Faith - The Cure (1981)

Ideated From: A fun article on “essential winter albums” on Treble. Even though winter is almost over, I’ve cued them up for the next few days.

The Cure is one of those bands that most people my age know a little about, because of a few massive songs from their later years. There’s a little negative association with them because of kids I was friends with but also resented because they seemed so much cooler than me or whatever. So as a result, I’d never really gotten into the band because of the people who used them as a culture signal.

But listening to this early album it’s clear why people like them so much. This one is clearly darker and colder and gothier than a lot of their other work. They work with cold and remote soundscapes in several places, although a lot of the vocabulary is post-punk trio, with droning guitars and basslines so it’s a little limited in how much it can express. All Cats Are Grey is the most frequently played track on the album, according to Spotify, but man does it bore me.

Where the record is most interesting is where you get some some very pretty but cold grooves laid under searching lyrics. Robert Smith is a a very emotive singer, and his vocal delivery really makes the most of the rest of the instrumentation.

Tracks I liked:

Primary - Sounds a bit like U2’s I Will Follow from the year before, but arguably better. A definite single in the middle of a very non-single-based record

Doubt - The other big single-sounding song. A rumbling, jangling, nervous wreck of a post-punk ripper.

The Drowning Man - the earnest and pained vocals really make this song.

Faith - the lyric is a little dramatic for my usual taste, but it’s a very heartfelt exploration of the meaning of faith, something I’ve struggled with a lot over the years.