Pornography’, ‘Disintegration’ stands somewhere in the middle. Full of teenage romanticism, melancholic angst, and creative gloom, ‘Disintegration’ is a pop album that treats torment as a finest art.

Characterized by a momentous usage of synthesizers and keyboards, monotonous guitar riffs and Smith’s meditative vocals, the album opens with ‘Plainsong’, a slow orchestral shower of synths and guitars. Then, ‘Pictures of You’ with its ethereal guitar melody and well-structured synths echoes Smith’s lament over a bittersweet taste of relationship that ended abruptly. Although upbeat, ‘Pictures of You’ has emotional, passionate and romantic lyrics that interweave with bass lines and synth slabs.

‘Closedown’ and ‘Prayers For Rain’ drift on layers of keyboards anchored by gloomy guitar progressions. ‘Closedown’ is a soaring track, reflecting Smith’s physical and artistic shortcomings, while ‘Prayers for Rain’ is an ultimately depressing track that echoes the definition of a rainy day melancholy.

‘Lovesong’ is the only top ten hit of the album and maybe the more complex of all tracks. Despite being an upbeat groove, with dance guitar riffs and rhythm sections, ‘Lovesong’ is, in effect, dark and restrained, an open show of emotion. It’s a straightforward love song, which, unlike Smith’s ability to reveal affection, it manages to shake the audiences. Written as a wedding present for his wife-to-be, ‘Lovesong’ simply proves that straightforward emotions can achieve much more than indistinct and ambiguous language.

‘Lullaby’ is an atmospheric track with rhythmic guitar chords that anchor Smith’s whispering lyrics. Practically a frightening dread that describes a picture of being eaten alive by a spider man, ‘Lullaby’ portrays Smith’s nightmares from his childhood when his father used to sing him lullabies with horrible endings.

‘Fascination Street’ comes as a happier, shinier, yet bass-lined, caterwauled track anchored with Smith’s typical alley cat voice singing of corrupt Bourbon Street in New Orleans. After 1.5 minute instrumental intro, the track enters at a fast-pace, with simple, repetitive lyrics and Smith’s voice building in intensity as the track strides to the grand finale, giving one last shout before toppling into a sleepy roan.

The title track, ‘Disintegration’ is a hymn in betrayed love and a typical example of the musical style of the album that drifts on ubiquitous keyboards, repetitive guitar progressions, complex drum patterns and depressing lyrics that are so intricate, and yet so simple. If one has a heart cannot but be touched as Robert Smith sings “I leave you with photographs, pictures of trickery, stains on the carpet and stains on the memory, songs about happiness murmured in dreams, when we both of us knew, how the end always is…’

The tracks that complete the album are ‘Last dance’, ‘The Same Deep Water As You’, ‘Homesick’ and ‘Untitled’. Staying tuned to the album’s style, with the exception of ‘Untitled’ that is quite upbeat, are atmospheric, almost gothic ballads that mingle keyboard slabs with guitar lines and multipart drum patterns, interweaved with the introspective lyrics of Robert Smith.

Having sold more than three million copies worldwide, ‘Disintegration’ remains the highest selling album of The Cure. Besides, the album ranked #3 in the UK Albums charts and #12 in the US Billboard 200. The album produced also hit singles with ‘Lovesong’ reaching #2 on Billboard Hot 100, ‘Lullaby’ peaking at #5 of UK Charts, ‘Fascination Street’ reaching #1 on US Modern Rock Charts and ‘Pictures of You’ reaching #24 of UK charts. Moreover, ‘Disintegration’ was voted as one of the ‘500 Greatest Albums of All Time’ on Rolling Stone Magazine at #326.

About the Author

I work as a financial and investment advisor but my passion is writing, music and photography. Writing mostly about finance, business and music, being an amateur photographer and a professional dj, I am inspired from life.

Being a strong advocate of simplicity in life, I love my family, my partner and all the people that have stood by me with or without knowing. And I hope that someday, human nature will cease to be greedy and demanding realizing that the more we have the more we want and the more we satisfy our needs the more needs we create. And this is so needless after all.

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