The Cure - Pornography

[Russell]

The Cure - Pornography
Fiction 8276882 1982
By Russell Garwood

Debatably one of the greatest Cure albums, Pornography is certainly their bleakest. Through the trilogy starting with “17 Seconds” and “Faith” the Cure’s material gets darker, culminating with this album - the opening lyrics “It doesn’t matter if we all die” say it all. The songs on this album are slow, downcast, thought provoking and primarily frightening.

Produced by Phil Thornally (Duran Duran, Thompson Twins), Pornography reflects the growing instability of the band at the time, and with lyrics such as “Your name, Like ice into my heart, A shallow grave, A monument to the ruined age” (Cold) and “I chose an eternity of this, Like falling angels, The world disappeared, Laughing into the fire, Is it always like this?” (A Short Term Effect) its not surprising.

The album manages to conjure up surreal images and emotions throughout , “One Hundred Years” of death and loss, “Short Term Effect” of despair and complete hopelessness, “The Hanging Garden” of strange creatures and death. These are followed by “Siamese Twins”, one of the most devastating songs I know, the desolation of “Strange Day” and ending with the dark beauty of “Pornography”.

Musically, the un-organic, Joy Division reminiscent sounding drums pulse in every song, with layers of guitar, oppressive basslines, synths and samples above, topped by forlorn trembling vocals. The lyrics have been judged to perfection, and as ever I am In awe of Robert Smith's song writing abilities.

Pornography is a complex album that grows on you, making it less accessible than much of their later work. Possibly not the best place to start if you are new to the band, this is one of my three favourite Cure albums, and is a necessity for any fan of Dark music.

[Mark]

I really like a lot of what The Cure have done, but have never heard a full album. Is this one a good one to start with? Or can you suggest another?

[dill_the_devil]

"Pornography is a complex album that grows on you, making it less accessible than much of their later work. Possibly not the best place to start if you are new to the band..."

Err... guess that answers at least half of your question, Mark old pal!

[Mark]

Well, not really - I'm not new to the band, just never devoured an album in its entirety I've heard their singles collection before (I think... they DO have one, right? )

So, to you Mr Dil

[Russell]

Well Strangey, there are 2 singles collections, Galore (the later ones) and staring at the sea (the earlier ones). My 3 favourite albums are Bloodflowers, Pornography and Disintergration. I'll write reviews for all of them eventually, but hey

Bloodflowers (the last) wasn't hugely succesfull, but is a really good album. Lots of layers, take a long time to build up, not their most accesible but after a few listens you'll see the beauty So I think thats a really good one to get

Disintergration is also really cool, more conventional than bloodflowers, more "pop" ish songs and stuff, but again really good! Probably wouldn't last as long as bloodlfowers. However all their albums are special in a different way, so tell me more what ur looking for and I'll tell you which I think is best!

[xfer]

I think the best Cure albums are Disintegration, Pornography, Bloodflowers, Boys Don't Cry, and the Head On The Door (Six Different Ways and Kyoto Song are bleaker than anything on Pornography, I think).

I'd stick Disintegration at number 1. Basically every track on this album is unbelievable; they flow amazingly; you could say it was one of the most important albums ever because, although the songs weren't poppy *all*, the sheer Objective Greatness of the individual songs required that they be played on the radio, and convinced people they WERE pop. Heck, you don't make the darkest album to ever enter the billboard 100, fill it with eight-minute songs that are simultaneously minimalist and super-layered, and hope to be N'Sync. (or, at that point in history, Bananarama or whatever).

[Russell]

It still annoys me tho, how babdly bloodflowers was recieved by the press - everyone said it was crap, and really.. its just amazing!