The Cure - Wish

Another brilliant set of obsessive musings pried from Robert Smith's fuzzy navel. Epic elegies ("From the Edge of the Deep Green Sea") and tuneful romps ("Friday I'm In Love") are classic Cure cuts--Jeff Bateman Amazon.com

The Cure are a Guitar Band

In 1992 I was reading Guitar Player and there was an article on the Cure. I always thought they were some weird goth band but I read the interview with an open mind and was surprised to find that not only did they favour writing with guitars but they (mostly Robert) had a huge vintage collection. Remember Porl went onto the Page/Plant tour? Well in the article it satates that at rehearsals and sound checks they would jam on Zep tunes before Robert would arrive. It was agreat interview and I was impressed with their wit and charm. I went out and bought both Wish and Mixed Up. Robert's writing, recording, and production techniques both won me over and inspired my own recording ventures. If you are a song writer or guitar player then you owe it to yourself to discover the Cure. They use a lot of small parts to paint a very large picture. Cheers. August 17, 2008

Best Cure Album

Although many may argue that Disintergration is the best example of work by the Cure, Wish seems to convey an overall better display of what makes the Cure great. April 2, 2008

Very good.

Replace open, wendy time, and doing the unstuck with this twilight garden, halo, and a foolish arrangement and you have a five star album. This is their last very good album. March 28, 2008

the beginning of the end

I'm a diehard Cure fan. However, to me this cd represents the beginning of the Cure's demise as a great band. It is all right but definitely not of the calibre of their earlier albums. A little too happy, a little too radio friendly. But there are still some songs worth listening on "Wish". November 16, 2007

4 star effort from Mr. Smith and the Backups Du Jour

Firstly I like this album a slight bit more than Disintegration. They, of course, are somewhat different in tone, but I think it has more to do with nostalgia than anything else. Wish came out during my heady young twenties, just out of college, when I had that perfect combination of youth, whatever looks God gave me, and enough folding money to make the most of it. This disc rarely left my CD player in my Silver Nissan 240SX. Those were the days. Now it's all White Mini Vans, Diaper Bags, and Dora the Explorer DVD's. Great in it's own right, but one does have a habit of looking back to the primordial days of promise when the future was wide open. And the Soundtrack of that time can take you right back instantly.

Meanwhile Disintegration I got into sometime after its release so didn't seem to be quite as topical - my own fault of course, but there it is.

Wish seemed to be ideal for revving up for a date, bouncy and poppy in many places. Of course if the date didn't go well, there were the meloncholy songs for the drive home, alone. Disintegration was more for the slump periods of "woe is me, no will ever love me" days. Yet they both worked together seamlessly as one period transitioned into another and back again.

Friday I'm in Love, again, was perfect for those first or second dates. The song almost seemed to be written just for that purpose, work week was done and the drive for love (or lust) kicked in, then the return to the grey work week. Wendy Time and High were good tracks too. But if things didn't work out, Cut, End, or, for a particularly intriguing femme fatale, To Wish Impossible Things, were there.

In my book the last great Cure album. Wild Mood Swings in particular seemed to try too hard. Bloodflowers never caught on for me. Perhaps it was the fact that the days of leisure were over and the time to fully absorb an album were gone. I don't know. But Wish came along at just the right time and is one of those CD's that can take me back 15 years with a push of button.



August 21, 2007

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