Name: The Cure - The Top Record Store Day 2024 Picture Disc Vinyl Edition
Brand: UMC
SKU: 1102866v1
Price: 36.99 EUR
Availability: InStock

The Cure

Three Imaginary Boys Picture Disc Edition

LP | 1979 | EU | Reissue (Polydor)

26,99 €*

Incl. VAT plus Shipping Costs

Release: 1979 / EU – Reissue

Genre: Rock & Indie, Pop

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limited edition picture disc!

The undisputed leaders of the early gothic scene, and a seminal band that contributed to the rise of British post-punk, The Cure recorded their debut album Three Imaginary Boys at London's Morgan Studios and released it in May 1979. After touring for almost all of 1977, the band changed their name to The Cure and rearranged their line-up with the sacking of Porl Thompson, giving birth to an unusual power trio. This line-up lasted only for their first album, making it unique in its essentially minimal sound. The year was now 1978, and the three (imaginary?) boys soon signed to Chris Parry's Fiction Label.

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At the front of gothic rock

Known today as the longest-lived band to grow out of English post punk, The Cure formed in 1978 with singer Robert Smith at the front and became the definitive influence for gothic rock – a darkly discolored style of playing in the genre that revolved around mysterious symbolism and horror references, setting the stage for an entire subculture. Smith, as the focal point of the band, became the face of a scene with his androgynous demeanor, and he was also the linchpin for the group’s many stylistic transformations. The raucous debut album Three Imaginary Boys successfully combined their punk influences with pop compositions, but Smith appeared dissatisfied at the time – it was not until he was also on stage with Siouxsie and the Banshees that he discovered his fascination with gothic rock. With the help of often minimalist instrumentation, the Cure then embedded Smith’s bleak lyrics in gloomy atmospheric timbres on Seventeen Seconds in 1980 and Faith in 1981 – with which they celebrated their first chart successes. Overwhelmed by Smith’s own inner darkness and nihilistic views, the band recorded Pornography a year later and grew its loyal following – but after personnel changes in the lineup and Smith’s priority work with Siouxsie and the Banshees, the Cure got quiet and a phase came to an end.

With gloomy pop into the mainstream

For Smith, the only way out of the artistic impasse was musical reinvention: with the New Wave-induced single Let’s Go To Bed, fans suddenly got the exact opposite of what had previously distinguished the band, and the vinyl The Top continued this trend in 1984 by exploring new territory throughout, including psychedelic territory. Further personnel difficulties again changed the band’s structure, and yet a year later the group reached a new career peak with the internationally successful album The Head On The Door, which, thanks to catchy pop melodies, also transported them to the great stages of Europe and America. The Cure then arrived in the mainstream in 1987 with the double vinyl Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me, whose single Just Like Heaven landed them their first hit in the United States – consequently they toured the world on a sold-out tour. However, the success put the creative genius Robert Smith properly – he took refuge in the psychedelic drugs and eventually decided that things had to be darker again: the record Disintegration, although returning to the deep black hopelessness with which the band had established itself ten years ago, became even more successful than its predecessors. After the release, Smith was forced to fire founding member Lol Tolhurst for his excessive drinking, which subsequently caused the band years of personal and legal trouble.

A farewell that is not

Smith and band reached their commercial peak in 1992 with the number one record Wish, with which they finally got their melancholic gothic tendencies, spiced with guitar sounds of the 60s, transported to the top of the mainstream. The follow-up Wild Mood Swings gave birth to far less success, as did Bloodflowers, released in 2000, which, however, presented the band once again in a melancholic way as they were back in the 80s. Conceiving the record as the third part of a trilogy after Pornography and Disintegration, the band played all three albums live in Berlin in 2002 and released the spectacle as a concert film. For Smith, Bloodflowers also represented something of a farewell. At least at that time. That the group reunited four years later for another album, their self-titled one, felt like another plot twist in the band’s unique history. After 2008’s 4:13 Dream, the group focused on their extensive live shows, sometimes performing multiple full-length albums. And there seems to be no stop: already since the beginning of the Corona pandemic in 2020, the band has been working on a new double album, according to Smith.

The Cure HHV Records 53 Items

At the front of gothic rock

With gloomy pop into the mainstream

A farewell that is not