- Critic score
- Publication
- By date
-
The Cure have become journeymen, for better and worse, turning out well-crafted music that's easy to enjoy yet not all that compelling either.
-
Brighter than Bloodflowers, denser than Wish, The Cure presents Smith as a wild-haired sorcerer's apprentice, conducting another mad symphony of infatuation and angst.
-
Some of its most appealing material in recent memory.
-
BlenderThey come off more than ever like a caricature. [Aug 2004, p.130]
-
It's not a perfect record, but "The Cure" does achieve something quite remarkable and unexpected. It leaves you looking forward to their next one.
-
Cure fans are certainly used to Smith’s voice being high in the mix, but on this record it can be overwhelming and stifling.
-
It's hard to imagine a set of songs that better reflects every phase the group has navigated through its turbulent career.
-
Entertainment WeeklyAs with Prince on Musicology, Smith allows the Cure's current lineup to become his own tribute band. [9 Jul 2004, p.86]
-
FilterStrangely timid in both its production choices and songwriting. [#11, p.92]
-
If approached with a substantial amount of skepticism and wariness, The Cure is not a complete disappointment. In fact, it's often surprisingly good and sometimes even great.
-
The lyric invention of past Cure albums is missing, but the pop transcendence emerges in fits.
-
MojoThe recorded-live-by-candlelight performances documented herein aren't short on the kind of clamorous foreboding and twisted pop nous a fan of Disintegration or The Head On The Door might hope for. [Aug 2004, p.87]
-
New Musical Express (NME)Startling from the first listen... the band are heavier, more menacing, more rhythmic than ever. [19 Jun 2004, p.55]
-
Invoking Disintegration is ridiculous, but The Cure is remarkably more thrilling a listen than the band's most recent guitar-heavy predecessors.
-
Keep giving it a whirl though and it becomes something rather exquisite.
-
Not the fresh start the band truly needed, The Cure at least succeeds in validating the current lineup of the band, as it is a compelling reminder of what made the Cure so great for so long.
-
Q MagazineThis is The Cure sounding a lot like The Cure. Never a bad thing, just a familiar one. [Aug 2004, p.107]
-
The new album is their most adventurous and passionate since Disintegration.
-
Much of The Cure slogs along at the same churning, monotonous pace, and Smith, rambling in a croak-shout variation of his normal singing voice, does the material few favors.
-
SpinIf The Cure feels like a recapitulation of the band's career, it's because they've recorded songs very much like these before. [Aug 2004, p.103]
-
There are entirely too many nods to the past for this album to be a fresh start, yet it refuses to slip comfortably into place in their catalogue.
-
Nothing on The Cure really soars.
-
Strikes a near-perfect balance between the various facets of the band's history.
-
This is a much better effort than anything they've done in quite some time.
-
UncutThis is a thrilling album, one that contains an extremity of sound and emotion that's unlikely to be matched by anyone else this year. [Album of the Month, Aug 2004, p.90]
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
-
Positive: 50 out of 63
-
Mixed: 6 out of 63
-
Negative: 7 out of 63
-
Mar 25, 2016
-
Nov 5, 2015
-
Jan 30, 2014