Disintegration
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| Disintegration | |||||
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| Studio album by The Cure | |||||
| Released | 12 May 1989 | ||||
| Recorded | November 1988–February 1989 at Hook End Manor Studios, Reading, Berkshire, England | ||||
| Genre | Gothic rock | ||||
| Length | 71:47 | ||||
| Label | Fiction | ||||
| Producer | David M. Allen, Robert Smith | ||||
| Professional reviews | |||||
| The Cure chronology | |||||
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| Singles from Disintegration | |||||
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Disintegration is the eighth studio album by English alternative rock band The Cure, released on 12 May 1989 on Fiction Records. The record marks a return to the band's introspective and gloomy style that they had established in the early 1980s. In 1988 vocalist and guitarist Robert Smith felt an increased pressure to release The Cure's greatest work as he was nearing the age of thirty. This, coupled with a distaste for his newfound popularity, also caused Smith to resume use of hallucinogenic drugs, which was an influence on the album.
Disintegration is characterised by melancholy and reflective thoughts Smith harboured at the time; despite this, it became the band's commercial peak. Charting at number three in the United Kingdom and fourteen in the United States, while producing a slew of hits, Disintegration is The Cure's best selling record to date with 2.6 million copies shifted worldwide. The record was also a critical success, being placed at number 326 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time". Stephen Thomas Erlewine of All Music Guide called it a "culmination of all the musical directions the Cure were pursuing over the course of the '80s."[1]
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[edit] Background
Beginning with the group's second album, 1980's Seventeen Seconds, The Cure established themselves as a prominent gothic rock band characterized by, according to Stephen Thomas Erlewine of All Music Guide, "slow, gloomy dirges and Smith's ghoulish appearance."[2] Several singles were released in 1982 that were a significant divergence in style for The Cure; essentially, pop hits.[2] "The Lovecats" became The Cure's first single to infiltrate the top-ten in the United Kingdom, peaking at number seven.[3] This shift is attributed to Smith's frustration over the band's labeling as a predictable gothic rock band: "My reaction to all those people...was to make a demented and calculated song like 'Let's Go to Bed'."[4] Following the return of guitarist Porl Thompson and bassist Simon Gallup in 1984 and the addition of drummer Boris Williams in 1985, Smith and keyboardist Lol Tolhurst continued to integrate more pop-oriented themes with the release of the group's sixth studio album The Head on the Door. With the singles "In-Between Days" and "Close To Me", The Cure became a viable force in the United States for the first time.[5]
The band's 1987 double album Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me pushed them into even more successful waters, with a sold-out world tour booked in its wake. Despite the success, internal friction became prevalent. Tolhurst began to consume heavy amounts of alcohol, rendering him useless.[6] Roger O'Donnell was hired as a second keyboardist to pick up the slack; O'Donnell quickly realized Tolhurst was essentially dead weight: "I couldn't see why [Tolhurst] was in the band. He could have afforded to hire a tutor and have daily lessons, but he wasn't interested in practicing. He just liked being in the group."[6] The rest of the band was equally unimpressed. As Tolhurst's alcohol consumption increased, Smith recalled that his behaviour was similar to that of "some kind of handicapped child being constantly poked with a stick."[6] At the end of the Kissing Tour, Smith became uncomfortable with the side effects of being a pop-star and moved to Maida Vale with fiancée Mary Poole. Regularly using LSD to cope with his depression, Smith once again felt The Cure was being misunderstood and sought to return to the band's dark side with their next record.[7]
[edit] Recording and production
Robert Smith's depression prior to the recording of Disintegration gave way to the realisation on his twenty-ninth birthday he would turn thirty in one year. This was frightening to him, as he felt all the masterpieces in rock and roll had been completed well before the band members turned thirty.[8] Smith consequently began to write music on his own—without the rest of the band. The material he had written instantly took a dismal, depressing form: "I think the dark side of Disintegration came from the fact that I was gonna be thirty."[8] The Cure convened at Boris Williams' home in the summer of 1988 where Smith showed his bandmates the demos he had recorded. Had they not liked the material, he was prepared to record them for a solo record: "I would have been quite happy to have made these songs on my own. If the group hadn't thought it was right, that would have been fine."[8] His bandmates, however, liked the demos and began playing along, which caused Smith to scrap the idea of a solo project. Thirty-two songs were recorded at Williams' house with a 16-track recorder by the end of the summer; following this, the group continued to write.[8]
Soon after disbanding, Smith came up with the idea of what would become the band's biggest American hit to date, "Lovesong". Written as a wedding present for Mary Poole, the lyrics had a noticeably different mood than the rest of the record, but Smith felt it was an integral component of Disintegration: "It's an open show of emotion. It's not trying to be clever. It's taken me ten years to reach the point where I feel comfortable singing a very straightforward love song."[9] The lyrics were a notable shift in his ability to reveal affection. In the past, Smith felt it necessary to disguise or mask such a statement. He noted that without "Lovesong", Disintegration would have been radically different: "That one song, I think, makes many people think twice. If that song wasn't on the record, it would be very easy to dismiss the album as having a certain mood. But throwing that one in sort of upsets people a bit because they think, 'That doesn't fit'."[9]
By the time The Cure entered Hook End Manor Studios in Reading, the band's attitude had grown increasingly sour due to Lol Tolhurst's escalating alcohol abuse. Smith, however, insisted that his displeasure was, instead, caused by a meltdown in the face of recording The Cure's career-defining album and reaching thirty.[9] Displeased with the swollen ego he believed his band mates possessed , Smith entered what he considered to be "one of my non-talking modes," deciding "I would be monk-like and not talk to anyone. It was a bit pretentious really, looking back, but I actually wanted an environment that was slightly unpleasant."[9] He sought to abandon the mood present on Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me and the pop singles they had released, and rather recreate the vibes on the band's fourth album Pornography.[9] Suicide was another topic Smith thought about on several occasions.[10] Shortly before the band started recording Disintegration, two teenagers committed suicide in a nearby town. It was revealed that the pair played The Cure's early albums during the act. Smith kept a newspaper clipping of the incident pinned to the wall in the studio: "I know it's tragic, but at the same time it's grimly funny because it obviously had nothing to do with us. We are just singled out."
Tolhurst, meanwhile, was becoming a nuisance. The band found him impossible to work with, and he spent most of the recording process drunk watching MTV.[10] The members of the band, save for Smith, would taunt and physically abuse Tolhurst simply to get a reaction. Smith recalls that Tolhurst turned into someone he did not recognize: "I didn't know who he was any more and he didn't know who he was either. Making the Disintegration album, I used to despair and scream at the others because it was fucking insane the way we were treating him."[10] At that point, Smith was allowing Tolhurst to remain in the band because he felt an obligation to him as an old friend. The band eventually threatened to quit if Tolhurst was not fired before the end of the recording session. When Tolhurst arrived to the mixing of the album excessively drunk, a shouting match ensued and he left the building furious; this effectively terminated his tenure with The Cure.[10] Although Tolhurst claims differently, Smith and the rest of the group confirm he contributed nothing to the record.[11] Therefore, Roger O'Donnell became an integral member of The Cure, instead of simply a touring musician.[12] Despite Tolhurst's ejection from the group, Smith told NME in April 1989, "He'll probably be back by Christmas. He's getting married, maybe that's his comeback."[13]
[edit] Reception
Rolling Stone gave Disintegration a rating of three and a half stars, out of five. Reviewer Michael Azerrad felt that "while Disintegration doesn't break new ground for the band, it successfully refines what the Cure does best." He concluded, "Despite the title, Disintegration hangs together beautifully, creating and sustaining a mood of thoroughly self-absorbed gloom. If, as Smith has hinted, the Cure itself is about to disintegrate, this is a worthy summation."[14] Melody Maker reviewer Chris Roberts dismissed the claims that Distingeration was not a miserable record and, noting the tone of the album and its lack of melodicism ("You'll be lucky to find a tune on here. Or a gag".), he commented that "The Cure have almost invisibly stopped making pop records". Roberts summarised the album as "challenging and claustrophobic, often poignant, often tedious. It's nearly surprising".[15]Stephen Thomas Erlewine of All Music Guide, who gave the record a four and a half star rating out of five, applauded the band by saying "The Cure's gloomy soundscapes have rarely sounded so alluring, however, and the songs — from the pulsating, ominous "Fascination Street" to the eerie, string-laced "Lullaby" — have rarely been so well-constructed and memorable."[1] Erlewine went on to praise Disintegration for being "darkly seductive," and "a hypnotic, mesmerizing record."[1] Music reviewer Robert Christgau gave the album a grade of C+, citing most of his displeasure as a result of Robert Smith's depressing nature: "by pumping his bad faith and bad relationship into depressing moderato play-loud keyb anthems far more tedious than his endless vamps, Robert Smith does actually confront a life contradiction."[16] "As with so many stars," Christgau continued, "even 'private' ones who make a big deal of their 'integrity,' Smith's demon lover is his audience, now somehow swollen well beyond his ability to comprehend, much less control. Hence the huge scale of these gothic cliches."[16]
[edit] Track listing
All songs by Smith, Gallup, O'Donnell, Thompson, Tolhurst and Williams.
- "Plainsong" – 5:12
- "Pictures of You" – 7:24
- "Closedown" – 4:16
- "Lovesong" – 3:29
- "Last Dance" – 4:42
- "Lullaby" – 4:08
- "Fascination Street" – 5:16
- "Prayers for Rain" – 6:05
- "The Same Deep Water as You" – 9:19
- "Disintegration" – 8:18
- "Homesick" – 7:06
- "Untitled" – 6:30
The tracks "Last Dance" and "Homesick" are not included on the vinyl version of the record.
[edit] Personnel
- Robert Smith – Vocals, electric guitar, keyboard, bass guitar, production, engineering
- Simon Gallup – Bass guitar, keyboard
- Porl Thompson – Guitar
- Boris Williams – Drums
- Roger O'Donnell – Keyboard
- Lol Tolhurst – Credited for "other instruments", but later revealed to have no involvement.[11]
- Dave Allen – Production, engineering
- Richard Sullivan – Engineering
- Roy Spong – Engineering
[edit] References
- Apter, Jeff (2005). Never Enough: The Story Of The Cure. Omnibus Press. ISBN 978-0-8256-7340-5.
[edit] Notes
- ^ a b c Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. Disintegration album review. All Music Guide. Retrieved on 2008-06-29.
- ^ a b Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. The Cure Biography. All Music Guide. Retrieved on 2008-06-29.
- ^ Apter, 2005. p. 181
- ^ Apter, 2004. p. 176
- ^ Apter, 2005. pp. 213-216
- ^ a b c Apter, 2005. pp. 227-229
- ^ Apter, 2005. pp. 230-231
- ^ a b c d Apter, 2005. p. 233
- ^ a b c d e Apter, 2005. pp. 234-235
- ^ a b c d Apter, 2005. pp. 236-238
- ^ a b Apter, 2005. pp. 230-240
- ^ Apter, 2005. pp. 241-244
- ^ Brown, James. "Ten Years in Lipstick and Powder". NME. 8 April 1989.
- ^ Azerrad, Michael (13 July 1989). Disintegration review. Rolling Stone. Retrieved on 2008-07-01.
- ^ Roberts, Chris. Disintegration album review. Melody Maker. 6 May 1989.
- ^ a b Christgau, Robert. The Cure Discography rating. The Village Voice. Retrieved on 2008-07-02.
