FriendBurst Blog

Here is a comprehensive list of every album (and compilation) by The Cure, in chronological order – along with a short summary of each one (they’re not all good, and you may want to refer to this handy guide when considering your purchases):

THE CURE ON FICTION RECORDS

1. Three Imaginary Boys: 1979 (rough post-punk debut; thirteen short songs, designed for live gigs)
2. Boys Don’t Cry: 1980 (mostly songs from Three Imaginary Boys – plus singles Boys Don’t Cry, Jumping Someone Else’s Train and Killing An Arab)
3. Seventeen Seconds: 1980 (a more atmospheric sound; darker, slower and more adventurous)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dzFmlRCyVUs&feature=fvsr

4. Faith: 1981 (a natural progression from Seventeen Seconds; the sound of The Cure becoming more comfortable in the gloom)
5. Pornography: 1982 (dank and grim; the opening words, “It doesn’t matter if we all die,” provides the listener with an early warning: This is a very dark album; affirming The Cure’s gothic credentials)
6. Japanese Whispers: 1983 (a brighter offering; the most commercially successful album for The Cure to date, with lively singles The Love Cats and The Walk)

7. The Top: 1984 (afraid they’re becoming too popular, Robert Smith and the boys deliberately make a heavy and mostly unappealing album)
** Concert: 1984 (ten raw live recordings, including single Charlotte Sometimes – for the first time on a full-length record)
8. The Head On The Door: 1985 (brightest and best album to date, with popular singles Inbetween Days and Close To Me; The Cure becoming confident with ‘happy’ songs, while not completely leaving the darkness)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17yc_uKfiU8

** Staring At The Sea: 1986 (first collection of singles, with no new songs; well-timed because more people became interested in The Cure the previous year)
9. Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me: 1987 (another bright album, which alienated some of the original fans while attracting many new ones; this was released as a double-vinyl, and yielded four singles)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RS_ux2H473I&feature=related

10. Disintegration: 1989 (another double-vinyl release, but generally dark and moody; considered to be The Cure’s best album, with another four singles)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSRKhfolyd0&feature=related

** Entreat: 1990 (a rather pointless live rendition of Disintegration, with no added value)
** Mixed Up: 1990 (a good collection of remixes, plus one new song; also released as a double-vinyl)

11. Wish: 1992 (a few more upbeat singles, and an overall mixture of happy and sad songs; mostly good)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYblUW5E6Lk

** Show: 1993 (a generous helping of live songs, mostly from Wish; on two discs)
** Paris: 1993 (another collection of live songs, but mainly not from Wish; on a single disc)
12. Wild Mood Swings: 1996 (the band hit a bad patch here; the songwriting is poor, and nothing really stands out)
** Galore: 1997 (second collection of singles, with one new song; incorporating all singles, from 1987 to 1997)
13. Bloodflowers: 2000 (a relaxed and more mature sound from The Cure, on the last album for Fiction Records; slow and melancholic – and often quite beautiful)

** Greatest Hits: 2001 (the ‘very best of’ The Cure; inevitably omitting some of the old favourites, and including two crappy new songs)
** Join The Dots: 2004 (a comprehensive four-disc box set of b-sides and rarities; a must for hardcore fans, as most of it is on a par with the album tracks)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7_A5fgeP6U

THE CURE ON GEFFEN RECORDS

14. The Cure: 2004 (a noisy and angry album, presumably aimed at the new generation of fans; it sounds forced, and not very pleasant)

15. 4:13 Dream: 2008 (thirteen new songs, which somehow sound very familiar; this album serves as a good ‘overview’ of The Cure’s sound)

In summary: The Cure’s best albums are all from the eighties (particularly Disintegration, The Head On The Door and Japanese Whispers).  Wish and Bloodflowers are good albums.  However, the creative juices appear to have dried up.

Note: The Cure made around three hundred songs, over a period of less than thirty years; producing an average of an album every two years.