It’s just so…unmemorable, though. There aren’t many “this is awful” songs, but by the same token I struggle to remember what any of the songs on 4:13 Dream sound like even right after listening to it. Yes, I’ve listened to it waaaay less than the classic albums, but I don’t think it’s just that.
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Yeah it’s very nothing-y. Can’t help but feel that the fact Robert’s never gotten around to releasing ‘the rest’ indicates his heart wasn’t properly in the material.
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Hmmm I do get what you mean but I guess there’s a bigger conversation here about what exactly ratings out of 10 even mean…
I mean, I don’t disagree with you. I don’t love any of the songs on 4:13 in the same way that I do a lot of the '79 to '92 output or even anywhere close. But then ‘10’ feels a bit miserly for how I feel about ‘Disintegration’ or ‘17 Seconds’ or ‘Faith’. They should be in the 20s at least.
The Cure are one of my favourite ever bands and I just love the… sound they make (when it isn’t awful, that is) and 4:13 isn’t awful. It’s a bit like when people love an actor’s voice and they say ‘oh I could just listen to him reading out the phone book!’ (remember them?) It doesn’t matter what the words are, the tone of voice is enough on its own.
I kind of feel like this about the Cure. I love their sound (not even just Smith’s voice, which doesn’t necessarily do much for me on its own if I’m honest, like on that 65DOS song) I love the Curishness of the Cure, the guitar tones, the bass, the… everything. I could listen to them move through some very hackneyed chord progressions with Smith chuntering on about dreams and girls/boys and whatever and I’m a happy man. Whether that justifies a 7 or an 8 I dunno. I enjoy listening to it more than I enjoy listening to some records that I know in my heart are ‘better’ (more original, with more to say in terms of message maybe?) but what criteria do we even use in making these judgments? What does it all mean?
Ah look at me. I’m rambling.
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Makes perfect sense to me
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Thanks! 
Yeah, I get it. I’m in the same boat re loving The Cure’s sound in general.
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One late time folks.
4.13 Dream
- Underneath the Stars
- The Only One
- The Reasons Why
- Freakshow
- Sirensong
- The Real Snow White
- The Hungry Ghost
- Switch
- The Perfect Boy
- This. Here and Now. With You
- Sleep When I’m Dead
- The Scream
- It’s Over
0 voters
The Cure
56% Labyrinth
56% The End of the World
The playlist is updated.
Finally, a correct answer!
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Are we doing JTD?
I reckon at least we should do two more polls: one for the non-album singles and original songs included in soundtracks (Killing An Arab, Boys Don’t Cry, Jumping Someone Else’s Train, Charlotte Sometimes, Never Enough, Burn, Dredd Song, Wrong Number, and Cut Here (am I missing any?)), and one for b-sides.
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I’m in a new job these days so can’t give the thread more of my time. (Stupid work)
I’m going to wind this down this week but if someone wants to jump in a take over from Sunday they’re more than welcome.
I was thinking that the last week should be the Hyde park gig.
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Think I’m done with this one now. Actually some really nice moments… and also a lot of it that has not sunk in one bit on five listens.
Not sure if they’ve had an outright dud other than WMS, but also nothing that great since Wish, which is a fair while ago now.
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Updated!
S Tier (10+)
17 seconds, Faith, Three Imaginary Boys*, DISINTEGRATION, Wish
A Tier (10)
The Head On The Door, KMx3
B Tier (8/9)
Nothing
C Tier (6/7)
Pornography, The Top, 4:13 Dream, Bloodflowers (maybe sneaks into B though???)
D Tier (5 and Below)
The Cure, Wild Mood Swings
How the HELL is Pornography so low? Should be in S, A, or B at least.
Speaking of, what the hell does S, A, B, C, D mean?
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It’s my personal rating and I just have never been that much of a fan… Think its got some brilliant songs but overall is nowhere near the quality of their best.
A, B, C, D is fairly self-explanatory and S means ‘special’ I think: best tier, better than A, A*?
Ah, gotcha. I thought this was a summary of the thread’s votes. My bad.
Just looked up the S A B C D tiers and learned it comes from the gaming world. No wonder I’m not familiar 
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So, after Friday’s vote we’ll have a week to fill before the final vote and I wrap up the main album chat.
In that week I’m thinking of running the cure live albums week. Would people be interested?
live Cure
- Electric
- Judas
0 voters
The huge thanks to UncleRetrospective for hosting a mighty fine thread and humble apologies for flaking out halfway through. Extreme work pressures through the New Year and scrambled feelings about how things weren’t quite as I remembered them combined to leave me muted and confused. I did listen to the albums (well most of them) and score.
In summary:
Kiss Me x3 - not as good as I remembered or needed it to be , high highs and low lows, and existential doubts about my critical capacity;
Disintegration- well, yes, this did turn out to be one of the greatest albums ever made, phew;
Wish - much better than I remember and could have been so much better with the swapping of a few b-sides… head scratch;
Wild Mood Swings - even worse than I remember, and that, my friends, is saying something;
Bloodflowers - a welcome return to a degree of quality and consistency, and I could remember my relief that Bob was back;
Self- titled - I couldn’t bring myself to listen to this indelible shit-stain while I was busy rediscovering the stately beauty of Bluetile Lounge, a hard swerve from my therapist;
4:13 Dream – I had wiped out how poor this one was too. Musically an improvement on self titled, but the lyrics and vocals beyond self-parody. I hope that wasn’t `the end’ and there’s one more strong album in the tank or it’s just reliving the glory years live.
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“4:13 Dream” is fine. It’s like The Cure on autopilot, “playing the phone book” to paraphrase @Scagden upthread… Most of it is perfectly serviceable and completely forgettable. “The Perfect Boy” is like one of those “force an AI listen to the entire back catalogue and write a Cure song” thought experiments, right down to the title.
“Underneath the Stars” is the one standout track, I reckon it’s the best Cure song since the mid-90s and has absolutely stood the test of time. I also really enjoyed “The Hungry Ghost” upon relistening, and I’d forgotten how delightfully pissed-off “It’s Over” is, reminded me of “Shiver & Shake”. On the other hand “The Real Snow White” and “Sleep When I’m Dead” are a bit of a mess.
A real mixed bag, probably a 5 overall, and like many I’m hoping they have another classic in the tank before they call it a day. Many thanks to @UncleRetrospective for having us in the club!
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I’d never heard either s/t or 4:13 Dream until their weeks on the listening club. I’ve played 4:13 twice as much, I guess.
I’m pretty much with everyone else on this one. Underneath the Stars is good, The Only One is decent, if only for the catchy chorus, The Reasons Why is OK and Freakshow is dire. So, diminishing returns over the first four songs and not much seems to stick after that apart from odd creepy lyric… but things seem to pick up with The Scream and It’s Over.
There’s a vocal melody on It’s Over that reminded me of A Man Inside My Mouth, so I played them back-to-back to check. Guess what? It was depressing how a mid-80s B side was 10 times better!
4:13 > s/t but around a 5 for each.
Thanks @UncleRetrospective for hosting this club. I have really enjoyed it, from getting deeper into albums I already loved to rediscovered neglected gems to catching up on newer stuff I’d never heard before. last.fm tells me I’ve played The Cure 1500 times since October, which is crazy.
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