features in: Album Chart of 1980 ● Album Chart of the Decade: 1980s ● 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die |
A decisive turn to the moody and a widening of the instrumentation results in a marked improvement on record two. Lost along the way was co-founding bassist Michael Dempsey. Speaking of the departure, Robert Smith said: “I think the final straw came when I played Michael the demos for the next album and he hated them. He wanted us to be XTC part 2 and - if anything - I wanted us to be the Banshees part 2. So he left.” I'm with Smith. Replacing Dempsey was Simon Gallup of the Magazine Spies, with Matthieu Hartley (keyboards) from the same group expanding The Cure to a quartet alongside Robert Smith (guitar, vocals) and Lol Tolhurst (drums, percussion). First fruits from the new line-up arrived early in April, 1980, with the album's lead (and only) single, “A Forest”, which climbed to #31 in the UK Top 40, their first single to chart. The album, released a few weeks later, went Top 20, rewarding Smith's brave new vision.
The Jukebox Rebel
12–Nov–2016
Tracklist |
A1 | [02:12] The Cure - A Reflection (Robert Smith, Lol Tolhurst, Simon Gallup, Matthieu Hartley) Moodcore |
A2 | [03:40] The Cure - Play For Today (Robert Smith, Lol Tolhurst, Simon Gallup, Matthieu Hartley) New Wave |
A3 | [03:20] The Cure - Secrets (Robert Smith, Lol Tolhurst, Simon Gallup, Matthieu Hartley) Post-Punk |
A4 | [04:07] The Cure - In Your House (Robert Smith, Lol Tolhurst, Simon Gallup, Matthieu Hartley) Post-Punk |
A5 | [02:36] The Cure - Three (Robert Smith, Lol Tolhurst, Simon Gallup, Matthieu Hartley) Post-Punk |
B1 | [00:52] The Cure - The Final Sound (Robert Smith, Lol Tolhurst, Simon Gallup, Matthieu Hartley) Contemporary Classical |
B2 | [05:55] The Cure - A Forest (Robert Smith, Lol Tolhurst, Simon Gallup, Matthieu Hartley) New Wave |
B3 | [03:04] The Cure - M (Robert Smith, Lol Tolhurst, Simon Gallup, Matthieu Hartley) Post-Punk |
B4 | [05:54] The Cure - At Night (Robert Smith, Lol Tolhurst, Simon Gallup, Matthieu Hartley) Post-Punk |
B5 | [04:00] The Cure - Seventeen Seconds (Robert Smith, Lol Tolhurst, Simon Gallup, Matthieu Hartley) Post-Punk |