I was driving back from my best friend’s funeral. At the same day that his father passed away he went downstairs the same hospital that his father was into ER. My friend passed away 3 weeks later. He and his father were cremated and on Nov 1 . I drove about 450 miles round trip for their memorial. I placed my friend’s ashes in the womb of the earth. Driving back home I listened non stop to this album and it really clicked with me. I know it’s not Cure best but it just clicked with my soul . Especially it was dusk and I could see red clouds for miles. Rest In Peace, my brother Karl.
@@lucasoheyze4597 I understand. Every album has its own flaws . This album is not the best of cure but I really felt it song by song. Some people don’t like Dark Side of the moon either.
@siliyemoodislam - It doesn’t matter if it’s among The Cure’s best or not. It resonates with you and that’s all that matters. Regardless, I do think it is amongst Thier best work
They have no right to come back with an album this good after a 16 year hiatus but i`m not surprised. They have always been my favorite band an i`m now approaching 60 so this album resonates with me deeply. I truly think this is some of there best work. Long live Robert Sith and The Cure......
@Alan-vk6bk - After 16 years, they’ve had enough time to write an albums worth of good songs and they have no right not to put out a record this good after 16 years
Already a classic to my mind, can't stop playing it. ALONE and ENDSONG as the bookends are perfect. I wish it could have been a few tracks more, but there is another album on the way. The Cure are at their very best right now...
All I ever Am really grew on me to the point it’s now my fav on this album :) prob tied with Endsong:) All I ever am would fit perfect on WISH.. Endsong definitely is a Disintegration sounding song :)
Thank you for your literate, eloquent review of this sonic, poetic master work of art. Definitely one of the best albums of this year, & (for me) several years past. PS. I also happen to be a Ryan Adams fan, & caught my breath when you likened I Can Never Say Goodbye to Ryan’s sorrowed, farewell hymn When You Cross Over, to his older brother Chris, who passed in 2017. Being newly submerged in SOALW, I had not made that obvious connection. Thanks for illuminating this. Am happy to subscribe 👍
Love this review!!! Many are complaining about the mix being too big, too harsh, but I feel like the mix is part of the pent up frustration that Robert Smith is conveying and is completely intentional in how big the sound of this album is. Excellent album!!!
I heard four of these songs at the Cure show in Denver back in 2023; they opened with Alone, played A Fragile Thing soon after and Endsong before they left and came back for the encore. I Can Never Say Goodbye was the first song when they took the stage again. I knew this album was going to be special. It has the dour sound of Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me's darker songs with Disintegration's melancholia. It's fantastic.
I’ve not listened to the album yet, but did watch the TH-cam posting of the live stream from Friday. I can’t profess to be a huge Cure fan, but anything that can make me watch a 3hr gig straight has clearly got something. I was really impressed, (and equally jealous of a friend who managed to be at the actual launch).
it's a fantastic album, I love it this album helped Robert deal with the death of people close to him and we all lose people and life isn't all happy. such beautiful words and music. and he just mentioned drone:no drone that bass at the beginning is fabulous. them making more music in this time of their lives is just amazing, the whole band sounded phenomenal live on the Troxy stream and was free, thank you the cure for that, my son went down to London but I can't because of my health. I was a casual Cure fan over the years and I like a good few songs but now I want to listen to all their work. one of my favourites was Lullaby and was stoked when the played it and it was amazing!!!!
Emotions are the driving force that moves our lives. Happiness lifts us up, and sadness takes us deeper, leading us to places where we discover hidden parts of ourselves. This album was born from melancholy, from that introspective state that compels us to connect with our deepest emotions and channel them into every note, every lyric, and every sound.
I watched the BBC concert the other evening. Opens with Alone. Enjoyed their more upbeat back catalogue tracks performed over the concert so much more though.
The first band I ever saw live. Newcastle Mayfair, 22/04/1992. I was 17. Wish tour. I still love them and they’re still in the top 3 live acts I’ve ever seen.
I watched the live performance of "Endsong" on the Beeb and it was so atmospheric and enthralling. I'll buy the album based on the high quality of "Endsong" alone.
But not a finale. Pretty much have another album nearly finished. You’ll notice lyrics in the liner notes of a song that’s not in the album. Supposedly coming in the next one. 🤷♂️
It’s funny in a world that seems to be spiralling downward as Robert Smith said in an interview he has given us a lifeboat of an album to get into as we try to plug the leaks in our own lives. Great review of an album that wears its heart on a long black sleeve.
My two favourite albums by The Cure are Faith and Disintegration. They both kept me sane and helped me greatly during a teenage depression between 1992 and 1995. I have ordered this album and I am so looking forward to hearing it. My mother recently passed away, and I have a feeling that this album will resonate strongly with me at this point in my life.
I agree with you totally, since I am now in my mid sixties I am also starting to look at my mortality and wondering where the world has gone. It is a brilliant album!
As a recent convert to the Cure, this absolutely blew me away. The instrumental sections are sheer genius and although lengthy, just keep weaving more subtle changes and additions into them. I found myself totally sucked into the subtle chord changes and tiny nuances. There was no escape and I didn’t need or want one. The best album I’ve heard in a very long time !!
"Where did it go"... so powerful and simple at the same time... so many things can fit into this simple phrase because it not only alludes to one's youth but to dreams, memories, people, and life itself.. it is so different now with all the rush, the technologies and ideologies in our everyday lives.. but rather than feeling doomed I believe it makes us face reality with acceptance and peace. Definitely soul digging, definitely a masterpiece
The new album by The Cure took me back to the late '80s. I felt nostalgia; it made me laugh, it made me cry, it made me yearn. I missed this phase of the "The Cure" that, after 34 years, has finally returned.
@@ponchodeandatv that's what you get from lack of sleep and lots of stress the day before. A maths brain fart. But sh1t son, has it really been 34 years ? I remember listening to Disintegration on a holiday to Santander (Spain) in 1989 and it only seems like yesterday.
@@RolandoRatas we're getting old! 😂 but our soul is still young! Disintegration is absolutely the best "The Cure" Album. I would still put "Songs of a lost world" in a top 3.
Fantastic album! Not many bands release great work in the twilight of their career. This is exactly what I was hoping for and its timing is right on! I was not looking to be cheered up. I wanted this!
The sister of Bloodflowers. I was surprised Robert decided to off a few tracks…omitting Another Happy Birthday was a let down . Apart from that I love it .
My father passed away a week before I went to see The Cure at Wembley, when they played Nothing is Forever it totally floored me, it's now easily one of my favourites, a really remarkable and touching album.
The Cure are sublime .Robert Smith played with Siouxsie & the Banshees on Nocturne probably the best gig I went to in '83 .Love your review which is rich in references and heart felt appreciation and questioning humour .A Cure albums release is a precious moment
Their best work since Disintegration, I watched the entire concert special live. I really enjoyed it, but the best thing, is that most older acts don't stay relevant....this is actually very relevant and relatable.
Watched many of the 2022 and 23 shows on youtube. Admirable the way the new songs were brought to the fore even before the album was finished. And this material struck home. Endsong with its wailing wah wah guitar in the pulsating crescendo/dimminendo (?) (It's not Duke Ellington at Newport in 56 I realize when one could tell a crescendo in blue).
Mr. AllMusic published a very elaborate description and review. Moreover, it perfectly demonstrate the full extent of this high-quality opus. I fully agree with the review AllMusic made. Your review here put SOTLW an 8/10... I will give a realy good 9,5/10. This is one of The Cure's best albums with: 1. Pornography; 2. Disintegration; 3. Songs...; 4. The head...; 5. Kiss me... Several other reviews mention that this album is beautiful, but depressing. This album is more than that. The atmosphere, the sounds and the content form the expression of an inspired and skillfully presented work. That these critics consider the album depressing is an opinion, but the subjects treated and chosen go in the direction of a tragedy. When an artist chooses to talk about suicide, death, the end of things, it cannot be otherwise! Besides, if we focus on the titles alone, we find the essence of the subject: ... alone... nothing is forever... fragile... war... nodrone... never... end... There is nothing joyful there!!! Once the subject is understood, we enter the musical world and that is where EVERYTHING makes sense! The dissonant guitars, the repetitive and bewitching drums, the heavy bass, the atmospheric synths... everything conjures to transport us to the afterlife, if only we are sensitive to it. So I will dance on the Endsong as a man alone before the fate of the world with dark glasses that are worth as much as those of the pleasant but superficial ditties of the current songs and... so sad by their scope! The Cure deals with sad things, it is true, but my god it is joyful to get carried away and fly away with them!!! I will be at their next show in Quebec to celebrate their vision... and I will not be the only one... living from this collective divergence, shared with the joy in my heart of dancing on the sadness of this world!
I feel the same way. One of my best friends probably has days to live. He’s a huge Cure fan but I’m not going to share a link to this music. I think it would hit too hard.
Agree. I recommended my 13 year old daughter check out The Cure today. She likes 80s and 90s music and film. My cell phone must have decided I needed to see this video as it came up in my feed a few hours later. The Cure are far from my favourite band, but they occupy a special place in my heart and musical taste. I'll be listening to this album after I finish typing this.
Great review! You picked up on the lost civilization vibes I also got with the cover and lyrics. I think it’s very timely. To those who say it’s boring, I’ll be honest that was my first impression as well. The intro to alone gets a bit overstated in the section with the two cords repeating, it does however work in the context of the album as a whole. I also agree the guitars are not loud enough and the mix is a bit flat. However, this Saturday night, I put it on my best stereo system and cranked it and listened start to finish, and the album really grew on me big-time. I would now say it’s certainly on the level of Bloodflowers and perhaps even at the level of their major works. All I ever am is a great song. Simon is killing it on bass
Thanks for the review. You nailed it at the beginning. The 1st time heard it I thought it was a continuation of Disintegration. Especially the opening number and it continues throughout the album. Need to,listen a few more times because it initially doesn’t grab me the way Disintegration did right out of the gate. Rock on.
Really hope they follow through on the next two albums, touring, and releasing the tracks that didn't make the cut for this album. Saw them live in New Orleans this past year, and already wanted this album then. Did not disappoint
You didn't mention the Keats poem quoted in the booklet, 'When I have Fears That I May Cease To Be'. It sets the whole album up. Great review all the same. Stunning album, and a truly great achievement.
I was a huge Cure fan in the late 70’s early 80’s. I wasn’t a fan of Disintegration compared to earlier work, but still enjoyed it. But it seemed to me the loss of Lol took a chunk out of the band. I sort of drifted away after Wild Mood Swings. On first listen it all kind of started blending into the same song, but I imagine that was Smith trying to recapture some of the Disintegration zeitgeist. I’ll keep trying, but just happy they had at least one more in them, bleak as it may be.
I'm kind of in the same camp as you guys... I own all their albums and I'll never complain about having another Cure album to listen to, but for me it would be right in the middle of any kind of album 'ranking'. I understand the excitement as it's been far too long, but lets not get carried away. It's a fine album but it's not up there with their best to my ears.
@rocket69218 There are some good tunes on there. For me it's not as good as Head on the door, Kiss me, Disintegration or Wish. Drone no drone sounds like a b side as does warsong. I would give it a 6 or 7 out of ten but being a huge cure fan that's still not bad.
It doesn't really warrant 'sprawling soundscapery'. It's perhaps their most monochromatic album. Shoot me for this, but give me Bloodflowers or 4:13 Dream any day.
@@SteveKinradeI love the Cure when they go gloopy, I love the tones, Gallup's bass sound, the soundscapes, the atmospheres. I love these songs, but please, can we have just a couple of shards of light? And I don't mean by the way of a song like 'Friday I'm in Love' or 'Love Cats', I mean tonally - aural aesthetics, innit!
Yeah, you are correct. But this definately has a vibe of it's own though. I absolutely love 413 but Songs of a Lost World has the disintigration feel that makes me nostalgic of that era.
Well said-RS music Lyrics have always remained Outsider Doom Gloom but with Alt Goth like truths that are NOT afraid to bring out Darkest Themes YET overall joyful. Anyone who survived the 80s (Neo-Con Agenda) Various addictions-Failed relationships-Disfunctions WELL Here we are now Older Aging Parents Friends...Some have gone but WE RS Cure fans remain! Caught Roxy Live FULL Concert...Very Impressed! Hope this music continues. Love N Respect from a Music Vinyl-Cassette-CD Collector. Great Content as Always.
Endsong 40/40. Alone & i can't never say goodbye 38. A fragile thing & all I ever am 37. Warsong & drone no drone 35. Nothing last forever 32. Average: 36.5. If this is not a great record, i don't know what would it be.
I believe the events of the past 4 years has unleashed an avalanche of inspirational music from Robert Smith, My first exposure was back in '85 with head on the door and these new songs have definitely drawn me back in
I listened to it and... I don't know, man. By tracks 4 or 5 I started feeling that they all sounded a bit undifferentiated to me. They sound too freakishly similar! But I got stuck on "Disintegration": from then on, I never really connected to anything they released. Except for 'Out of this World': 'Untitled' ended with a long fade out, as a ship would disappear in the horizon; 'Out of this world' begins with a long fade in, as if the ship was coming back. Love your channel, mate - cheers from Brazil.
a great album ......as dark as sin. im sure there are many people who can relate to these songs . as we get older i feel its slowly coming to an end. we were naive to thing we would live the good life forever
The title in the picture, is it any good, wow, what a statement. It is a brilliant album and conjures up a tapestry of emotions, it is a dark, gorgeous, haunting and tackles some of the heaviest subject matters of life. What an accomplishment!
Not even close. Which song in the new album can compare to Last Dance, Disintegration, Fascination Street, Pictures of you? None. Not even with any other of Disintegration. Compare it to Bloodflowers instead...
2 times listening through and very profound and challenging. Not easy to get through. Definitely makes you feel grateful for each moment and the humbleness aging brings to all of us. Time is running out. The music definitely mirrors Disintegration a bit. Really good imo.
I must be getting to an age where I and my music icons are exploring mortality. Great review of The Cure's latest album and one to play with a more upbeat accompany. Maybe, Gilmour's Luck and Strange or The Smile Cutouts. Go passive nostalgia it's the future. 😊
Interesting review. I really the the elegance and time that is given in the track Endsong which works beautifully for me and I can’t wait to review this one on my own channel. Well preset and described as ever by a master wordsmith of note. All the best. Dave✅✅
An album that is masterfully done, that few artists have the ability to attempt these days. Whether it is the plaques formed from consumption from micro-plastics, artists just lack the cognitive ability to produce albums like this anymore. Definitely buy the album than attempt to listen track by track on TH-cam or spotify.
I think its gorgeous and soul scraping, love it. It's the soundtrack for where I am right now as pornography was long ago. True true artists of the highest
I love that the Cure released a new record, and I think that Robert sounds great! There's also a track on the record that I quite like. There really isn't a bad thing that I have to say about it... except that it's not the Cure that I fell in love with when I discovered Seventeen Seconds and Faith. It's not the Cure that pushed its boundaries in pleasing new directions with Head on the Door, and Kiss Me, KM, KM. And it's not the Cure that would have hit a remarkable coda with Disintegration, had Robert followed through on that initial plan. Rather, it's the Cure that I left behind as time wore on, because their life force no longer resonated with mine. I understand that this is the version of the Cure that many adore, but it would make me very happy if they still had some of the other tricks up their sleeve, just waiting to be pulled out.
Its the real low point after masterpiece like ponography. Other low point is Wild mood swings or japanese whispers. We can argue if friday im in love is lowest, or Lets go to bed recorded right after ponography
@@Brian_Boru it def came across as sarcasam. It's cheeky and dismissive and most people missed that the song is a paradoy. That's why I like it. It pure sarcasm.
Huge Cure fan here and I think it may grow possibly in time but my initial thoughts are it's a lot of bombast and not really much in the way of really memorable songs. Yes great production , angst, huge cavenous drums. Gallup bass, shrieking Smith BUT are the songs here as instantly mesmerising as Disintegrations? , personally no they're not. "I can never say goodbye" is heartfelt, it's about his brother but is there a decent tune in there ? not that I can hear on first few listens. Alone is the standout, Drone Song had a smidgeon of The Kiss about it and War Song was the only song that I felt ended prematurely before it got to explode. Maybe I need to play it more but I didn't have to do that with any Cure albums from Faith to Disintegration. I knew if I liked them , it wasn't a grower it was just instant. I feel maybe there's a bit of hype and overexcitement about SOALW because it's been 16 long years ( indeed the last few after Smith promised it felt like 16 years). It's great to have them back but in short this is more concise than any Cure album since Wish but saying that dosen't make the songs leap out at me and certainly is not a classic.
I am a bit 'preaching to the converted ' as there are very few cure albums I don't like .. some took a lot of growing on me though I will admit! That said I was a fan from the start 3 Imaginary Boys was fun but then 17 Seconds came along ..loved it .. still do it still speaks to me. one single .. I don't like any of the poppy tracks one bit that the Cure has released since. I am clutching the 45 single and Lps of Primary, faith, pornography, disintegration and Bloodflowers which I bought over the last 40 years in one hand and SOALW in the other and I am close ( but not quite) to saying that SOALW is possibly the best of them .. could be my declining years perhaps and a feeling of empathy with Smiths writing .. though he has done that for decades too. I feel this one is sonically much better than the others not since Deep Green Sea have they sounded so full and all-encompassing.. New album .. love it .. with another one written and due soon and a final follow-up ( requiem I guess) I will probably feel the same and be excited to see how it really ' all ends ' .. for now .. colour me very chuffed!
I really wish Robert would return to a stripped down sound like 10:15 or M. In those songs I could hear his guitar playing. This wall of sound just isn’t for me. But I still love The Cure.
The Cure always reassured me. Possibly the band I've listened to most often and regularly since Three Imaginary Boys, I was in catholic boarding school, my childhood had been a mess. A sort of lighthouse ever since.
Loved this album. The 2 Geffen albums were disappointing but here are The Cure back on Polydor/Fiction and back at their best. Bloodflowers was supposed to be the the final part of a trilogy with Pornography and Disintergration. Maybe it's a quadrilogy now.
@@bepitan For once a comment I agree with. I can't understand the love for this new album, what am I missing? It is like a Cure parody, the same kind of album I have already bought 4 or 5 times.
To honestly say while listening to my pandora station and not hearing the full album yet...the station has played quite a few tracks...and every one is solid and true...and each song has that sound where you know it's the cure before checking to make sure. Turning 50 next year I feel this album and it honestly is their best.
Great gauge, you handle here, Sir: two Kate Bushes. She's hinted at a possible new release. Something we shouldn't dread ... (yeah, all the mean stuff sitting in the three periods!)
I really appreciated the focus and sequencing of the tracks. Its consistently heavy and dark, but not too oppressive. And I found an odd sort of triumphalism within Endsong. The old world may be lost, but Smith is still standing. Their best since Disintegration imho.
I think this will be like their other albums. The fans get it right away and then years later others will start to appreciate it as well. I love it already.
The Cure are not a big favorite of mine but I was intrigued by this release so much that I've watched two reviews of it now, yours being the second one. I got the feeling from the first reviewer that it sounded a lot like Disintegration, a CD that I found borderline interminable with is long droning sections. Based on your review, as a man in a dying country just about to turn 60, I think there is much here that I could relate to. Not sure I want to add more darkness to my days right now though. Enjoy your well thought out critiques and commentaries, even when cat's testicles are not involved.
Endsong is nice. Rest is forgettable. Been a cure fan for 25 years. They’ve needed a good producer since 1996 to make the records sound the way they did in the 80s.
@@BartDecaluwé-w3z Decent songs, but imagine if they used Disintegration synths, drums, production. Since Wish every record sounds flat sonically, like they’re playing in a closet.
Any band that quotes Ernest Dowson is all right with me! I'm buying the album on that basis alone. My wife heartily approves having been a life-long Cure fan.
I was driving back from my best friend’s funeral. At the same day that his father passed away he went downstairs the same hospital that his father was into ER. My friend passed away 3 weeks later. He and his father were cremated and on Nov 1 . I drove about 450 miles round trip for their memorial. I placed my friend’s ashes in the womb of the earth. Driving back home I listened non stop to this album and it really clicked with me. I know it’s not Cure best but it just clicked with my soul . Especially it was dusk and I could see red clouds for miles. Rest In Peace, my brother Karl.
That's no way to judge an album.
@@lucasoheyze4597 I understand. Every album has its own flaws . This album is not the best of cure but I really felt it song by song. Some people don’t like Dark Side of the moon either.
It's a Good Record.
If it connects with you on that level, then isn't it one of their best ?
@siliyemoodislam - It doesn’t matter if it’s among The Cure’s best or not. It resonates with you and that’s all that matters. Regardless, I do think it is amongst Thier best work
They have no right to come back with an album this good after a 16 year hiatus but i`m not surprised. They have always been my favorite band an i`m now approaching 60 so this album resonates with me deeply. I truly think this is some of there best work. Long live Robert Sith and The Cure......
I'm 70 next month and I love them too !
@Alan-vk6bk - After 16 years, they’ve had enough time to write an albums worth of good songs and they have no right not to put out a record this good after 16 years
Robert Sith the Dark Lord is the best Robert.
Totally disagree one of the worst albums have heard from them. Rubbish and boring
Already a classic to my mind, can't stop playing it. ALONE and ENDSONG as the bookends are perfect. I wish it could have been a few tracks more, but there is another album on the way. The Cure are at their very best right now...
All I ever Am really grew on me to the point it’s now my fav on this album :) prob tied with Endsong:) All I ever am would fit perfect on WISH.. Endsong definitely is a Disintegration sounding song :)
Hi there. I’m emending immensely at the moment. Really beautiful and full of poise. Great review
You are wonderfully descriptive and articulate. I subscribed.
Thanks and welcome
What a brilliantly judged, and eloquently presented review. First class journalism, super job!
"Work of wisdom and grace" you words are exactly on point ☝️👌
Thank you for your literate, eloquent review of this sonic, poetic master work of art. Definitely one of the best albums of this year, & (for me) several years past. PS. I also happen to be a Ryan Adams fan, & caught my breath when you likened I Can Never Say Goodbye to Ryan’s sorrowed, farewell hymn When You Cross Over, to his older brother Chris, who passed in 2017. Being newly submerged in SOALW, I had not made that obvious connection. Thanks for illuminating this. Am happy to subscribe 👍
Love this review!!! Many are complaining about the mix being too big, too harsh, but I feel like the mix is part of the pent up frustration that Robert Smith is conveying and is completely intentional in how big the sound of this album is. Excellent album!!!
I heard four of these songs at the Cure show in Denver back in 2023; they opened with Alone, played A Fragile Thing soon after and Endsong before they left and came back for the encore. I Can Never Say Goodbye was the first song when they took the stage again. I knew this album was going to be special. It has the dour sound of Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me's darker songs with Disintegration's melancholia. It's fantastic.
I’ve not listened to the album yet, but did watch the TH-cam posting of the live stream from Friday.
I can’t profess to be a huge Cure fan, but anything that can make me watch a 3hr gig straight has clearly got something. I was really impressed, (and equally jealous of a friend who managed to be at the actual launch).
“Miserable bastard of an album..?” Shut up and take my money.
@@sugarraybarrett2052 exactly
it's a fantastic album, I love it this album helped Robert deal with the death of people close to him and we all lose people and life isn't all happy.
such beautiful words and music.
and he just mentioned drone:no drone that bass at the beginning is fabulous.
them making more music in this time of their lives is just amazing, the whole band sounded phenomenal live on the Troxy stream and was free, thank you the cure for that, my son went down to London but I can't because of my health.
I was a casual Cure fan over the years and I like a good few songs but now I want to listen to all their work.
one of my favourites was Lullaby and was stoked when the played it and it was amazing!!!!
Emotions are the driving force that moves our lives. Happiness lifts us up, and sadness takes us deeper, leading us to places where we discover hidden parts of ourselves. This album was born from melancholy, from that introspective state that compels us to connect with our deepest emotions and channel them into every note, every lyric, and every sound.
I watched the BBC concert the other evening. Opens with Alone. Enjoyed their more upbeat back catalogue tracks performed over the concert so much more though.
Am lamenting the lack of catchy guitar hooks and playfullness of old.
The first band I ever saw live. Newcastle Mayfair, 22/04/1992. I was 17. Wish tour. I still love them and they’re still in the top 3 live acts I’ve ever seen.
It’s awesome. Best album I’ve heard in decades
:D
I watched the live performance of "Endsong" on the Beeb and it was so atmospheric and enthralling. I'll buy the album based on the high quality of "Endsong" alone.
I have loved The Cure since 1985, and Endsong has become my new favorite Cure song
Hi Brian. I absolutely agree with you on this one. Endsong is the only track I’ve heard so far but really enjoyed it.
Excellent review. You summed up most of my feelings regarding this exceptional finale of The Cure's discography.
But not a finale. Pretty much have another album nearly finished. You’ll notice lyrics in the liner notes of a song that’s not in the album. Supposedly coming in the next one. 🤷♂️
2 more albums coming
Your reviews are amazing. It’s like a literary journal meets music. Really great analysis.
Wow, thank you! Do subscribe and check out my other videos if you haven't already
It’s funny in a world that seems to be spiralling downward as Robert Smith said in an interview he has given us a lifeboat of an album to get into as we try to plug the leaks in our own lives.
Great review of an album that wears its heart on a long black sleeve.
My two favourite albums by The Cure are Faith and Disintegration. They both kept me sane and helped me greatly during a teenage depression between 1992 and 1995. I have ordered this album and I am so looking forward to hearing it. My mother recently passed away, and I have a feeling that this album will resonate strongly with me at this point in my life.
Faith is one of my favourite albums ever.
Totally with you both
Distegration and Pornography
I agree with you totally, since I am now in my mid sixties I am also starting to look at my mortality and wondering where the world has gone. It is a brilliant album!
As a recent convert to the Cure, this absolutely blew me away. The instrumental sections are sheer genius and although lengthy, just keep weaving more subtle changes and additions into them. I found myself totally sucked into the subtle chord changes and tiny nuances. There was no escape and I didn’t need or want one. The best album I’ve heard in a very long time !!
"Where did it go"... so powerful and simple at the same time... so many things can fit into this simple phrase because it not only alludes to one's youth but to dreams, memories, people, and life itself.. it is so different now with all the rush, the technologies and ideologies in our everyday lives.. but rather than feeling doomed I believe it makes us face reality with acceptance and peace. Definitely soul digging, definitely a masterpiece
Apparently, many of the commenters don't realize that Barry is praising the album.
The new album by The Cure took me back to the late '80s. I felt nostalgia; it made me laugh, it made me cry, it made me yearn. I missed this phase of the "The Cure" that, after 34 years, has finally returned.
I would say 25 years. Disintegration was the last good The Cure album in 1989 I thought.
@@RolandoRatas You are right. 2024 -34=1990 (Disintegration was their masterpiece).
@@ponchodeandatv that's what you get from lack of sleep and lots of stress the day before. A maths brain fart. But sh1t son, has it really been 34 years ? I remember listening to Disintegration on a holiday to Santander (Spain) in 1989 and it only seems like yesterday.
@@RolandoRatas we're getting old! 😂 but our soul is still young! Disintegration is absolutely the best "The Cure" Album. I would still put "Songs of a lost world" in a top 3.
The tour was phenomenal and the album was what I expected. Perfection, to myself
At last, people are noting how much the addition of Reeves Gabrels has added to the sonic landscapes of this new material!
agree at least from the youtube show i watched listended to this weekend and the new single fragile on indie radio
But I feel that Reeves has poured banal stroke and vibe with his rustic tone. Especially his playing overwhelmed at this concert.
Fantastic album! Not many bands release great work in the twilight of their career. This is exactly what I was hoping for and its timing is right on! I was not looking to be cheered up. I wanted this!
Epic. Top 5 Cure albums easily, arguably Top 3. What an incredibly pleasant and somewhat sadening surprise this album is.
The sister of Bloodflowers. I was surprised Robert decided to off a few tracks…omitting Another Happy Birthday was a let down . Apart from that I love it .
Robert said in a recent interview that Another Happy Birthday will be on the next album, which is well on the way to completion.
Or the son of Disintegration
Disintegration was overhyped and Bloodflowers was pants. The new one is a tour de force and the best album since Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me.
My father passed away a week before I went to see The Cure at Wembley, when they played Nothing is Forever it totally floored me, it's now easily one of my favourites, a really remarkable and touching album.
I Can Never Say Goodbye is devastating
The Cure are sublime .Robert Smith played with Siouxsie & the Banshees on Nocturne probably the best gig I went to in '83 .Love your review which is rich in references and heart felt appreciation and questioning humour .A Cure albums release is a precious moment
Their best work since Disintegration, I watched the entire concert special live. I really enjoyed it, but the best thing, is that most older acts don't stay relevant....this is actually very relevant and relatable.
Watched many of the 2022 and 23 shows on youtube. Admirable the way the new songs were brought to the fore even before the album was finished. And this material struck home. Endsong with its wailing wah wah guitar in the pulsating crescendo/dimminendo (?) (It's not Duke Ellington at Newport in 56 I realize when one could tell a crescendo in blue).
Mr. AllMusic published a very elaborate description and review. Moreover, it perfectly demonstrate the full extent of this high-quality opus. I fully agree with the review AllMusic made. Your review here put SOTLW an 8/10... I will give a realy good 9,5/10.
This is one of The Cure's best albums with:
1. Pornography;
2. Disintegration;
3. Songs...;
4. The head...;
5. Kiss me...
Several other reviews mention that this album is beautiful, but depressing. This album is more than that.
The atmosphere, the sounds and the content form the expression of an inspired and skillfully presented work. That these critics consider the album depressing is an opinion, but the subjects treated and chosen go in the direction of a tragedy.
When an artist chooses to talk about suicide, death, the end of things, it cannot be otherwise!
Besides, if we focus on the titles alone, we find the essence of the subject: ... alone... nothing is forever... fragile... war... nodrone... never... end... There is nothing joyful there!!!
Once the subject is understood, we enter the musical world and that is where EVERYTHING makes sense! The dissonant guitars, the repetitive and bewitching drums, the heavy bass, the atmospheric synths... everything conjures to transport us to the afterlife, if only we are sensitive to it.
So I will dance on the Endsong as a man alone before the fate of the world with dark glasses that are worth as much as those of the pleasant but superficial ditties of the current songs and... so sad by their scope!
The Cure deals with sad things, it is true, but my god it is joyful to get carried away and fly away with them!!!
I will be at their next show in Quebec to celebrate their vision... and I will not be the only one... living from this collective divergence, shared with the joy in my heart of dancing on the sadness of this world!
Sounds like the album that I need to hear right now because this is how I've been feeling lately.
I feel the same way. One of my best friends probably has days to live. He’s a huge Cure fan but I’m not going to share a link to this music. I think it would hit too hard.
Agree.
I recommended my 13 year old daughter check out The Cure today. She likes 80s and 90s music and film. My cell phone must have decided I needed to see this video as it came up in my feed a few hours later. The Cure are far from my favourite band, but they occupy a special place in my heart and musical taste. I'll be listening to this album after I finish typing this.
Great review! You picked up on the lost civilization vibes I also got with the cover and lyrics. I think it’s very timely. To those who say it’s boring, I’ll be honest that was my first impression as well. The intro to alone gets a bit overstated in the section with the two cords repeating, it does however work in the context of the album as a whole. I also agree the guitars are not loud enough and the mix is a bit flat. However, this Saturday night, I put it on my best stereo system and cranked it and listened start to finish, and the album really grew on me big-time. I would now say it’s certainly on the level of Bloodflowers and perhaps even at the level of their major works. All I ever am is a great song. Simon is killing it on bass
Thanks for the review. You nailed it at the beginning. The 1st time heard it I thought it was a continuation of Disintegration. Especially the opening number and it continues throughout the album. Need to,listen a few more times because it initially doesn’t grab me the way Disintegration did right out of the gate. Rock on.
Reeves Gabriels is the star of this album. his work on the stunning Endsong is tremendous
You beautifully articulated what I feel and couldn't put to words myself.
Really hope they follow through on the next two albums, touring, and releasing the tracks that didn't make the cut for this album. Saw them live in New Orleans this past year, and already wanted this album then. Did not disappoint
You didn't mention the Keats poem quoted in the booklet, 'When I have Fears That I May Cease To Be'. It sets the whole album up. Great review all the same. Stunning album, and a truly great achievement.
... and it's weird how you never see a 65 year old Robert Smith and a 700+ year old Beetlejuice in the same room together.
I was a huge Cure fan in the late 70’s early 80’s. I wasn’t a fan of Disintegration compared to earlier work, but still enjoyed it. But it seemed to me the loss of Lol took a chunk out of the band. I sort of drifted away after Wild Mood Swings. On first listen it all kind of started blending into the same song, but I imagine that was Smith trying to recapture some of the Disintegration zeitgeist. I’ll keep trying, but just happy they had at least one more in them, bleak as it may be.
I agree, maybe I need more listens, but I thought there was nothing new here.
I'm kind of in the same camp as you guys... I own all their albums and I'll never complain about having another Cure album to listen to, but for me it would be right in the middle of any kind of album 'ranking'. I understand the excitement as it's been far too long, but lets not get carried away. It's a fine album but it's not up there with their best to my ears.
@rocket69218 There are some good tunes on there. For me it's not as good as Head on the door, Kiss me, Disintegration or Wish. Drone no drone sounds like a b side as does warsong. I would give it a 6 or 7 out of ten but being a huge cure fan that's still not bad.
It doesn't really warrant 'sprawling soundscapery'. It's perhaps their most monochromatic album. Shoot me for this, but give me Bloodflowers or 4:13 Dream any day.
@@SteveKinradeI love the Cure when they go gloopy, I love the tones, Gallup's bass sound, the soundscapes, the atmospheres. I love these songs, but please, can we have just a couple of shards of light? And I don't mean by the way of a song like 'Friday I'm in Love' or 'Love Cats', I mean tonally - aural aesthetics, innit!
Yeah, you are correct. But this definately has a vibe of it's own though. I absolutely love 413 but Songs of a Lost World has the disintigration feel that makes me nostalgic of that era.
This gent is So Good, what a marvelous review.❤
Thank you so much, please do subscribe
Surething@@classicalbum
Always appreciate your sage insights. Looking forward to listening to this album tonight. Thank you!!
My pleasure!
Well said-RS music Lyrics have always remained Outsider Doom Gloom but with Alt Goth like truths that are NOT afraid to bring out Darkest Themes YET overall joyful. Anyone who survived the 80s (Neo-Con Agenda) Various addictions-Failed relationships-Disfunctions WELL Here we are now Older Aging Parents Friends...Some have gone but WE RS Cure fans remain!
Caught Roxy Live FULL Concert...Very Impressed! Hope this music continues. Love N Respect from a Music Vinyl-Cassette-CD Collector. Great Content as Always.
It's definitely an album I want to hear live.
Endsong 40/40. Alone & i can't never say goodbye 38. A fragile thing & all I ever am 37. Warsong & drone no drone 35. Nothing last forever 32. Average: 36.5. If this is not a great record, i don't know what would it be.
I believe the events of the past 4 years has unleashed an avalanche of inspirational music from Robert Smith, My first exposure was back in '85 with head on the door and these new songs have definitely drawn me back in
There are few bands with the consistency of The Cure.
Seriously, they've pretty much, never let me down.
I listened to it and... I don't know, man. By tracks 4 or 5 I started feeling that they all sounded a bit undifferentiated to me. They sound too freakishly similar! But I got stuck on "Disintegration": from then on, I never really connected to anything they released. Except for 'Out of this World': 'Untitled' ended with a long fade out, as a ship would disappear in the horizon; 'Out of this world' begins with a long fade in, as if the ship was coming back. Love your channel, mate - cheers from Brazil.
Love the Cure ❤😂 .
Saw them live in Western Australia many years ago.
One if the best shows 😂❤
a great album ......as dark as sin. im sure there are many people who can relate to these songs . as we get older i feel its slowly coming to an end. we were naive to thing we would live the good life forever
The title in the picture, is it any good, wow, what a statement. It is a brilliant album and conjures up a tapestry of emotions, it is a dark, gorgeous, haunting and tackles some of the heaviest subject matters of life. What an accomplishment!
Beautifully articulated review. Thanks
Like 'em or not, there's no denying their uniqueness and talent. I like 'em. Nice review . . . as always.
I I’ve this album and Robert Smith sounds stellar for 65 years old. The whole band sounded really great.
Masterpiece!! Robert Smith has done a modern Disintegration!!🖤🖤🖤
Not even close. Which song in the new album can compare to Last Dance, Disintegration, Fascination Street, Pictures of you? None. Not even with any other of Disintegration. Compare it to Bloodflowers instead...
2 times listening through and very profound and challenging. Not easy to get through. Definitely makes you feel grateful for each moment and the humbleness aging brings to all of us. Time is running out. The music definitely mirrors Disintegration a bit. Really good imo.
Lyrics are interesting. On bloodflowers 39 "fire is almost out and theres nothing left to burn", on New album Alone " fire burned to ash"...
Great review, thank you.
Best British band and it's not even close. Album is stunning.
I must be getting to an age where I and my music icons are exploring mortality. Great review of The Cure's latest album and one to play with a more upbeat accompany. Maybe, Gilmour's Luck and Strange or The Smile Cutouts. Go passive nostalgia it's the future. 😊
Interesting review. I really the the elegance and time that is given in the track Endsong which works beautifully for me and I can’t wait to review this one on my own channel. Well preset and described as ever by a master wordsmith of note. All the best. Dave✅✅
The Cure.Nick Cave .Fontaines Dc.Judas Priest and Nightwish 5 amazing albums this year .
Fantastic review Barry, thank you
How about a Cure ranking post?
great review ❤ 🙏
I'd rank it the 2nd best of their career, behind only Disintegration. Definitely a breath of fresh air after all of the post-Wish releases!
Thanks for this review. Considering buying this one.
Link beneath this video
An album that is masterfully done, that few artists have the ability to attempt these days. Whether it is the plaques formed from consumption from micro-plastics, artists just lack the cognitive ability to produce albums like this anymore. Definitely buy the album than attempt to listen track by track on TH-cam or spotify.
I think its gorgeous and soul scraping, love it. It's the soundtrack for where I am right now as pornography was long ago. True true artists of the highest
I love that the Cure released a new record, and I think that Robert sounds great! There's also a track on the record that I quite like. There really isn't a bad thing that I have to say about it... except that it's not the Cure that I fell in love with when I discovered Seventeen Seconds and Faith. It's not the Cure that pushed its boundaries in pleasing new directions with Head on the Door, and Kiss Me, KM, KM. And it's not the Cure that would have hit a remarkable coda with Disintegration, had Robert followed through on that initial plan. Rather, it's the Cure that I left behind as time wore on, because their life force no longer resonated with mine. I understand that this is the version of the Cure that many adore, but it would make me very happy if they still had some of the other tricks up their sleeve, just waiting to be pulled out.
I agree, I prefer the experimental Cure, rather than the trawling the same ground Cure.
Great review, absolutely spot on.. superb album
I'm surprised nobody calls it Robert Smiths Requiem for The Cure
Friday I’m in Love is an abomination from one of the best bands ever to grace this planet.
Its the real low point after masterpiece like ponography. Other low point is Wild mood swings or japanese whispers. We can argue if friday im in love is lowest, or Lets go to bed recorded right after ponography
I always took it as a deeply sardonic take on the love song. It drips acid like a lacerated Alien.
@@Brian_Boru it def came across as sarcasam. It's cheeky and dismissive and most people missed that the song is a paradoy. That's why I like it. It pure sarcasm.
Huge Cure fan here and I think it may grow possibly in time but my initial thoughts are it's a lot of bombast and not really much in the way of really memorable songs. Yes great production , angst, huge cavenous drums. Gallup bass, shrieking Smith BUT are the songs here as instantly mesmerising as Disintegrations? , personally no they're not. "I can never say goodbye" is heartfelt, it's about his brother but is there a decent tune in there ? not that I can hear on first few listens. Alone is the standout, Drone Song had a smidgeon of The Kiss about it and War Song was the only song that I felt ended prematurely before it got to explode. Maybe I need to play it more but I didn't have to do that with any Cure albums from Faith to Disintegration. I knew if I liked them , it wasn't a grower it was just instant. I feel maybe there's a bit of hype and overexcitement about SOALW because it's been 16 long years ( indeed the last few after Smith promised it felt like 16 years). It's great to have them back but in short this is more concise than any Cure album since Wish but saying that dosen't make the songs leap out at me and certainly is not a classic.
I agree 100% & I felt that way after just 1 listen. Nice review.
Excellent review again 👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍
Yes,wonderful review!! Hope to acquire before long; did u create that beautiful painting in background ? M
Beautifully said, thank you so much! 💥
I am a bit 'preaching to the converted ' as there are very few cure albums I don't like .. some took a lot of growing on me though I will admit! That said I was a fan from the start 3 Imaginary Boys was fun but then 17 Seconds came along ..loved it .. still do it still speaks to me. one single .. I don't like any of the poppy tracks one bit that the Cure has released since. I am clutching the 45 single and Lps of Primary, faith, pornography, disintegration and Bloodflowers which I bought over the last 40 years in one hand and SOALW in the other and I am close ( but not quite) to saying that SOALW is possibly the best of them .. could be my declining years perhaps and a feeling of empathy with Smiths writing .. though he has done that for decades too. I feel this one is sonically much better than the others not since Deep Green Sea have they sounded so full and all-encompassing.. New album .. love it .. with another one written and due soon and a final follow-up ( requiem I guess) I will probably feel the same and be excited to see how it really ' all ends ' .. for now .. colour me very chuffed!
Truly special record. One of the best cure albums and certainly in the running for one of the best releases this year.
I shall be getting this.
Link beneath the video
I really wish Robert would return to a stripped down sound like 10:15 or M. In those songs I could hear his guitar playing. This wall of sound just isn’t for me. But I still love The Cure.
I agree on the similarity to disintigration. That is without doubt my favorite Cure album. This is growing on me and probably a close second.
The Cure always reassured me. Possibly the band I've listened to most often and regularly since Three Imaginary Boys, I was in catholic boarding school, my childhood had been a mess.
A sort of lighthouse ever since.
I put on the stereo in the car while driving,I slipped into a coma and came round in a ditch,but it has grown on me since
On first listening, it's pretty close to Bloodflowers.
listened to about an hour of the yt show other night i thought the same om a few songs
Loved this album. The 2 Geffen albums were disappointing but here are The Cure back on Polydor/Fiction and back at their best. Bloodflowers was supposed to be the the final part of a trilogy with Pornography and Disintergration. Maybe it's a quadrilogy now.
..i feel this new album might have some relevance if bloodflowers had never happened .. so here we are treading the same old ground.
@@bepitan For once a comment I agree with. I can't understand the love for this new album, what am I missing? It is like a Cure parody, the same kind of album I have already bought 4 or 5 times.
To honestly say while listening to my pandora station and not hearing the full album yet...the station has played quite a few tracks...and every one is solid and true...and each song has that sound where you know it's the cure before checking to make sure. Turning 50 next year I feel this album and it honestly is their best.
Great gauge, you handle here, Sir: two Kate Bushes. She's hinted at a possible new release. Something we shouldn't dread ... (yeah, all the mean stuff sitting in the three periods!)
I really appreciated the focus and sequencing of the tracks. Its consistently heavy and dark, but not too oppressive. And I found an odd sort of triumphalism within Endsong. The old world may be lost, but Smith is still standing.
Their best since Disintegration imho.
I think this will be like their other albums. The fans get it right away and then years later others will start to appreciate it as well. I love it already.
It's very, very f*cking good is the answer!
The Cure are not a big favorite of mine but I was intrigued by this release so much that I've watched two reviews of it now, yours being the second one. I got the feeling from the first reviewer that it sounded a lot like Disintegration, a CD that I found borderline interminable with is long droning sections. Based on your review, as a man in a dying country just about to turn 60, I think there is much here that I could relate to. Not sure I want to add more darkness to my days right now though. Enjoy your well thought out critiques and commentaries, even when cat's testicles are not involved.
Endsong is nice. Rest is forgettable. Been a cure fan for 25 years. They’ve needed a good producer since 1996 to make the records sound the way they did in the 80s.
What about Alone? I can never say Goodbye?
@@BartDecaluwé-w3z Decent songs, but imagine if they used Disintegration synths, drums, production. Since Wish every record sounds flat sonically, like they’re playing in a closet.
Any band that quotes Ernest Dowson is all right with me! I'm buying the album on that basis alone. My wife heartily approves having been a life-long Cure fan.
Amongst their best.
I love this album. I also love Nick Cave's new album Wild God. I love these darker tones.