The Cure - Wish

"Wish" was the first CD I ever bought, having recently got my first CD player. It came free with a stupidly over-sized poster that decorated my teenage bedroom for, um, a few days. Here they toned down the massive orchestral cathedrals of "Disintegration", presenting their typical goth melancholy with some crisper and harder-edged music, but still with those spacious and jangly webs of guitars. They played the usual trick of saving the obvious big hit for the second single. The first release "High" was not much of a surprise, typical Cure pop, miaowing noises and twee lyrics like "when I see you sticky as lips, as licky as trips" But its hit follow up "Friday I'm In Love" is a perfect pop song, with not a hint of irony in its goth-party-time confidence. "Doing the Unstuck" is an even more loose and uninhibited piece of classic perky Cure.

The extended riffing of "From the Edge of the Deep Green Sea" builds on the title track from "Disintegration". "Apart" and "Trust" are gentler songs that show their more mopey side, with delicate orchestration. But the most distinctive feature of "Wish" is the pure rock-outs, which were absent from its predecessor. "Cut" sets Smith's desperate ranting to a jumble of psychedelic wah-wah and an insistent speeded-up Madchester beat. The gentle classical lament "To Wish Impossible Things" provides a brief respite before a nihilistic but powerful wig-out "End". Overall this is a well-balanced album that shows off all the things that the Cure do well.

May 17, 2004

8 out of 10

previous | next