4:13 Dream
by The Cure
  • Record Label: Geffen
  • Release Date: Oct 28, 2008
Metascore
69

Generally favorable reviews - based on 31 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 20 out of 31
  2. Mixed: 11 out of 31
  3. Negative: 0 out of 31
  1. The Guardian
    80
    4:13 Dream is admirably taut and vibrant.
  2. New Musical Express (NME)
    80
    He has regularly crept back to the light of the charts and 4:13 Dream is such an occasion. And one which, given the ’80s revival, is timed to perfection.
  3. Sputnikmusic
    80
    Overall, 4:13 Dream is an extremely consistent album throughout its runtime.
  5. Urb
    80
    While the album won’t produce any converts or even revive interest in the band’s newer music among purists, it’s an enjoyable, self-assured collection of jangly guitar pop tunes that sounds guided by the group’s own creative compass instead of fickle fans’ expectations.
  6. Blender
    80
    Amid the frenzied melancholy, there’s filler and a histrionic misstep or two, but for those willfully lost in the perpetual adolescence Smith has always documented, here’s the new soundtrack to Saturday night.
  7. Billboard
    80
    The lush arrangements on 4:13 Dream don't build a Wall of Sound so much as a whitewater, where heavily distorted guitar and effects share momentum with fluid melodies and memorable pop hooks.
  8. The New York Times
    80
    The territory is familiar, occasionally too familiar....But it’s not a comforting nostalgic reprise; it’s another plunge into the maelstrom.
  9. Slant Magazine
    80
    The new album has a more nuanced sound and a wealth of interesting songs.
  10. Uncut
    80
    This is the first Cure album in a long time that’s more than just another Cure album.
  11. Entertainment Weekly
    75
    Smartly pivoting from 2004's oddly aggro "The Cure," Smith once again indulges in his patented bipolar cocktail of feedback-drenched swoons ('Underneath the Stars') spiked with bursts of giddy pop ('The Only One').
  12. The A.V. Club
    75
    While it's too familiar to be revelatory, it's invigorating all the same.
  13. The Boston Phoenix
    75
    Even with a dozen records behind him, Smith, when he puts his mind to it, remains a master at crafting concise masterpieces of bouncy pop majesty.
  14. Rolling Stone
    70
    Smith sounds less like a lovesick prince in 4:13 Dream's looping-riff viscera and swallow-you-whole echo, and more like the avenging middle-aged Roger Waters on Pink Floyd's "Animals."
  15. Hartford Courant
    70
    The album may lack the emotional heft of the Cure's more patient, atmospheric recordings, but should it wind up being the group's last, it will be remembered as more than an unnecessary footnote.
  16. Boston Globe
    70
    Not all this mope-a-dope sounds fresh, but let's hope Smith doesn't find his cure for pain just yet.
  17. Hot Press
    70
    If it ain’t broke you may smear it with red lipstick and back-comb its hair. But do NOT fix it.
  18. Under The Radar
    70
    An every-other pattern emerges, where a lesser song is followed by a great one. [Winter 2008]
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  19. Paste Magazine
    69
    He isn’t mellowing with age, but serving up more Cure, as you’ve come to expect.
  20. Pitchfork
    67
    The only problem is that the rambling approach that let Smith get these things out has kept the results from being all they might have been.
  21. Austin Chronicle
    67
    The Cure inventor Robert Smith remains almost immune to studio dilapidation, but if lucky No. 4:13 Dream could never hope to equal the seminal goth pop of Three Imaginary Boys (1979), Pornography (1982), and/or Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me (1987) by design of natural evolution, neither is it the Wild Mood Swings of the post-Disintegration (1989) paradigm.

Awards & Rankings

92
#92 Most Shared Album of 2008

User Reviews

All reviews »
User Score
8.7

Universal acclaim- based on 55 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 51 out of 55
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 55
  3. Negative: 2 out of 55
  1. ribidibdub
    Aug 25, 2015
    10
    Just because the band's been around a while, and has developed a certain "sound" doesn't mean everything they do is old hat. I can'tJust because the band's been around a while, and has developed a certain "sound" doesn't mean everything they do is old hat. I can't understand why this album has not been better appreciated. Full of energy, inventiveness, careful composition. And I haven't liked a Cure album since Wish--not even a little bit. This album is what nobody wants to call it--a return to form. I never thought I'd like another Cure album. Much less love one.… Full Review »
  2. House0fWolves_
    Dec 16, 2011
    7
    I miss the old days of The Cure when every single song on the album was beautiful and dark. These more modern pieces are good, but certainlyI miss the old days of The Cure when every single song on the album was beautiful and dark. These more modern pieces are good, but certainly not great.… Full Review »
  3. Xanty
    Mar 11, 2009
    9
    I goy it, left it, heard it twice and put it down.... weeks later, I gave it another chance, and it is doing my head... taking it to the sky I goy it, left it, heard it twice and put it down.... weeks later, I gave it another chance, and it is doing my head... taking it to the sky and back! Really good album, full with melodies, emotions, pounding heartbits and colour. I didn't think I would like a Cure album so much, without looking a copy of past glories. Buy it.… Full Review »
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